Saturday, July 25, 2009

Guanatanamo Bay

26th june ,2009 it had been months since a new bollywood movie release and for a movie buff like me it was smthing which was irritating me to no end, but finally newyork hit theatres and with a sheer enthusiasm of watching a new movie after so much time and that too a one which featured pretty Katrina Kaif I went for first day first show.I never thought while entering the cinema hall that this movie will keep me busy searching all over the internet about a topic for weeks ....but yeah it did.I thought this feel good movie would be about three college going friends with all the bollywood masala of love triangle and scarifices and songs but believe me it was much more then that.It was about GUANTANAMO BAY ,undoubtebly the most dreaded prison on the planet located in Cuba.well everything written below is not just a crammed up story bt its an aggregation of facts provided by various american official websites of reputed newspapers like washington post,wall street journal etc.
TORTURES AT GUANTANAMO POST 9/11
Captives at Guantánamo Bay were chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor for 18 hours or more, urinating and defecating on themselvesBesides being shackled to the floor, detainees were subjected to extremes of temperature. One witness said he saw a barefoot detainee shaking with cold because the air conditioning had bought the temperature close to freezing..On another occasion, the air conditioning was off in an unventilated room, making the temperature over 38C (100F) and a detainee lay almost unconscious on the floor with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been pulling out his hair throughout the night.itz acknowledged that soldiers and interrogators had kicked the Qur'an, had stood on it and, in one case, had inadvertently sprayed urine on a copy.all this and much more like torturing the detaines by playing very loud music,depriving them from sleep for weeks,keeping a cloth on their face and then urinating on it..al these are part of routine torturing process at guantanamo bay.
the U.S. military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 had based an entire interrogation class on a chart copied directly from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist torture techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false. The chart showed the effects of "coercive management techniques" like "sleep deprivation," "prolonged constraint," and "exposure".The 1957 article from which the chart was copied, was entitled "Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions From Air Force Prisoners of War". Other techniques used by the Chinese Communists that were listed on the chart include "Semi-Starvation," "Exploitation of Wounds," and "Filthy, Infested Surroundings," along with their effects: "Makes Victim Dependent on Interrogator," "Weakens Mental and Physical Ability to Resist," and "Reduces Prisoner to 'Animal Level' Concerns." The only change made to the chart used at Guantánamo was an altered title.
BUSH GOVT'S TAKE ON GUANTANAMOThere isn't any other nation in the world that would treat people who were determined to kill Americans the way we're treating these people. They're living in the tropics. They're well fed. They've got everything they could possibly want.
according to the govt the protections of the third geneva convention (which otherwise was torned to pieces in this case)does not hold for AL-QAIEDA or Taliban fighters as this protection under geneva convention apllies only to uniformed soldiers and guirellas who abides by the rules of war.
now story of Abdallah Al-Ajmi a GUANTANAMO DETAINEEAccused of Being Little More Than a Low-Level Taliban Fighter, Abdallah al-Ajmi Was Held by the U.S. for Nearly Four Years.After His Release, HE BLEW UP AN IRAQI ARMY OUTPOST.A little more than two years after his release from the Guantanamo Bay military prison, Abdallah Saleh al-Ajmi knelt in front of a white wall, clutched the upturned barrel of an AK-47 rifle and delivered a message before a video camera.The untidy beard that his young son once loved to play with had been shaved off, leaving only a tiny moustache. His curly, shoulder-length locks had been clipped down to a crew cut. Gone, too, were the crisp, white headdress he often wore and any semblance of the good humor once familiar to his family. He was sullen and angry -- still bitter about being locked up for almost four years at the high-security U.S. detention center on the southeastern coast of Cuba."Praise be unto God, who evacuated me from Guantanamo prison and joined me with the Islamic State of Iraq," he said. As the camera's light cast an outsize shadow behind his head, he wagged his finger and issued a vow: "We are going, with permission from God, to God -- glory be unto him. We will enter the nests of apostasy." At 6:15 a.m. on March 23, 2008, not long after making the video, Ajmi drove a pickup truck filled with 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of explosives, hidden in what appeared to be white flour sacks, onto an Iraqi army base outside Mosul.
The Easter Sunday blast killed 13 Iraqi soldiers, wounded 42 others and left a 30-foot-wide crater in the ground. It remains the single most heinous act of violence committed by a former Guantanamo detainee.
WHY ABDALLAH AL-AJMI TURNED A JEHADI?
When Ajmi returned to Kuwait, "he was a ticking time bomb," said Mansur Saleh al-Ajmi, one of his younger brothers.
"Before he went to Afghanistan, he was a normal teenager. He spun the car around in circles. He smoked. People liked him," Mansur said. "After he came back from Guantanamo, he seemed like a completely different person. He stared all the time. You could not have a normal conversation with him. . . . It seemed as if his brain had been washed."
His case illuminates a key challenge facing the Obama administration as it considers how to close the U.S. military prison and resolve the futures of the approximately 245 imprisoned there. Once detainees are sent home, even to friendly nations, the United States has very little influence over what happens to them. Convictions are not guaranteed. And for those allowed to go free, assistance in resuming a normal life is rare.
Although the United States may never say so publicly, it is likely to want more explicit promises from the countries where detainees are repatriated, and the administration will seek the establishment of rehabilitation programs, along the lines of one in Saudi Arabia, that provide former jihadists with jobs, homes and money to pay for dowries.
But there is also a view in some quarters of the U.S. government that cases such as Ajmi's are the inevitable result of locking up 779 foreigners in an austere military prison, without access to courts or consular representation, and subjecting them to interrogation techniques that detainees say amount to torture. Some of them are bound to seek revenge, these officials believe. The challenge is figuring out which ones

