cHindu defends Pakistan on hiding Osama

Everyone and their dog knows that Pakistan knew Osama bin Laden was hiding their country not in some mountain but in plain sight in a suburb near Islamabad. A place a stone's throw (literally) away from a Military academy. If it were ever proved that Pakistan did not know that Osama lived within its borders they should shave their head and jump off a bridge. However cHindu defends Pakistan by a series of articles today.

Pakistan laments ‘unilateral' U.S. action

Pakistan said it wasn't sure whether Osama was alive or dead

Osama financed the fall of Benazir's government, says Zardari

Kayani: ‘It is unjust to criticize Pakistan' for not locating Osama

Operation caught ISI “by surprise”

cHindu should change its name to National paper of Pakistan. Even Dawn has not offered a stirring defense of Pakistan.
Here's a headline from Dawn:
US feared Pakistan might ‘alert’ Bin Laden about raid: CIA

cHindu stands up for women's rights in Pakistan

The story of Mukhtaran Mai of Pakistan is a tragic tale showing to the world the pitiable conditions of women there and morass of cultural problems. That is just the tip of the iceberg. The lack of political will and judicial backbone to take this case and punish the rapists has exposed what Pakistan really stands for.

But this extraordinarily brave woman, unlettered at the time of the monstrous crime, decided to defy societal taboos to take her attackers to court. It is disappointing that Pakistan's highest court has ruled against her. On April 21, a three-judge bench upheld, by a majority of two to one, the Lahore High Court's acquittal of five men accused of the rape (while confirming the life sentence to a sixth) on the ground of insufficient evidence. The verdict is unsettling for several reasons. In most of South Asia, for reasons that are well known, it is never easy for a woman to make a formal complaint of rape.

It is a good sign to see cHindu expose the soft underbelly that passes for Pakistan's judicial system.
The same system which beats up minorities for blasphemy:

This verdict sets the bar for evidence so high — in contrast are the evidentiary requirements in a blasphemy case — that it can only act as further discouragement to rape victims seeking justice.

We expect to see more such pieces of investigative journalism by cHindu and see it in action with NGO's in Pakistan to fight for the rights of those who deserve more than the Islamic tinpot bestows.

Either SMKrishna is incredibly smart or ...

The claims made by Hussain Rana a key accused in the 26/11 mumbai attacks have literally proved that ISI not only knew about the attacks but was involved in planning and execution of the same.
External affairs Minister SM Krishna when asked about this said:

We will certainly take it up. We are in constant touch with the Pakistan government through our diplomatic channels.These are two different aspects. Peace talks will go on, cricket matches will go on and simultaneously our relentless efforts will continue to bring to justice all those responsible for the heinous crime.

If he is expecting the Paki Govt to put the ISI on the stand for 26/11 he is sorely mistaken. No politician with an ounce of self-preservation has challenged and won against the ISI (Read Bhutto, Sharif, Zia etc.).
Krishna's approach seems to be one to converse and bore the Pakis to death. Which should bear fruit in about 5551 years.

Hypocrisy between Libya and Saudi Arabia, China

A layman cannot distinguish between Saudi and Libya if the names were removed from this article. However the media chooses to remain passive in the case of one and acting with moral repugnance on the other. Where is the equanimity on the situation of people in both these countries?

The kingdom banned all demonstrations saying they contradicted Islamic laws and society values, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry. The new clampdown came a day after about 100 members of the Shia minority staged a protest in the western region of the kingdom.

Its one thing to complain about dictatorship, but to give a free pass to the country which has been in the forefront of sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, that is ridiculous. Or for that matter cHindu's favourite nation of cHina

N.Ram advising against muslim intolerance? Heck, no.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Creeping intolerance

As in Pakistan, support for religious political parties is not high but radical Muslim groups wield a disproportionate amount of street influence — and in this way succeed in shaping the responses of politicians and government officials

It is no different in India. One might say there is a slight difference - not just the radical muslim groups but all muslim groups wield a disproportionate amount of street influence. So N.Ram's advice to Indonesia is equally applicable to India. But wait a minute, is N.Ram really advising muslims?

It is to be hoped that Indonesia, which has moved ahead politically and economically with much speed after getting rid of Suharto, will tackle the intolerance with the same determination it has shown in dealing with the Islamist terror group Jemaah Islmiyah.

You bet not. "It is to be hoped" by who? N.Ram is not even hoping to see a change in Indonesia's radical muslim groups.

Using wicked censorship protecting Islamic miscreants

cHindu and LiC have always blamed Hindus for creating communal tensions for situations where they were innocent bystanders. In a recent incident in Delhi the police brought down a "religious structure" and somehow some "people" were injured when they "protested". The whole incident caused "religious tension". (Yes I'm having a Sidd Varadarajan hangover here).
Guess which religion they were referring to? What was the "religious structure"?

