32,000 Hindu and Christan girls converted to Islam and transformed into ISIS terrorists – this is the plot line of a recently released movie, The Kerala Story. Focusing on the suffering of thousands of converted terrorists in Keralla, love jihad, and forced conversion, the film paints a grim picture of modern India.But there’s a twist – the majority of what the movie presents as concrete facts are plain lies.Be it the number of 32,000 converted ISIS terrorists or the looming threat of love jihad, the polarizing movie presents a twisted truth. In this article, we are debunking the reality of THE KERALA STORY and understanding how the movie only aims to provoke Indians against each other.
Fact-Check of the Kerala StoryThe movie Kerala Story states multiple accusations and ‘facts.’ The most popular ones include the following:3200 women converted to IslamKerala to become an Islamic State in the next 20 yearsFatima (the forcefully converted ISIS terrorist) is still stuck in an Afghanistan jailBut how much of it is true? Let’s uncover the reality. 3200 Converted womenIn 2012, Oommen Chandy, the then-chief minister of Kerala, informed the state legislature that over 2667 young women converted to Islam between 2006 to 2012. On the contrary, however, the CM never mentioned the term ‘forced conversion.Instead, dismissing the baseless love-jihad accusation, he stated:“We will not allow forcible conversions. Nor will we allow for spreading hate campaign against Muslims in the name of love jihad” Kerala – An Islamic State?The second claim was based on another former Chief Minister of Kerala, V S Achuthanandan’s (2006-2011) statement. However, when you look at the video, you can clearly see how they manipulated the English subtitles.During his speech, Mr. Achuthanandan criticized PFI, blaming them for “influencing the youth of other religions.” However, again there was no mention of ISIS. Also, it’s worth noting that i’s been over 13 years since the speech, and Kerala remains a safe and secular state. 4 Kerala Women Who Joined Islamic StateBetween 2016 and 2018, four women left Kerala for the Islamic State of Khorasan Province –Nimisha (Fatima Isa), Merrin Jacob (Mariyam), Sonia Sebastian (Ayisha), and Rafela.Source: The WeekAmongst these four women, one was already Muslim, two converted from Christianity to Isma, and one from Hinduism to Islam. The Kerala story revolves around Fatima, who was allegedly trapped in love jihad. However, on further investigation, we found that Fatima’s husband, Eeza, himself converted to Islam from Christianity. The Twisted RealityThe Kerala Story movie depicted a fake image of its three protagonists – innocent women trapped in a global conspiracy with no alter intentions. The entire audience sympathized with the helpless women.However, when you look at the real-life interview of the real converted terrorist women, you can hardly empathize with them. The discussion clearly shows how brainwashed and radicalized these women still are.Moreover, the 2016 NIA report shows that all the 20 terrorists mentioned in the report were deeply interconnected regarding radicalization. Seventeen of these came from the Kasargod district of Kerala.The 2016 India Today report highlighted a concerning truth that it’s not just singles who are traveling to IS-controlled territories. Instead, entire families with children have gone to join ISIS.According to Stat News Global, about 60 Indians (26 males, 13 women, and 21 children) shifted to Afghanistan in 2018.So there definitely is a problem where people are brainwashed to join ISIS. Internet and social media have opened new modes of communication to influence. A 2019 report states that ISIS uses the dark web and encrypted platforms to radicalize the youth and recruit terrorists. Analyzing the Real Terrorism Problem in IndiaThe International Center for the Study of Radicalization, King’s College reported that about 41,490 people from 80 countries are affiliated with IS. Furthermore, 74% of these terrorists are men.The Underseceratery General of the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism released another data of over 40,000 foreign terrorist fighter joining conflicts in Syria and Iraq across 110 countries.But how many of these recruits are from India?America’s Bureau of Counter Terrorism published a country report which highlighted the 160 people who were arrested related to IS in India. These 160 people include not only the terrorists who left India to join ISIS but also individuals who propagated ISIS’s agenda over the Internet.Of the 160 accused, only 40 cases were said to be from Kerala. This number, however, still does not tell the exact data of people who joined ISIS.The US Department of State reports revealed that about 66 Indian-origin terrorists were affiliated with ISIS till November 2020. Among these 66, there are only ten women, and only six are from Kerala. The Problem with the Kerala StoryDictating the story of three women being the reality of 32,000 women is one of the biggest lies the Kerala Story presents.The problem is – people are still being brainwashed and recruited into ISIS across the globe. Going back to the 2016 country report, we can see how many countries are affected by the problem. Following is the number of IS recruits per country:When these numbers are compared to India, a country with the third-largest Muslim population, the 66 recruits seem, though still concerning, small.The movie is defaming one of the best states of India based on lies. The Proud Truth, the Kerala Story, Tries to HideThe ORA report and, in many instances, international organizations consistently ask why Indians have fewer ISIS recruits. The movie, however, does not delve into this.Time and again, the Indian agency’s strict and quick repose has busted ISIS propaganda in the Country. For example, under Operation Pigeon, Indian agencies saved 350 vulnerable Malyali youths from being recruited through de-radicalization programs.Former diplomat Talmiz Ahmad also praises India’s syncretic culture and tradition behind the youths rejecting extremism. Indian constitution and culture celebrate unity in diversity. That’s why most Indians reject extreme ideologies.A report from 2015 even states that ISIS considers Indian recruits inferior to Arabs because Indian Muslims follow a more legal version of Islam.Many Indian Muslim clerics have also played a positive role in promoting harmony. In March 2009, Darul Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa declaring India as Dar al-Aman (a country where militant jihad is prohibited). In 2015, over 70,000 Indian Muslim scholars issued a joint fatwa against ISIS, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. The Real Kerala StoryKerala is a living example of India’s thriving unity in diversity, where people of all religious faith live together in harmony. Movies like The Kerala Story are trying to defame one of the most prosperous states of India, along with increasing polarity and radicalization within the country.Terrorist propaganda, conversions, and brainwashing of youth to become terrorists are global realities. But films like the Kerala Story undermine the pain and suffering of the actual victim by showcasing fake provocating stories.On the plus side, however, the lash back the movie has received shows that fake numbers and conspiracy theories can’t fool Indians.
