LOST CULTURE - WESTERN PUNJAB’S IMPRINTS ON DISTRICT SHIEKHPURA OF BIHAR

LOST CULTURE -  WESTERN PUNJAB’S IMPRINTS ON DISTRICT SHIEKHPURA OF BIHAR

 SYED ALI MUJTABA

 

I am a native of village Maanay, Panchayat – Chakandra, Block Chewara. I am trying to develop a linguistic theory based on the spoken native words that have huge Punjabi imprints in the lingua franca in my native place called Shiekhpura, a district of Bihar in India.  

 

The evidence so far I have collected is as follows.  

1-    There is district Shekhupura in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Here we have a district with the name but with a little tongue twist called Shiekhpura district in Bihar.

There are several names of the villages that are carbon copies of the names that exist today on the other side of the border in the Pakistani territory.

 

i)                   There is Chakdara Fort in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. We have a village called Chakandara in the Shiekhpura district in Bihar.

ii)                 Pind means village in Punjabi - we have a village with the same name called Pind in the Shiekhpura district of Bihar.

iii)               Bilo means a beautiful girl in Punjabi – There is a village called Bilo in the Shiekhpura district of Bihar.

iv)               Khande means corner in Punjabi - There is a village named Khande, in Shiekhpura district in Bihar

 

There are a lot of colloquial words which are actually Punjabi in origin but are commonly spoken as a lingua franca in the Shiekhpura district in Bihar.

i)                   Gal bat – is a Punjabi word which means talk in Shiekhpra in Bihar it means doing talking or some common talk

ii)                 Boot-roo – This is a Punjabi word or Persian word that means like an idol – This has come to mean any infant in Shiekhpura district in Bihar.

3- Kubela – This is a Punjabi word meaning ‘evening.’ This has come to mean late evening in Shiekhpura district in Bihar

 

There are other linguistic other similar comparisons that I am working on to develop my study. I will be glad if anyone can add input to my study. This will definitely add to developing my thoughts further.

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Dr. Syed Ali Mujtaba is a Professor at Guru Nanak College in Chennai, India.  He comes from the village Maanay, District Shiekhpura Bihar. He has grown up in South Delhi in the Punjabi locality and has a smattering knowledge of the Punjabi language.  He is trying to develop a comparative study based on his linguistic grip of two different places. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com 

A Hijabi girl winning 16 medals proves a point to anti-Hijab forces in India

 

A Hijabi girl winning 16 medals proves a point to anti-Hijab forces in India 

Syed Ali Mujtaba

A girl with Hijab bags 16 gold medals in studies gives a bold reply to all those who are for its ‘ban’ in the educational institutions of the country. 

Meet Hijabi Bushra Mateen, a 22-year-old civil engineering graduate from SLN College of Engineering, Raichur, who has bagged 16 gold medals, at the 21st annual convocation of Visvesvaraya Technological University, on March 10. She has secured a grade of 9.47 out of 10, in her studies donning a headscarf all her life.

Bushra Mateen won first place in 16 different categories, the highest by a single student from VTU University.  The tally includes the VTU gold medal for the topper as well as other endowment medals.

Bushra created a record of sorts in the history of VTU because to date the maximum number of gold medals won by a single student was 13. 

At the event, Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla delivered the convocation speech. Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot presided over the function. Minister of Higher Education Dr. CN Aswathanarayan was the Chief Guest of the event.

Bushra received her early education at St. Mary’s Convent School, Raichur, and completed her pre-university at Pramana PU College, Raichur.  She got over 90% marks in all her exams.

Bushra Mateen’s father, Sheikh Zaheeruddin, is a government civil engineer and her mother is a bachelor in arts.  

Bushra’s father who was present on the occasion said “Bushra was good at studying since childhood and she has worked hard for her studies. We are all very proud that she has got the fruits of her labor.”

Bushra’s mother gave a piece of advice on the necessity to educate girls for the development of the nation. “It is extremely important for women to get educated. They should be empowered to make their own decisions. And education is the most important way to do that,” she said.

Bushra's future goal is to appear for the UPSC Civil Services exam for which she has already started preparing from November 2021.

  “When I started with the course, I wanted to work for the government as that is the best place to work as a civil engineer but later, I realized I wanted to go for UPSC as it provides a bigger canvas to serve the country, she said. 