Thursday, July 23, 2009

JAYA HEY!!

Lone i walk,on lone lands
Capricious,aimless,
Treading the way where wind is blowing
My mind contemplated I am not alone
But now it has affirmed the notion
Yeah I am alone
No family,no friends
In the end its me
Just me
My solitude ,my biggest anguish
Its the darkest cave you can ever find
But even the darkest one have a vent
And its the time when I brozen through one
Its the time when I realized my aim
Its the time when I broke my solitude
Its the time when I started believing
In the end its not just you,but
In the end its you and your aim..


It was last day at school,my last board examination,every one was so tensed before the exam that they hardly realized that it was the end, the end of a phase ,a frolic one indeed.

Ended those three hours and suddenly it seeemed like a wizard has casted some emotional spell and all of a sudden everyone realized what Iwas fearing for last one month,leaving the school,leaving your dear ones,heading forward in life to achieve what you desire ,or may be in my case to achieve what my brigadier father desire.I decided to meet Riya for one last time,we agreed upon meeting in library,which few months ago looked to me the most romantic place on earth but not anymore,rather it has started haunting me now and I was very glad that this is the last time I had to be there.

There comes she without making me to wait long ,an unusual stuff which was,she sat on the other side of that study table instead of sitting besides me.I faced her eyes and Without beating about the bush asked straight "why are you doing this to me","because of you Karan",she replied firmly,"because of your attitude,because of your aimless life,beacause of you joining the army","ok so the problem lies there,I see",I said,"NO!!...the problem is not that you are joining the army but the problem is that you don't want to join the army and still you are,because of your father ,don't you have something of your own,don't you want to have something of your own?one day your dad will ask you to marry some girl and you will leave me,what will I do then Karan?",she said with the same firmness which seemed so great to me some time back,I felt so helpless as I really didn't want to end this ,Riya was such an integral part of my life,but there was nothing much I could have done ,as I didn't have courage to go against dad,I stood quietly and started walking away,"will you not say even a word Karan?", her voice stopped me,and I said without looking towards her"don't you love me Riya",silence prevailed for a while,a breaking voice broke that silence as she said"I used to Karan,I used to",tears dropped from my eyes when I realized her crying,tears are infectious you know,I started walking again and again her blubbering voice stopped me "I hope a day will come Karan when you will realize what you want from life" and those were the last words which I heard from my childhood sweetheart.

Mum watched me as she saw me packing bags,I saw her moist eyes which were telling me the entire story,she doesn't wanted me to join the army,but then its the male dominated Indian society ,my father's words were like mark on a stone,and she knew it infact she knew it since her marriage,she loved him too and respected his decision,but then there are moments when your heart overcome your brain and this was one of them,she hugged me and weeped like a child,no words were exchanged ,sometimes silence speak more then words.
It was the time to bid farewell ,I hugged mum and then dad ,whose eyes were saying I m proud of you son!.the train whistled,I leaned a bit forward from the gate ,as the train statrted departing, and waved my hands to mum,to dad,to my city,to my friends and to Riya.It was the time when I felt that in the end its just you all alone.