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I was ten years old after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War when Israel occupied the West Bank in June 1967. Then, I didn’t fully grasp what was happening to us. Arab radio stations transmitting from Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad had been galvanizing us into believing that Israel’s days were numbered and that Arab nationalism, which nearly replaced Islam as our de facto religion, would soon tear up the Zionist entity to smithereens.We virtually worshipped Gamal Abdul Nasser, the legendary Egyptian president, who became a god-like figure among most Arabs from Bahrain to Casablanca.It was far more abominable to curse the ultimate leader of Arab nationalism than to curse the Almighty. Under such circumstances, achieving victory over Israel, the darling of the West, was tantamount to indulging in day-dreaming.I remember I once asked Professor Hamed Algar, Professor of Ottoman History at the University of California at Berkeley, for his opinion of Nasser.So you can imagine the gigantic shock and disappointment we suffered when all of our dreams were crushed when all these charismatic leaders proved to be mere contemptible little men who excelled in rhetoric and in repressing their peoples but failed utterly in the confrontation with Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
A Narrative Story pre-the 1967 Arab-Israeli War The Israeli army murdered three of my four paternal uncles, Hussein (28), Mahmoud (25), and Yousuf (23). The three, all simple and impoverished shepherds, were grazing their flock of sheep and goats near the village of Al-Burj along the so-called armistice line, 22 kilometers south-west of the West Bank town of Hebron. Together with my three uncles, a number of other relatives, including a woman, were also shot dead. In fact, the Israelis not only nearly wiped out my entire family, but also seized our sheep herd, upon which our total livelihood depended to a large extent.This calamity condemned us to a life of misery and abject poverty for many years to come. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent didn’t run active services in our region at that time, so we were left to endure our fate alone. I remember my late father telling me that the Jordanian government gave us two goats free of charge, as compensation for the tragedy. My family viewed this as a kind of insult added to injury.Thus, my family had to live in a cave for 21 years. The misery, the suffering, the poverty and the harshness of daily living were conspicuous aspects of our life. Interestingly, to this day, the Israeli government has neither apologized for the crime nor compensated us for our stolen property. The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Would zionist jews say “mea culpa”? Imagine, just imagine, how rabid and vitriolic Jews would be if they were in my shoes. None the less, these self-absorbed and self-worshiping Zionists still have the Chutzpah to accuse their victims of being ” terrorists and anti-Semites.” Isn’t this discourse tantamount to fornicating with truth and history? Well, in the final analysis, shamelessness has always been and will always be the main feature of being a Zionist Jew!I don’t know when these Jews will say mea culpa to their Palestinian and other victims. Perhaps when kosher pigs fly!!Well, I do realize that it is too premature, probably naïve, to even evoke such a question. After all, Israel is still murdering Palestinian children nearly on a daily basis. Many stories to tell! Of course, our tragedy didn’t stop at losing three men and a number of other relatives murdered and hundreds of sheep stolen by the Israeli government. Much more had been seized from us six years earlier, in 1948, including our farming land in al-Za’ak, in what is now Israel. We were not even allowed to retrieve our belongings, such as bed coverings, household utensils and probably some money that had been left prior to the expulsion at the hands of armed Jewish gangs.Anybody who might have tried would have been shot on the spot. I heard of several people who had ventured to reach their former homes just across the border, only to be shot dead after having dug their graves.The take-no-prisoners policy was consistent with the Israeli strategy of ‘cleansing the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants who constituted the vast majority of the population in mandatory Palestine.To implement this Nazi-like policy, various Israeli gangs, which came later to form the so-called Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), committed numerous wanton massacres against the Palestinians. Some of the most outrageous massacres included Deir Yassin, Dawaymeh, Tantura, Lud and Qastal, but there were many others. The atrocities, carried out knowingly and deliberately by the Jewish leadership, were aimed at terrorizing the Palestinians into leaving. The message was as clear as it was gruesome. “If you want to stay alive, you’ve got to leave.”Israeli propaganda during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War would tell the world later that the ‘Arab refugees’ left their homes willingly and were not forced into leaving by the Jude-Nazi gangs. I say Judeo-Nazi because when Jews think, behave and act like Nazis they become Nazis.Interestingly, the Zionists continue to shamelessly generate such big lies to deceive and mislead world public opinion. I strongly believe that Zionist Jews are God’s lying people.They lie as often as they breathe; dishonesty seems to be a built-in Zionist character. You can not be Zionist and honest at the same time.Zionist Jews would never admit that Israel and Jews ever did any wrongdoing or committed any crime.A Zionist would even tell God Almighty “you’re a liar.” Didn’t Jews carry signs in the US reading “Allah is on my ass”? ( I got this quote from Alfred Lilienthal’s famous book The Zionist Connection).Zionist Jews may not be the most murderous people under the sun. However, they are certainly the most dishonest and mendacious.Moreover, there is no doubt whatsoever that Zionist Jews are the most racist people under the sun. For these Jews, the life of a single Jew is far more important than the lives of a million non-Jews. For them, non-Jewish life has no sanctity. The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Jordanian era Under Jordanian rule (1951-67), i.e. pre the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the most important concern for the Jordanian authorities was loyalty to King Hussein and his family. The King was nearly ‘a demi god’ and the entire country, including the media, the security forces and the people revolved around his figure. Hence, the claim often made that Jordan was a king with a country, rather than a country with a king, had a substantial degree of veracity.Connections to the King and his Mukhabarat (intelligence apparatus) and immediate coterie would automatically put one in a preferential position.Souting “Ya’ish Jalalat al Malik al-Muaazam” (Long Live The King), would give one an automatic certificate of good conduct. No wonder, it was a despotic regime based on sycophancy, favouritism, and nepotism.King Hussein never really made genuine efforts to push back recurrent Israeli incursions, forays and raids on Palestinian population centres in the West Bank pre the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, let alone liberate occupied Palestine. Indeed, the Commander-in-Chief of the Jordanian army in the late 1940s, when Israel was created, and up until March 1, 1956, was a British officer by the name of John Baggot Glubb who came to be known among Palestinians and Jordanians as Glubb Pasha, an honorary title. So, who in his right mind would have expected a British officer to fight the Jews on behalf of the Arabs?As far as Palestinians were concerned, the most immediate priority for the Jordanian regime i.e. King Hussein was to make sure that they and other Jordanians didn’t pose a threat to the survival, security and stability of the Hashemite monarchy. A Palestinian would get a six-month prison term if an empty bullet cartridge was found in his possession.And as the Israelis would do later, the Jordanians enlisted the ‘Makhatir’ (clan notables) to inform on every gesture of opposition to the Hashemite rule within their respective clans and areas. This in turn created a kind of police-state atmosphere all over the country.Free-minded Palestinians who insisted on voicing their conscience were persecuted and dumped into the notorious El-Jafr prison in eastern Jordan where they were often tortured savagely, even to death. I know of a person from my town (Dura) who was tortured to death for his affiliation with the Communist Party.Torture is still practiced in Jordan with the knowledge, blessing and encouragement of the United States and Britain. Some of the so-called ‘terror suspects’ held by the CIA were secretly flown to Jordan in order to be ‘softened up’ by Jordanian interrogators. In the mid1950s, the Jordanian security forces on several occasions shot and killed demonstrators who were protesting the pro-Western policies of the government and the regime’s failure and inability to stop recurrent Israeli attacks. Some of these demonstrators were affiliated with or instigated by the Ba’ath party and the Communists who openly called for overthrowing the monarchy.As a counterbalance to the leftists, who were quite active, especially in the West Bank, King Hussein allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to operate relatively freely. So it was a kind of divide-and-rule policy.The leftists would accuse the Brotherhood of being British agents and the Brotherhood would retort by accentuating the atheism and enmity to Islam of the Communists and Ba’athists. Hussein’s relations with the Brotherhood remained relatively stable until the final years of his life when he introduced the one-man-one-vote law, aimed primarily at reducing to the minimum the number of parliament seats the well-organized Islamists could win. Nonetheless, Jordan was (and still is) a weak and poor kingdom, economically, politically and especially militarily. The Israeli army routinely carried out cross-border incursions into the West Bank prior to 1967, murdering innocent villagers, and the Jordanian army was generally too weak and too unequipped to repulse the Israeli aggressors. King Hussein must have calculated that maintaining a peaceable or even quasi-friendly modus vivendi with Israel was the best insurance policy for retaining his kingdom and the rule of his Hashemite dynasty. I think he was wrong in thinking this way. His non-hostility towards Israel didn’t prevent the Jewish state from pursuing its aggressive policies, which culminated in the occupation of the West Bank in 1967.King Hussein did make a lot of contacts with Israel even before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. For example, on September 24, 1963, the director-general of the Israeli prime minister’s office, Yaacov Herzog, met the King in the London clinic of the King’s Jewish physician, Dr. Emmanuel Herbert.Another meeting took place in Paris in 1965 and Israel was represented by Golda Meir, who was accompanied by Herzog. The recent political developments in Pakistan, involving the Establishment’s crackdown on Imran Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI) have marked another watershed moment in the chequered political history of Pakistan. The Establishment in Pakistan is once again involved in breaking and making political parties. The developments are not unprecedented and follow a model. A charismatic political leader who commands legitimacy among the masses rises. The army or the Establishment becomes wary of the leader’s power. In order to protect their political power, they go after the leader, by breaking their political party and killing them.