Bushra Mateen uses Hijab since her childhood and says the headscarf has never come in the way of her studies. “Hijab is my choice and fundamental and constitutional right. It has never come in my way to achieve my target nor has any non-Muslim ever objected to it. I have never faced any problem right from my school days to college because of wearing Hijab,” she said.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist. He can be contacted at syedalimjtaba2007@gmail.com 

'Bulli Bai' App Case - Advent of Cyber Hindu Jihadist in India

 'Bulli Bai' App Case - Advent of Cyber Hindu Jihadist in India

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The arrests made in the 'Bulli Bai' app case by the cyber branch police from Mumbai and Delhi suggest the existence of Hindu Cyber Jihadists in India. It is now common wisdom that the Hindutva brigade has created a cyber-ecosystem in the country that can pose an internal security threat to the country. Those arrested in the 'Bulli Bai' app case are; Shweta Singh (19) from Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand, Mayank Rawat (21) from Kotdwar in Uttarakhand, Vishal Kumar Jha (21) from Bengaluru, Niraj Bishnoi, of Jorhat Assam, and Aumkareshwar Thakur from Indore. 

While Shweta Singh is an aspiring engineering student, Mayank Rawat is a Chemistry honors student from Zakir Hussain College Delhi, Vishal Kumar Jha is an engineering student in Bengaluru, Niraj Bishnoi is a second-year B.Tech student from VIT Bhopal, and Aumkareshwar Thakur holds a Bachelor of Computer Application degree.

It was found during the course of the investigation that all these young tech-savvy youth knew each other and worked on the instructions for someone who is based in Nepal.  The common interests of all are they are motivated by Hindutva ideology. All are fired with the zeal to make India a Hindu Rashtra, a la Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

This bunch of young folks created an app called the 'Bulli Bai' app where they uploaded photographs of Muslim women mostly social activists and posted them on the GitHub platform on 'auction'. Bulli Bai is a derogatory Hindi slang used by right-wing Hindu trolls for Muslim women.

 These cyber Jihadists targeted Muslim women who were vocal about the rising tide of Hindutva in India.  Among those listed for 'auction' are prominent Muslim journalists, activists’ lawyers, and public figures. Many among them were active in the anti CAA protests that rocked the country in 2020.

A 2018 Amnesty International report has said that ‘online harassment in India has shown that the more vocal a woman was, the more likely she was to be targeted - the scale of this increased for women from religious minorities.’

The most disgusting aspect of this gory crime was that even Najeeb’s mother was listed in the 'Bulli Bai' auction.  Najeeb was a JNU student who disappeared from the campus during Kaniya Kumar’s ‘Azadi’ agitation. It is widely believed he has been murdered by the right-wing Hindu activists on campus.      

This is the second attempt by cyber Jihadists to harass Muslim women by "auctioning" them online. In July 2021, an app and website called "Sulli Deals" were created with profiles of more than 80 Muslim women, using their photos describing them as "deals of the day" online.  Sulli is also a pejorative term used for Muslim women by Hindutva extremists. Then the Delhi Police had registered a case against some unknown persons but made no arrests in the case probably because their hands were tied due to political pressure from above.

In the 'Bulli Bai' app case there was no actual 'auction' or 'sale' that happened but the purpose was to humiliate the Muslim women for being vocal protestors and also to intimidate some 20 crores Muslim population in India and to cow them in submission.  

These are two undercurrent themes in the arrests made in the 'Bulli Bai' app case. First is there is an organized racket that exists in India comprising of cyber foot soldiers of Hindutva working for the creation of Hindu Rashtra, and the second is to intimidate and humiliate the Muslim population in India.

The Bulli app and Sulli app is a well-planned project with a vast operational network where public and private actors are involved for a common goal to create Hindu Rashtra in India. The operational structure of this network is to use the cyber troops to manipulate public discourse, harass and intimidate independent voices, and unleash a reign of terror through cyberbullying and thus creating a partisan information environment in India.

These Cyber Jihadists are not bothered about the broader implications of their activity on the public discourse in India nor do they care about the sanctity of the country’s democratic processes because they are guided by some vested interests whose objective is creating a Hindu India.   

These ideological enriched cyber creatures want to use the power of the internet to have their way in the making of the brand new republic. The few arrests that have been made so far, in this case, could be just the tip of the iceberg and many more sleeping cells could be in place waiting for the instructions to lunch another defamatory app.      

It is common knowledge that the BJP IT Cell has a team of core members who guide some 20,000 cyber troops to automate hate and manipulate public perceptions across major social media platforms in India. The top echelon creates exclusive content which is well planned and thought out to impact the target and then it's shared to the cyber troop to carry out the activities on different internet platforms.

