Thursday, March 29, 2007

Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia(devided attention)/an Insight

Two friends who have recovered from Schizophrenia have given their input about auditory hallucinations and as Stefan is from sweden, his english may be little odd but i hope some scientists will make use of this.


, loreall p wrote:
Stefan- Ok, I highlighted all the stuff I don't fully unerstand ingreen. I hightlighted the stuff I really umderstand, and stood outto me also in blue. I highlighted the stuff in red cause I'm REALLYinterested in what you've found. The stuff in purple, I can also do,but I have found it is because my full attention is on somethingelse, like you say. What is corollary disgarge? I really think that your on to something, with the perception thearipy. I have my owntheory, I feel that, ALL human beings have heard their very own thoughts in a crowded room with many other human voices, ya know thatfamilair saying, " I can't hear myself think in here!",well I feelthat they are doing JUST THIS. When I think about it I do rememberhearing my own thoughts amongst the other voices of a crowded roombefore I ever heard any voices, their own thoughts are so loud tothem that they just don't notice that they heard them out loud! Thisis something that can be proved. Nobody, no docter, no researcher is ever going to look into this, breaking thewhole thing down as you have, no-one. I'm pleading that youmeditate, go running or something, that you can look into thisfurther... You are on to something! And you'r conclution isprovokingly interesting to me. If I understand correctly, you arereally pointing out in a thourough way that we must multitask inorder to percieve of a voice. You are so on to something that couldhelp alot of people, and I can't wait to hear from you. A smartdocter WILL listen, so if a couple shake their heads at you, move onwithout getting down. -Loreal-----
Original Message ----From: stefan andersson To: Divided attention "theory" about auditoryhallucinations...I´m considering to write to a scientist about a "theory" of mine, butI´m not used to express myself in english and I wonder if it´spossible to understand this. (I think that some of my observations is what happens when thebrain can't simultaneously give full attention to both verbalthinking and an external or internal sound which substitute the vokalof the inner voice.) "I would like to share some of my experience of auditory hallucinations and wonder if you could comment on this. I come from Sweden and was diagnosed whith paronoid schizophrenia seven yearsago. I have been hearing voices most of the time and when it was most severe I heard all my thoughts. That is I heard voices that where experienced as alien as well as my own voice (thoughts spoken outloud). The latter phenomenon has enabeld a better understanding of what is going on. For instance I could listen to a smooth sound of low volume(comming from the suroundings or recorded to ensure that there were no changes in volume) and notice that my focus on the sound was enhanced when my inner voice articulated a single vokal sound. The same thing did not happen when I listened to the sound and used my inner voice to articulate a letter producing a single stopp sound or consonante. Still strangely this sounds are incorporated in the perceived voice when combiend with vocal sounds. The consequence of that my attention was guided by all the vokal sounds of speech was that the sound no longer was perceived as smooth. Instead it was perceived with the same chages of volume that a distante voice of the real world would produce and what more if I imagined a female voice as my own I attended a diffrent sound that could match such a voice. What happens is that the vocals of my inner voice is substituted by an external sound which like when the voice is alien produces a concret sensoric sound image. The simplest explanation is that the vokal of my innervoice i used to guide attention in the same way that a memory of a tone enabels perception of the same tone at a lower volume than otherwise would be the case. When listening I also noticed a diffrence in attention between thoughts that were alien and other thoughts that were perceived as my own. It came clear to me that I gave more attention to a sound that was transformed into an alien voice than to a sound that made it possible to hear what was perceived as my own thoughts and if it´s true it doesn´t differ from what you would expect. I mean off course you pay more attention to what you hear if you think you recieve importante imformation than when you know what´s comming. Actually acouple of times I could change my own voice into an alien one by attending more to a sound, but only if it was not smooth. Manyobservations, also with recorded sounds, confirmed that the volume of the sound had to change like the vokal of a real voice if it wereto be percieved as alien. As described my own voice was synkronised with the sound that was interpreted by attention modification and when it comes to the alien voice the vocals is also synkronised by being triggerd when the volume of the sound makes at short change to a higher volume. To be more precise you have to include other speech sounds and the changes in volume actually triggers syllable by syllable into words and sentences. To make the syncronisation of the vocal of an alien voice with a changing sound possible I concluded that a combination of attention modification and tiggering is needed. My own thoughts that were spoken out loud were only disturbed when they were perceived as alien. In the beginning almost all of these sentences were abrupted and later my brain seemed to adust to this by thinking in shorter sentenses or sometimes even single words. The explanation why some senteses were abrupted came to me by paying even more attention to the sound that was interpreted and percieved as an alien voice. The result was that Icould intentionally end a sentense that without my control otherwise probably would have continued with some more words. If you do this on purpus you end up hearing the sound behinde the voice which is not the case when attention is hightend automatically. This none intended increase in attention that suposingly lays behind the ending of the sentence often follows by an imediate shift of attention to another more perifer sound that give rise to a new voice and so on.(very hard to cope when it´s like that) When the thoughts take the form of a new voice it often makes ajump and changes direction and maybe some clues to wy certain disturbances in verbal thinking sometimes occure in the "schizophrenic brain" could be understod by shifts in or hightend attention. My conclution is that divided attention explains why it is only possibly to interpret periferal sounds. This conclution could also give a possible answer to wy my thoughts become alien if the awareness of the imagined formation of the words included in normal verbal thinking competes with the sound because of the limited attentional span that is so obvious in divided attention tasks. My experience also confirms that some awareness of the imagined formation of the words is nessesary to control a thought and to perceive it as a result of ones own actions. I actualy think this is a more thorough explanation than corollary discharge.( I mean do they know for surewy corollary disgarge doesn´t work) At least it´s easier to understand "a divided attention theory". So far I have been talking about my understanding of interpretations of external sounds, but I wouldn´t be suprised if voices without an external link could be understod by applaying the same ideas like divided attention etc. To me auditory hallucinations come very close to auditory illusions common in speach perception. They arise when it is hard to hear the spoken words and fragments of none verbal sounds is nessesary to enabel the perceptual restoration to occure. (I wonder if a better understanding of speach perception, maybe another version of the motor theory of speach perception, might cast some light over auditory hallucinations. ) Many of my friends chare the experience that what is considerd to be auditory hallucinations sometimes include interpretations of external sounds. (The phenomenon EVP futher confirms the abillity ofthe human brain to interpret "white noise" when it expect to hear certain words) The state I was in earlier lasted a couple of years and made it possible to make very detaild observations. This it not possible anymore but I still blieve that my observations are valid. I now understand that it could be difficulte to verify some of my observaytions, but still I hope that somebody would give it a try.
"Stava rätt! Stava lätt! Yahoo! Mails stavkontroll tar hand omtryckfelen och mycket mer!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

25th March Bangladesh day/Kissinger and indias role

1971 Bangladesh (East Pakistan) War

Last President of a United Pakistan Yahya Khan with President Richard Nixon of USA
The advice that Kissinger gave President Nixon, and Nixon's support for the Pakistani administration of Yahya Khan during the 1971 Bangladesh War, did nothing to discourage the Pakistani Army and local allies from committing atrocities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Kissinger and Nixon were well briefed on the atrocities as U.S. diplomats in the South Asia were reporting regularly to the State Department about them in unequivocal language.
On December 16, 2002, the George Washington University’s National Security Archives published a collection of American declassified documents, mostly consisting of communications between US officials working in embassies and USIS centers in Dhaka and in India, and officials in Washington DCGandhi, Sajit (ed.), The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 79. These documents show that US officials working in diplomatic institutions within Bangladesh used the terms ‘selective genocide’Blood, Archer, Transcript of Selective Genocide Telex, Department of State, United States and ‘genocide’ (Blood telegram) to describe events they had knowledge of at the time. They also show that President Nixon, advised by Henry Kissinger, decided to downplay this secret internal advise, because he wanted to protect the interests of Pakistan as he was apprehensive of India's friendship with the USSR, and he was seeking a closer relationship with China who supported PakistanMemorandam for the Record(PDF) August 11 1971.
In June 2005 the U.S. state department declassified documents concerning the visit of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the White House. Included in the documents was a transcript of a conversation between Kissinger and President Nixon on the morning of November 5, 1971: Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume E-7, Documents on South Asia, 1969-1972 150. Conversation Among President Nixon, the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), and the President’s Chief of Staff (Haldeman), Washington November 5, 1971, 8:15-9:00 a.m.
Nixon: "We really slobbered over that old witch"
Kissinger: "They are the most goddamn aggressive people around."
Nixon: "The Indians?"
Kissinger: "Yeah."
Nixon: "Sure."
Kissinger: "The Indians are bastards anyway. They are starting a war there. While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too. She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war."
Kissinger has since expressed his regret over the comments saying, "I regret that these words were used. I have extremely high regard for Mrs. Gandhi as a statesman. This was somebody letting off steam at the end of a meeting in which both President Nixon and I were emphasizing that we had gone out of our way to treat Mrs. Gandhi very cordially." On Indo-American relations Kissinger has also added that "I'm known as a strong advocate and one of the originators of close relations with China. I believe that today I am also a strong advocate of close relations with India." The newly released documents also show that Kissinger pushed for a Chinese military build up along the Indian border as the Americans feared an Indian invasion into West Pakistan. The American request for Chinese involvement in the war was, however, declined. Debasish Roy Chowdhury 'Indians are bastards anyway' in the Asia Times June 23, 2005Kissinger regrets India comments BBC 1 July, 2005

Saturday, March 24, 2007

When President Kennedy in 1960 abolished involuntary admissions and mental health asylums, he hoped that Mentallyill persons and their rights will be protected and they will be able to come out of their illness in their own way with help of families and society.
The result is today mentallyill are languishing in prisons and with their rights severly curtailed due to the very reason of their sickness and not understanding what they DO.
If the richest country is treating the mentallyill in this way and what hope they have got in other less poor nations.
I want mentallyill and their carers to reflect on these issues seriously. The issue of mentalillness and disability is now controlled by LAWYERS who have no knowledge about the sickness and the pain which the families have to undergo

The following links are for carers and sufferes to see and think about solutions.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/01/10/usdom15040.htm



Friday, March 23, 2007

Shaheed Bhagath singh's letter to his father

Shaheed Bhagath singh was in the death row in lahore jail. His father out of love for his son, put up a mercy petition to the viceroy. This letter shows his love for his father but also deals with the difference in principles between them as he is an Atheist and a communist. But our youth in India should read this letter for the principles and patriotism involved.

Letter to Father reg. Petition to Special Tribunal

[When the case was in its final stage, Sardar Kishan Singh (Bhagat Singh's father), moved by fatherly love and affection, made a written request to the Viceroy and the Tribunal, saying that there were many facts to prove that his son was innocent and that he had nothing to do with Sounder's murder. He also requested that his son be given an opportunity to prove his innocence. When Bhagat Singh came to know of it he was very upset, and wrote this strong letter to his father, protesting against his move as an act of weakness and cowardice on the part of his father. The letter shows that Bhagat Singh was determined to face gallows with exemplary courage and pride.]

Oct. 4, 1930

My Dear Father,

I was astounded to learn that you had submitted a petition to the members of the Special Tribunal in connection with my defence. This intelligence proved to be too severe a blow to be borne with equanimity. It has upset the whole equilibrium of my mind. I have not been able to understand how you could think it proper to submit such a petition at this stage and in these circumstances. Inspite of all the sentiments and feelings of a father, I don't think you were at all entitled to make such a move on my behalf without even consulting me. You know that in the political field my views have always differed with those of yours. I have always been acting independently without having cared for your approval or disapproval.