Imran Khan’s Threat to the Establishment Imran Khan and his party PTI pose a grave danger to the power of the Establishment. His supporters mostly come from the urban middle classes. Establishment and Imran Khan This specific class has been historically a supporter of the Establishment. Khan thus ate into the support of the Pakistani army. The army views it as a zero-sum game— Khan’s increasing support is their loss.Even though it was initially alleged that Khan came to power in 2018 because of the backing of the Establishment, he turned out to be dangerous for the Establishment. The differences came to the fore after the fall of Kabul. Khan refused the CIA’s requests to establish its bases in Pakistan for future operations in Afghanistan.Pakistani Army has historically leaned towards the US. Immediately after independence, the Pakistani Army became a part of various defence and security treaties with the US. Further, the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan also brought the Pakistani Army closer to the US. Similarly, post-2001 when the US launched its operations in Afghanistan, Pakistani Army’s support was crucial to the US.However, during the recent withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan, the Pakistani Army was sidelined. Prime Minister Imran Khan took all the important decisions. The Pakistani Army felt threatened. After a few months, the opposition ousted Imran Khan from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. There were various accusations of US involvement in Khan’s ouster because the US had at various times publicly expressed its displeasure of Khan’s policies. However, these accusations have not been proven. Politically Motivated Corruption Charges Against Khan After his ouster, the ruling government charged Khan and his family with various corruption cases. The government recently arrested him in these cases. His supporters took to the streets to protest the arrest. Later, Supreme Court of Pakistan had to intervene in the matter and the court released Khan on bail. However, during the protests, there were widespread incidences of violence in which several key army installations were damaged by the protesters.The government alleges that Khan and his political party instigated their supporters to carry out violence. Khan and his party have denied the charges. However, the government arrested several key PTI leaders for instigating the violence. The courts released some of these leaders later but they have now either abandoned PTI or quit politics altogether. The army seems to have pressured these leaders to give up politics or face the consequences. Further, it is also a tactic to isolate Imran Khan and criminalize any kind of association with him.The Establishment is trying people associated with the recent violence under army law. The government is also publicly talking about banning PTI. Several international human rights organizations have called upon the Pakistani government to try these people under civil law. Establishment’s Move Against Khan Not Unprecedented The Establishment’s attempt to break PTI and obliterate Imran Khan by accusing him of terror and corruption is not unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. There were at least two cases where a popular political leader rose and the Pakistani Army felt threatened. They either killed them or tried to obliterate their political parties. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and his party banned while Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was killed. Sheikh Mujibur Rehman When Sheikh Mujibur Rahman emerged as a mass leader in the erstwhile East Pakistan, his party won a majority of the seats in the 1970 elections. He was about to take the charge of Prime Minister of Pakistan, but the Establishment was against him. The Establishment arrested him and banned his party and launched the infamous operation in East Pakistan that culminated in the liberation of East Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh in 1971. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Similarly, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto emerged as a mass leader in Pakistan in the early 1970s, he threatened the Pakistani Army’s power. Pakistan Army’s chief, General Zia-ul-Haq staged a coup and arrested Bhutto on the charges of murder. After a lot of controversy, the court found Bhutto guilty in the case and subsequently sentenced him to death. They finally executed him in April 1979.There is a standard model that the Establishment in Pakistan follows when it comes to the rise of popular political leaders. The Establishment either kills or politically obliterates any leader who threatens its power. It is still in the initial days of the process to make Imran Khan politically irrelevant in Pakistan, and it remains to be seen how the Establishment will deal with Khan. UN Human Rights Defenders Demand an End to the Crackdown on Kashmiri Activists. India must immediately halt its crackdown on Kashmiri activists, Mary Lawlor, the independent UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defender, said on Friday, calling for greater accountability where abusive actions are taken and demanded an end to the crackdown on Kashmiri Activists. Lawlor took up the mandate of Special Rapport on the situation of human rights defenders on 1 May 2020, following the Human Rights Council decision 43/115.Days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) formally detained imprisoned Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) program coordinator Khurram Parvez in connection with its NGO, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, made this statement and as a human rights defender she demands an end to the crackdown on Kashmiri Activists.