It is public knowledge that the BJP IT cell core team comprises about 150 members who are paid a very high and those belonging to the cyber troop are salary are ideologically committed folks working on hourly wages.  

An investigation has found that the “Tek Fog” App is used by the operatives of the BJP IT cell. This is the most potent weapon to harass the critics and intimidate them. This app is the brainchild of a devilish and diabolic mindset.  The folks working on this project enjoy the state patronage and are on a mission to create social disharmony in the country.   

Thanks to the political resolve of the Shiv Sena government that it gave the ‘go ahead’ signal to the Mumbai police cybercrime branch to tackle this case. The Delhi police cyber branch that has been sleeping over the Sulli app case too became active this time.  Both did a swift operation to nab the culprits in no time.

The cyber branch police first found out the IP addresses of the devices from which the pictures were uploaded on the app and through the IP addresses, they found the locations of the culprits. Accordingly, they sent the police team to a different location, and with the help of GPS and IP addresses, they nabbed the culprits.

When police arrested Vishal Kumar Jha from Bengaluru, he informed about Shweta Singh from Uttrakhand, who revealed Mayank Rawat’s name, and in this way, all the culprits were nabbed because they were in touch with each other and made the job easy for the police. While making these arrests the police made it public that there could be many more people involved in the case and those arrested were just the tip of the iceberg.  

 The message from the cybercrime branch of police was those who believe in the anonymity that the internet provides them are misplaced. They must know that once the resolve to get them is firmed up, it’s very easy to catch them from whichever device they are using for the crime.

As one watches the spectacle of the 'Bulli Bai' app case, one thing that emerges clearly is that all the arrests made are from the BJP ruled states. Karnataka, Uttrakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, all are BJP ruled states.   So patronage from the state double engine government cannot be ruled out to do such activity. 

The ongoing profiling of the Muslims by the Hindutva Jihadists is also an indicator of a skillful campaign scripted by the master strategists in the well-organized IT cell. It’s from there planning of such campaign is designed and the cyber troops are instructed to carry out the hate campaign in a well-orchestrated manner.

It is also seen that under the current political dispensation at the center the hate factories are in full bloom. The hate propaganda, disinformation campaign is part of a well-crafted state policy going on since 2014 to polarize the society. It’s seen that one campaign ends the other is ready for circulation.  The entire purpose of such a campaign is to build hatred against the Muslims in India so that Hindus can be united as a vote bank to perpetuate the BJP rule in the country.   

 The Muslim community has no clue how to counter these hate mongers. They expect the government, the police, the court, the political parties to come to their rescue but their wishes seldom get fulfilled. As a result, they suffer vilification, intimidation, a humiliation in silence. The evildoers through the Bulli app and Sulli app are carrying on their hate campaign.  

There is an urgent need to engage conscious people in India to raise awareness about such evil practices going on in the country. The idea of making a counter-strategy to combat such evil designs can only be successful if like-minded people come together for such a specific purpose. The hate factories in India can only be silenced if professionals, technical persons, visionaries take part in this battle of cyber warfare. Only positive spirits of India who want moderation, toleration, and peaceful co-existence can uphold the true spirit of the country.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

 

Alternative Narrative on Women Empowerment in Afghanistan

Alternative Narrative on Women Empowerment in Afghanistan

Syed Ali Mujtaba

There is much talk about the trampling of women’s rights in Afghanistan in the media. The narrative being built is how under the Taliban rule,  girls are not allowed to go to school, working women are told to stay home, demonstrations by women are put down with iron hands, women are not represented in the Afghan government, etc. 

These views on the repression of Afghan women under Taliban rule are occupying the dominant space of the media. India along with the US allies is insisting that the Taliban government should shun their conservatism and give women the freedom to move about freely, go to school, go to work and induct them into the government. This dominant view is backed up by the condition that if the Taliban do not become soft on their women, the western aid promised to them will be stopped, and also they may not be recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

These are valid points to impress the progressive societies. However what is being preached and propagated 0is only one side of the story about the Afghan women and there is another side of the story as well. This remains unheard and needs to be told for the people to cast their judgment on this issue.

The starting point for this narrative is what the US and its ally really did for the empowerment of women during the 20 years of occupation of Afghanistan. The freedom that Afghan women got under US protection was to wear jeans, play football or cricket in public, and go to school or work but that was only to a very small section of women living in Kabul. The rest of the country had no such freedom that’s alien to Afghan women. As such with the retreat of the US the Afghan women have really have lost nothing as they never enjoyed anything that was for a tiny minority living in Kabul. 