Interesting interview with Hurriyats Geelani on Kashmir protests

Check out an interesting interview by Nirupama Subramanian with Syed Geelani of the Kashmiri Hurriyat.
The key reason this is interesting more so from the aggressive questioning by Nirupama who does not really give way to the usual bluster shown by journalists when facing Geelani. His penchant for turning any interview into a propaganda session is quickly blunted by Nirupama to focus on the issues and puts him on the back foot. It is always difficult trying to interview a crazy zealot at his home, but Nirupama acquits herself and cHindu credibly with as incisive a session possible.
One does wish she couldv'e called out Geelani on the phony Kashmiriyat issue. But thats a topic for another discussion.

The liberal democracy of Saudi Arabia's new workplace rules

There are few nations which seldom disappoint in ensuring that their standing in the nations around are kept high (or in the abyss in this case).
Saudi Arabia in this case shows its fervent stand in ensuring workplace equality between men and women is imposed strictly per the law. Only that in this case, the law or Sharia states that women should not be allowed to work with men.

The official fatwa issuing body said “it is not permissible for a woman to work in a place where they mix with men,” said the news website Sabq.org.
“It is necessary to keep away from places where men congregate.
Women should look for decent work that does not make it possible for them to attract men or be attracted by men,” it said.The ruling was unambiguous, and signed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, head of the Senior Scholars Council, and six other members of the fatwa committee.

Waiting for cHindu and progressive leader N.Ram to come up with an editorial praising the religion of peace.

Hiding behind technicalities - Arundhati Roy charges

Being a journalist in many parts of the world is a tough job. Not wanting to banal, other than the TV heads and the heads of print media, most of the remaining journos have to fight multiple things like competition, lack of imagination, lack of news, reader fatigue to publish good stories. However given a great story like wacky "intellectual" Arundhati Roy pushing for separation of Kashmir from India, N.Ram and his team of jackasses publish what is probably the most banal articles possible titled '‘Sedition' versus free speech '.
Defending Ms.Roy for her treasonous activities, LiC initiates his salvo at the BJP,

It is deplorable that three sentences uttered at a seminar relating to the status of Kashmir within India should have evoked such zealous hyper-patriotic anger and resulted in demands for invoking harsh sedition laws.

He makes it claim as though she was charged during the Spanish Inquisition and burned on a stake!
The primary claim of all left wing journos is that they want freedom of speech when one of theirs makes treasonous statements. But when a nationalistic person makes a statement bashing China or Communism or a certain violent minority, the hypocritical N.Ram and his minions would be in a mad rush to beat them up.

In his classic defence of free speech, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill laid down what is known as the ‘harm principle.' It postulates that the only justification for silencing a person against his will is to prevent him from causing harm to others. It is to this powerful libertarian mid-19th century principle that we owe the idea that free speech cannot be proscribed merely because we find it disagreeable, and that curbs may be imposed only if such expression constitutes a direct, explicit, and unequivocal incitement to violence.

What Arundhati Roy did was exactly that. Supporting the rock throwing militants of Kashmir, who have for years sucked on the funds from the "special" status provided by Article 370 is a clear unambiguous evidence of treason. For all the free speech thrown around by the jerk N.Ram, how about publishing articles of the pogrom conducted by these stone throwing militants? Or the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus who were evicted from their homes?
But these are not the voices N.Ram and his minions like Sidd Varadarajan want to listen to. This is the real BS pushed as editorials by cHindu.

Mushy confirms Pak sponsored terrorism

Former Pak prez Pervez Musharraf confirmed what all (other than writers in cHindu) have said all along that Pakistan has been training and funding terrorism in India over the last few decades.

In an interview to Der Spiegel, General Musharraf said militant groups “were indeed formed” to fight India in Kashmir.

Now that their former President has accepted their culpability in this issue, can we go ahead and flush out the rats in Kashmir?
Not so surprisingly the Indian media has been slow in jumping on this issue to force Pakistan to officially address this issue. The next time you hear someone in the media claim how the people of Pak are not to blame for this, you should forward this article to them.

Blatant Israel baiting by cHindu

LIC and his minions in cHindu like Sidd Varadarajan have some common motifs when it comes to International affairs. Anything about Palestine should be supported and so should any action against Israel.
So when a bunch of Arab tinpot dictatorships decide to censure Israel for having nukes, a motion which was defeated, cHindu expresses its disappointment in the result.

The resolution expressed “concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities,” while urging the Jewish state to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to open its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection.

How about questioning the human rights practices in those Arab nations? Or the dismal conditions for immigrants, women and minorities there. That's an article which will rarely be written in the cHindu.

Muslim fundamentalism in Kerala

Panikkar says Christians are reinforcing the religious fundamentalism of Muslims. But he doesn't miss the opportunity to take pot shots at Hindus.
The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : A victim of fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalists are on the rise among Muslims and Hindus.