Khurram Parvez’s second arrest after being jailed for a year Khurram Parvez, who had been jailed since November 2021 on terrorism-related charges, was arrested in a second case on March 22, 2023, following two days of questioning by the National Investigation Agency, India’s top counterterrorism agency. With his role in the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, he is charged with financing terrorism in accordance with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Defender Demand Ending Crackdown UAPA is a “draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), a law that allows the government to designate someone as a “terrorist” and keep them in pretrial detention for years without needing to produce incriminating evidence” says Hafsa Kanjwal in the Washington Post.“Indian authorities appear to be intensifying the long-standing repression of Kashmiri civil society,” said Mary Lawlor. “The State must respect its human rights obligations and be held accountable where it violates them,” she added.In 2021, Khurram Parvez was charged with “conspiracy” and “supporting terrorism.”. After conducting raids at his residence and workplace in Indian-administrated Kashmir, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) detained him. Yet, his detention sparked outrage and criticism around the world as well as immediate calls for his release. On social media, activists and others have described the arrest as an effort to “suppress and punish human rights campaigners.” Mr. Parvez has long been a prominent opponent of the BJP-led administration that currently holds power and was also arrested in 2016 for two and a half months. Mr. Parvez is also the chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), an international rights organization that looks into forced disappearances in Kashmir and elsewhere in Asia. Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) Mr.Parvez’s Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) has released a number of critical studies on the power abuses and disregard for human rights carried out by Indian security forces in the Kashmir Valley. Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) was founded in 2000.“We are an amalgam of various non-funded, non-profit, campaign, research and advocacy organizations based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. JKCCS through its constituents seeks to speak truth to power whether through reports, programmes, systematic documentation, litigation or other engagements in Jammu and Kashmir and outside. JKCCS believes that a vibrant civil society and institution building is essential for any society, particularly Jammu and Kashmir. JKCCS maintains that the people of Jammu and Kashmir enjoy all the internationally guaranteed civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights including the right to self-determination.”.This is an excerpt from the wordpress website of JKCCS, an “already vulnerable civil society” which is now further being attacked and crushed on all fronts. “The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) carries out essential work monitoring human rights. Their research and analysis of human rights violations are of huge value, including to international organizations seeking to ensure accountability and non-repetition of abuses,” Lawlor said. Recent Arrest of Other Activists Irfan Mehraj, a journalist and human rights advocate who previously belonged to the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS), was taken into custody in the same case before the second arrest of jailed Khurram Parvez on March 20, 2023. Mehraj was then transported to New Delhi post his arrest in the same case under the draconian UAPA. Other human rights defenders are verbal about how the authorities are using compulsion and intimidation against former JKCCS associates and volunteers.Mehraj, a resident of Mehjoor Nagar in Srinagar, was ordered to appear at the Church Lane office of the central anti-terror agency on Monday evening, March 20, despite being away on business, according to his father, Mehraj-ud-Din Bhat. He was on a story when the investigators called him on his mobile phone. They told him to come over to their office [for questioning] for five minutes. Later, we got to know that he had been arrested and was going to be shifted to Delhi on Tuesday. My son and brother have gone there seeking legal assistance,” Bhat, who is a Kashmir arts trader, told The Wire.The arrest and detention of persons for exercising their human rights are arbitrary. There must be accountability and remedy where such abusive actions are taken.” Lawlor said. “Time and time again, the Government has been called upon to address the fundamental issues with the country’s anti-terrorism framework and its misuse to smear and silence human rights defenders,” she added. As a human rights defender she demands an end to the crackdown on Kashmiri Activists. Click here to editSeven years after their relations were broken, Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two major oil-producing competitors of the Middle East, have agreed to mend fences by reopening their embassies. The Saudi-Iran Deal is being said to bring the Middle East “Security, Stability” and have global implications. It is unexpected that the accord was signed in China because negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Iran on a future reconciliation had been ongoing for years, primarily in Iraq. After meetings held in Beijing under Chinese mediation, the Saudi-Iran deal was sealed.According to a joint statement, Iran and Saudi Arabia “agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies… within two months” as a result of the negotiations, Iran’s national news agency said.A video showing Ali Shamkhani, the council’s secretary, chatting with a Saudi official and China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, was posted by Nour News, a website affiliated with Iran’s supreme national security council. “After implementing the decision, the foreign ministers of both nations will meet to prepare for exchange of ambassadors,” Iranian state television said.
Why had Saudi and Iran Cut Diplomatic Ties?Following the killing of a renowned Shia cleric and preacher Nimr al-Nimar, Iranian protestors attacked Saudi diplomatic offices in Iran in 2016, leading to a deepening sectarian rift between Riyadh and Tehran causing Sadi and Iran to cut ties. The Saudi Arabian government’s killing of the renowned Shia preacher had drawn criticism from the. The Saudi-Iran Deal Iranian government and Middle Eastern religious authorities, who threatened the country’s royal family with consequences. The execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr sparked widespread outrage, according to councils and clerics in Iran, Yemen, and Lebanon, which significantly heightened religious and diplomatic tensions in the area.In recent years, the rivalry between predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia and predominantly Shia Iran, has dominated Middle East affairs and spread to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. Why Does the Saudi-Iran Deal Send Shockwaves to Israel?The announcement of the reconciliation between longtime opponents Saudi Arabia and Iran on March 12, sent shockwaves through the Middle East and struck a symbolic blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made countering the threat presented by Tehran a top priority in his public diplomacy efforts. He has presented himself as the sole leader capable of shielding Israel from Iran’s nuclear program, which according to him is expanding quickly, as well as from Iranian proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Reports claim that Israeli-linked ships transporting supplies in the Persian Gulf have been targeted by suspected Iranian drone strikes, among other attacks, as a result of Israel and Iran’s ongoing regional shadow war.Netanyahu’s normalization agreements with four Arab nations, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, in 2020 remain one of his greatest diplomatic victories. They were part of an overall strategy to oppose and isolate Iran in the area. Earlier Netanyahu and his allies made hints that a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be close since taking office late last year. Last month, Netanyahu said in an address to American Jewish leaders that a peace deal was “a goal that we are working on in parallel with the goal of stopping Iran.” However, experts claim that such plans have been dashed by the Saudi-Iran agreement that was unveiled on Friday.Israel is essentially on its own as it spearheads efforts to diplomatically isolate Iran and makes threats of an unprovoked military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities as a result of Saudi Arabia’s choice to cooperate with its regional opponent Iran. Additionally, the UAE and Iran reestablished official ties last year. Israel and Netanyahu baffled over Saudi-Iran DealThe Saudi-Iran deal led to not just disappointment but also finger-pointing in Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu has been baffled over the Saudi Iranian deal and blamed Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett’s previous administration in Israel, as well as U.S. President Biden. When negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Iran got underway a year ago, Netanyahu charged that they failed to take a firm enough stance.Danny Danon, a Netanyahu ally and former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. who recently predicted a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia in 2023, seemed disconcerted.“This is not supporting our efforts,” he said when asked about whether the rapprochement hurt chances for the kingdom’s recognition of Israel.“It’s a blow to Israel’s notion and efforts in recent years to try to form an anti-Iran bloc in the region,” said Yoel Guzansky, an expert on the Persian Gulf at the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. “If you see the Middle East as a zero-sum game, which Israel and Iran do, a diplomatic win for Iran is very bad news for Israel.”. Saudi Iran Deal Causes a Blow to the Abraham AccordsAdditionally, Israel is also worried that the Saudi-Iran deal can cause a blow to the Abraham Accords signed on Sept. 15, 2020, which normalized diplomatic relations among Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and, potentially, Sudan. Because the Saudi-Iran deal challenges the Abraham Accords’ most fundamental justification, there is currently a sense of discontent across the Israeli political spectrum. Israelis and Americans can make all the claims they want about the Accords being peace treaties, which they are not, or about the economic advantages. The main goals of the Accords, however, were expanded Arab state access to American weapons and coordination, as well as an Israeli-Arab coalition against Iran. That framework provided Israel with the solution it had been looking for for years, which is the normalization with the Arab world without giving the Palestinians their freedoms and rights. The Saudi-Iran deal causes a blow to the Abraham Accords because it will fail Israel’s attempts to isolate Iran from the middle eastern countries. While the Saudi-Iran Deal has the potential to make shifts in both regional and global politics, it could also mean a lot less than it initially anticipated. . On 26 February, hundreds of heavily armed Jewish settlers protected by the Israeli army, rampaged through the Palestinian village of Huwara, just south of the northern West Bank town of Nablus, ransacking and torching homes and property and killing at least one local resident. According to the Palestinian health ministry, hundreds of people were injured, with many sustaining serious and crippling wounds that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The rampage in Huwara has been described as the most violent since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.According to various sources, the settlers had received definitive instructions from government officials telling them “to teach the Palestinians a lesson they wouldn’t forget.”The settlers, affiliated with the religious Zionist movement, are indoctrinated in a Nazi-like Talmudic ideology which considers the targeting of innocent noncombatants such as children, women and the elderly as perfectly legitimate during the time of conflict.The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused the Israeli government, the most racist and fascist ever, of backing a rampage in Huwara. Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich was quoted as saying that Huwara needs to be “wiped out and razed to the ground” and that the state of Israel should do it.