Years passed at Khadakvasla where I was getting trained ,I was a good student and why not,after all bravery was in my genes ,in my blood,but wheteher it was in my heart i didn't know.After the days of hard training ,the time came,the passing out paraid, which is such a proud moment for every NDA student and their parents,it was a proud moment for my parents too but for me I didn't know.Dad hugged me and his eyes were again full of pride when he saw that badge which read Lieutenant Karan Sharma,I gave him a gentle smile,whether it was fake or genuine I didn't know.

I was commissioned in the 1/11 Gurkha Rifles of the Indian Army and I was posted at Srinagar,it was may 26th,1999 when the incharge of my post told us that its the war,war against Pakistani intruders in Kargil.
WAR,thats the dreaded word I never wanted to hear in my life,I was reluctant to join army because of that ,I always wondered why to waste my life fighting with people unknown,I never wanted to join army because I always had a firm belief that I can do a lot for myself,my family and my nation by being an engineer or a doctor and that too without risking my life,but as they say no one can change your fate and then I didn't want to disappoint my dad,yeah again its dad.

It was then when I heard the news of death of my childhood friend squadron leader Varun Chauhan,who was tortured and murdered by the Pakistani soldiers when his mig-21was hit by an enemy's stinger missile , he succesfully ejected himself from the fighter plane,but was unfortunately captured by the Pakis.They stabbed him many a times ,tortured him ,and finally shot twice through the ear and chest.The news shocked me,for a while I lost all my senses,evrything looked dark,I ringed mum she told me everything about Varun's last rituals,she told me how every one broke into tears when Varun's five year old son Ankur on seeing a coffin draped in tricolour ,asked his mum innocently"mum who is in this box?,where is my father I want to salute him",mum further told me how there was no dry eye around when Ankur helped by his relatives lit the pyre in the presence of a large number of Air Force personnel and civilians while auspicious Mantras were chanted.

As I said goodbye to mum I realized the fear of not seeing me again in my mum's voice, her voice shivered when she said take care my son.I was all shattered by the news of my friend's death in such circumstances but at the same time I was feeling very proud for having a friend like Varun,he sacrificed himself for his country,his death was not a waste ,he died to ensure the safety of people of India,for safety of cowards like me,yes coward ,thats what I felt at that moment.

Still i didn't wanted to go there,somewhere in my heart the death of Varun scared me,I was scared to loose my life,to loose my mum,to loose any hope of getting Riya back in my life.I wanted to flee but don't know what was stopping me,may be it waz dad or may be Riya.I kept on moving with my troop ,it was then when I saw numbers of coffins draped in tricolour in various military buses,exactly the way mum described how Varun's body was laid in a coffin draped in national flag,the scene gave me goosebumps,suddenly the fiery noise of guns ,bombs and artilleries ceased,it was silence all around,Varun's face came infront of me,the scene of Ankur liting the pyre of his father became vivid to me,I was swetting in chilling weather,I heard a voice,the voice of Varun,"its the time Karan to take revenge of my death,of the deaths of your fellow soldiers,its the time to do something for your country,for your motherland,".As the voice of Varun faded away , the last words I heard from my sweetheart echoed in my ear "I hope a day will come Karan when you will realize what you want from life".

It was the time when I found the vent in the darkest cave of loneliness,it was the time when I realized my aim,it was the time when I broke my solitude.

The first thing I did when I reached my post ,(just a few miles before the Khalubar,where I had to lead my platoon to force back the Paki infiltrators,)I called Riya, "Hello",a voice from other side came ,GOD!!..how much time have passed since I heard that sweet voice,it was silence all over ,which again was broken by her as she said "KARAN?",I said"Riya,I love you", an incoherent voice said,"I love you too Karan,and there is no need to say that you have realised what you want to do",I was overwhelmed on hearing this and infact my aim grew stronger that moment,and I replied in a voice as firm as of hers"I'll come back soon Riya,wait for me".The line got disconnected,but till then it became very clear to me that how much she loves me and infact that infused oodles of confidence and courage in me.

The time came ,I lead my platoon to Khalubar,the enemy was sitting at a higher altitude,so it was very easy for them to spot any movement in day light,so we decided to attack after the sunset,but however my platoon came under heavy and intense enemy fire from the surrounding heights,there were total five enemy positions from where intense firing was coming.I ordered my platoon to give me cover fire when I surged ahead of my troop and charged at the enemy.I got wounded in my shoulder and leg,still I closed in on the first bunker and went on in hand to hand combat , killed two of the enemy and captured the first bunker.The troop charged at the enemy and fell upon them.My leg and shoulder were critically wounded but to my utter surprise I wasn't feeling any pain,instead every wound was encouraging me to kill more of them,the dead faces of my fellow soldiers were flashing infront of my eyes.The blood was oozing out of my body but still i fought and we captured four bunkers and it was the last one left when a bullet impinged in my chest ,I fell,my eyes got closed but not before I saw my platoon capturing that fifth and last bunker.

