The News Caravan

Tag: Justice Markandey Katju

  • My interview by Moeed Pirzada By Justice Katju

    My interview by Moeed Pirzada By Justice Katju


    A few days back I was interviewed by the eminent Pakistani journalist Moeed Pirzada, who is presently in Washington, DC.

    The interview was about an article I had earlier written on the eminent physicist Dr Parvev Hoodbhoy.


    https://indicanews.com/2023/06/13/justice-markandey-katju-on-dr-pervez-hoodbhoys-superficial-understanding/


    The interview is given below ( it has some problems of sound )


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmoDYaAIbNI&pp=ygUda2F0anUgbW9lZWQgZGl2aXNpb24gb2YgaW5kaWE%3D


    Moeed then posted this video on Youtube


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFTir4eYUtg&pp=ygUda2F0anUgbW9lZWQgZGl2aXNpb24gb2YgaW5kaWE%3D


    Moeed says my knowledge of history is superficial because I am not a historian, history teacher, or expert.


    Now it is true I was never a professor of history. But by my study of history for over 6 decades I can claim to have more knowledge of history than most of these professors. T

    o the latter history was only the means of getting a job. To me it was, and is, a passion. Knowledge in one’s head is what is relevant, not high sounding titles and designations. Moeed obviously does not understand this.


    In his last video Moeed does not deal at length with my central thesis ( that developed nations will oppose tooth and nail rapid industrialisation of India, because if we become a modern highly industrialised country, like China, with our cheap labour we will undersell the developed countries, causing their industries to collapse, and millions thrown out of employment ).


    Moeed asks questions like why did India and Bangladesh not unite after 1971, since I claim India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are really one country, only temporarily divided. He says that ‘ansuni” was done by me to that question.


    The truth is I had replied to the question by saying that the Western powers opposed unification, since it is their policy to keep us divided.

    This is because they do not want India to emerge as a united modern industrial giant, and with its cheap labour to undersell them, thus causing their industries to collapse, and millions thrown out of employment.


    Moeed talks of Stanley Wolpert’s book ‘Tryst with Destiny’, and suggests that Partition was because of differences between Nehru and Jinnah.
    This again is a superficial understanding.

    The British were determined to partition India before they leave, and the Cabinet Mission was just a decoy. In fact this was a favourite technique of theirs.

    Thus, they also partitioned on religious lines Ireland, Palestine, Cyprus, and even prepared to partition Turkey by the Treaty of Sevres, 1920, but prevented by Mustafa Kemal ” etc before giving them formal independence.

    This they did to keep the communities fighting each other even after the Britishers leave, so that Britishers can still dominate the region, or at least safeguard their economic interests.


    I may be having more interviews on this or other topics with Moeed, whom I respect, as he is a brave man

  • All caste based reservations for govt jobs or admissions in educational institutions should be abolished By Justice Katju

    All caste based reservations for govt jobs or admissions in educational institutions should be abolished By Justice Katju

    Recently the US Supreme Court has struck down reservations for blacks and other races in USA as they violate the equality provision in the US Constitution.


    https://thewire.in/world/us-supreme-court-strikes-down-race-based-affirmative-action-in-college-admissions


    I submit that the time has come when the Indian Supreme Court, too, must declare all caste based reservations in India as unconstitutional, being violative of the right to equality.


    While ostensibly for uplifting the historically suppressed backward castes, the truth is that reservations have become just a political tool for getting votes, and in fact such reservations greatly harm the SCs and OBCs.


    This is because there are so few govt jobs that hardly 0.01% SCs and OBCs can get jobs through reservations ( these too usually go to the ‘creamy layer’ ), but an impression is falsely created that all SCs and OBCs will be benefited thereby. This is a motivation to SCs and OBCs to not work hard, because they think a job is guaranteed to them even if they score poor marks.


    How long will SCs and OBCs walk on the crutches ( baisakhi ) of reservations ? They should throw away these crutches, and say that we dont need reservations. We will work hard, compete on merit, and show that we are not intellectually inferior to the upper castes.