Israeli Prime Minister told foreign journalists that Smotrich couldn’t use PR-friendly language to communicate his message, prompting one Israeli journalist to remark that “Netanyahu seemed to be acting as PR officer for Smotrich.” Jewish-Nazism When this and other writers employed Nazi epithets to describe current Israeli policies and behaviours in the Occupied Palestinian territories, some people, especially Western intellectuals, thought we were exaggerating the level of Israel’s genocidal Jewish barbarianism.However an honest look at the perpetrators of the . Huwara rampage reveals that these people are far from being a small or marginal extremist group, not representing the mainstream Israeli Jewish society.Read Also: Will the West embrace Kosher Nazism following the instalment of the new Israeli government?In fact, these are the very people who rule Israel today. They are the people of the government. They represent the crème de le crème of the Zionist religious movement in Israel.Hence, we are not talking here about some wild weed growing uncontrollably in the midst of an otherwise sane society or anything of this sort.Our erstwhile critics who didn’t like the use of strong epithets to describe Israel, mainly for psychological reasons, would probably pay more attention to the purported half-full glass rather than the half-empty one But in all honesty, there is simply no half-full glass in Israel today. Some naïve observers here and there might still think that the international community wouldn’t allow Israel to cross the Rubicon.Unfortunately, It has now been proven that neither Israel could be given the benefit of the doubt nor could the so-called international community be entrusted to prevent or even restrain the increasingly brazenly Nazi entity from doing the unthinkable, namely launching a partial or full genocide against the unprotected Palestinians.Indeed, the feeble American and European reactions to the Jewish rampage at the village of Huwara proved that the US can not be relied upon to rein in or restrain Jewish Nazism in Palestine. The US, after all, is the very country that enabled Israel to be what it is and reach this evil level of barbarianism and arrogance of power by funding, defending and constantly optimizing Israeli Nazism.Hence, relying on Washington to rein in genocidal Israel is merely a futile exercise in naivety, day-dreaming and wishful thinking.Besides, All that America can offer to force Israel to behave doesn’t really go beyond futile gentle preaching stressing the need to exercise self-restraint and not indulge in incitement and extremism. But Israel is not restrained by gentle preaching and polite rebuking or even harsh verbal chastisement. Such a toothless discourse will have no effect whatsoever on a shameless violator of international law, but could actually further embolden the Zionist entity even further. What Israel needs is a thorough de-Nazification which would convince the racist supremacists in occupied Palestine that the recurrent rampages and genocidal savagery against the Palestinian people would have serious consequences on the Israel state. Huwara rampage : Prova for a real Holucaust? As someone who is quite familiar with the religious Zionist mindset, I can safely argue that the rampage at Huwara, which represents the cumulative outcome of years of toxic incitement by the Talmudic schools, such as the Merkaz Ha-Rav in West Jerusalem (the CNS of religious Zionism in Israel) is just a mere prova for something to come that is much more ominous, much more and much more genocidal. Indeed, if these genocidal thugs and killer beasts could do this shamelessly in front of TV cameras from all over the world, just imagine how they would behave and what they would do to their helpless victims if the area were to be declared a close military Zone and all journalists and cameramen were ordered to leave. I am saying this because I am completely convinced that the concept of genocide is absolutely and completely compatible with the religious teaching and ideological indoctrination of these people who apparently were spoon-fed this poison since their kindergarten days.As a journalist who has been covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially the settler phenomenon, ever since I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981, I can honestly argue with all honesty and rectitude, that these people represent the Nazis of our time.I am not eager to put any people down, and I’m absolutely and totally against all forms of anti-Semitism. But we must call the spade a spade, irrespective of whether we see the proverbial implement in the hands of Da’esh killers, Jewish settlers in Huwara or Vagner mercenaries in Ukraine. If we don’t wake up, if the world doesn’t wake up now, especially after what we saw in Huwara, when will we wake up? The Huwara rampage is more than just writing on the wall. It is more than a dark cloud hanging over the West Bank. The rampage in Huwarra is actually the penultimate step, the sound alarm coming before a real genocide that could be carried out at any moment by these reptile murderers, protected and assisted by the Israeli army. Enter the Palestinian Authority As to Palestinians, they must not allow themselves to be beguiled or sedated by worthless statements coming from the American state department.The neo-Nazi trio of Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich will not give a hoot to worthless statements coming from worthless people in Washington.In September 1982, the Reagan administration gave solemn assurances to the PLO that no Palestinian refugees in the Beirut region would be harmed if PLO forces left Beirut. However, when the PLO left, as part of an agreement mediated by the American envoy Phillip Habib, Israel’s Christian allies, the Phallangists, ganged up on the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, south of Beirut, ransacking the two camps and slaughtering more than 3500 innocent men, women and children. Not a single perpetrator was prosecuted or punished for the genocidal massacre.The Palestinians must not commit the same criminal blunder again, by trusting the US to protect our unarmed civilians from the Nazis of our time.We need something much more concrete, much more reliable and much more certain. After all, it is our children’s lives at stake! Today, they set homes on fire while children and babies inside.Tomorrow they will build a huge crematorium to burn our kids in broad daylight while a US State Department would regurgitate the same stale statements about Israel having the right to defend itself! Holi is a Hindu festival of colors and is celebrated across India with great enthusiasm. Numerous cases of violence, molestation, and harassment of women and minorities during March 7 and 8 when Holi was celebrated in various parts of the country came to light on social media. While “Bura na mano Holi Hai” (Don’t feel bad, it’s Holi) is used to justify all such nefarious behaviors, where women are most frequently the target, the celebration of Holi in India is frequently tarnished by incidences of molestation and harassment. However, in recent years, the festival has been marred by incidents of violence, particularly against women belonging to minority and marginalized communities.