The majority of the Afghans who live in the rural areas remain rooted in their traditional values. It’s since time immemorial their lives have never changed. In fact, their sufferings increased manifold with the US occupation of their country. They were subjected to daily bombings, wanton killings, and arbitrary violence of the warlords, some of them being allied to the US forces. In such kind of repressive atmosphere under the US occupation, the lives of Afghan women deteriorated further than improved on freedom and liberty index.  

The US had repeatedly stated that promoting women’s rights was one of the key reasons for their intervention in Afghanistan. However, after 20 years their record says they did nothing to improve the condition of women in Afghanistan. The fact is 80% of Afghan girls do not have any school to go, the health care centers for women and child remains abysmally low. These facts point that US occupation did not improve the condition of women of Afghanistan rather it made it worse. 

The Afghan war cost the US taxpayer US$2 trillion but not even a fraction of it went to the Afghan women. The fact is the rural areas where women largely live never got benefited from the western donors and aid agencies and their condition never improved. The corruption in the middle siphoned off much of the money supposed to go to them.  What little went to the rural areas did not make any significant impact on the lives of the women of Afghanistan. Even the basic amenities such as health, education, and water supplies were not improved by the US-controlled government. 

The sorry state of affairs in Afghanistan is to be solely blamed on the international community that is largely responsible for the all-around devastation of that country. The ‘Afghan Jihad’ has brought untold misery and mayhem to the people of Afghanistan. Nearly four decades of war have left the country totally battered and bruised.

Now when Afghanistan has got freedom from foreign occupation, the west is talking about the plight of the women under Taliban rule. This is to absolve themselves from the sorry state of affairs created by them in Afghanistan. The US and its allies are making a case to browbeat the Taliban using women's freedom as an alibi to cover their incompetence to correct the wrongs in Afghanistan. 

The Afghan women had never experienced the individual freedoms enjoyed by the women of the west. Such freedom is alien to them. The societies of the occident have undergone tremendous changes following the renaissance and reformation, the birth of Protestantism, agriculture and industrial revolutions, capital formation, etc. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution had tremendous impacts on the lives of people in the west and had their own impact on the women living in these countries.  

In comparison, the societies of the orient have not experienced any such shock therapies.  They witnessed very slow-paced changes that too after reaching a higher level of economic development. Educational development was the key to women's empowerment in all Asian societies.

In this social context, Afghan women are at the bottom of the ladder because their country has neither been economically sound nor they made any progress in educating its people. The women in Afghanistan are still struggling to gain respect in their homes. They still live in a male-dominated family where their repression is a common theme. They yet have to become partners in the decision-making process of the family. Their fight is to gain ascendency in the family and then in the society and after that to become visible on the streets. All these are tall order and a work in progress.

The majority of the Afghan women are happy at the departure of the foreign troops. They are equally happy at the return of the native rule, no matter how flawed that may be. They now feel at ease at the modicum of peace being established in their country that eggs them towards freedom of mind and to determine them the pace of their development. 

However, right now, the top priority of Afghanistan is the reconstruction and economic safety of the people rather than the empowerment of women. The focus is on repairing and improving the infrastructure, ensuring supplies of essential goods and services, creating institutional structure, training manpower for administration purposes, etc. Improving the condition of women is below the agenda of priorities in Afghanistan.

The US and its ally after their abject failure to improve the condition of the people are talking about women’s rights. Their precondition to release financial aid and de-freeze the Afghan assets locked in western banks only after the improvement of the women’s rights is quite disgusting. This is being done at a time when Afghanistan desperately needs funds to stem the human catastrophe ticking over their country. 

The threat to stop foreign aid to Afghanistan is a total misreading of the women empowerment narrative in that war-torn country. The US and its allies should allow the Afghan women to choose the kind of social change they may like to bring about and the kind of values, mores, and norms they may like to adopt to live freely in their country. They should also be allowed to change at their own pace and not at the likings of the foreign powers.  

Empowerment of women is a work that has just started in Afghanistan. It may take a long time to reach the benchmark set by the western countries. Till then we have to support the reconstruction efforts of Afghanistan and at the same time give a gentle push to the task of women empowerment there.    

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

How British Media Reported Tipu Sultan

 

How British Media Reported Tipu Sultan

Syed Ali Mujtaba

Perhaps no other ruler of India has been covered by the British media as Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu a.k.a Tipu Sultan born at Devanhalli in 1750 and died at Seringapatam on May 4, 1799.  