I hope you can recall to yourself that since the very beginning you have been trying to convince me to fight my case very seriously and to defend myself properly. But you also know that I was always opposed to it. I never had any desire to defend myself and never did I seriously think about it. Whether it was a mere vague ideology or that I had certain arguments to justify my position, is a different question and that cannot be discussed here.

You know that we have been pursuing a definite policy in this trial. Every action of mine ought to have been consistent with that policy, my principle and my programme. At present the circumstances are altogether different, but had the situation been otherwise, even then I would have been the last man to offer defence. I had only one idea before me throughout the trial, i.e. to show complete indifference towards the trial inspite of serious nature of the charges against us. I have always been of opinion that all the political workers should be indifferent and should never bother about the legal fight in the law courts and should boldly bear the heaviest possible sentences inflicted upon them. They may defend themselves but always from purely political considerations and never from a personal point of view. Our policy in this trial has always been consistent with this principle; whether we were successful in that or not is not for me to judge. We have always been doing our duty quite disinterstedly.

In the statement accompanying the text of Lahore Conspiracy Case Ordinance the Viceroy had stated that the accused in this case were trying to bring both law and justice into contempt. The situation afforded us an opportunity to show to the public whether we ere trying to bring law into contempt or whether others were doing so. People might disagree with us on this point. You might be one of them. But that never meant that such moves should be made on my behalf without my consent or even my knowledge. My life is not so precious, at least to me, as you may probably think it to be. It is not at all worth buying at the cost of my principles. There are other comrades of mine whose case is as serious as that of mine. We had adoped a common policy and we shall stand to the last, no matter how dearly we have to pay individually for it.

Father, I am quite perplexed. I fear I might overlook the ordinary principle of etiquette and my language may become a little but harsh while criticising or rather censoring this move on your part. Let me be candid. I feel as though I have been stabbed at the back. Had any other person done it, I would have considered it to be nothing short o treachery. But in your case, let me say that it has been a weakness - a weakness of the worst type.

This was the time where everybody's mettle was being tested. Let me say, father, you have failed. I know you are as sincere a patriot as one can be. I know you are as sincere a patriot as one can be. I know you have devoted your life to the cause of Indian independence, but why, at this moment, have you displayed such a weakness? I cannot understand.

In the end, I would like to inform you and my other friends and all the people interested in my case, that I have not approved of your move. I am still not at all in favour of offering any defence. Even if the court had accepted that petition submitted by some of my co-accused regarding defence, etc., I would have not defended myself. My applications submitted to the Tribunal regarding my interview during the hunger strike, were misinterpreted and it was published in the press that I was going to offer defence, though in reality I was never willing to offer any defence. I still hold the same opinion as before. My friends in the Borstal Jail will be taking it as a treachery and betrayal on my part. I shall not even get an opportunity to clear my position before them.

I want that public should know all the details about this complication, and, therefore, I request you to publish this letter.

Your loving sonBhagat Singh

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Brain health is health of the body

As one grows old , one thinks of the health of the brian and how one can avoid the dreaded alkhazemier and how one can keep one's faculty functioning.
Some useful tips have come which can help in brain health and corresponsingly general health also.
1.Get plenty of sleep. This is the most important step as brain regenerates itself during this period. It is also the first sign of mentalillness when the person is sufferring from sleeplessness.
2. Brain healthy diet. This must contain Fish, sea food, folic acid and all those food which contain Omega 3 fatty acids, anti/oxidants etc. Leafy vegetables,fruits and food rich in carbohydrates also must form part of your diet.
3. Stay mentally active. A game of bridge a day keeps the alkazhmier away is a saying worth following. But you can have your brain ticking by playing chess, crossword puzzles, suduko etc.
4.Physical exercise is a must. Anything which strengthens your heart helps your brain also
5. Stay social by using carer groups, ORKUT, email, and all those social functions like marriages,parties etc.
6.Learn to manage stress from the beginning in your school,college, workplace,marriage etc.One has to understand that stress is part of life and also part of progress. But one must know how to manage it. confiding in peer groups is also a stress buster.
7. Brain is protected by skull and one must protect it from injury by using helmets, driving carefully and all one can do using ones commonsence.
8.Avoid the standard drill of smoking, alcohol,drugs.
9. One cannot fight ones heridity and ones genes. But one must not fear it. Both my parents sufferred from diabeties and my mother never allowed three of us going near sweets. But i think it is my fathers relaxed attitude to discease which helped all of us in the long run. Uric acid and gout has got up with me but it can be faught by diet alone. Brain disceases also follows this same pattern.
10. controll all addictions. i am unable to control this addiction to internet surfing for the last 2 years. But i think i can manage if i realy want to .

Monday, March 19, 2007

Ms.Asiya andrabi's interview In Kashmir Observer on 19th march

In a recent interview in the Kashmir Observer dt 19th march, the leader of Dhuktharan -e-Millet Ms.Asiaya andrabi expressed an opinion that her son should kill George Bush and this will give her an opportunity to meet her son in Heaven.
She is a very patriotic kashmiri.
She has been fighting human rights violations in the Srinagar valley by Indian army, though sometimes her methods were not within the constitutional limits.
I want to ask her some simple questions.
1) How she is so sure that she will reach Heaven along with her son. Is not path to heaven in the hands of Allah the almighty?
2) How come killing George Bush by her son is so important to her than even killing of Indian leaders ;when George bush has not killed even a single kashmiri by himself or through his troops?
3) Is killing of Iraqies more important to her than killling of Kashmiri Muslims?
4) She is happy with the Kashmiri leader Gillani but not Mirwaiz Farooq.Why?
5) she is blaming the condition of kashmiries under indian rule is not good. What she means by good condition? Is the condition of Saudi woman who cannot drive a vehicle or vote is better than Kashmiri woman according to her?
6) KSM who owed alligiance to alqueada and claimed by his own admission as its media director , slit the the throat of daniel pearl just because he happens to be Jewish spy to satisfy the needs of Kashmiri Mujahadeen. Does she approve of it?
The problem with leaders like Asiya is that they fight for independent kashmir because the pakistani ISI told them to do it.But they will not look at the conditions of people in socalled Azad kashmir? They cannot make a TRUTHFUL ASSESSMENT. Pakistan's Zia ul haq started the war in Kashmir through its ISI to bleed India covertly and he has succeeded in this. But at what cost? Once Kashmir,s independence is obtained from India and Pakistan, then Asiyas will wail for woman of iraq,afghanistan,southern thailand,southern philipines,chechenya and all those places where some Muslims live in MINORITY.
The REAL PROBLEM IS THE MUSLIMS INABLITY TO LIVE AS A PEACEFUL MINORITY, OBEYING THE LAW OF INDIA,THAILAND,PHILIPINES ETC. She will say Sharia is supreme but why should sharia be supreme only with regard to 4 wives, triple talaq but not when it concerns the theft, interest income ,woman's mauintenance etc. Selective reasoning ,occupying government lands for prayers illegally and then demand rights for that land are some of the other issues which makes muslims to feel always VITIMISED AND LIVE IN GHETTO SYNDROME.
Patriotic Indian muslims must show the way.

Friday, March 16, 2007

The foliowing report by the author John solomon shows the penetration of TERRORISTS in southern africa. it also shows the scant attention it gets from indian authorities though most of the alqueada are trained in pakistan and funded from southern africa.