This year, violence against women during the festivities of Holi emerged in the news of the incident met out to a Japanese woman. However, this was not the only incident of violence against women that took place at the festival of Holi. Other incidents with rather less to no reportage were the attacks to Muslim women and those belonging to marginalized communities. Over the years incidents of violence against women during Holi reek of not just communal but recently racial tensions. ‘I Was Terrified’: Japanese Woman Tweets After Being Assaulted During Holi Recently, a video of a group of Indian men assaulting a Japanese woman in Delhi during the Holi celebrations went viral online. The woman responded to the incident on Twitter, calling it “unfortunate” and clarifying that her purpose was not to “defame the festival.” In a series of tweets roughly translated from Japanese, the woman wrote, “I had heard that it was very dangerous for a woman to go out alone during the daytime at the Holi festival, an Indian festival that I participated in, so I participated in the event with a total of 35 other friends. Unfortunately, this kind of situation happened…”In the video, the men are seen smearing color on a Japanese woman and groping her. One of them even smashes an egg on her head. Before she manages to step away, the woman slaps one of the men who tried to grab her. The foreign national who had tweeted the video on Thursday quickly deleted it. She claimed she “deleted the tweet” because she “was terrified” by the responses to the video. She posted in Japanese, “On March 9, I tweeted a video of Holi, but after that, the number of RTs and DMs surged more than I had anticipated, and I was afraid, so I deleted the tweet. She continued by saying that she had no intention of “conveying the abnormalities and damages of the Holi festival in India.” In response to the footage, the police detained three people, among them a minor, in connection with the event. The police have pledged to intensify their investigation, and the woman expressed hope that harassment of women would considerably diminish. The Under-reported Crimes- Minor Muslim Girls Raped in Bihar during Holi This Holi, two minor girls were raped by 2 men including the son of an ex-sarpanch in the Begusarai district of Bihar. Once news broke that two girls, aged 6 and 7, had reportedly been sexually assaulted by the son of a previous Sarpanch while others were playing Holi, the Begusarai district of Bihar was anxious. The girls are from a different community than the accused, who is a Hindu, according to the press statement. The accused Rajkumar alias Chhotu Mahato and his companion approached the minors as they were playing in a school near Panchdir Chowk, according to Begusarai police. The accused had both been drinking. After they raped the two minors, they fled the scene. Other Incidents of Violence against Women and Minorities In a separate incident, a 65-year-old woman in the eastern state of Jharkhand was beaten to death by a group of six people for allegedly stopping them from applying colors to her son. The incident happened during Holi when the woman, who has been identified as Bucchi Devi, got into a fight with the group and forbade them from painting her kid Murari with colors. According to the local police, the group beat the woman and her son until they both passed out. Murari woke up to see his mother laying dead, according to accounts.In another incident, a video was circulated on social media showing a lone Sikh man being attacked during the festivities of Holi. The disturbing visuals showed him being beaten and his turban being torn off.Read here, India: School Principal Booked After Students Recite Iqbal’s Poem- What Makes Muhammad Iqbal a Contentious Figure in India? History of Violence Against Women during Holi Festivities In some parts of India, Holi has been used as a pretext to attack Muslim communities. In 2018, a video surfaced on social media showing a group of men in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, throwing color and attacking Muslim women, while chanting religious slogans. The violence is not limited to physical assault but also includes sexual harassment and molestation.The incidents of violence against women during Holi are a reflection of the larger problem of violence against women in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2019, there were 4,05,861 cases of crimes against women reported in India. These included rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and dowry-related violence. The government has taken several measures to address the issue of violence against women, including setting up fast-track courts to hear cases of sexual assault and harassment. The government has also launched a national helpline for women in distress. However, these measures have not been enough to curb the violence against women, particularly during festivals like Holi. It is important for the government and civil society to work together to address the underlying social and cultural attitudes that perpetuate violence against women. The festival of Holi, traditionally a celebration of spring and love, has unfortunately become a time when women are targeted for sexual harassment and assault. The Indian government has taken steps to address violence against women, including the introduction of stricter laws and the establishment of special courts to handle cases of sexual violence. However, implementation and enforcement of these measures remain a challenge, and cultural attitudes toward gender and religion continue to perpetuate violence against women. The nature of this violence is deeply concerning and highlights the intersectional discrimination faced by Muslim women in India. Not only are they vulnerable to gender-based violence, but they also face religious and communal hostility, which can exacerbate their situation. It is important to acknowledge and condemn all forms of violence against women, regardless of their religion or ethnicity. Muslim women, in particular, considering their unacknowledged minority status deserve to live in a society where they can freely practice their religion and move out of their homes without fear of harassment or discrimination. With the world’s attention focused on the Ukrainian crisis, Israel murders more innocent Palestinians in droves, including absolutely innocent civilians. Palestinian sources have described the latest Israeli escalation as the most ” brutal and ferocious” since the devastating Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip last year, which left hundreds of Palestinian civilians dead and badly injured, including dozens of children.
On Friday, 15 April, when thousands of innocent Palestinian Muslims normally converge at the al-Masjidul Aqsa esplanade to perform the weekly congregational prayers, crack Israeli troops employed stringent methods, including rubber-coated bullets, to repress and savage worshipers who shouted “Allahu Akbar” or God is the Greatest. According to eyewitnesses, the troops fired tear gas canisters inside the Mosque, causing numerous cases of suffocation to many elderly worshipers. Moreover, soldiers were seen assaulting, beating, and brutalizing old men and women. At least 300 worshipers were injured and transferred to the Makased Hospital. 250 others were arrested. Palestinians were particularly incensed by plans by some Talmudic messianic extremists to slaughter an animal offering inside the Aqsa esplanade, which would coincide with the Passover Jewish holiday. On 14 April, the Israeli police reportedly “seized” a goat at the home of one extremist activist. The goat was reportedly earmarked for the offering. Israeli Talmudic circles make no secret of their morbid intentions to demolish Islamic shrines in Jerusalem, including the Aqsa Mosque and the golden-domed mosque (Dome of the Rock) to prepare the area for the building of a Jewish Temple that would herald the appearance of a Jewish Messiah or Redeemer. The Redeemer would rule the entire world from his seat in Jerusalem and bring salvation and redemption for Jews. Israel murders innocent Palestinians : Murderous state terror Last week, trigger-happy Israeli soldiers murdered six Palestinian civilians, bringing the number of victims since the beginning of the month of Ramadan to more than 24. The latest victims of Israel’s decades-old occupation included a boy from Bethlehem, a lawyer from Nablus, and a mother of six children from the village of Nahalin west of Bethlehem. Israel murders innocent Palestinians Israel murders innocent Palestinians: Shoot first, ask questions later! The 47-year-old mother, named Ghada Sabatin, was shot dead in cold blood on 10 April, as she was returning home, not far from a Jewish colony. An Israeli spokesman claimed that the woman “was walking suspiciously” and that “soldiers thought that she might have a terrorist tendency” However, as ample and irrefutable evidence became apparent that the killing was “a deliberate and premeditated murder,” the Israeli army decided to “investigate the matter,” a routine and disingenuous measure that means very little other than seeking to delude and trick international public opinion. Israel is known to have murdered hundreds, even thousands, of innocent Palestinians rather knowingly and deliberately. The Biden administration refused to denounce the murder of the innocent Palestinian mother. However, a junior State Department official reportedly telephoned the victim’s family to voice his condolences. The pliant and increasingly irrelevant Palestinian Authority, while keeping its close but behind-the-curtain security coordination with Israel, called on the international community to protect our people from “Israel’s death machine.” Some ostensibly demoralized PA spokesmen, like Jamal Nazzal, argued that it was futile to put up any resistance to Israeli occupation forces. He castigated Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and splintered Fatah elements for Israel’s murderous crimes in the West Bank, especially the northern district of Jenin. He said the correct way to extricate Palestinian rights from Zionism was Abu Mazen’s way, namely his successful bid to join the International Criminal Court. Palestinian surfers and social media users scoffed at Nazzal, calling him “like Alice in Wonderland.” Azzam al-Ahmed, another aide to PA leader Mahmoud Abbas claimed during an interview with