Tipu was the most feared Indian in Britain and his activities were widely reported in British media. The people in England hungrily awaited reports of the latest outrage of Tipu Sultan during the four Anglo-Mysore Wars.

 Tipu sultan was at the forefront of the British public’s consciousness and his terrifying tales of attacks on the British forces and threats to trading settlements in Madras presidency appeared at regular intervals in the British newspapers.

The return of British prisoners of war, some of whom were held captive in Mysore for several years, led to the writing of books that told harrowing stories of hardship and torture at the hand of this Indian ruler. Many of these accounts were self-serving and those  who followed Tipu Sultan's activities closely were unnerved reading his tales of defiance.  

Tipu Sultan was possibly the most famous Indian in the whole of the United Kingdom. When he died at the hands of General Harris’s troops, that besieged his island capital Seringapatam in 1799, there were celebrations in Britain. The authors, playwrights, and painters created works to celebrate his demise and the crown’s victor over the Tiger of Mysore.

 The news of Tipu’s death was so powerful event that it fuelled much creativity throughout England. Not only authors and playwrights but also artists and painters used canvas to glorify the end of a dreaded Indian ruler who defied the British might.

Tipu Sultan extensively used tiger imagery to convey a sense of his awesome power. Tiger images emblazoned his golden throne, his textiles, coins, swords, and his soldier’s uniforms.

 It is no coincidence that the Seringapatam medal, awarded to those who had taken part in the siege depicts a rampaging lion mauling a supine tiger, suggesting that the Tiger of Mysore was mauled by the lion i.e. the British empire. 

Tipu Sultan held sway in the public mind of the English people well into the nineteenth century. As late as 1868, Wilkie Collins chose the siege of Srirangapattana and its subsequent looting as the setting for the opening of his bestselling novel ‘The Moonstone.’

The ‘South Asia Gallery’ at the British Museum has provided a space for the legendary Indian ruler Tipu Sultan. It displays his sword, ring, and perfume box. The descriptions of his objects by the British Museum are following:

“From 1766, the greatest threat to the East India Company came from the ruler of Mysore. In 1782 Tipu Sultan became the ruler of the province. His military and administrative skill made him a legend during his lifetime. He was feared and respected both by the English and his countrymen. England sent its best troops to try and defeat him and kidnapped his sons in 1792. He was finally killed in 1799, during a battle in which the British successfully gained control of the city Sarirangapatnam.  Tipu’s possessions (‘everything that power could command or money could purchase’) were taken by victors and are now in collections all over the world. This sword, decorated with his emblem, the tiger is from his treasury, but the gold ring is said to have been taken from his finger after the battle by Arthur Henry Cole, the resident of Mysore.” 

The description of Tipu Sultanat at the London Museum suggests that how important the ruler of Mysore was for the British government. 

It needs to be reminded that Tipu Sultan was secular to the core. His chief minister Purnaiya was a Hindu, and so were several other prominent nobles at his court.

Tipu Sultan was a generous patron of several Hindu temples. This included the Sri Ranganatha temple near his main palace at Srirangapattana. He respected the Swami of the Sringeri Math and called him Jagadguru.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com .

 

Afghanistan- Modi has distanced India from Taliban

 

Afghanistan- Modi has distanced India from the Taliban  

Syed Ali Mujtaba

In India, it's being fiercely debated that why the BJP government did reach out to the Taliban when every other stakeholder was talking to them for quite some time?  US, Russia, China, and Iran is in a much better position to deal with the Taliban and address their concerns, whereas the Modi government’s domestic agenda has tied India’s hand to reach out to the Taliban.

Sometimes after 2014, the US and other prominent countries changed their perception towards the Taliban. They realized that the center of gravity rests on these Pashtun guerrillas and so they started talking with the Taliban so that they can exit from Afghanistan.  However, the BJP government’s myopic view of the situation in Afghanistan kept them opposing the Taliban. India continued supporting the puppet government in Afghanistan without having plan ‘B’ in place, in case, if the current government falls down.   

Indian response to the developments in Afghanistan has exposed the chinks in the Modi government’s foreign policy. His arrogance in statecraft is singularly responsible for putting India into the most disadvantaged situation in Afghanistan.

What does the BJP government’s opposition to the Taliban has done to India?  The first and foremost is the threat to India’s investments made in Afghanistan. India has invested over 3 billion USD in Afghanistan. It's close to two decades now that India has been a partner in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. It has built infrastructures in education, medical, agriculture, power generation fields. India has constructed a new Parliament building in Kabul. It engaged in constructing the Shahtoot Dam on the Kabul River. India has also built roads, schools, universities, hospitals, and sports stadiums in different parts of Afghanistan. All these were with good intention to develop Afghanistan. 