The Danger of Terrorist Black Holes in Southern Africa
By John Solomon

Al-Qaeda Operative Fazul MohammedOn March 13, a South African intelligence official warned that a number of international terrorists may be spending time in South Africa, using the country as a safehaven (South Africa Press Association, March 13). Furthermore, in October 2004, the CIA reportedly identified 29 al-Qaeda leaders serving in management and support positions operating from Pakistan and Iraq to South Africa (South Africa Press Association, October 4, 2004). Recent evidence suggests that prominent al-Qaeda financiers, facilitators and recruiters continue to operate in the generally underreported region of southern Africa. A brief historical survey of these events seems to reveal a discernible pattern that prominent global jihadis—sometimes serving as conduits between UK- and Pakistan-based networks—have used southern Africa as a possible medium through which to not only stage operations, but also secure refuge, money and recruits; all critical factors for executing attacks in support of the movement.The new terrorism, epitomized by al-Qaeda and the broader jihadi movement, enjoys a dispersed, decentralized and arguably leaderless structure, instructed and driven more by ideology, doctrine and bottom-up social networks than by any one central figure. Since headless, flat organizations and movements are difficult to destroy in the most open, accessible environments, the task becomes even greater in regions riddled with "black holes" where porous borders, swathes of ungoverned space, lawlessness and easy access to arms and illicit trade converge to create comparative advantages for terrorists seeking refuge and support mechanisms for operations and attacks [1]. These opaque corridors, coupled with information technology, afford ample space for jihadi "hubs" to move, nest and grow their networked infrastructure while retaining a quiet, threatening posture worldwide.Southern Africa exemplifies one such corridor in which al-Qaeda might utilize comparatively advantageous conditions in order to remain viably intact and active. Al-Qaeda franchises are well-placed across west, north and east Africa, with growing signs that southern Africa may have been or is a key support base. Much of southern Africa contains "terrorist black holes" where lawlessness provides terrorists with the means to develop support structures—safehouses, training opportunities, mobility and funding channels—to advance their objectives. The fact that southern Africa has played host to a number of recent incidents involving prominent al-Qaeda facilitators further indicates its use and value, and warrants a closer look at this generally underreported region. With lawlessness, government corruption and a wide-range of preferred terrorist financing methods available—minerals, gemstones, pirated products and narcotics—al-Qaeda could indeed partake in illicit and unregulated trade in southern Africa to sustain itself.MadagascarWhen Jamal Khalifa was found dead in his gemstone mine in southeastern Madagascar in late January, it was unclear which was more puzzling: the murky circumstances surrounding his death, which his brother Malek emphasized to the press, or the more alarming assertion that he was involved in the African gemstone trade (Asharq al-Awsat, February 1). Jamal Khalifa was a widely-suspected al-Qaeda financier linked to a dizzying array of terrorist operatives, plots and front organizations across the globe. Through fronts established in the Philippines, Khalifa reportedly funded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his nephew Ramzi Youssef to execute Operation Bojinka, a plot to simultaneously destroy 12 transpacific airliners bound for the United States from Asian cities. He is notably also credited with the creation of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines (Manila Times, February 1). Since 9/11, Saudi Arabia reportedly restricted Khalifa, who is also Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, to the kingdom and the seafood restaurant that he co-owned with his brother Malek in Jeddah. The fact that an al-Qaeda suspect of this profile maintained mining interests in Madagascar and elsewhere raises questions regarding al-Qaeda's ability to capitalize on ungoverned spaces in southern Africa and beyond for its financing activities.Coincidently, less than a week after Khalifa's death, Midi Madagaskira, an Antananarivo-based daily, reported that Fazul Mohammed, a Comoros-born al-Qaeda leader, had not only survived a U.S. air strike that targeted him in Somalia, but also had been seen in Majunga, a seaside town in northwest Madagascar [2]. Mohammed allegedly directed the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. If it is true that he found safe passage from Somalia to Madagascar or the Comoros, it strongly suggests that there was an existing support infrastructure there to facilitate his movements. Another possible scenario is that he was directing fighters in Somalia while based in Madagascar or another African country.Analysts and media reports often also associate Fazul Mohammed with diamond trading in western Africa in the late 1990s. He allegedly organized and took part in a smuggling scheme in Sierra Leone and Liberia through a Senegalese trader named Ibrahim Bah who was also a close associate of the president, Charles Taylor. Coincidently, it may also be remembered that around the same time these alleged al-Qaeda diamond schemes took place, Yassin al-Qadi, another U.S.-designated terrorist financier, invested US$3 million for a 12% interest in Global Diamond Resources, a California-registered company that mined diamonds in South Africa, and another multinational gemstone operation through New Diamond Corp. Ltd., an offshore company that he controlled. While the two individuals and their involvement in the gemstone trade may not be linked, the use of diamonds for terrorist financing activities is well-known and would most likely take place in southern Africa or other parts of the continent where precious stones are mined and traded.South AfricaMadagascar is not the only example of a southern African country playing host to prominent jihadi operatives. While South Africa witnessed a spate of terrorist attacks and extremist activities in the Cape Town area by the Salafi-inspired PAGAD and Iranian-sponsored Qibla organizations in the late 1990s, there is perhaps a more worrying trend that prominent al-Qaeda operatives, with a much more global agenda, are using the state as a base of support operations. In January, the United States and the United Nations moved to freeze the assets of South African-based cousins Junaid and Farhad Dockrat for providing material and financial support to al-Qaeda [3]. The cousins illustrate how jihadi hubs—individuals with extensive social networks within the movement—can become tentacles of support that facilitate the movement of human resources and capital to perpetuate the organization.Junaid Dockrat is a dentist in Johannesburg. Professionals—doctors, lawyers, engineers—tend to be involved in terrorist financing activities more so than their non-professional counterparts and often earn enough through legitimate means to fund terrorism, making it difficult to prevent by conventional anti-money laundering measures. Junaid Dockrat allegedly transferred $120,000 to Hamza Rabia, the now deceased al-Qaeda foreign operations chief, in March and April 2004 to facilitate the movement of South Africans to terrorist camps in Pakistan. The U.S. government also listed Dockrat as a majority co-owner of Sniper Africa, a purported hunting goods store that has been designated as a global terrorist entity [4]. Junaid could have acquired these funds through his legitimate employment as a medical professional and business owner. This illustrates a key challenge and distinction for why combating terrorist financing is difficult and different from traditional anti-money laundering measures. Terrorist financing is reverse money laundering. Terrorists dirty clean money, whereas money launderers and other criminals clean dirty money. Junaid's association with his more visible cousin, Farhad, likely caused Western intelligence services to identify him.Farhad Dockrat is a Pretoria-based cleric also involved in terrorist financing and other support activities. The United States claims that he financed terrorism through a $62,900 gift he gave to the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan to be forwarded to al-Akhtar Trust, an al-Qaeda charity front. In addition, Farhad seems to be active in Salafi proselytizing networks. He heads the "lavish" Darus Salaam Mosque in Laudium, a nearby suburb, which is reportedly frequented by the Pakistani and Malavian communities (Daily Times, January 30). His son, Muaz, lectures in the adjoining Islamic college. In 2005, Farhad, Muaz and a student were detained for a number of weeks in Gambia where they were suspected of al-Qaeda membership. Dockrat claimed that he was unjustly held and insisted that he was on a religious mission across the region to exchange "Islamic educational techniques" [5]. Perhaps indicative of the effectiveness of these techniques, Farhad's former student, Zoubier Ismail, was detained with other South Africans during a raid on an al-Qaeda safehouse in Pakistan in late 2004. One pattern that emerges is an apparent South African link to jihadi operatives, often of Pakistani descent, in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Haroon Aswat, another prominent jihadi who was active in Pakistan, though born in Gujarat, India, was detained in Zambia traveling from Zimbabwe in late July 2005 after his phone number was found on all four of London's July 7, 2005 suicide bombers. He reportedly exchanged a flurry of phone calls with each of them while he was in South Africa in the days before the attack (The Times [London], July 31, 2005). Although not conclusive, the phone calls suggest an operational relationship between Aswat in South Africa and the suicide cell in London led by Mohammed Saddiq Khan, who undertook terrorist training in Pakistan with a group of other Britons.Aswat has an extensive history of links and associations with al-Qaeda and the greater jihadi movement in and out of the United Kingdom and Pakistan and, later, the southern African region. In London in the 1990s, he was an assistant to Abu Hamza at the Finsbury Park Mosque. In 2002, the U.S. government prosecuted him for attempting to establish a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon. Apart from his possible involvement in 7/7, the United States recently linked Aswat to Mohammed al-Ghabra, a designated terrorist financier, facilitator and recruiter based in east London. In 2004, Aswat allegedly met al-Ghabra in Pakistan where al-Ghabra was engaged in extensive terrorist training. The United States also accuses al-Ghabra of recruiting and sending Britons to train and fight in Pakistan and Iraq. Aswat, al-Ghabra and al-Qaeda networks in Pakistan seem to have constituted a triangular link among training activities in Pakistan, financing activities in South Africa and operations and attacks in the United Kingdom.The case of Abd al-Muhsin al-Libi further illustrates this trend of prominent al-Qaeda operatives using South Africa as a base for terrorist support infrastructures. Al-Libi, also known as Ibrahim Tantouche, emerged in South Africa in February 2004 when he was detained for holding a fake South African passport. Later that year, British security agencies found boxes of South African passports at the home of a suspected al-Qaeda member in Britain. The passports were legitimate passports, not fakes, indicating that they were obtained illegally through a South African government official (The Star [South Africa], July 28, 2004). There seems to be a good possibility that al-Libi acquired the fake passport through al-Qaeda support structures in South Africa.Al-Libi previously directed the al-Qaeda terrorist financing fronts, the Afghan Support Committee and Revival of Islamic Society. Both operated under charity covers and diverted money to al-Qaeda that was raised for orphans who in reality were either dead or non-existent. Although his current whereabouts are not publicly known, as of November 2005 he was in South Africa, free and awaiting the outcome of a political asylum application.ConclusionWhile these terrorist activities give indication that southern Africa could offer sanctuaries for prominent jihadis to support or plot future terrorist attacks, these same events may also suggest that the U.S.-led efforts are resulting in tactical victories. Key sectors of the network seem to be emerging. Khalifa's appearance in Madagascar is worrying because it signifies that important terrorist financing mechanisms such as diamond trading may be available to high-profile al-Qaeda associates. Yet, at the same time, travel bans, asset freezes and the detainment of prominent operatives also suggest in each of the cases cited that important victories are being won. Identifying and neutralizing terrorist support infrastructures are a critical part of any successful counter-terrorism strategy. The United States' announcement that the Pentagon will create an African Central Command in 2008, while explained at least in part by energy security and balancing China, may also indicate that the United States will continue to monitor and increasingly dismantle these jihadi support hubs and prevent them from proliferating further.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

The Rise of SAUDI POWER

The rise of Saudi power in Midleast and corresponding decline of US power is evident in the recent events.
1.Malliki,s days as Iraq head seems to be numbered with Allawi coming to centre stage with support from sunnies and Kurds with Saudi backing
2.Musharraf's defiance of US by sacking the chief Justice of supreme court who is considered as close to US.
3.JMB in Bangladesh ordered to kill both the Begums in Dec 2006 but not carried out due to the emergency. But still both the begums are facing the music of interim administration.
4.Even in Thailand, the Muslim army chief is foraying into southern Thailand.
5. Abbas becoming another Arafat and occupying the space of Arafat who steadfastly refused to accept 90% of the Palestinian territories. Jerusalem becoming centre point of the demand.
6.Putins visit to Saudi Arabia and demanding Iran to accept IAEA demands.
7. The recent demand by Gillani to Pakistan government to get out of Kashmir.
8. the demand by PDP to chief minister of J&K to ask for withdrawal of AF SPECIAL POWERS ACT FROM THE STATE.

This increasing assertion by SAUDIES is not being orchestrated by USA as in the recent past and world powers especially India with the largest Muslim population in the world should take note of it.

Monday, March 12, 2007

MALE RAPE

The recent killing of 5 constables by a sikkim collegue has brought out into open the question of MALE RAPE hitherto kept under wraps.
The supreme court committee appointed to investigate ragging in colleges also should look into this question of MALE RAPE. Most of the times it is rape of males which goes in the guise of ragging in southern professional colleges.
When a woman is raped, normally she is looked upon sympathetically as a victim of superior strength. in the case of MALES, the males cannot go to the society for sympathy and succour as it will question their very masculinity. Many a new entrant in colleges commit suicides after this horryfying experience. Some rediscover their MANLINESS BY raping their male juniors next year. Asort of HOMOSEXUAL cycle is created. Recently a male child of 5 years was sodomised by two adult males and then killed the boy. Madurai high court awarded death sentence to this horryfying murder to the accused. on appeal the honourable supremecourt reduced the sentence to 10 years because it is a male child and the offence is MALE RAPE!!!!!
Ofcourse male RAPE is common in Prisons due to the sheer sexual neccessity of it. The bribe one has to pay the Prison staff as well as the LIFERS in Agra prison is well documented by tehelka expose to escape MALE RAPE!!!!
This perversion is a sign of queer sexual attitude of our society which forces young army, para military personnel to stay away from woman thus curbing natural instinct but will punish them if they visit brothels and contract AIDS.
Let INDIAN SOCIETY FACE THIS FACT OF SODOMY BY FORCE AND FIND SOLUTIONS

Schizophrenia/ A father looks at drugs: Cow eats chicken in west bengal/WHAT OUR GODS WANT US TO DO?

Schizophrenia/ A father looks at drugs: Cow eats chicken in west bengal/WHAT OUR GODS WANT US TO DO?

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Cow eats chicken in west bengal/WHAT OUR GODS WANT US TO DO?


Today a farmer in chandipur in west bengal found to his horror that his cow is eating his baby chicks. He has already lost 48 chicks till he found the real culprit. Why this is happenning?
Is it a sign of the corruption amongst our ruling class THAT OUR sUPREME COURT IS ASKING FOR public hanging ? Is it a sign that there are 14 new Indian billionaires in the Forbes list and they are not bothered about poor of india. Or is it a sign of our students are connecting through ORKUT but not through verbal communication to their parents? Is it a sign by the gods that people who are fixated with the goings on of Arun nayyar and olivia huxley must also look at the Nithari killings,Kharalnji dalits and farmers suicides?
What is it our GODS WANT US TO PAY ATTENTION TO ?

Thursday, March 08, 2007

BLACK CATS /they are women!!!




Many an Indian may not know that there are WOMAN black cats in NSG. Though they are only 10 in number, they have to do all the tough physicals to qualify. Unfortunately Indian media donot do any story about them , may be because they are mostly from village backgrounds and belong to Non/IPS category.

Ofcourse they do their job silently as required of them.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

How to enable UNICODE TAMIL in WINDOWS 2000 AND WINDOWS XP.

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How to enable Unicode Tamil in Win 2000 and Win XP

How to Enable Tamil in Windows 2000? 1. Goto Control Panel -> Regional Options2. Goto General tab in Regional Options dialog3. Scroll down in the Language settings for the system listbox and check the Indic checkbox.4. Click Apply to complete installation



How to Enable Tamil in Windows XP? 1. Goto Control Panel => Regional and Language Options 2. Goto Languages tab in Regional and Language Options dialog 3. Check the Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai) checkbox 4. Click Apply to complete installation

Mentallyill in US prisons/ Asylums have been closed By Kennedy

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The following report shows how the most vulnerable of humans are treated in the wealthiest country in the world. They say the RIGHTS OF MENTALLYILL IS RESPECTED. But untreated mentallyill land up in prisons and they are made responsible for their actions. Is it correct? you judge.

