India yesterday, today and tomorrow

Hindu nationalists won a solid victory Sunday in a closely watched election in Gujarat, one of India’s wealthiest and most restive states, further weakening the ruling Congress party ahead of national elections.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, won 117 of 182 seats in the state legislature, setting the stage for it to gain power in Parliament. The Congress party won 62 seats, with smaller parties taking the rest.

The BJP’s controversial leader, Narendra Modi, campaigned on a pro-business platform that attracted middle-class Hindus. But as the state’s chief minister, Modi had angered the state’s Muslims, who along with human rights groups accuse him of complicity in 2002 sectarian riots that left more than 1,000 Muslims dead. Read the rest of this entry »

India plans to send combat-trained camels to solve the transport headache facing a fledgling UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, officers here say.
 
India’s Border Security Force (BSF) said it received a request last week from the United Nations to send the specially schooled animals to the troubled African region. “In principle the BSF has agreed to the request and will wait for the UN to approach it through the ministry of home affairs,” said the chief of India’s elite 200,000-member frontier force, A. K. Mitra.

Last week the head of the UN department of peacekeeping operations, said they may fail to protect civilians in Darfur without the required air mobility and firepower.

The United States also said it was “deeply troubled” by the government of Sudan’s “foot-dragging and obstruction” on the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. But diplomats say several Western countries able to provide hardware such as helicopters are reluctant to do so because of a lack of confidence in the command and control structure for the joint force.

The BSF in India also warned that any deployment of trained camels to transport foot soldiers in Darfur may be some time away.

“All our camels are engaged in border-guarding duties and this whole process could take a long time,” said BSF spokesman Vijay Singh, adding the agency could currently spare up to 60 of its 700-plus battle-ready animals for Sudan.

Indian border security forces use camels for long-range reconnaissance, including night patrols to track arms and drugs smugglers heading into the western states of Rajasthan and Gujarat from nearby Pakistan.

India and South Africa are the only countries known to use camels for military purposes.

BSF deputy commandant Kamal Kumar Rathore, who heads the force’s camel division, said India could purchase the animals from the open market and transport them to Sudan after a crash course in combat. “There is no dearth of camels and we can make outright purchases, put them through a capsule course of four months and dispatch them to that country,” Rathore said.

He said the camels conscripted into the BSF are trained not to react to gunfire and are taught to crawl and follow other “soldierly movements”. “Our camels move up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) with short breaks carrying ammunition and two mounts and they would be perfect…. I would be happy to lead them into Sudan,” Rathore said.

Transferring the animals could be a logistical headache — although the Indian air force is equipped with huge Russian-made Illushin-76 transport aircraft capable of handling tanks and trucks. The deployment of camels would be another peacekeeping first for India.

Last November, the country sent 125 policewomen to Liberia — the first time the UN has deployed an all-female combat unit in a trouble zone.

A prisoner who went missing from a jail in eastern India for almost 24 hours was found by prison guards snoring on the roof of the jail, officials said on Friday.

Raju Gaji, 19, arrested for banditry and theft and sent to a jail in Kolkata earlier this month, told police he was bored with the prison routine and wanted to catch up on some sleep.

“We had sounded the alarm and were looking for him everywhere, but he could not be traced,” B.D. Sharma, a senior police officer told Reuters.

On Thursday afternoon, prison guards heard loud snoring from one of the buildings.
“They climbed on top of the roof and found Gaji sleeping,” Sharma added.

A groggy Gaji seemed surprised when he found himself surrounded by guards pointing rifles at him, a senior jail official said.

In occupied Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front has condemned in strong terms Indian troops’ continued acts of state terrorism in various area of occupied Kashmir.

The JKLF spokesman, in a statement in Srinagar, expressed serious concern over Indian troops’ atrocities on civilians during a severe crackdown at Mohalla Wato, and Chechi Wato in Aheribal.

The troops of 9-RR and other armed forces had barged into the houses of civilians, broke the doors and windows of the houses, ransacked the household goods and beat the inmates ruthlessly. An innocent Kashmir woman was critically injured during troops acts of state terrorism.

JKLF statement said that the troops deployed at Dhamhal Hanjipora, Watonasoor, Nehima and Chodarhi Gund camps had made the life of people in these areas a virtual hell. “Besides, the personnel of SOG Kulgam camp, 9-RR and CRPF stopped vehicles that were passing through the areas, harassed the passengers take away vehicles for use and take the youth on forced labor,” said the spokesman.