However, the question remains, why India did not make any plan to protect its interests if the US and the planted government leave the scene. India was relying on these two fragile sources of strength, hoping US cover will remain forever and the puppet government will serve its interests. Both, these pillars that India thought were its strength have been blown away by the winds of change sweeping across Afghanistan, leaving India in no man’s land.       

The Modi government’s ill-conceived foreign policy towards Afghanistan has numerous impacts on India. The first price for not negotiating with the Taliban is likely to make India forfeit all its investments made in Afghanistan.

The second harm the BJP government did by stonewalling the Taliban is it has put the lives of many Indians at risk in Afghanistan. Recently, the Taliban had displayed its anti-Indian intentions clear, killing an Indian photojournalist in a cold blood manner. India has little option than to pull out its national from Afghanistan. It has been organizing operation ‘Airlift’ to take out its citizen from Afghanistan.

The most interesting question that arises here is; whether the BJP government gives shelter/ asylum/citizenship to people who were in the Afghan government, with whom India had been engaging for 20 years or so while doing the reconstruction work in Afghanistan. If India does not protect them then it will bring a bad name to the country and in case if India welcomes such persecuted Muslims how will they bypass the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA). If that happens, will the BJP lose the sheen of its religious nationalism project?  

The third fall out of the Taliban’s hold on Afghanistan will be on India’s internal security. India cannot stop the mushrooming of the terror groups in Afghanistan who are furious at the anti-Islam- anti-Muslim agenda being pursued in India. In such a case, new factions of terror groups will emerge in Afghanistan on which           India will have no control. Many may be infiltrating inside India and it’s likely that terror activities in Kashmir may increase. 

The fourth fall out of   Taliban control of Afghanistan will be that they will make India a transit route to smuggle their drugs to foreign destinations. Taliban are bound to increase the production of drugs to generate more revenue to run the government and with the golden triangle being heavily guarded, it’s Indian waters that may become a conduit route for the Afghan drugs to move to the foreign countries. A treaty with the Taliban could have addressed such issues, but the BJP government’s arrogance has doomed all such national concerns.

 The fifth fall out of India’s ill-conceived foreign policy towards the Taliban is losing all the partners that may have facilitated India to play a role in the Afghan peace process. Now India cannot cut much ice, vis-à-vis Pakistan or China, because of the given relationship with the BJP government with these two countries. A troika has been made with Russia, China Iran, and Pakistan leaving out India. India going into the American camp has lost both Russia and China. Even the US has sidestepped India and has made a deal with Central Asian republics, Afghanistan and Pakistan to keep its interest afloat in that region, where India has no role to play.      

Now, when the US-backed Afghan government has fallen, India is scrambling for reconciliation with the Taliban but all such overtures have been so far unanswered. It needs to be remembered that the Taliban had reached out to the Indian diplomats in 2018 in Russia to make friends but India did not give any weightage.

The former chief of the Taliban’s Doha office; Syed Akbar Agha has publicly stated that the Taliban are not keen to reconcile with India. The Taliban leader said; “In fact, we had earlier sent messages of peace and friendship but India had rebuffed them and now it’s late.”

Another spokesperson for the Taliban in Doha Suhail Shaheen has commented that after their spectacular victories on the battlefield, India is changing its colors. Shaheen alleged that India was arming the Afghan government all along so, “how it’s possible to talk with them when they were arming the puppet regime? This is contradictory as they with our enemies and not with us. If they stick to their policy of supporting a government-imposed on Afghans, then maybe they should be worried about us and not the Taliban.”

It’s no secret that India has provided military equipment like helicopters, artillery field pieces, small arms, radar, ammunition, amongst others, to the Afghan government to fight the Taliban. In such a case, how India can prove its neutrality to the Taliban.

Taliban’s recent statement reaffirms that they are not happy with India.  They have blamed India for not having an impartial attitude towards them and with the Indian government taking sides supporting Afghanistan, they have doomed their prospects in dealing with the Taliban.

As the drama is unfolding drama in Afghanistan and of Taliban’s victory is keenly watched all over the world, the debate is raging in India as to who has shot our motherland on its foot.

The responsibility for creating a threat to India squarely rests on the current government which has put the country in such a situation that cannot be reversed. After Pakistan and China, the Modi government has made Afghanistan a new headache for India. The narrative of post-truth India making of the brand new republic is solely responsible for creating the threats from Afghanistan. The Modi government’s squinted foreign policy towards Afghanistan has shot India on its foot. It has made the country limp to search for a vantage position from where it can deal with a country that has otherwise been friends with India for long. 