New Data on the Prevalence of Mental Illness in US Prisons
By Jamie Fellner, Director, US Program at Human Rights Watch
Published in Correctional Mental Health Report
According to a new Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report, about half of the jail and prison population in the United States—1,254,800 men and women—has a mental health problem. The figure is staggering, but not surprising.
With little or no effective mental health treatment and support, offenders with mental illness are forced to navigate on their own prison environments that pose unique challenges for them.


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Related Material
U.S.: Number of Mentally Ill in Prisons QuadrupledPress Release, September 6, 2006
Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental IllnessReport, October 22, 2003
Free Email NewsletterIt testifies to the persistent failure of the state and federal governments to stem the tide of the mentally ill swept into the criminal justice system. It also testifies to public ignorance—or is it deliberate indifference?—to the tragedy of putting the mentally ill behind bars. People with mental illness often end up in prison because the community mental health system in the United States is in shambles—fragmented, underfunded, unable to serve the population that most need its services, including the poor and homeless. The new BJS report reveals that approximately one in five state inmates with mental health problems had received treatment in the year before arrest; only half had ever received any mental health treatment. It found that state inmates with mental health problems were twice as likely to have been homeless before arrest as other inmates, and provides some other statistics that point to their personal histories at the economic and social margins of society. Untreated and unstable, some people with mental illness will break the law and then they confront punitive law enforcement and sentencing policies. BJS reports that 51% of state inmates with mental health problems were convicted of nonviolent offenses, primarily drug and property offenses. One in five had no prior criminal sentence. Another one in three were non-violent recidivists. Alternatives to incarceration may well have served community safety interests just as well as prison for many of these offenders. But politicians remain loathe to reform their “tough on crime” legislation or to support and fund programs, like mental health courts, that divert offenders with mental illness from the criminal justice system. As a result, prisons receive men and women suffering from mental health disorders, including such serious illnesses as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. The BJS reports that 34% of state inmates and 24% of federal inmates with mental health problems have received treatment after admission to prison. As a quantitative matter, on their face these figures suggest many inmates are not receiving services they need. But even with regard to those inmates who do get some sort of treatment, the figures say nothing about its quality, nature or effectiveness. As we documented in Ill Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness, prison mental health services are all too often wholly inadequate. They are crippled by understaffing, insufficient facilities, and limited programs. The significant steps that many state correctional systems have made to improve their mental health services have been swamped by the tsunami of inmates who need them. With little or no effective mental health treatment and support, offenders with mental illness are forced to navigate on their own prison environments that pose unique challenges for them. These inmates often prove to be ill equipped to cope with the stresses and rules of prison life. They are likely to be victimized by other inmates; they have difficulty following the rules. Again, the new BJS statistics are revealing: 58% of state prison inmates with mental health problems have been charged with rule violations, compared to 43% of inmates without such problems. The former are more than twice as likely to be charged with verbal assault as the latter. In addition, BJS reveals that inmates with mental health problems are twice as likely as those without to be injured in a fight. Mentally ill prisoners face prison rules that were never designed to accommodate their unique needs. They face correctional officers ill trained to work with them and ignorant of the nature and significance of their symptoms. Prisoners who are mentally ill are far more likely to end up in segregation than other inmates. Data that is available from individual states reveals a significantly disproportionate presence of these most vulnerable of inmates in this harshest form of confinement. What state and federal governments must do is easy to prescribe. They must dramatically increase the scope and effectiveness of community mental health systems. They must reform needlessly harsh sentencing laws and law enforcement practices to reduce the number of persons with mental illness needlessly ending up in prison. They must also improve the quantity and quality of prison mental health services, rehabilitative programming and reentry services provided to people behind bars. Financial considerations have played a role in frustrating the needed reforms. But more is at work here than money. The lack of funds reflects inadequate commitment, compassion and common sense on the part of elected officials. These officials need to address the crisis of mental health care in the United States, even if doing so is not a “vote-getter.” They need to abandon the politically popular but counter-productive and unnecessarily punitive “tough on crime” policies that have given the U.S. the highest incarceration rate in the world. They must accept responsibility for those who are incarcerated and ensure prisons have the funds needed to help turn inmates lives around and to, at the very least, provide the necessary mental health services. During the deinstitutionalization era, the United States succeeded in shutting down the large, barren public mental health hospitals in which hundreds of thousands of people with mental illness were involuntarily confined and received little treatment. It now involuntarily confines hundreds of thousands of people with serious mental illness in large, barren prisons in which they receive little treatment. Prisons are today’s mental health facilities. Could there be a sadder commentary on how this wealthiest of countries treats its most vulnerable residents?

Mental health of war veterans/iNDIAN ARMY

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60,000 Marriages Broken by Iraq, Including Mine
By Stacy Bannerman, The Progressive. Posted March 5, 2007.
When one military wife got the news that her husband was coming home from Iraq, they didn’t tell her he was going to bring the war back with him.
I was folding fliers for a high school workshop on nonviolence when my husband, a mortar platoon sergeant with the Army National Guard 81st Brigade, walked into my office and said, “I got the call.”
We hadn’t talked about the possibility of him being deployed for months, not since President Bush had declared, “Mission accomplished.” But I knew exactly what he meant; I didn’t know then what it would mean for us.
We weren’t prepared, and neither was the Guard. The Guard sent him into harm’s way without providing some of the basic equipment and materials, such as global positioning systems, night vision gear, and insect repellant, that he would rely on during his year-long tour of duty at LSA Anaconda, the most-attacked base in Iraq, as determined by the sheer number of incoming rockets and mortars, which averaged at least five per day.
Unlike active duty military, the National Guard had no functional family support system or services in place. While the Guard was scrambling to get it together, my husband was already gone, and I was alone, just months after we had moved to Seattle.
Twenty-four hours after Lorin boarded the plane for Iraq, I hung a blue star service flag — denoting an immediate family member in combat — in the front window. Then I closed the blinds, hoping to keep the harbingers of death at bay. They still got in, through the phone, the Internet, the newspaper, and the TV.
Each week, I heard of a friend’s husband or son: wounded, maimed, shot, hit, hurt, burned, amputated, decapitated, detonated, dead. A glossary of pain. I checked icasualties.org all the time, cursing and crying as the numbers rose relentlessly, praying that Lorin wouldn’t be next.
I got involved with Military Families Speak Out, which is exactly what the name suggests: an organization of people with loved ones in uniform who are adamantly opposed to the war in Iraq. We were breaking the military’s traditional code of silence by publicly protesting this war, and the pushback was intense, particularly for military wives. I was ostracized by the women married to men in my husband’s company, and my husband was reprimanded by his superior officers. I was an “unruly spouse,” and Lorin could “expect adverse career consequences.”
I thought being forced to serve in a war based on lies was itself an “adverse consequence.” I said as much during an interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews, which just happened to be broadcast on the big-screen TV during lunchtime in the mess tent at Anaconda. Lorin didn’t see it, but approximately 5,000 of the troops he was serving with did. He heard about it for weeks, but never asked me to stop. He had his own questions and concerns about Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During the run-up to the war, when 76 percent of Americans supported the invasion of Iraq, we protested in the streets of Spokane. But he was contractually bound and committed to his men. He clung to what he’d been briefed on regarding the Guard’s mission in Iraq, which included building schools for kids.
Two months into his deployment, I got a call from him, and he said, choking up, that there was an “accident.” Two Iraqi children were dead because he gave the order to fire a couple of mortar rounds. Several weeks later, he phoned again, his voice flat and emotionless, to tell me that the men he had dinner with the previous night had been killed by the same Iraqi soldiers that they were training six hours earlier.
Days went by without any communication — anxious hours, restless nights. I swerved between anger and fear.
His e-mails were sometimes delayed, or returned to him as undeliverable, with portions blacked out by military censors. The ones that got through asked for more homemade treats, baby wipes, batteries, movies, and magazines. One missive informed me about rockets landing next to the trailer where he slept … while he was in bed. Another ended abruptly because he was under attack.
Lorin spent hours loading coffins onto cargo jets; I spent days on red alert.
Finally, the phone rang with the news that my husband was coming home, after nearly a year in Iraq. They didn’t tell me he’d bring the war with him.
He’d been back for almost two months, but he was still checking to see where his weapon was every time he got in a vehicle. He drove aggressively, talked aggressively, and sometimes I could swear that he was breathing aggressively. This was not the man I married, this hard-eyed, hyper-vigilant stranger who spent his nights watching the dozens of DVDs that he got from soldiers he served with in Iraq. He couldn’t sleep, and missed the adrenaline surge of constant, imminent danger. The amateur videos of combat eased the ache of withdrawal from war, but did nothing to heal my soldier’s heart.
At a conference on post-deployment care and services for soldiers and their families, a Marine Corps chaplain asked, “How do you know if you’re an SOB? Your wife will tell you!”
Har-de-har-har-har. The remark got the predictable round of applause from the capacity crowd, which, with one exception, wasn’t living with anyone who had recently returned from Iraq. I was that exception, and it infuriated me that this was a joke. The Pentagon’s solution for the constant stress endured by those of us who felt bewildered and betrayed was: “Learn how to laugh.” With help from the Pentagon’s chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members were learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion, and blurt “ha, ha, hee, hee, and ho, ho.”
Emotional isolation is one of the hallmarks of post-combat mental health problems. The National Guard didn’t conduct follow-up mental health screening or evaluations of the men in my husband’s company until they had been home for almost eight months. Nearly a year later, in August of 2006, my husband was informed of his results: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It was obvious that he was suffering, but when I brought it up, he parroted what the military told him: “Give it time.”
Time wasn’t a panacea for Jeffrey Lucey, Doug Barber, or the dozens of other Guard members and Reservists who have committed suicide after serving in Iraq. Time hasn’t helped the hundreds of homeless Iraq War veterans wandering lost in the streets of what military families are assured is a deeply grateful nation. Time is most definitely not on our side.
My husband has served his time with the Guard. He’s got more than twenty-three years of actual service, and almost twenty years of “good time” that qualifies him for retirement benefits.
But then he learned about a few loopholes. Now, if he serves as a member in good standing for 364 days in a year, instead of 365, that year isn’t credited as time served toward his retirement. If he’s deemed irreplaceable — he’s one of a handful of mortar platoon sergeants who’ve seen combat — the Guard can retain him for several more years after his contract expires.
He is surprised by this, but I’m not. I no longer expect that the Department of Defense will keep its promises to the soldiers or their families. I don’t pretend that the Pentagon will adhere to its policies. And I know from experience that “support the troops” is a slogan, and not a practice.
On January 11, 2007, the Pentagon discarded the time limit that prevented Guard members and Reservists from serving more than 24 total months on active duty for either the Iraq or Afghan wars. The Pentagon’s announcement came in the wake of President Bush’s decision to deploy an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.
The escalation contradicts the advice of top U.S. military officials. Although the majority of Americans are opposed to the “surge,” most members of Congress are reluctant to block the supplemental appropriations request that will fund it, claiming that they don’t want to abandon the troops. Congress has abandoned the troops for nearly four years. It is the soldiers, their families, and the people of Iraq that pay the human costs. The tab so far: more than 3,000 dead U.S. troops, tens of thousands of wounded, over half a million Iraqi casualties, roughly 250,000 American servicemen and women struggling with PTSD, and almost 60,000 military marriages that have been broken by this war. Including mine.
It was hard to reconnect after more than a year apart, and the open wound of untreated PTSD made it virtually impossible. Lorin is still the best evidence I have of God’s grace in this world, but we just couldn’t find our way back together after the war came home.
Stacy Bannerman is the author of “When the War Came Home: The Inside Story of Reservists and the Families They Leave Behind.” She is a member of Military Families Speak Out, www.mfso.org, and can be contacted at her website, stacybannerman.com.–“A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope.” (Livy cited by Machiavelli)–

Recently Indian army courtmartialled a jawan for killing a colonel and sentenced him to death. But the above article shows how important mental health of a jawan/officer. Basically the training part has to be improved and also the special briefing for the FAMILIES OF JAWANS is important. Normally leave is given at the discretion of the CO. It must be their RIGHT.