Aljazeera TV network that the PA has oversight over the resistance. His remarks were similarly ridiculed by social media. Interestingly, a majority of Palestinians, including a growing number of Fatah’s activists seem unwilling to give the PA the benefit of the doubt. The latest discourse comes against a backdrop of an impending implosion within Fatah, the ruling party in Ramallah. Fatah leaders and activists have been warning that Fatah will not play deaf and dumb if the PA leadership continues harrowing toward capitulation to Israel. “The PA today is no longer responsible to the Palestinian people, It is responsible first and foremost, to the enemy, Israel, which makes it a quisling entity,” said Khalil Kawasmi, a regional Fatah leader from the Hebron area. “You know, serving Israeli security is the ultimate raison d’etre of the PA. If the PA fails to do the job properly, it won’t survive for another 24 hours.” Enter Hussein Sheikh! The current Israeli government would like to achieve several short-term and long-term goals behind the latest round of killings in the West Bank. These goals include a brazenly sadistic desire to narrow Palestinians’ horizons and coerce them to lower the ceiling of their national aspirations by giving up, once and for all, on their erstwhile aspirations for a sovereign and territorially- contiguous state with East Jerusalem as its capital and coming to terms with de facto apartheid as the final and permanent solution for the enduring conflict. Moreover, the present government of Naftali Bennet apparently hopes to prolong the life-span of his fragile government by out-bidding and out-matching the Likud Bloc and other fascist elements in Israel by spilling more Palestinian blood. It is well-known that killing more Palestinians, including children, is the most effective tactic of acquiring political popularity in Israel. Bennet also wants to demonstrate to Jews as well as Arabs that the wanton and unrestrained killings of Palestinians would continue unabated and even increases, irrespective of any antithetical considerations pertaining to normalization with some Arab countries such as UAE, Bahrain, and Maghreb. Thus, Bennet’s unspoken words would sound like this” These cheap Arabs would still grovel at our feet no matter what we do to the Palestinians.” Sadly, he might be correct on that. Presently, Israel seems to prepare for the post-Abbas era. In fact, Israel has already taken some tactical measures towards that end, including “promoting Hussein Sheikh as would-be successor to the aging Mahmoud Abbas.” Sheikh, whom numerous Palestinians view as Israel’s man inside the PA, advocates “arrangements with Israel that have all the hallmarks of Apartheid.” Sheikh faces fierce opposition from within Fatah and the Palestinian people at large. However, with Israel behind him and with him controlling the coffers of the PA, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to imagine him at the helm of the corrupt e Palestinian Judenrat after Abu Mazen’s departure. Still, some Palestinian and Jewish observers believe that Israel won’t by any more successful with such a brazen feat than it was with the Village League in the late 1970s. The world is in dire need of cleaner and more sustainable energy sources, and Lithium has emerged as a powerful tool in the quest. This versatile element is playing a critical role in the transition away from polluting fossil fuels to greener and more eco-friendly power sources. And now, with the recent discovery of a Lithium mine in Kashmir valley by the Geological Survey of India, there’s hope for a more abundant and cost-effective supply of this valuable mineral.
Amounting to about 5.9 million tons, Kashmir’s lithium resource can potentially change India’s position in global green energy resources. The discovery is huge for India’s energy reserves and Kashmir’s economy. However, the announcement has triggered both hopes and concerns from Indians and the world. Why Does the Discovery of Lithium in Kashmir Matters? Lithium is a shining gray metal with a nickname that’s just as brilliant – “white gold.” It’s a crucial component of electric batteries, making it an essential element in the quest for cleaner and more sustainable energy. The recent discovery of lithium reserves in India is being celebrated by experts worldwide, and for good reasons. The discovery could be a game-changer for India’s energy independence, potentially reducing its reliance on imports to meet growing demand. In 2020-21 alone, India imported lithium and lithium ions worth INR 173 crore and INR 8,811 crore, respectively. As the country pushes towards electric vehicles, demand for lithium is only set to increase. Moreover, Lithium deposits are rare, with only 98 million tonnes found globally, according to Rishabh Jain, senior program director for the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW). India has already discovered 5.5% of these resources, which is significant in comparison to countries like Chile and Australia, which have 9.2 million tonnes and 6.2 million tonnes of lithium deposits, respectively. The potential impact of this discovery is massive, particularly for the production of electric vehicles. However, further assessments are needed to determine the exact quality and quantity of the resources and whether they can be extracted and used efficiently. If proven feasible, this discovery could pave the way for a more sustainable future for India and the world as a whole. The Geographical Barriers The Lithium reserve is discovered in Salal-Haimana, Reasi district of J&K, a region known for being seismically active. With the Reasi placed in the seismic zone IV, mining white gold from the area can pose a high risk. Moreover, the region is also situated in the renowned Kashmir seismic gap, which experts have forecasted as the site of potential “great” earthquakes with a magnitude exceeding eight on the Richter scale. According to Parveen Kumar, senior manager of Electric Mobility, WRI India; the most recent lithium discovery is “a significant step towards self-reliance in the LIB [lithium–ion battery] supply chain.” “Although this is good news, a balanced appraisal that considers the region’s ecological sensitivity is also necessary,” PARVEEN KUMAR Lithium mining also adversely impacts the ecosystem and environment. Pollution of the soil, water, and air is among them. For example, one estimate states that it requires around 2.2 million liters of water to generate one tonne of lithium while extracting it from its ore. Plus, with Reasi already living in water scarcity, and to sustainably extract Lithium, the authorities would have to tackle the issue first. Can India Become the Leader in Lithium Refining, Outcompeting China? China is an outlier in the lithium market. The nation held only 7.9% of the world’s lithium reserves at the end of 2020, according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2021. But the fabrication of metal is where the nation excels. As a result, 60% of the world’s capability for refining and processing lithium is estimated to be located in China. However, lithium refining is a complex process. World’s major lithium producers, including spodumene, petalite, and lepidolite, need to process the minerals in order to get the lithium out. This procedure involves crushing the ore, followed by the extraction of the lithium using froth flotation, magnetic separation, and gravity separation, among other methods. Lithium refining plants in China Lithium can also be obtained from brine lakes, collected via sun concentration and evaporation. Although this process can take longer, it is often less complicated than mineral processing. Amongst all this, India, a country that depended on exports for fulfilling its energy requirements, can now potentially be among the leader of the green energy revolution with the Lithium found in Kashmir. And if extracted and refined wisely, India’s lithium reserves could enable it to compete with China. However, now the focus must shift to assessing the commercial extraction potential of Lithium reserves in Kashmir. Extracting Lithium from Disputed Region Would be a Challenge While developing lithium resources in Kashmir valley will require the Indian government to lure industrial development and investment in the region, the state continues to be volatile. Moreover, with Salal-Haimana just 30 miles from the Line of Control (India-Pakistan border), obtaining lithium from the region will be a huge challenge from a military standpoint. J & K holds only 1% of the total Indian population but accounted for 57% of all deaths triggered by armed conflicts between 2019 and 2021. And Salal-Haimana is among such disputed areas. It is difficult to predict whether a lithium boom might lessen or exacerbate these local governance issues. But, on the other hand, more economic benefits might be provided for the Indian economy and major regional advantages in employment possibilities and improved road and rail infrastructure. Lithium in Kashmir: “The batteries of the Indian economy” The Tribune and the Kashmir Picture, two Indian English-language media publications, have already published articles praising the discovery and referring to it as “the batteries of the Indian economy” to address the region’s unemployment issues. It’s impossible not to be excited. Lithium Found in Kashim – Final Thoughts The discovery of huge reserves of Lithium in Kashmir has the potential to bring India up to the competition in the green energy industry. However, the government must ensure that to make India “atmanirbhar” (self-sufficient) in terms of this vital mineral to attain its net zero goals, they do not compromise the union territory’s delicate ecosystem. In light of the fact that the agricultural sector is already vulnerable to climate change, if lithium mining operations are to be developed, their implications on agricultural productivity must be fairly and thoroughly evaluated. Furthermore, it is critical that the government extract these minerals as ethically as possible; failing which, the fundamental motivation for developing these green technologies would be undermined. It seems that peace in Palestine will remain confined to the realm of wishful thinking. For the vast majority of people around the world, the racist apartheid entity known as Israel is probably the most gargantuan crime against humanity ever committed in the history of mankind.