    However, while caste based reservations should be abolished, special facilities should be given to poor boys and girls of all castes ( even upper castes ) and communities, so as to provide them with a level playing field.


    For example, many poor boys and girls may not be able to buy the school text books ( which boys and girls of rich families may be able to afford ). Hence the govt should give these to such poor students free of cost Other facilities should also be given to poor students, to ensure for them a level playing field with rich students.


    But there should be no caste or communal reservations, which have only become a vote catching device.

  • Burning the Quran By Justice Katju

    Burning the Quran By Justice Katju

    An Iraqi immigrant living in Sweden reportedly burnt a copy of the Quran on Wednesday, 28th June, publicly before the Central Mosque of Stockholm in Sweden.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMdf3RAkvFs&pp=ygUVcXVyYW4gYnVybmluZyBzd2VkZW4g


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shhPIUDJfs4


    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66052670#:~:text=Several%20Muslim%2Dmajority%20countries%20have,Stockholm’s%20central%20mosque%20on%20Wednesday.


    Many Arab and other Muslim countries have condemned this incident, and protests are still going on in the Muslim world.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t3-Y9avOQc&pp=ygUdbXVzbGltcyBjb25kZW1uIHF1cmFuIGJ1cm5pbmc%3D


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_TFqsm_8lo&pp=ygUdbXVzbGltcyBjb25kZW1uIHF1cmFuIGJ1cm5pbmc%3D


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFTMNyBVJmE&pp=ygUobXVzbGltcyBwcm90ZXN0IGFnYWluc3QgYnVybmluZyBvZiBxdXJhbg%3D%3D


    However, Sweden has approved Quran burning protests as part of the freedom of speech enshrined in its Constitution.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQOH-tY5lTE&pp=ygUUcXVyYW4gYnVybmluZyBzd2VkZW4%3D


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixrE55CEKuA&pp=ygUWbXVzbGltcyBxdXJhbiBiIHVybmluZw%3D%3D


    Now let me give my opinion on this issue.
    The Quran is the holiest book in Islam, and I can quite understand that most Muslims feel very hurt if a copy of it is deliberately burnt publicly. I too condemn such mischievous acts.


    However, the question is what should be the response of Muslims to such desecrations and insults ?


    I submit that the best and most mature response would be to simply ignore them.


    It must be realised that such mischievous acts are usually done deliberately by agent provocateurs hired by powerful forces to provoke religious, ethnic, or communal strife.

    Gullible Muslims innocently fall into their trap by being provoked, and then the matter gets further exacerbated.


    In Hindi there is a proverb ‘taali do haath se bajti hai’ ( i.e. to clap needs two hands ). So if Muslims do not extend their hand, and turn a Nelson’s eye to such provocative and insulting acts, there will be no clap, and such mischievous people will be denied the publicity they seek, and on which they survive.

  • Eid al Adha in Court By Justice Katju

    Eid al Adha in Court By Justice Katju


    Today 29th June is Eid al Adha ( also called Eid ul Zoha or Bakrid ) an important festival among Muslims in which an animal is sacrificed ( qurbani ).


    This reminded me of a case I heard in the Allahabad High Court shortly after I was appointed a Judge there in 1991.


    The petition, presented a few days before Eid al Adha, prayed that I should order ban on slaughter of buffaloes as a sacrifice during Eid.


    Now it is a belief among Muslims that sacrifice of one buffalo gives the same spiritual benefit of qurbani to 7 persons which sacrifice of a goat gives to one person. So poor persons who cannot afford to buy a goat, often collectively buy a buffalo and sacrifice it, as the per head cost is much less than the cost of a goat.


    I asked the counsel for the petitioner why I should ban killing of buffaloes during Eid ? He replied that buffalo is the carriage ( sawaari ) of the Hindu god Yamraj ( the god of death ). So slaughter of buffaloes hurts the religious sentiments of Hindus.