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

 

India Searching for Space in Afghan Peace Process

 India Searching for Space in Afghan Peace Process

Syed Ali Mujtaba

India’s External Affairs Minister Jaishanker was in Iran, apparently searching space for India in the peace process in Afghanistan. Well it’s the magnanimity of Iranian leadership to meet India’s Foreign Minister, as New Delhi is on the list of non-friends, if not enemies. The reason being, India voting against Iran in the United Nations. India’s desperation over the developments in Afghanistan is evident because knowing well the facts on the ground, the PMO has sent the External Affairs Minister to go to Tehran and make friends with Iranians.   

Why was Iran India’s External Affairs Minister Jaishanker destination, why not Moscow or Riyadh or UAE? Well, India has lost Moscow’s cover, since it stopped buying defence equipment from Russia. India has also distanced from Moscow since it abandoned the socialist path and has been following the capitalist path, making anti-working-class laws. India’s domestic compulsions that have been pushing for making India a Hindu religious state further distances Russia, as the two countries are not on the same ideological plane.

India’s open preferences for anti- Islam anti-Muslim agenda at home do not placate the Wahabis and Salafis brand of Islam of the Mid-East as well. This leaves India with the option to court Shiite Iran.I think our Minister has forgotten the Iranian fatwa on the Satanic Verses. In his learned vision, Shiite Iran will tolerate Hindus' slurs on Islam and anti-Muslim campaign in India. 

Notwithstanding the facts, the fact remains that India wants to take Iran’s help to protect its interests in Afghanistan. How far Iran will serve India’s wishful interest in Afghanistan remains to be seen, none the less India’s External Affairs Minister had gone to Tehran to break the ice, searching for space in the Afghan peace process. 

There is no denying the fact that the US's exit from Afghanistan has brought instability to the entire region. The geopolitical situation in that region is in flux. The military vacuum created by the US retreat has moved regional powers to move into Afghanistan.  The idea of a regional solution to Afghanistan has always had a political appeal, but the divergent regional strategic vision has limited the peace prospects in Afghanistan.

Even as a sustainable regional consensus remains elusive in Afganistan, Russia, Pakistan and China have formed a troika to deal with the situation developing in Afghanistan. They have left India out in the Afghan peace deal, and this has made ‘Viswa-Guru’ running to Iran, searching for space in the peace process in Afghanistan.

Who are the regional players in the Afghan peace process?  

Pakistan - The first and foremost regional actor is India's arch-rival Pakistan. It was frontline state for the US from 1979 to 1990 and helped the US build the military machine called ‘Mujahedeen’ to oust the Soviet invaders. It was at the behest of the US; Pakistan created the backup force called the Taliban to replace the Mujahedeen at a later stage. After the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan in 1994, Pakistan played a key role in placing the Taliban on the hot seat of power in Kabul.  1994-2001, Taliban rule in Afghanistan, saw Afghanistan becoming heaven of Anti – American forces, leading to an attack on Twin Tower in New York on September 11, 2001. This triggered a direct invasion of the US into Afghanistan. Pakistan was once again made a frontline state by the US in its war against terror. The US was successful in ousting the Taliban and physically supported an Afghan regime that the US placed in Kabul for the next twenty years. However, having failed to bring stability to Afghanistan, the US bought peace with the Taliban and made an exit from the place it desired to bring enduring freedom.  This has made Pakistan is once again relevant in the Afghan peace deal because it has been handling the Mujahedeen and the Taliban for from last forty years or so.

Iran – Iran is another neighbor that has close involvement with Afghanistan.  This is because Persian being the court language and well understood and spoken in Afghanistan all over and second, a large Shia population living in Northern provinces of Afghanistan.  Iran has been traditionally protecting the interests of its population and most of the ruling elite in Afghanistan are of the Shia sect. Iran can’t forfeit the historical role it has played in the political stability in Afghanistan.

Tajikistan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan etc. – These central Asian republics share borders with Afghanistan. They too have their ethnic population residing in Afghanistan. These multiethnic groups in Afganistan have a support base in central Asian republics. As a result, Tajikstan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan have a decisive role in the future political settlement in Afghanistan.  

