Foreign funding of Indian NGOs - a hidden pathway of foreign interference

The action of the Government of India in cancelling licenses of 9000 NGOs that have been violating FCRA is an act of judicious law enforcement.  And suspending FCRA permission of Green Peace and putting Ford Foundation on the watch list is an act of safeguarding the political and socio-economic sovereignty of the nation.  It is disappointing that world powers like USA and Germany are voicing concern on this matter, thereby interfering in the internal matters of our Republic.  It should not be conceivable by any stretch of imagination that India would allow foreign influences to ride on the back of NGOs to enter our sovereign space and begin eroding us from within, colluding with internal betrayer individuals and organizations. Our nation has to march ahead and not fall behind.

The very countries that have voiced against India's action on NGOs have very stringent view on NGO activities in their own country.  For example, it is not possible in the USA for either a local NGO or a multi-national NGO to engage itself in political activism or polarized political support.  And any violation of financial rule would be heavily dealt with and people sent to jail for inordinately long years.  For example Gulam Nambi Fai, founder of “Kashmir American Council” (KAC) , an NGO, was arrested by the FBI from Virginia, Washington DC and later sentenced for 4 years Jail by a US Court in 2012 on the charges of receiving money from Pakistan and its spy agency ISI to influence American policy on Kashmir. Political activism by foreign NGOs is perceived in the USA and Germany as acts of war against the nation, while financial irregularities would be dealt as money laundering for dubious purposes. 

But when it comes to India, thanks to the inaction and spineless silence portrayed for years by the previous Govt, foreign NGOs such as Ford Foundation were accorded respect similar to what the diplomatic missions command.  And it has been proven over and over again that these NGOs had their political masters in the countries of their origin, who had strong interest in influencing the political process and impeding the national development of India.  Colluding with them, their Indian partners have worked as termites, wrecking India from within. We all know that foreign funds are always attached with hidden condition.

It is time that this anomaly is set right once and for all.  It is time that a self respecting India stands tall against these medieval machinations.  It is time that we as Indians feel proud that at last, we have a leader and a Government that is immensely patriotic and is dedicated to the integrity and development of the nation.

V K Saxena

President

National Council for Civil Liberties

Ahmedabad.

Flood in J&K - an opportunity to drown the differences‏

On one side, the debate on J&K was taking on a new dimension. Sociologists were discussing on the possibility of return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley. Defence analysts were talking of the need to check mate Hurriyat.  Political commentators were wondering how National Conference has become irrelevant to the J&K context and how Abdullahs have overstayed their presence in the history of the land. ISI was ranting how Kashmir should be liberated from the so called Indian occupation. Nawaz Sharif had gone huddled in a closet with his coterie to think if he can bring up the issue of Kashmir this 'n'th time to safeguard his own shaking seat in the Govt. As always - the communal, political, social and regional difference were rife.

Then came the sudden, incessant and unending downpour of rains into the State.  The torrents submerged nearly half of Srinagar, killed over 160 people, displaced tens of thousands of people, destroyed homes and farmlands, tore down the flanks of the hills in landslides, broke up roads and bridges and within the blink of an eye - caused an unprecedented national disaster of sorts.  In one sweeping moment of nature, all the clamour of civilization, militarization, communalism and extremism was drowned till the nostrils to the shock and dismay of people, parties and Govts. J&K on both sides of the border and across the several man-made borders, came to remain under the fury of nature, the almighty.

There is a lesson in this disaster, which is loud and clear.

Divided community, divided ideology, divided nation, divided region, divided polity and a manipulated state of existence do not provide you the strength of cooperation, mutual tolerance and mutual help that are needed to prosper and keep the nostrils in the air of existence.  If we are already half drowned under the divisive forces, it only takes very little for us to fully drown under the reality of our planetary survival.

This flood is a lesson.  This flood is an opportunity to drown our differences and stick our heads above the rising water. The Indian Prime Minister has already reached out to his Pakistani counterpart, offering assistance in flood relief operations in the areas "across the Line of Control", which is certainly a good initiative.

V K Saxena

NCCL 

Ahmedabad

Kashmir: Spineless leadership and endless problems

Written on 1/10/2010

A temporary truce has been bargained, bartered, bought and begun in Kashmir.  

But in which Kashmir?  In the so called 'Indian Occupied Kashmir' - that is how the world recognizes this part.  That is the crux of Indian tragedy and national failure.  It is only our Kashmir that is recognized as disputed territory.  The Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) is seldom drawn into territorial dispute.  The China Occupied Kashmir (COK) - Aksai Chin is never questioned about its ownership.  Our weak leadership, lack of foresight, fractured political wisdom and diplomatic indecisiveness have made the world bolder to the concept of 'dispute' on Kashmir.  And they all just mean the portion on which we have territorial command.

It is a diplomatic disaster that the UN Secretary General called our Kashmir a disputed territory last week.  This has ruffled the feathers of those who want to fly the 'plebiscite' kite.  Our representatives in the UN should have corrected the phrase 'disputed' to 'disturbed'.  But we have a clerical Government that has neither political strength nor the sense of perspective national responsibility.

Pakistan has recently spoken about the similarity of Kashmir to Palestine and has elevated the Kashmir tangle to the historic proportion of the Middle East. This is a new angle of diplomatic mischief, prompted solely by our inaction and irresponsibility.  It is high time that we dropped our defensive tenor about Kashmir and claimed both POK and COK as disputed - an act somewhat half-heartedly attempted by Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee.  

The basic question that should rock the parliament is whether we should defend Kashmir by continuing to repulse Pakistani assertions OR whether we should aggressively go on offensive to thwart external aggressions, develop infrastructure, promote settlements in the manner the Israelis guard their precious lands and wage a focused war on Pakistan's dominance on Kashmir issue.  It is high time that we took up the second option.  Instead, we are talking to the parties in Kashmir that want to further fracture this piece of land, giving them an impression that we recognize the status of 'dispute'.  

It is also essential that Kashmir consciousness is spread amongst Indians the way it is spread by the Pakistani leadership amongst its citizens.  Every Pakistani cares for and revers Kashmir the way the their religious edicts are dignified.  Whereas, Kashmir consciousness is weak in Indian minds and is a remote and vague issue for a majority of our populace.  Pakistan as a nation can be aroused on the word 'Kashmir'.  But large parts of India cannot make sense of it as it has not been elevated as an issue of national integrity or psyche by the political leadership.  

In all, bringing peace within Kashmir, flushing terrorists off the lands, developing infrastructure, promoting aggressive settlements and restoring law and order are one part of the game.  What's more important is to establish a feeling in the world that we are enraged by attempts to belittle the national integrity and want to fiercely defend our interests and rights.  If a limited war is to be waged on this account, India should do so in the way any nationalist government will do in any country.  


V K Saxena 

President 

National Council for Civil Liberties 

 Ahmedabad -