    I replied that mouse is the sawaari of Lord Ganesh. Should I ban killing of mice ? Most Hindu gods ( it is said there are 330 million of them ) have some animal as a ‘sawaari’ or ‘vaahan’. Should killing all of such sawaaris be banned ?


    https://www.hinduismfacts.org/how-many-gods-are-there-in-hinduism/


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vahana
    I added that this would be absurd. I could only prohibit killing of some animal if there is a statutory law against it. For instance, there is a law against killing of cows in most ( but not all ) states of India e.g. the UP Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955. So I could pass an order prohibiting slaughter of cows.


    There is also a Wildlife ( Protection ) Act, 1972, so I could prohibit killing of wildlife.


    But to prohibit killing of some animal, though there is no law for that, just because someone’s religious feelings are allegedly ‘hurt’, would not only have no legal justification, but would also raise a host of problems.

    Which animal is sacred ?

    Opinions may differ on that ?

    When do religious feelings get ‘hurt’ ?

    Again, opinions may differ.


    I dismissed the petition, saying I would only enforce the law, not sentiments.

  • The need for reviving and revamping Kalidas Ghalib Foundation By Justice Katju

    The need for reviving and revamping Kalidas Ghalib Foundation By Justice Katju


    I have created 3 organisations ( with the help of other likeminded secular persons ) viz (1) Indian Reunification Association (IRA ), (2) Ibaadatkhana, and (3) Kalidas Ghalib Foundation (KGF ), all of which I am the patron ( email justicekatju@gmail.com ).
    Behind creating these organisations was a single idea–I want my country India to emerge as a modern, highly industrialised giant, for only then can we get rid of the curse of massive poverty, unemployment, child malnutrition, lack of proper healthcare and good education for our masses, etc which has afflicted us for centuries.
    We have 2 of the 3 requirements for building a massive industry in India and become a super power like USA or China viz (1) a huge pool of technical talent in the form of thousands of bright engineers and scientists ( Indian IT engineers are largely manning Silicon Valley in California, and there are many NRI Professors in Mathematics, Science and Engineering Departments in American Universities ), (2) immense natural resources. However, we lack the 3rd, viz unity among our people, and without such unity we can never attain our national goal..
    All the abovementioned 3 organisations were therefore created to help forge such unity. While the first two have become strong and are progressing fast with numerous units and members worldwide, the third is lying dormant, but desparatedly needing to be revitalised and reactivated. Let me explain.