It is the end,but I am not alone,as for the last time I opened my eyes to see tricolour waving in full honour,I am with my accomplished goal,with the satisfactionof clearing the debt of my motherland.Riya no matter what happens,but I'll keep my promise of coming back,may be I'll come back draped in tricolour,but then thats the best entry I could have ever made to meet my love again.Dad,I hope I made you proud,I never said it dad but I love you,love you too much,and mum you are the best mum in this world.



The story is true account of incidents happened with squadron leader Ajay Ahuja(depicted as Varun Chauhan)the first one to die in operation vijay,the battlefield part of Karan's story is inspired by the incidents happened with lieutanant Manoj Pandey who bravely captured the batlik sector and khalubar post for India,he had hand to hand combat with the pakis and defeated them.
As on 26th july we celebrate 10 years of Kargil victory I salute all the Kargil martyrs .
JAYA HEY!!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

what if!!!

"The future is not set ,there is no fate but what we make for ourseleves"-Kyle Reese(protagonist of terminator).

wow!!!..what an idea sirG ,getting sent back in time and changing the things that made our present .just imagine that you can travel with speed of light and can go back in your past,can go back a day before your chemistry board exam and read that inorganic chapter which you thought would not come in exam but it did,can go back and prevent yourself from watching that useless Himesh Reshammiya flick,can go back at the time of that dreaded accident which you had last year and make yourself choose another way then that where accident is awaiting,can go back and prevent yourself from buying that bugger cellfone,can go back and do a million things to make your present an affluent affair.

Had Calpurnia been aware of this Einstein funda she would have surely sent herself back in time to prevent Caesar from going to senate and most probably Shakeshpeare then would have written MARCUS BRUTUS instead of JULIUS CAESAR .

Had the scientists instead of concentrating their research on nuclear bombs concentrated more on inventing a time machine ,The Americans could have saved their twin towers ,or Indians could have stopped 26/11 from happening.Even so many Tsunami and Katrina victims could have been saved.

May be in future time machines will come in existence and may be some ordinary man named Sachin Tendulkar will send himself back in time in early 80's to alter his decision of becoming a fast bowler or may be a aged but pretty housewife Aishwarya Rai will send herself back in early 90s so that she can make her younger self to take part in Miss India competition.(I pity on her now not would be future husband :D) .Today elders say its your Karma which decides your future but then people would say its possession of a time machine which decides your future.

But how confusing things would become ,a day back Sonia Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India and today its Manmohan Singh or even Advani due to some changes made back in past.Even a street cricket star who waz hitting fours and sixes like cats and dogs till yesterday doesn't even exist today as his father to prevent an accident of his send himself back in past so that his past form turns his moterbike to another way where he see this pretty young girl and fall in love with her and later marry her instead of marrying that street cricketer's mum.

Well sounds so fascinating yet confusing isn't it, but friends remember Einstein won Nobel Pize for his thoery of photoelectricity(which is a reality) and not for his theory of relativity(which is more or less hypothetical and even if its not time travelling is very hard to percieve may be next to impossible) .

Observe carefully ,every point of time contains infinite timelines like you can either choose a short way to your home or a long way where house of a pretty girl come along so that you can have a glimpse of her.choosing either way will make you choose a timeline and your future will be effected accordingly.
Sometime its your intelligence which decide your future sometime its your hardwork and many a time its fate ,but yeah as Kyle Reese said "there is no fate but what we made for ourselves". You could have done a little more hard work to study that inorganic chapter ,you could have waited for the reviews before going for that piece of shit Reshammiya flick,could have done more research work before buying that crap cellfone.

Well as I said time travel is a concept hard to percieve but if a man can go up aginst the gravity he can surely go far ahead or back in time ,and the students of future will surely study history by exploring real mohan-jo-daro and indus valley instead of reading a bookish account but till then we should keep on choosing the perfect timeline for ourselves through our acts of wisdom so that a day is avoided when your dear cricketer son loose his existence due to your love at first sight.

well a dialouge in kung-fu panda goes like(not exactly)
"you can't alter yesterday,you can't see tommorow ,anything real is today its a gift and thats why its called PRESENT."
May be in future today will not be referred as present.