Calif Baghdadi- The impact

 

Pic: news.oneindia.i

The dreaded ISIS was at it again and this time it has declared itself an Islamic caliphate. This move is seen as a holy war and also a bid to challenge the central leadership of the Ayman Al-Zwahiri led Al-Qaeda which considered the ISIS too dangerous.
The ISIS yesterday in a statement renamed itself as the Islamic State and proclaimed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “caliph”or head of the state. The statement further read that “it is incumbent upon all Muslims to pledge allegiance to and support him. The legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organisations, becomes null by the expansion of the caliph’s authority and arrival of its troops to their areas.

Sunnis killed thousands of Shias in Pakistan

A 62-page report titled We are the Walking Dead: Killings of Shia Hazaras in Balochistan, Pakistan documents Sunni militant group attacks on the mostly Shia Hazara community in Balochistan. Since 2008, several hundreds of Hazara have been killed in steadily worsening targeted violence, including two bombings in the provincial capital, Quetta, in January and February 2013 that killed at least 180 people.

“Sunni extremists have targeted Hazara with guns and bombs while they participate in religious processions, pray in mosques, travel to work, or just go about daily life,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “There is no travel route, no shopping trip, no school run, no work commute that is safe for the Hazara. The government’s failure to put an end to these attacks is as shocking as it is unacceptable.”

The ongoing attacks have meant that the half-million members of the Hazara community in Quetta live in fear, compelled to restrict their movements, leading to economic hardship and curtailed access to education and employment, Human Rights Watch said. This oppressive situation has prompted large numbers of Hazara to flee Pakistan for refuge in other countries.

Hafiz Saeed- hitting him where it hurts

Pic: http://www.mfs-theothernews.com

India may never be able to get Hafiz Saeed, but today it is our best chance to break his financial network. The recent sanctions imposed by the United States of America on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is considered to be much better than the one that was imposed on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba a couple of years back.
The reason being the Jamaat-ud-Dawa or the JuD is the financial wing of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Contrary to the argument by Pakistan that JuD is a charity outfit and helps carry out relief activities any child on the road would confirm that this is just a garb to bring in the funds. Millions of dollars are sent as charity to the JuD and while a chunk of this actually does go into relief work the other source of money also being pumped into the same outfit has gone unaccounted.

Dawood- Costly 2012 lead ignored

Everyone knows that  is a notorious criminal who funds terrorist outfits in exchange for protection in Pakistan. Despite so much talk about him and the with the United States designating him as a terrorist a few years back it is ironic how he manages to continue with his activities especially on Indian soil.
To put it in one sentence, Dawood Ibrahim uses a legal option to carry out an illegal activity. In the year 2011, the authorities had granted a permit to a bunch of men from Chennai to undertake ship breaking. According to Wikipedia, ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair become uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially steel, to be recycled. Equipment on board the vessel can also be reused.

ISIS- Bribery is Its biggest weapon

It is surprising when a terrorist outfit with just 8000 takes on the military of a country and even manages to defeat it in several parts. The ISIS which has launched a bloody battle against the Iraqi regime appears to be on the front foot and has been capturing cities with pretty much a lot of ease in the past few weeks.

Is it just the brute force and the madness to die that is making the ISIS so strong against the army of a nation? The answer is no and the ISIS has mastered the art of winning a war by taking a tip or two from the Taliban. With two watering holes based out of Dubai and the United Kingdom, what the ISIS has managed to do is channel 4 billion dollars which is used to bribe the Iraqi commanders to stay away from the war and also pass on information crucial to a battle.

GAIL blast, no sabotage, just negligence

‎The blast that occurred at the GAIL plant is a case of negligence. As the firefighter attempt to douse the major fire which occured as a result of the blast authorities say that it was due to a leak in one of the pipelines. Sabotage has been ruled out.
There was a leak in one of the pipelines since last night and it went unnoticed. None of the persons present at the plant noticed the leak and by 6 AM today there was a major blast in which several persons have died. The fire fighters are doing everything to put out the fire which has now risen to 250 metres as a result of which even the nearby trees have been charred. More casualties are expected even as authorities are trying to clear people out of the vicinity.
The GAIL pipeline is situated at the Nagaram village Mamidikuduru mandal in East Godavarai.

Blast at GAIL

A blast at the GAIL site at Nagaram village in Andhra Pradesh has killed 8 persons. The blast occured early this morning and 8 persons are feared dead.
The reason for the blast is not yet known. The police and fire department have been rushed to the spot and are ascertaining the reason behind the blast.

Political donors

Pic: TOI

703 donors to political parties are not declared on the donation statement despite them making a contribution of Rs 11.14 crore. The Association for Democratic Reforms in its analysis done for the years 2012-13‎ says that the‎ BSP declared that the party received no donations above Rs 20,000 during FY 2012-13 as it had declared since FY 2004-05‎. 

The total income of National Parties for FY 2012-13 was Rs. 991.20 crores. INC declared the highest total income of Rs. 425.69 crores, followed by BJP with Rs. 324.16 crores and BSP with a declared total income of Rs. 87.63 crores. NCP a declared total income of Rs. 26.56 crores, CPI, Rs. 1.07 crores and CPM declared a total income of Rs. 126.09 crores for FY 2012-13. 
The total amount of donations received above Rs 20,000 by National Political parties during FY 2012-13 is calculated from the donations report submitted to the Election Commission annually. The total donations above Rs 20,000 declared was Rs. 99.14 crores, from 3777 donors. 

25k Wahabi scholars visted India last year

A shocking report by the Intelligence Bureau suggests that last year 25000 Islamic scholars preaching the extremely ultra conservative form of Wahabi Islam had visited India. The details of the report pertaining to the year 2013 show that many of them had come in the guise of visitors on a tourist visa from 20 different countries and had participated in events in 15 states which attracted a crowd of nearly 1200000 people.
Does India need to worry about this? Very much say the experts and security agencies and if one looks at the report these scholars have managed to visit states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The statistics of 2013 would show a large number of such preachers visiting India, but the fact remains that these persons have been coming into India in large numbers since the year 2005. There has been a sudden surge in the visit by these hardcore who preach the harshest form of Islam which today is being practiced by groups such as the ISIS and the Taliban.

Gopal Subramanyam- What the IB said?

The NDA government relies very heavily on the information put out by the Intelligence Bureau and this can be seen in the both cases of Gopal Subramanyam and Raghu Raman.

The NDA did not extend the tenure of Raghu Raman as CEO of Natrgrid after an IB report alleged that there was both professional and personal misconduct on his part involving foreign nationals. While this being the case it would not be in the best interest to extend his term the IB report alleged.

However in the case of Gopal Subramanyam there was just one point that the IB made when he was being considered for the post of Supreme Court judge. The IB in its report stated that he relies more on spirituality when compared to logic when handling cases. The IB report was also armed with an opposition from the CBI which had alleged instances of misconduct during the 2G scam hearing.