    1. IRA
      IRA aims at political unity of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, since we believe they are really one nation, which were separated by a British swindle in 1947 on the basis of the bogus 2 nation theory ( that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations ). We share a common culture, many of us speak the same language Hindustani ( culture largely revolves around language ), and we were one since Mughal times. Many of us were befooled by the Britishers and their local agents into thinking that Hindus and Muslims are inherently each other’s enemies, but how much longer must we remain befooled ? How much longer must we waste our scarce and precious resources in hostility with each other ? Is 76 years since 1947 not enough ? We must reunite under a secular government led by modern minded patriotic leaders determined to rapidly modernise and industrialise the country, and give our people decent lives.
      https://indicanews.com/2023/01/24/indo-pak-reunification/
      https://indicanews.com/2023/03/09/justice-markandey-katju-indian-reunification-is-an-idea-whose-time-has-come/
      https://indicanews.com/2023/06/13/justice-markandey-katju-on-dr-pervez-hoodbhoys-superficial-understanding/
      https://indicanews.com/2023/05/14/justice-markandey-katju-a-response-to-dr-akbar-ahmed/
      https://indicanews.com/2023/05/07/justice-markandey-katju-india-the-sleeping-giant-will-awake/
      The Chairman of IRA is Indervansh Chadha who is based in Jalandhar, Punjab ( email harindrealtors@gmail.com ), Senior Vice Chairperson is Husnara Salim based in Kolkata ( email husnarasalim@gmail.com ), Vice Chairman is Dr Arshi Malik, based in Aligarh ( email arshimalik @gmail.com ) and National General Secretary is Irfan Pullani, a Keralite presently in Costa Rica ( email pullaniirfan@gmail.com ). We have also state units in many states.
    2. Ibaadatkhana
      Ibaadatkha aims at social unity in India, by promoting communal amity, following the policy of suleh-e-kul of the great Mughal Emperor Akbar, who is the real Father of the Indian Nation.
      http://justicekatju.blogspot.com/2015/06/emperor-akbar-real-father-of-indian_10.html
      Ibaadatkhana is named after the building in Fatehpur Sikri bullt by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar where scholars of different religions would meet amicably, and point out the good points in their religion ( such a structure is unique in the world ).
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibadat_Khana
      Unlike IRA, Ibaadatkhana does not talk of reunification of the 3 countries. This is to make it easier for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to join our movement, without joining IRA
      Section 123A of Pakistan Penal Code makes it a criminal offence to speak against Partition, with a jail sentence of upto 10 years, and there is a similar provision in Bangladesh. So citizens of these countries would be scared of joining IRA ( though a Border Peace Forum has ben created to meet with this anxiety and fear ).
      Ibaadatkhana explains to the people of the Indian subcontinent the causes of our tremendous diversity–so many religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups etc.and points out that the correct policy for India is to give equal respect to all religions and communities.
      https://indicanews.com/2020/12/14/the-historical-importance-of-the-ibaadatkhana-movement/
      https://indicanews.com/2020/12/17/ibaadatkhana-foster-a-peaceful-just-and-inclusive-society/
      https://indicanews.com/2019/12/09/ibaadatkhana-function-and-unity-dinner/
      Ibaadatkhana has held many global webinars to promote its ideals, which can be seen on Youtube.
      The Chairman of Ibaadatkhana is Tasawar Jalali who is based in San Jose, California ( email tjalali17@gmail.com ), Vice Chairman is Irfan Ali based in Princeton, New Jersey ( email irfan79@gmail.com ), and General Secretary is Narendra Singh based in California ( email narensingh@gmail.com )
    3. Kalidas Ghalib Foundation
      This organisation aims at promoting cultural unity, particularly in the fields of art and literature ( Including films and the media ).
      The organisation was very active once, but has been inactive for many years. It needs to be revived, made strong,and put on a stable basis,as has been done with IRA and Ibaadatkhana.
      This is because Indians have to wage a historical, protracted, arduous people’s struggle, calling for many sacrifices by patriots, before they can succeed in setting up a political and social order under which rhere is rapid industrialsaion and modernisation. Art and literature can inspire the people in their struggle, e.g. the booklets and articles of Voltaire and Rousseau, the great French thinkers, which inspired the great French Revolution of 1789, Thomas Paine’s booklet ‘Commonsense’ which inspired the patriots in the American War of Independernce, the song ‘La Marseillaise’ during the French Revolution, the works of Maxim Gorki ( e.g. his novel ‘Mother’ and his poem ‘Song of the Stormy Petrel’ ) which inspired the1917 Revolution in Russia, or Ram Prasad Bismil’s revolutionary poem ‘Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai’, or much of Urdu poetry, like the poetry of Faiz anf Josh.
      https://indicanews.com/2021/03/21/the-role-of-literature-in-the-transitional-era/
      https://indicanews.com/2021/02/14/the-song-of-the-stormy-petrel-justice-markandey-katju/
      https://indicanews.com/2022/12/18/the-role-of-films-in-india/
      https://indicanews.com/2020/12/25/the-role-of-the-media/
      I disussed the matter about inactivity of KGF for a long time with some senior members of the organisation. I said there was ugent need to revive and reactivate it, as we have to combat the virus of religious and caste polarisation being spread all over the country by vested political interests.
      I said that most of the senior members are in their seventies ( me including ), and therefore are not being able to properly run the organisatuion as it should be. To my mind we must therefore have a team of younger people, who have more energy, to do the actual running of the organisation, while we elder and senior people will only give guidance from time to time, and keep an overall watch on the activities. My proposal has been accepted.
      I therefore appeal through this post to all secular, patriotic Indians below 50 years of age who wish to be members of this proposed team to run KGF, send an email to me or others whose email id is given in this post ( with copy to me ). The applicant must give details to show his interest in cultural activities. It is made clear that there will be no payment to a team member for his work, and the work is purely voluntary. It is also made clear not all who apply will be selected.
  • Can India & Pakistan Unite again? Full Interview [ Click Here ]

    Can India & Pakistan Unite again? Full Interview [ Click Here ]

    Division of India & Pakistan was British conspiracy?