Friday, March 02, 2007

An amazing innovation by Oddcast.

http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/frameset.php?frame1=talk)

The above link sent my friend allows you to write and the PICUTURE TALKS what you write.!!!!!! It can be realy entertaining for children.

Bangladesh Patriot/lesson for Indians

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When I read the life of Dhirendranath dutta , a bengladesh patriot, i could see how far way behind are our diplomats from foreign service/educationists who donot bring these types of stories to our knowledge. A person who opted to stay in pakistan and didnot run to india during the height of Pakistani armys crackdown(when maulana bhashani of Jamaat Islami was taking shelter in India)and died a martyr for bangladesh. It also has fascinating insights of some of our own calcutta life during those days.


MARTYR DIRENDRANATH DUTTA: Gleanings From The Formative Phase Of His Life And Glimpses Of His Political StruggleThursday March 01 2007 14:54:53 PM BDTM. Waheeduzzaman Manik ,US
AINTRODUCTION:Shaheed (Martyr) Dhirendranath Datta (1886-1971) was the harbinger of the formative phase of the Bengali language movement, and he had made history on February 25, 1948 by demanding Bengali to be recognized as one of the State languages of the new nation of Pakistan even though his proposal was meant to be an amendment permitting the use of Bengali along with Urdu and English in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP). During the early years of Pakistan, he had remained an ardent defender of the Bengali language both in the CAP and the East Bengal Legislative Assembly (EBLA). He was a martyr of the liberation war of Bangladesh. Despite his pivotal role in jumpstarting the formative phase of the Bengali language movement during the most defining moment of Bangladesh’s quest for freedom and self-determination, his name has thus far remained essentially forgotten and neglected. It is also ironic that there exists a serious paucity of literature on the various phases of his life and political struggle. Dhirendranath Datta had a long and eventful life, spanning over more than eight decades. Given the fact that he had also a long career as a lawyer-politician both before and after 1947 (from 1911 till he was mercilessly murdered in April, 1971 by the genocidal Pakistani military), it is not possible to assess all of phases of his life within the parameter of a single article. Therefore, no effort will be made to provide any detailed discussion of his role as a parliamentarian in the Bengal Legislative Assembly (BLA) from 1937 to 1947, the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan from December 1946 till its dissolution on October 24, 1954, and the East Bengal Legislative Assembly (EBLA) from 1947 to 1958 within the scope of this paper. His struggling life in Pakistan from August 1947 through early April 1971 will not be brought within the parameter of this article. Rather, the main intent of this article is to appraise the making of the formative phase of his life (1886-1917) and to provide glimpses of his political struggle (1919-1947) with special reference to his participation in the Non-Violent and Non-cooperation Movement in early 1920s, the Civil Disobedience Movement in early 1930s, and the Satyagrah and ‘Quit India’ movements in early 1940s.GLEANINGS FROM THE FORMATIVE PHASE OF HIS LIFE Dhirendranath Datta was born on November 2, 1886 (16 Kartik, 1293, according to Bengali year) in a village named Ramrail, approximately three miles away from Brahmanbaria, a sub-divisional town of the then Tripura (then spelled as Tipperah) district (later renamed as Comilla district). His father, Jagabandhu Datta (1846-1932), worked in different parts of the then Tripura district as a ‘serestadar’ in the Munsif Court. There is no doubt that Ramrail was the birthplace of Dhirendranath Datta, and his father, Jagabandhu Datta, was also born in that village. However, his grandfather Padmalochan Datta (whose father’s name was Ramlochan Datta) was born in a village of the Maheshwardi Pargana of the then Dhaka district. In his unfinished autobiography in Bengali, Shaheed Dhirendranath Datter Atmakatha (Memoirs of Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta, Editors: Anisuzzaman, Rashid Haider, and Minar Mansur, Publisher: Shaheed Dhirendranath Smirtiraksha Parishad, 1995; henceforth referred to this book as Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoir.” With the exception of a few lines here and there, freehand translations of the excerpts from Dhirendranath Datter Atmakatha are mine]. Dhirendranath Datta recalled his lost family roots with the following words: “My grandfather, Padmalochan Datta, had moved to Ramrail village in the early decades of the 19th century. …. His paternal home was in a village in the Maheshwardi pargana of Dhaka district. His parents died when he was a young boy. So he had taken shelter in the house of his elder sister’s in-laws at Ramrail village. Since his elder sister and her husband (Roghunath Das) had no children of their own, they raised my grandfather [Padmalochan Datta] as their own son. With his brother-in-law’s support, he could also learn to read and write in Bengali. In those days, there was no opportunity to learn English in the rural areas. My grandfather had landed a job with the then Tripura state and decided to permanently settle in Ramrail. ….. My grandfather died at an early age leaving behind four young sons [Gaganchandra Datta, Jagabandhu Datta, Dinabandhu Datta, and Ananda Datta] and a daughter [Bamashundhori Datta-Sengupta].” Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p.160). Dhirendranath Datta did not mention the name of the village of his ancestors other than indicating the name of a Pargana that was located in the then Dhaka district. Now the question is: what was the location of Maheshwardi Pargana? In fact, Mahasharwardi Pargana was located on the eastern side of Sitallakhhya river (which originated from Brahmaputra river) consisting most of the areas of Shibpur, Monhardi, and Raipura Thanas, and parts of Palash Thana of today’s Narsingdi district. Since the main flow of the Old Brahmaputra River in those days used to flow through this area, Maheshwardi Pargana was located on both sides of that lost flow of Brahmaputra River. Most probably, Dhirendranath Datta’s grandfather (Padmalochan Datta) was born in an illustrious ‘Datta family’ who lived in the affluent village of ‘Datter-Gaon’ under Shibpur Thana of today’s Narsingdi district. Dhirendranath Datta was very intimate with his father (Jagabandhu Datta), and he was very inspired by his father’s idealism. To him, “his father was a symbol of friendship to all around you.” Although he was greatly motivated by his father’s sense of idealism and duty, he did not subscribe to his father’s religious orthodoxy even when he was in his youth. As he recalled many years later, “There was no doubt in my mind that my father was a symbol of all goodness. Yet he was very superstitious and a blind supporter of the practices of untouchability and caste system of Hindu religion. He was also a believer of the ritual of animal sacrifices to the altars of Gods and Goddesses even though I found him to be a very compassionate person in his various daily activities. He did not feel that the ritual of animal sacrifice was a cruelty to animal” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p.18). Dhirendranath Datta inadvertently did not mention his mother’s name in his memoirs. However, he mentioned that his father got married with a daughter of Bhubanmohan Rakhhit of Chapitala village under Sadar subdivision of Tripura district. As he recalled in his ‘Memoirs’: “My mother gave birth to four children. While my elder brother, Jatindranath Datta (died in 1905) was her first born, my elder sister was her second child. I was her third child. I had one younger sister. At the age 9, I was at Nabinagar with my father. My mother used to reside in our village home at Ramrail. After hearing the news about my mother’s serious illness, I was rushed to our village home. I found my mother in her deathbed. On next day, just before my mother had breathed her last, I was asked again and again by my respected relatives who were near her deathbed to call her ‘Ma’ (Mother) for the last time. Unfortunately, I could not do that because I was choked with emotion at that moment. My mother left us for good after uttering the name of ‘Bhagaban’ on July 20, 1895” (Dhiren Datta’s Memoirs,’ pp.162-163). Although Dhirendranath Datta was very young when his mother died, he could hardly erase the sad memory of her untimely death. He became very intimate with his elder brother (Jatindranath Datta) who died at a very young age in 1905. Dhirendranath Datta’s father got married again after his mother’s death. As he recalled in his memoirs, “My father got married again. He married the daughter of Mathuranath Datta of village Kumbha under Nasirnagar Thana of Brahmanbaria sub-division. This mother of mine gave birth to two daughters.” (Dhiren Datta’s Memoirs, p.163). It is evident from his ‘Memoirs’ that he treated his stepmother as his own mother. In fact, Dhirendranath Datta’s household included not only his wife and children but also his father (till he died on April 1, 1932), his stepmother (till her death on November 28, 1948), and his stepsisters (till they got married). He also provided opportunities for formal education for his stepsisters.At the age of 21, when he was a first year student of B.A. class at Ripon College in Calcutta, Dhirendranath Datta got married on December 7, 1906 with Surabala Das (her date of birth is unknown. Since she was approximately 14 years old at the time of her wedding in December 1906, she might have been born no later than 1892). As he recalled about his own wedding in his words: “On December 7, 1906, I got married when I was a student of B.A. class. Marriage during student life was a common practice in our society. In my instance, there was some financial predicament on my part. My father-in-law, Munshi Krishnakamol Das was a financially solvent person of village Purbadhoi of Muradnagar Thana under Comilla subdivision of the then Tripura district. He was a Bengali literate pleader. I also needed some monetary assistance to defray the expenses of my textbooks. However, early marriage was a social problem of our society. During our wedding, I was merely 21 years old and my wife had just turned 14” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs’ pp. 163-164). From the very beginning of his happy married life of approximately 42 years, Dhirendranath Datta demonstrated his love and admiration for his wife, and his deep affection for his wife can be gauged from his own words: “I had the misfortune of having seen the nature of superstition in our society after I was I fell sick due to Cholera within seven days after our wedding. My revered female members of our family called my newly wed wife ‘unlucky’ and blamed her for my cholera infliction. In reality, my wife was ‘embodiment of all goodness.’ In my entire life, I never heard her speaking ill of others. She had absorbed all goodness of others, and she was always eager to offer her services. She had empathy for people in distress. She could not pursue any formal education because the conservative family in which she was born used to consider female education as a sin. However, she had some modest amount of literacy as she could read and write in Bengali. Her thoughts and ideas were extraordinary. Despite her modest level of literacy, she could express herself in beautiful language. Her elder brother Late Lalitchandra Das used to tell me, ‘it is unfortunate that your wife Surabala was born in our family as a female member. If she would have been born as a male member, she would have adorned our family as she was the best and the brightest amongst us’” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs, p.164). Dhirendranath Datta and Surabala (Das) Datta had seven daughters (the seventh daughter died in her childhood) and two sons (Sanjeeb Datta and Dilip Datta). With the exception of his first daughter Ashalata Datta (born in 1911), all of his daughters had received formal education. His eldest son, Sanjeeb Datta, a writer and a journalist, was born in 1919 and died on April 27, 1991. Sanjeeb Datta’s wife Protitee (Ghatak) Datta and their daughter Aroma Datta and son Rahul Datta live in Bangladesh. (Proteeti Datta, born in Dhaka on November 4, 1925 happened to be the twin sister of famous film director Ritwik Ghatak). Dhirendranath Datta’s youngest son, Dilip Datta, was born in 1926. He was abducted along with his father on March 29, 1971 and later murdered in late March or in early April 1971 by the genocidal Pakistani military. Surabala Datta, wife of Dhirendranath Datta, had breathed her last on August 12, 1949.At the age of 7, Dhirendranath Datta was brought from Ramarial to Kasba in 1893 to live with his father. He moved to Nabinagar in the autumn of 1894 due to his father’s transfer to Nabinagar Munsif Court. At the age of only 9, he was devastated due to his mother’s sudden death on July 20, 1895. Initially he was a student of Nabinagar Middle (English) School and later studied in the newly established Nabinagar High (English) School, and he passed the Entrance Examination from Nabinagar High (English) School in 1904. It is evident from his own recollections that he was a mediocre student but he never failed any examination during his entire student life in schools and colleges. Nobody can claim to be born as a patriot or a nationalist. However, there exists credible evidence to suggest that Dhirendranath Datta, right from his boyhood days, was known for his patriotic fervour and a genuine concern for his country and other human beings. During his school days, he was greatly inspired by reading stories about Iswarchandra Vidyasagar’s fearlessness, selflessness, and respectfulness to his mother. Ashinikumar