Israel was conceived in sin, misbegotten in evil when it was established nearly 75 years ago, remains completely evil today, and will always be irremediably evil, no matter how many people sing its praises. The creation of Israel in Palestine may not be the most heinous genocidal act in history. But it is most certainly the biggest and most obscene theft ever. How else can any honest person describe the arrogation of an entire country by the British empire and surrendering it, as a (National home), on a silver platter to another people ( Zionist Jews) on the ground that these people were stateless and persecuted, especially following the tragic events of the World War II. Indelible calamity for Palestinians Indeed, the very creation of Israel and its malignant growth into a powerful evil entity has inflicted a huge indelible calamity to every Palestinian family. Yes, thanks to Zionism’s triumph, thanks to overwhelming, unlimited and sustained backing by racist, anti-Islam Western powers such as UK and US, every Palestinian family had its share of the still ongoing agony, immense suffering and misery resulting from the establishment of the evil entity, which is nothing less than a protracted, unrelenting and unceasing crime against humanity. It is probably impossible to find a single Palestinian who has escaped the impact of the Zionist Jewish crimes, still, continues unabated. Israel: When will the Jews say Mea Culpa? This writer’s family, for example, was forced to dwell in a cave for 20 years, following the near extermination of my father’s family in 1953. In that fateful year, Jewish terrorists massacred his three paternal uncles, Hussein, Mahmoud and Yousef not far from the village of, al-Burj, about 30 km southwest of the town of Hebron. The three, along with other relatives, were totally innocent shepherds, grazing their folks of sheep near the armistice line. In addition to murdering my family, No Peace in Palestine the Zionist murderers stole hundreds of sheep upon which our family depended on for living.Interestingly, up to this day, Israel, the so-called only democracy in the Middle East, has not said “Mea Culpa“! let alone paid compensations for their crimes When will the Zionist Jews say a simple sorry for their unwept victims? Perhaps when kosher pigs fly! Yes, every single Palestinian has a story to tell about what happened to his or her immediate family, relatives, neighbours and fellow villagers. The Zionists, notoriously selfish and narcissistic, calculated that old Palestinians who experienced the holocaust-like Nakba first-hand ( the brutal, violent extirpation of an entire people from its ancestral homeland does constitute a form of genocide), would die and the young would forget. However, the Zionist calculations proved utterly faulty as the cause has been kept alive and living, strongly and firmly, in the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world, including in Palestine itself where close to eight million Palestinians continue to live as a thorn in the Zionists’ side despite all their nefarious designs, plots and exploits to consign our just cause to oblivion. There are several reasons for this exemplary resilience and steadfastness on the part of the Palestinian people, including the following: 1-The colossal Nakba, was by no means a one-time event lasting for a few weeks or a few months, followed by peace or an end of hostility. The Palestinians actually never encountered circumstances or conditions conducive to making them or their descendants forget or overcome their pains. Indeed, ever since 1948, the collective Palestinian experience has been a sequence of atrocities, pogroms, repressive measures, mass internment and imprisonment, home -demolitions, land-grabbing, sporadic massacres, and similar acts of persecution and oppression. This would draw a conclusion that peace in Palestine belongs to the realm of fantasy. The main purpose of these evil measures has always been to force the Palestinians, or significant numbers of them, to leave their homeland for good. Indeed, in many instances, the Zionist authorities offered attractive sums of money to “encourage” Palestinians to emigrate to countries such as Australia and Canada. However, very few Palestinians would swallow the Zionist bait. The unrelenting suffering and the protracted oppression and savagery kept alight the torch of resistance even to this day as most Palestinians came to realize that they were facing two main alternatives: continued resistance even at a high price, or going into oblivion and repeating the experiment of the “American Indians” of the Middle East. 2-The second reason which enabled the Palestinians to keep their struggle alive is their strong Islamic faith. Islam encourages its followers to resist oppression and not succumb or give in to oppressors. True, Palestinian nationalism played and continues to play an important role in sustaining the resistance. However, it is amply clear that Islam is more able to provide an inexhaustible source of motivations for the increasingly religious showdown with Israel. More to the point, Palestinians feel they have a paramount religious duty to protect, defend, and liberate al-Aqsa Mosque from the claws of Zionism. Indeed, most Palestinians realize there can be no Palestine without Jerusalem and no Jerusalem without the Aqsa Mosque. Hence, their resolve to sacrifice body and soul for the liberation of Islam’s third holiest sanctuary. No Peace without Justice, but Justice is more than impossible Since there can be no lasting peace in Palestine without true justice that leaves the slate thoroughly clean, it would be safe to argue that reaching a genuine peace between Muslims and Zionist Jews would be as unlikely as Satan the devil entering the Garden of Eden in the company of prophets, saints, martyrs and righteous people on the Day of Judgment. But since Satan will go to hell rather than paradise, peace in Palestine will remain confined to the realm of wishful thinking. And even if Zionist Jews were to reach the conclusion that enough was enough, they still would have to agree to a system of redress for the egregious injustices inflicted on their victims from the very inception of the gargantuan crime against humanity. For justice, even a semblance of justice to materialize, the Jews of the world would have to pay the Palestinians adequate and prompt reparations for the purpose of promoting justice and redressing the horrible and still ongoing crimes against the victims and their descendants up to the 10th generation. I cannot determine the exact amount of reparations and indemnification which Jews would have to pay for the victims. But an initial amount of 30-50 trillion dollars would probably suffice for a final rapprochement. Am I undergoing day-dreaming. Definitely. That is why even invoking the possibility of a real durable peace between Palestine and Israel belongs to the realm of fantasy and wishful thinking. |
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