    Cause of Partition of India, and recent developments in the Indian subcontinent.

    Justice Markandey Katju’s interview by eminent Pakistani journalist Moeed Pirzada.

  • Why are Pakistan Generals so hostile to Imran khan ?

    Why are Pakistan Generals so hostile to Imran khan ?

    I have been wondering why the Pakistan army is so hostile to former Prime Minister Imran Khan ? After all, he has overwhelming popular support in Pakistan, as he is regarded as broadly honest, as compared to the PDM leaders who are perceived by the people of Pakistan to be totally corrupt ( as indeed the Panama Papers and other evidence shows ), and his PTI party will sweep the polls if eletions are held ( as all opinion polls indicate ).


    Also, Imran Khan has repeatedly said that he wants good relations with the army, and has offered to talk with the army chief, but the latter has not shown any willingness or inclination..


    After a lot of thinking I have come to these two conclusions as to the reason for this hostility :


    (1) Almost all senior Pakistan army officers have children or close relatives working on well paid jobs in U.S. Corporations, or are studying in top American Universities like Harvard,Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, etc with full scholarship. These army officers have probably been told by the US Govt authorities that Imran Khan is persona non grata with the US Govt, and must not be allowed to come back to power. The Pak army officers are ingratiated with the favours they have got, and will comply faithfully
    (2) Imran Khan believes that the Pak army must be subordinate to the civilian govt, as in USA, UK, France, Germany, India and other democratic countries, and should not not meddle in politics. This is anathema to the Pak officers, since it will adversely affect their economic interests. The Pak army has penetrated into numerous sectors of the Pakistan economy, and has acquired huge economic vested interests, which it will have to surrender if there is civilian control over it.

    The Pak army officers spend a large part of the budget on themselves for their life style and retirement benefits. They are some of the richest people in Pakistan, and after joining the army and getting promoted as major and above their lifestyle drastically changes, and they live in splendour, having huge houses, big imported cars, and all kinds of luxuries.


    All this will change if there is real civilian control of Pakistan’s army. There will then be accountability, the army officers will then have to live on their pay ( as in all democratic countries ), and some serving and retired officers may even be called upon to return their loot.

    All this will be extremely unpalatable to the army officers, and they will oppose it tooth and nail.
    These are the two reasons why they are so hostile to Imran Khan

  • Katju, thonkte raho by Justice Katju

    Katju, thonkte raho by Justice Katju

    Today morning I saw this message sent by someone on my fb messenger :
    ” Hello sir, I am a lawyer practising in Allahabad High Court.
    Today an elderly advocate reminded me about your past time when you were a sitting judge of Allahabad High Court.
    I was waiting to argue a matter of demolition when a very old advocate sitting beside me said ” Ye aaj ke judges kya demolition rokenge ? Woh Justice Katju tha jo aise officers ki hekdi nikaal deta tha. Mai usi waqt ka waqeel hun jab Katju jaise judge ek bhi dukaan ya makaan nahi girne dete the..
    You are still the gem in many hearts ‘

    This message reminded me of what happened about 25 years ago, and perhaps what that elderly lawyer was referring to. I was then a junior judge of the Allahabad High Court, having been appointed in 1991.

    In UP, state assembly elections were held in 1993 and a coalition SP-BSP govt came into power, under Chief Ministership of Ms Mayawati. The SP and BSP claim to represent the lower castes, and hence to achieve their goal of ‘social justice ‘ for the lower castes, the ruling politicians in the state devised a unique modus operandi for grabbing the houses of the upper castes. 