Russia – Even though Russia is an extra-regional power since 1979 it's been playing a huge role in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. After the 1990s, Russia has been on the Taliban side to oust the US  occupation of Afghanistan. It is well known that Russia has been providing military assistance to the Taliban to sustain its anti-US military campaign. Therefore, Russia has a huge interest in shaping the peace process in Afghanistan.    

China – China has emerged as a new player in the peace process in Afghanistan. It wants to enter into the power vacuum left behind by the US. China shares a border with Afghanistan and there are unconfirmed reports that say that it has been training the Taliban, providing them arms and ammunition to fight against American occupation forces. China offers the Taliban the recognition of its alternative vision of governance that does not conform to the Western model. China is willing to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan. Just like Myanmar, China is ready to protect the Taliban regime against any western sanctions. China is aware of its role as a regional player and has a huge stake in bringing stability to Afghanistan. China's main interest is to make its belt and road policy run into central Asian republics. It wants China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to be extended beyond Pakistan and through Afghanistan enter into the central Asian Republics. Besides, China is keen on mining activity, that’s in abundance in Afghanistan and remains unexplored. All these grand designs of China are quite palatable to the Taliban. They are  receptive to the Chinese investments in Afghanistan as this may bring all-around development to their country. So, China has a huge stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan.  

India- All these factors have been increasingly pushing India into a geopolitical tight spot in Afghanistan. This is because the era of prolonged peace in Afghanistan secured by the US military presence has come to an end. It means new constraints on India’s ability to operate inside Afghanistan. As such India’s lack of direct physical access to Afghanistan and that underlines the importance of having effective regional partners for playing peacemakers. 

But who could be India’s regional partners? Certainly Pakistan and China is ruled out because the current political dispensation in Delhi sees the two countries as enemies of India. As a result, New Delhi is intensifying its engagement with Iran. In fact, India had made great preparation to hold Afghanistan through Iran, committing to build Chabhar port. However, India voted against Iran at the United Nations giving weightage to the US over Iran and that has turned to be its undoing. Now, it remains to be seen how much weightage Iran gives to India to meddle into Afghanistan.

India has invested billions of dollars after the US invasion of Afghanistan.  It has constructed a new Parliament building in Kabul. India has also built dams, roads, schools, universities, hospitals, and sports stadiums in different parts of Afghanistan. This means India has to gate crash into Afghanistan to safeguard its interests. That is the reason the current leadership in Delhi is courting Iran, expecting it to facilitate India's entry into Afghanistan. However,  this is subjected to numerous ifs and buts.

So, will India lose all its investments in Afghanistan, which run into billions of rupees? Certainly not! India has some history of engaging Taliban. Indian officials had first direct contact with the Taliban in 2013, when they issued a visa to senior Taliban leader Abdul Salam Zaeef for attending a conference in Delhi. Further in 2018, some senior Taliban leaders met with Indian representatives in Moscow. Indian officials and Taliban leaders held a meeting in Doha in June 2021.  It was reported that the Taliban leader Mullah Baradar was in contact with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who was pushing Russia, Iran and India to start a dialogue with the Taliban. Taliban group was aware that India was providing military support to the US-backed Afghan government and it had warned Delhi to remain impartial. The Taliban leadership had made it clear that they would not interfere in Kashmir to suit India’s interests. 

As a result, India has to rethink its stand on dealing with the Taliban if it likes to protect its interest in Afghanistan.  Since India is in no position to dictate terms to the Taliban it has to evolve a new policy that is different from the current policy of supporting the US-backed Afghan regime. India's new policy should not be based on Pakistan and China’s moves in Afganistan. India has to acknowledge the fact that it cannot match the reach and depth of Pakistan and China that has land boundaries with Afghanistan. 

The good thing is, Taliban has signaled that it will not be a proxy for anyone and will pursue its independent policies. This gives India the opportunity to deal exclusively with the Taliban. Taliban has already given assurance that it will not support Pakistan-backed anti-India terrorist groups from its soil. It remains to be seen that India gives an assurance to refrain from Muslim bashing that's currently going on to build a new relationship with the Taliban. 

There is no denying the fact Taliban remains a major force to reckon with in Afghanistan. There cannot be any peace in Afghanistan without Taliban playing a central role in the Afghan peace process. At the same time, Taliban cannot rule the whole of Afghanistan without accommodating the interests of other groups in that country. 

If India has to protect its investments in Afghanistan, it has to directly deal with the Taliban. India has to remain active and patient watching the evolving situation in Afghanistan.  There may be many opportunities for India that may bacon it from the front door in the Afghan peace process, and this need not be through Iran. Certainly for this, India has to bottle up its own Taliban!  

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com