    This modus operandi was to get a surreptitious allotment order passed by the Rent Control and Eviction Officer ( who, being a govt officer, would willingly comply with orders of the ruling politicians ), behind the back of the owner/tenant/occupant ( i.e. without serving any notice on him ) and thereafter quickly grabbing the house along with a mob of hooligans and anti-social elements ( which every political party has ).

    I was then sitting in the jurisdiction where dozens of writ petitions were filed challenging such illegal house grabbings. I quickly realised that if this was permitted to continue there would be complete collapse of law and order in the state, and jungle raj.

    I summoned the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police of UP, ordering them to personally appear in my Court. When they appeared in the jam packed court, I told them it was the duty of the bureaucrats and police officers to maintain law and order, but it was regrettable that they were not justifying their salt by behaving in a cowardly manner before the politicians.

    I told them that our ancient thinkers were of the view that the worst state of affairs possible in society is a state of lawlessness. When the rule of law collapses it is replaced by matsya nyaya, which means the law of the jungle.

    In Sanskrit the word ‘matsya’ means fish, and matsya nyaya means the state of affairs when the big fish devours the smaller one. All our ancient thinkers have condemned matsya nyaya ( see ‘History of the Dharmashastras’ by P.V. Kane, Volume 3 page 21).

    This idea of matsyanyaya ( the maxim of the larger fish devouring the smaller ones or the strong despoiling the weak) was frequently dwelt upon by Kautilya, the Mahabharata, and other works. It can be traced back to the Shatapath Brahman (Chapter 11,1.6.24) where it is said “Whenever there is drought then the stronger seizes upon the weaker, for the waters are the law”, which probably means that when there is no rain, the reign of law comes to an end, and matsyanyaya begins to operate.

    Kautilya says “If danda be not employed, it gives rise to the condition of matsyanyaya, for in the absence of a chastiser the strong devour the weak”. That in the absence of a king (arajaka) or when there is no fear of punishment the condition of matsyanyaya follows has been declared by several works e.g. Ramayana,( Chapter 67), Shantiparva of Mahabharata, (15.30 and 67.16), Kamandaka (@.40), Matsyapurana (225.9), Manasollasa ( 2.20.1295), etc.

    Thus in the Shantiparva of Mahabharata it is stated:

    “Raja chenna bhavelloke prithivyaam dandadharaka

    Shule Matsyanivapakshyun durbalaat balvattarah”

    which means : “When the king carrying the rod of punishment does not protect the earth, then the strong persons destroy the weaker ones, just like in water the big fish eat the smaller ones”.

    In the Shantiparva of Mahabharata Bheeshma Pitamah tells Yudhishthir that there is nothing worse in the world than lawlessness, for in a state of matsyanyaya nobody, not even the evil doers, are safe, for even the evil doers will sooner or later be swallowed up by bigger evil doers.I then pronounced judgment in all these house grabbing cases ( there were dozens of them ) restoring possession to the valid occupant, and ordering the police to throw out the illegal house grabbers within 24 hours. I did this because behind the sinister phenomenon of house grabbing in the state I could see the looming danger of matsya nyaya ( see my judgment in Smt Chetan Atma Govil vs Rent Control & Eviction Officer, Saharanpur Writ Petition 9973 of 1995 decided on 9.5.1995 ).

    Thus, in Ram Kumar Agarwal vs Rent Control & Eviction Officer, Bareilly, Writ Petition 41457 of 1994 decided on 28.4.19945 I said ” This Court cannot tolerate this state of affairs, otherwise no decent and law abiding citizen will be safe in his house. A mob of hooligans may storm into the house with a surreptitious allotment order, beat up the occupants, throw them out along with their belongings, and hoist a flag of the party there, as is being done these days ”. 

    Appeals were filed before the Supreme Court against my judgments in these house grabbing cases, and they were all dismissed by a bench presided over by Justice Kuldip Singh.

    Some time after I had delivered these judgments I met Justice Kuldip Singh in a function in Delhi which we were both attending. He said to me ” Katju, thonkte  raho, thonkte raho ”

  • My contact with Pakistanis

    My contact with Pakistanis

    By Justice Katju

    Although I am an Indian,. I have lots of Pakistani friends and acquaintances, with whom I used to regularly chat on skype and whatsapp.

    Of late, however, these contacts have dried up or snapped, and this seems to be due to recent developments in Pakistan where the military and police have unleashed a reign of terror after the events of 9th May. Thousands of people have been arrested, beaten, ‘disappeared’ or even killed, the media has been largely silenced, military tribunals set up which will dispense kangaroo justice, and fear haunts the land.

    In this situation, my Pakistani contacts, who told me that whatsapp and skype are being closely monitored by intelligence agencies, seem to be scared that if they talk with me or message me they may be arrested on the charge of communicating with an Indian RAW agent ( after all, every Indian is a RAW agent ! ). So now they don’t take my whatsapp calls or respond to my messages. One female Pakistani journalist, with whom I used to chat daily, has even removed her number and name from my whatsapp contact list.

     In my articles and tweets I have been harshly criticising Pakistan army chief Gen Munir and the Corps Commanders, who have imposed fascist rule and a kind of martial law In Pakistan. 

    I have also strongly supported Imran Khan, who has now become persona non grata with the Pakistan Establishment.

    I could do so sitting safely in India, but if I had done so in Pakistan I would have been ‘disappeared’ a long time back. Naturally Pakistanis who communicate with a person critical of that holy institution, the Pakistan army, are themselves suspect, and are in danger of being arrested or ‘disappeared’.

    I can understand all this. Maybe I would have done the same had I been in their place. I remember the lines in Hindi poet Shyam Narain Pandey’s famous poem ‘Haldighati’ :

    ” Tha shor maut se bacho bacho

      Talwaar chali, talwaar chali ”.

    But I have also advised all Pakistanis to silently knit the names of their oppressors, like Madame Defarge in Dickens’ novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’

  • The Honble Chief Minister of Karnataka Bangalaru

    The Honble Chief Minister of Karnataka Bangalaru

    Dear Chief Minister,

    I am writing to you in connection with Abdul Nassir Maadhany, a religious cleric of Kerala, who is facing trial in the Bangalore bomb blast case of 2010. 

    He was falsely implicated in the Coimbatore bomb blast case for which he was imprisoned from 1998 to 2007, but was then found innocent by the Court and acquitted in 2007. Subsequently he was arrested in 2010 in connection with the Bangalore bomb blast case, and his trial in that case is still going on. He was in jail in Bangalore in connection with that case for many years, and presently he is under house arrest, and prohibited to go to his home state Kerala. 

    Without going into the merits of the case, by this letter I am appealing to you on humanitarian grounds to recommend to H.E. the Governor of Karnataka to pardon him in excercise of his power under Article 161 of the Constitution, for the following reasons : 

    1. He has already undergone almost 22 years in jail ( of which the 9 years in connection with the 

    Coimbatore bomb blast case was clearly illegal as the Court found him innocent in 2007 ). 

    2. He is physically handicapped as he lost one leg in 1992, and he can move about only on a wheel chair. 

    3. Both his kidneys have failed, and he will be shortly on dialysis.

    4. He is partially blind, and has been undergoing treatment. 

    5. He suffers from severe diabetes, which has affected many of his organs, and was probably the cause of his partial blindness.

    6. His father is paralyzed and bed ridden.

    Even if it is assumed he is guilty, surely he has been punished enough.

    In this connection I would like to refer to Portia’s famous speech in Shakespeare’s play Merchant of Venice, in which she said that justice should be tempered with mercy.

    I may also quote a sher ( couplet ) of the famous Urdu poet Faiz :

    “ Qafas udaas hai yaaron saba se kuch to kaho

      Kaheen to beher-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale “.

       Justice Markandey Katju, former Judge, Supreme Court of India

     31.5.2023

      91-9821181334