Datta’s ‘Bhaktiyoga’ and Rangalal Bondhopdhay’s patriotic poems were also great sources of inspiration for him (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 18).Soon after passing the Entrance exam, Dhirendranath Datta went to Calcutta at the end of June 1904 to pursue higher education, and in early July 1904, he got himself admitted into F.A. class (Intermediate) at Ripon College in Calcutta. In his F.A. class, he studied many subjects including English, Sanskrit, Mathematics, Science, Chemistry, History, and Logic etc. From the outset of his college days, he was greatly charmed by Surendranath Banerjee (1848-1925), the founder of Ripon College. As he recalled in his ‘Memoirs’, “I took admission into Ripon College to be in contact with a teacher of Surendranath Banarjee’s stature and caliber. After entering the College compound, I discovered that the college was housed in a makeshift thatched house that seemed to be inferior, in many ways, to my rural high school building (at Nabinagar). However, soon after the professors started teaching, it seemed to me that the dark classrooms were filled with light of knowledge and wisdom. My head still bows down out of respect and gratitude to the dedicated teachers who were recruited by Surendranath Banarjee” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs’ p. 19). Although Ripon College did not have impressive buildings of any kind in those days, Dhirendranath Datta was deeply impressed by the dedication and teaching quality of the distinguished instructional staff of the college. At that time, Ramendrasunder Trivedi was the Principal of Ripon College. Among the luminaries of the teaching staff of Ripon College who seemed to have left a lasting impression on him had included: Surendranath Banarjee (English), Ramendrasunder Trivedi (Chemistry), Janakinath Bhattacharya (English), Lalgopal Chakravarti (Philosophy), Haran Bandhopadhay (Mathematics), Khetramohan Bandhopadhay (Mathematics), Bipinbihari Gupta (History), Narendra Roy (English), and Jitendranath Banarjee. As he recalled in his memoirs: “All of them were the outstanding products of Calcutta University. Instead of accepting lucrative jobs elsewhere at higher salary, they had voluntarily joined the teaching staff of Ripon College with a token remuneration in order to facilitate higher learning among the poor but meritorious students. Each of those professors was a great symbol of sacrifice and dedication. I was deeply impressed by their simple style of living, their simple dress, and their scholarly approach to teaching. Each of those distinguished teachers of Ripon College was a living symbol of plain living and high thinking” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 20). Despite his keen interest in continuing his education in Calcutta, Dhirendranath Datta had to seek transfer from Ripon College to Jagannath College in Dhaka city in 1905 due to his illness and due to some unforeseen financial difficulties of his joint family. After studying in Dhaka’s Jagannath College for a couple of months in 1905 (his health was not getting well in Dhaka), he got himself transferred to Comilla Intermediate College (while Ananda Roy was the founder of this College, and at that time, the Principal of this college was Sattendranath Bose) as a second year student of F.A. class. Despite his illness, he had passed the F.A. Examination from Comilla Intermediate College in 1906. Dhirendranath Datta quickly returned to Calcutta in 1906 to pursue a B.A. degree at Ripon College, and he felt elated after he could resume his studies in Calcutta among his favorite teachers. Among his former teachers who were still in the teaching staff of Ripon College included: Surendranath Banerjee, Lalgopal Chakravarti, and Janakinath Bhattacharya. After receiving his B.A. degree from Ripon College in 1908, he also studied law for two more years in the same college, and received a B.L. degree in 1910. In his memoirs, he fondly recapitulated this phase of his student life at Ripon College with the following words: “I felt myself enormously fortunate after I got another rare opportunity to be in touch with the dedicated and learned teachers of the college” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 25). Dhirendranath Datta often characterized Surendranath Banerjee as the ‘Father of the Indian Nationalism.’ His admiration for Surendranath Banerjee can be gauged from his own words: “Then started the anti-partition (of Bengal) and Swadeshi movement in 1905. Surendranath Banarjee, my teacher, was in the vanguard of the anti-partition movement who declared, ‘We shall unsettle the settled fact.’ In those turbulent days, a lot of protest meetings used to be held in Calcutta, and I used to attend each of those meetings. There were no loudspeakers to be used in the public meetings in those bygone days. If I could somehow know that Surendranath Banarjee was scheduled to address the meeting, then I used to arrive at the meeting spots three to four hours before the scheduled time just to sit in the front row. In those days, I was engrossed with the idea of liberating our country from the subjugation of the colonial rulers” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ pp. 27-28). Although Dhirendranath Datta was a great admirer and an astute supporter of Surendranath Banrejee, he did not subscribe to his teacher’s collaborative support for the British Government during the First World War. In fact, Surendranath Banarjee’s pro-British speech at the Comilla conference of the Bengal provincial Congress in 1914 had seriously anguished him. Dhirendranath Datta’s deep sense of shock due to his former teacher’s pro-British stance can be gauged from his own words: “I felt a sense of intolerable pain and frustration after I heard Surendranath Banerjee’s advocacy for the British Government. I was greatly shocked to hear that the same person was asking us to render our support and assistance to the British during this war who was once characterized by the people as ‘the Father of the Indian Nationalism’, and ‘the leader of the anti-partition [of Bengal] movement.’ It was ironic that he was the same Surendranath Banerjee who was characterized as ‘the greatest orator of India’ and ‘Surrender Not.’ I felt deeply hurt to see that he was requesting the people of our country to offer assistance to the war efforts of the British Government” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p.37).Dhirendranath Datta received a life-long commitment to social service during his student life in Calcutta from Barrister Abdullah Rasul [the name should be ABDUR RASUL (1872-1917), not Abdullah Rasul as indicated in Dhirendranath Datta’s Memoirs. Since Dhirendranath Datta had the deepest regards and admiration for Barrister Abdur Rasul, this writer (M. Waheeduzzaman Manik] wants to take this opportunity to add a little more information on this forgotten hero of the Indian nationalist movement. There hardly exists any credible information on Abdur Rasul, a worthy son of our soil. However, there is a short write-up on Abdur Rasul in the Banglapedia (authored by Golam Kibria Bhuiyan). Barrister Abdur Rasul was born in 1872 in a zaminder family of a village named Guniauk under the jurisdiction of Nasirnagar Thana of the then Brahmanbaria sub-division of Tripura district. According to the Banglapedia, Abdur Rasul “lost his father Golam Rasul in his childhood but his mother raised him well. He was sent to England for higher studies after he had passed the Entrance Examination in 1888. He took the BA degree in 1896 and the MA degree in 1898 in England. Abdur Rasul was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1898. While in London, he became acquainted with noted Indians like Ali Imam, Syed Hasan Imam, Aurobindo Ghosh and others. Returning to India he got himself enrolled at the Calcutta High Court in 1899. Abdur Rasul was made an honorary lecturer in International Law at the University of Calcutta.” There is no doubt that Barrister Abdur Rasul was a nationalist leader before his premature death only at the age of 45 in 1917. As noted in the Banglapedia, “Abdur Rasul was opposed to the Partition of Bengal, 1905. He presided over the Bengal Congress Conference held at Barisal in 1906. In collaboration with Abdul Halim Gaznavi, Abul Kashem and Mujibur Rahman Khan, he published the Weekly Mussalman in 1906. In 1909 Abdur Rasul joined the Bengal Provincial Muslim League and in 1912 presided over the Bengal Provincial Conference at Chittagong. He attended the annual session of the All India Muslim League at Lucknow and presided over the annual session of the Bengal Presidency Muslim League at Burdwan. He was elected to the Bengal Legislative Council from the Muslim Constituency of Chittagong division. In 1917 Abdur Rasul was elected the Secretary of the Bengal Presidency Muslim League but he died in the same year at the early age of 45”]. It seems that Barrister Abdur Rasul had also made a lasting impression on Dhirendranath Datta. He acknowledged even in his old age that Abdur Rasul was his ‘political guru’ and a ‘role model’ for instilling a passion for social service in him. His love and admiration for Abdur Rasul can be gleaned from his own words: “I came in close contact with Mr. Abdur Rasul when I became the Secretary of the Tripura Hitashadhanee Shava. His residence was at 14, Royal Street. Educated [in England] in English language and literature, this learned man (Abdur Rasul) led a very plain and simple life, and he had earned deep respect in his legal profession for his honesty and integrity. Although he lived in Calcutta, his mind used to wander around his village. His daughter was his only child, and he used to tell me quite often, ‘Dhiren, once my daughter gets married, I will give up my practice in Calcutta to start a rural living in my own village home which is located in a remote village named Guniauk of Nasirnagar Thana of Tripura district.’ His cherished desire was to offer assistance to the distressed people, and to better understand their problems he wanted to develop intimacy with the poor, distressed, and illiterate cultivators and laborers. His nick name was ‘Kanchan Mia,’ and indeed he glittered like a ‘kanchan.’ He was a true lover of common masses, and my own commitment to service to the people was greatly inspired by him. Indeed, he was my true political guru’’ (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ pp. 28). After finishing his education at Ripon College, Dhirendranath Datta decided to go back to his home district to live and work, and he made this determination instead of seeking a job or pursuing a legal career in Calcutta, a city where he lived and studied for almost six years. He left Calcutta on February 27, 1910 to start a teaching job in a high school that was located in a remote village named Bangra under the jurisdiction of Muradnagar Thana of the then Tripuara district. He worked there as the Assistant Headmaster of Bangra Umalochan High (English) School from March 1, 1910 through February 2, 1911. Although he enjoyed his teaching job in that rural high school, he decided to quit this job to pursue a law practice at Comilla town. Given the fact that he got married when he was a student of B.A. class on December 7. 1906, he had a family to take care. He might have also realized quite early that a pittance from a teaching position in a rural high school was inadequate to defray the minimum expenses of an extended family. Dhirendranath Datta formally started his law practice on February 8, 1911 at Comilla town, and he continued to be a distinguished lawyer there till his brutal murder in early April 1971 in the hands of the murderous Pakistani army. His public service ethos and motto of life were conditioned by his social service orientation, concern for his country, and compassion for common masses. In his old age, Dhirendranath Datta fondly recalled the advice that he had received from his political mentor Barrister Abdur Rasul: “I started my law practice at Comilla town on February 8, 1911. Late Abdur Rasul advised me: ‘you will serve the common people through practicing your chosen legal profession. Social service should be your motto of life, and legal profession will provide you the opportunity to achieve that goal.’ In those days, there were many dedicated souls in legal profession. I also started my legal career with a promise to serve the people through my profession with a great deal of dedication. …. Before I embarked my legal practice, I had promised to adhere to two fundamental principles: first, I will try my level best to offer social service to the people through a fair practice of my legal profession, and second, my professional duty and responsibility, as a lawyer, will not be to encourage litigation but to prevent it” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ pp. 34-35). GLIMPSES OF HIS POLITICAL STRUGGLEDhirendranath Datta’s debut in Bengal politics dates back to his student days at Ripon College. His subsequent political life was also enormously conditioned by life experiences and insights that he had gained during his student days in Calcutta from 1904 to 1910. He was a first year F.A. student in 1905 when he got involved with the anti-British movement to annul the partition of Bengal. In those turbulent years, both the Indian National Congress and the Bengal provincial Congress were dominated by two groups of leaders. While Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920), Bipin Chandra Pal (1870-1932), and Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) led the extremist group, Surendranath Banerjee was the leader of the moderates. Dhirendranath Datta was the supporter of the moderate group in the Congress. However, he was also deeply inspired by the dedication and oratory of Bipin Chandra Pal, the leader of the extremists. Although he empathized with the goals and objectives of the revolutionary and extremist groups of the anti-British movement, he seems to have shunned the violent methods and means of achieving those lofty goals. He was a true believer of constitutional path for achieving nationalistic goals even though he often doubted whether or not the independence could be readily achieved only through constitutional means. He remained a life-long member of the Congress party till the partition of India in August 1947. Dhirendranath Datta worked as a volunteer at the annual meeting of the Indian National Congress which was held in Calcutta in December, 1906, and he was deeply inspired by Dadabhai Naorojee’s demand for Swaraj (self-rule) for India. In 1908, he also attended the annual conference of the Bengal provincial Congress at Boharampur. Although he was deeply inspired by the Congress demand for boycotting foreign goods, he had protested when some delegates to the Congress conference at Boharampur proposed for the creation of the so-called ‘Bentwood Chair’. As a budding politician, he took active part at the annual conference of the Bengal provincial Congress that was held at Comilla, his hometown, in 1914 (March-April), and among other top Congress leaders, Surendranath Banarjee also addressed that meeting. Dhirendranath Datta actively participated in the deliberations of the social conference that was also concurrently held at Comilla during the 1914 provincial Congress meeting, and he had opposed a proposal for ‘widow marriage.’ He regretfully recapitulated that incident in the following words: “I am saying this with a sense of shame that I had opposed the question of widow marriage even though I completely changed my view later about widow marriage.” In fact, he became a champion of various social reforms even within his own religion throughout his political career especially during the years between the two World Wars. Whenever there was a natural disaster or other emergency situation, Dhirendranath Datta was always willing to be there to volunteer his services. For instance, he worked as a volunteer during the devastating flood in 1914 and distributed relief materials among the flood victims of various villages of Tripura district. Since the anti-British movement had gained momentum in 1915, many Congress leaders including Dhirendranath Datta started facing police harassment and intimidation. The police searched his house and confiscated all of his books and reading materials on ‘home rule.’ However, he was not willing to be bullied around by the police. As he recalled that incident in his own words: “Many Congress leaders were put behind bars in 1915. I was not arrested but my house was searched by the police, and they took way my books and papers on home rule. A Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) was leading the search and seizure in my house. He was promoted to the present rank from the position of an ordinary constable. After seeing my books and papers on home rule, he quipped, ‘Dhiren Babu, you seem to be an agitator.’ I quickly responded, ‘But for my agitation, you would not have been the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). You enjoy the benefit of the agitation; we receive the brunt of it.’ I think my sarcastic comments made him speechless” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p.39). Dhirendranath Datta could not attend the Bhabanipur conference of the Bengal provincial Congress in 1917 that was presided over by Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das). However, he was greatly motivated by perusing the presidential speech which was delivered by C.R. Das in Bengali underscoring the paramount importance of redressing the vexing problems of the Bengal peasantry. As a delegate from Tripura district, he attended the Bengal provincial Congress in April 1919 at Mymensingh, and on his back to Comilla, he was devastated after hearing the news about the barbaric massacre of many innocent and unarmed civilians by the brute British force on April 13, 1919 at Jalianwalabagh. It is worth noting that the Jalianwalabah massacre of 1919 was a turning point in the history of the nationalist movement in India. In response to this infamous massacre, Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) had launched a Non-violent and Non-cooperation movement against the British Government, and he appealed to the distinguished leaders of all provinces to make this movement a success. The gist of Gandhi’s Non-violent and Non-cooperation movement was that all Indians must cease to render any type of co-operation to the British Government. Initially, Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das 1870-1925), the most popular leader in the then Bengal, had some reservations about the relevance and usefulness of Gandhi’s passive non-cooperation movement. However, C.R. Das decided to fully support Gandhi’s Non-violent and Non-cooperation movement in the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress in 1920. Chittaranjan Das gave up his lucrative law practice as a gesture of his full-blown support to the historic Non-violent and Non-cooperation movement, and until his arrest in later part of 1921, he sincerely worked hard to make this movement a success. He started touring various districts of the then province of Bengal for enlisting support for the movement. In a mammoth public meeting at Comilla town on March 6, 1921, Chittaranjan Das gave a clarion call to the people of Bengal province to render their full support to the Non-cooperation movement. Specifically, he urged the lawyers to boycott their legal practice for at lease three months, and requested them to tour various villages in order to: enlist mass support for the Congress by spreading its goals and objectives, generate mass enthusiasm for the Non-violent and Non-cooperation by explaining the implications of the movement, launch a membership drive for the Congress party among the masses, and collect money for the ‘Million-Rupee Tilak Fund.’ He also urged the people to develop food programs and garner mass support for eradication of the practice of untouchability. Dhirendranath Datta was present in that historic meeting on August 6, 1921, and he was deeply impressed by the mesmerizing speech of C.R. DasDhirendranath Datta was already an admirer of Gandhi’s non-violent approach to political struggle, he was greatly inspired and motivated by personal sacrifice and commitment of C.R. Das. In response to the instructions of C.R. Das, he decided to give up his law practice in 1921 for three months to work for the non-cooperation movement. As he recalled in his ‘Memoirs,’ “I was present in that historic meeting on March 6, 1921 at Comilla in which C.R. Das urged the lawyers to give up their practice for at least three months to make the non-cooperation movement a success. I could not respond to this request right away but my friend and a fellow lawyer, Haldhar Das-Gupta instantly decided to give up my law practice. However, I decided on next day at the residence of Akhilchandra Datta to give up my law practice, and I voluntarily agreed to give up my legal practice for at least 3 months in order to disseminate the messages of the non-cooperation movement” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 42).During that turbulent time, a large public meeting was held at Brahmanbaria that was presided over by Akhilchandra Datta in which fiery speeches were delivered by many leaders including Dhirendranath Datta’s friend and a fellow Congress party worker, Bipin Bihari Gosh (of village Patai), and the revolutionary leader Lalitmohan Barman. Dhirendranath Datta attended that meeting with a corp of volunteers. As per the party directive, he was given the responsibility of organizing the support for the Congress-led non-violent and non-cooperation movement in and around Chandura area of the then Brahmanbaria subdivision. Dhirendranath Datta described the experiences of those turbulent days in his own words: “First I started to work in Chandhira area of Brahmanbaria subdivision, and Sri Jogeshchandra Roy, a revolutionary leader of that area, was my special assistant. After having some light breakfast in the morning, we used to go out for the entire day to spread the messages of the Congress party among the people of various villages and localities through holding meetings and discussion forums. Our principal tasks were as follows: unity between Hindus and Muslims, giving up of untouchability (unsociability), the introduction of ‘Khadi,’ non-cooperation with the British, and membership drive among the rural people for the Congress party. I fully realized that no lofty goal could ever be accomplished without the conscious and spontaneous support and cooperation of the common masses. Although we often confronted resistance against our daunting task of disseminating the party messages, we tried our best to tackle that kind of situation in a non-violent way. In fact, these grass root activities had enhanced our practical experiences. We tried to establish Congress party committees in various rural areas. Before this effort, the Congress party was confined within the city intellectuals, especially among the Hindu intellectuals. Our effort for mass contact [in 1921] was the first attempt to forge Hindu-Muslim unity” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ pp. 43-44).There were numerous instances of police brutalities, harassments, arrests, incarcerations, and jail terms during the non-cooperation movement. Like many political activists, Dhirendranath Datta was also subjected to harassment. As he narrated many years later: “Mr. T. Ellis was the Sub-divisional Officer (SDO) of Brahmanbaria (who later became the Chief Justice of the Dhaka High Court and Governor of East Pakistan), and at his behest, many political activists were arrested and jailed. In fact, ‘Bande-matorom’ slogan used to make him crazy. Mr. Ellis used to pry for secret information about my political activities, and I came to know from a former President of the Union Board that he was looking for an opportunity to get me arrested and then put me on trial in his court under section 124 (A). Since I used to hold meetings in the remote villages, it was difficult for the police intelligence branch to collect accurate information about my political activities. ………People in Chandura area used to call me ‘Swadeshi Babu.’………After working and staying for some days in Chandura area, I came to my own village Ramrail. Ghandhiji started publishing the “Young India’ during the non-cooperation movement, and every morning I used read this journal. I used to be greatly moved and encouraged by Gandhijis’s message, and his language uplifted my hope, and I used to imagine that freedom from the alien rulers is on our doorstep. I felt like thinking that as if the stigma of colonial subjugation was withering away” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 44).During the non-cooperation movement, the workers of the Assam-Bengal Railway and the teagarden workers in Assam had staged strikes, and those two separate strikes had caused serious problems for the British Government. In spite of various stringent measures against the striking workers, most of them left their places of employment. However, many of those striking workers had to endure untold miseries on their way to their respective homes. Many of them were stranded in various places. For instance, while many of them had assembled at Chandpur, one such displaced group of striking workers got stranded at Akhaura Railway junction. Dhirendranath Datta was tasked to provide food and shelter to those who were stranded in and around Akhaura. With the assistance of local people, he had arranged food and shelter for those displaced workers. Indeed, he had provided a yeoman’s service during that crisis even though he himself had to endure physical hardship due to the stoppage of train communication at that time. As he recalled many years later: “The country was passing through a period of excitement, and I felt really elated and proud to be part of that tumultuous time. I still remember that I had to go to Comilla from Akhaura but no train was plying due to strike. Finding no other means of communication, I decided to walk to Comilla, and I left Akhuara early in the morning. I walked for the whole day, and on the wayside I had also arranged food for some tea garden coolies. I reached my home at Comilla in the evening but I was very tired. I walked thirty miles on that day literally in empty stomach. Yet I did not feel any pain due to my exhaustion. Rather, my mind was full of hope and inspiration” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 45).At a personal level, Dhirendranath Datta’s direct participation in the Non-cooperation movement gave him a rare opportunity to practice politics at the grass root level in the rural areas even though his extended family endured untold financial difficulties. He went through a social and political transformation during this historic movement. In fact, his participation in the non-cooperation movement was his first experience in a political struggle that involved a great deal of personal risks and sacrifices. As he recalled about his participation in the non-cooperation movement: “This was my first experience of struggle in politics. My extended family had experienced tremendous financial difficulties due to the fact that I had given up my legal practice to join the movement. At that time, my family that included my [step] mother, [retired] father, my wife, our four children, and two sisters had to depend on my income. My father, however, used to receive 32 Rupees per month as his pension. Despite the desperate pecuniary circumstance of the family, my family members never stood in the way of my participation in the [Non-cooperation] movement. All of my family members felt proud for enduring those financial difficulties. I and my family had really enjoyed the pleasure of sacrifice for achieving some lofty goals. Initially I gave up my law practice for three months but I did not resume my practice for more than six months” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 46).As a delegate from Tripura district, Dhirendranath Datta attended the Goya session of the Indian National Congress in 1922. By mid-1920s, Dhirendranath Datta had emerged as a champion of various social reforms even within his own religion. Throughout his political career, especially during the years between the two World Wars, he was an avowed critic of the practice of untouchability and the caste system, and in his personal life, he also shunned all forms of religious orthodoxies. In 1921, he was instrumental in founding the ‘Mukti Sangha’ at Comilla, the principal aim of which was to eradicate untouchability and caste system from the Hindu society. In 1923, he was also involved in the establishment of ‘Abhoy Ashram’ at Comilla. During the 1924 election to the Bengal Legislative Council, he actively supported and campaigned in various parts of Tripura district in favour of the Congress nominee Akhilchandra Datta. He also worked hard to forge a durable unity between Hindus and Muslims. He was greatly inspired by many admirable efforts of C.R. Das and his Swarajja party toward forging Hindu-Muslim unity. He was deeply shocked after he heard the news about the sad and sudden death of C.R. Das on June 16, 1925. He was very concerned about the deteriorating communal situation in various regions of Bengal in 1926 and 1927. During a communal riot in 1927 at Comilla, he worked relentlessly to halt the march of communal antagonism between Hindus and Muslims. During early 1930s, Dhirendranath Datta directly participated in the historic Civil Disobedience Movement for which he was imprisoned for several times. In fact, he was in the vanguard of the civil disobedience movement in the then Tripura district. In its historic Lahore Session in late December 1929, the Indian National Congress had demanded ‘Purna Swaraj’ (full independence) for India, and it was stipulated that if the British Government failed to grant full independence to India by January 26, 1930 then a Civil Disobedience movement would be launched by all provinces of India for achieving full independence. Dhirendranath Datta made a conscious determination to follow through the Congress directives at any cost. When the time for real action against the British came on January 26, 1930, he wholeheartedly supported and followed all directives of the Congress through his direct participation in the freedom movement. Like many cities and townships throughout India, Comilla town was also filled with much excitement and enthusiasm. Dhirendranath Datta had played a leadership role in organizing protest marches on that momentous day. In fact, Dhiremdranath Datta was committed to the cause of the Civil Disobedience movement even before January 26, 1930. For instance, his commitment to the cause of freedom of his country can be gauged from his own conversation that he had on January 20, 1930 with the then District Judge of Tripura: “Mr. N.L. Hindley, the District Judge, used to live in a Bunglow that was located just on the west side of my own residence. He told me, ‘today you have declared a war against the British the way we had declared war against the Germans in 1914.’ In response, I said, ’this is our non-violent war, and this is a war to win our independence for which we are ready to sacrifice our lives but we are not taking anybody’s life.’ He [Mr. Hindley], however, expressed his doubt whether or not we could remain non-violent in our freedom struggle. In response to this comment, I said, our leader Mahatmaji has given us order to carry on the movement in non-violent ways, and we are determined to demonstrate to the whole world that we can successfully lead and sustain a non-violent freedom movement.” (Dhiren Datta’s ‘Memoirs,’ p. 54). The Civil Disobedience movement took a new twist in March 1930 when Mahatma Gandhi decided to violate the so-called ‘Salt Law.’ Characterizing the ‘Salt Tax’ as “the most inhuman tax the ingenuity of man can devise,” and declaring the ‘Salt Law’ as a ‘lawless law,’ Mahatma Gandhi embarked a long-march on March 12, 1930 from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi (popularly known as Dandi March). Dhirendranath Datta went to Noakhali to organize protest meetings and demonstrations in support of the civil disobedience movement. In the midst of the volatile political situation, he also attended the Bengal provincial Congress session at Rajshahi in April 1930 as a delegate from Tripura district. During that time, he also decided to give up his legal practice for the time being.Dhirendranath Datta had organized a huge mass procession at Comilla town on July 2, 1930 protesting Motilal Nehru’s arrest. In defiance of the police order, the protestors under his leadership had refused to disperse the procession. On that day, Dhirendranath Datta was mercilessly lathi charged by the then British Superintendent of Police of Tripura district. Yet he was not willing to disperse the protest march. Dhirendranath Datta and a host of other protestors were arrested on July 2, 1930 for defying the police orders. After keeping him for several hours in the police station, the law enforcement authority presented him and his fellow protestors at the Deputy Magistrate’s Court in the afternoon of the same day. As a gesture of good will, the presiding Magistrate had expressed his desire to release them on bail on the condition that they have to attend the Court on the scheduled dates for trial. Dhirendranath Datta firmly replied, “I refuse to recognize you as a Court.” The entire Court was filled with ‘Bande Matoram’ slogans. He was then sent to Comilla jail in the evening of July 2, 1930. After 15 days, he was summarily tried by a Court inside the Comilla jail on July 17, 1930 in which he had again refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Court. This summary Court, presided over by the then S.D.O. of Comilla, Nepalchandra Sen, who was his former roommate and classmate, had sentenced him to three months’ rigorous imprisonment. This was his first experience of imprisonment. After he served his prison term in Comilla and Dum Dum jails, he was released in mid-October, 1930.On his return to Comilla, Dhirendranath Datta found out that the ferocity of the first phase of the Civil Disobedience movement started waning by that time even though there were instances of secret killings, revolts, and even armed rebellions against the British. In fact, the unconditional release of Gandhi and other top leaders of the Congress from jails on January 25, 1931, the so-called dialogue between Lord Irwin and Gandhi, and the signing of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in March 1931 brought some kind of a truce between the British Government and the Congress. In view of such circumstance, Gandhi agreed to suspend the civil disobedience movement for the time being. Gandhi’s willingness to attend the 2nd Round Table Conference that was to be convened in London in September 1931 also slowed down the intensity of the civil disobedience movement. Like many freedom fighters, Dhirendranath Datta also decided to support his party’s stand on the anti-British movement even though he had serious reservation about the sincerity of the British Government. In good faith, he had resumed his law practice in November 1931, and during that winter, he also contested an election to be a member of the Comilla Municipality in which he was overwhelmingly elected from a Muslim dominated constituency. This was his first gesture of holding an elective position in a local body. The dismal failure of the Second Round Table Conference in December 1931 and the arrest of Gandhi immediately after his return to India on January 4, 1932 had given birth to the final phase of the Civil Disobedience Movement. Dhirendranath Datta was arrested from his Comilla residence on January 9, 1932, and he was kept in jail for one month without any trial. This was his second jail term. He was released on February 8, 1932 but to his utter surprise, however, he was served with a notice at the jail gate that stipulated serious restrictions on his civil liberties. He was required to report to the police station on a daily basis and he was banned from addressing any kind of public gathering. After coming home from jail, he found his 86-year old father in deathbed, and seeing his father’s deteriorating condition he fully understood that his father’s days were numbered. Although it was a really heartbreaking moment for him, he decided not to follow the conditions of his release from jail. Aimed at violating the conditions of the notice, Dhirendranath Datta addressed a meeting in the evening at the Bar Library on the same day he was released from jail. Nor did he report to the police station. He was arrested at 8 p.m. on February 8, 1932. After he was kept in jail for a couple of days, he was put on trial in front of a magistrate inside the Comilla jail. Dhirendranath Datta demonstrated his uncompromising commitment to the cause of the civil disobedience movement by refusing to take part in that trial but he had issued a pungent statement in which he stated the following: “The notice that has been served upon me is intended to kill the man in me and I have prevented this murder by disobeying the notice.” He was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year. This was his third jail term. He was immediately transferred to Dum Dum jail. During this jail term, he had endured a great deal of personal tragedies and family hardships. His father breathed his last in the early hours of April 1, 1932. He was grief-stricken inside jail after receiving the sad news of his father’s passing away on April 2, 1932. His family also went through severe financial crisis during his imprisonment. Dhirendranath Datta was released from jail in February, 1933 after he had served the full term of his sentence. On his return to Comilla in February, 1933, he found out that his family had to move out of his Comilla residence and started living in his village home under extreme financial difficulties. By 1933, the Civil Disobedience movement died out. He was trying to rise up from the ashes by resuming his law practice. At the beginning of 1936, Dhirendranath Datta contested and won a membership of the Comilla District Board. This was his second experience of seeking and winning an elective office in the local body. During the historic provincial legislative election in 1937, Dhirendranath Datta was overwhelmingly elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly (BLA). He had courted arrests twice during his first tenure as a Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, and he was imprisoned for nine months on each occasion. He took active part in the Satayagrah movement that was launched by Mahatma Gandhi as a protest against the War Policy of the British Government. His determination to fight for a principled cause is obvious from the fact that it was him who gave an advance notice to the then District Magistrate of Tripura that he would loudly speak against the British war policy on December 14, 1940 in front of the post office at Brahmanbaria to generate public opinion against the British Government. In fact, he was the first prominent Satayagrahi of the then Brahmanbaria subdivision who had courted such an arrest. As expected, he was arrested as soon as he started shouting anti-war slogans at the scheduled place on December 14, 1940. After being interned in the sub-jail at Brahmanbaria for a few days, he was put on a trial there in which he did not participate. He was jailed for nine months, and he was shifted from Brahmanbaria sub-jail to Comilla jail. This was his fourth jail term. He was released in September 1941 after he spent nine months in Comilla, Dum Dum, and Alipur jails. Dhirendranath Datta also courted arrest during the historic ‘Quit India Movement’ that demanded the immediate granting of independence to India after the Cripps mission had failed. He was arrested when he was on his way to preside over a protest meeting at Comilla on August 16, 1942. He was put on a trial in which he refused take part, and like the previous time, he was awarded a nine-month prison term. This was his fifth and last imprisonment under the British Government before the partition of India in 1947. He was interned in Comilla jail for the entire period of his jail term. However, he fell seriously ill during his imprisonment and he was bed-ridden in the jail hospital for three months. He was released from Comilla jail at the end of April 1943. He was greatly distressed to see the deteriorating economic situation in the then Bengal, and from mid-1943 he started collecting and distributing food, medical services, and other humanitarian relief materials among the famine victims in various villages of the then Tripura district. Although Dhirendranath Datta had to spend 18 months behind the bar as a political prisoner during his first tenure (1937-1945) as the member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, he was one of the most articulate and committed parliamentarian at a critical juncture of the history of the Indian subcontinent. Despite the fact that he was in the opposition in the provincial legislature, he was actively involved in the passage of the Bengal Tenancy Act, the Bengal Debtors’ Act, and the Bengal Money Lenders’ Act. In 1940, he was elected as the Deputy Leader (Kiran Shankar was elected as the Leader) of the Congress parliamentary party in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. It was Dhirendranath Datta who brought a ‘Cut Motion’ during the budget session in June 1945 that literally led to the downfall of Khwaja Nazimuddin’s provincial Government. Pursuant to the fall of Khawja Nazimuddin Ministry, the then Governor of Bengal had dissolved the provincial assembly in November 1945 and declared to hold the assembly elections during early (February-March) 1946. As a Congress candidate, Dhirendranath Datta was reelected in 1946 to the Bengal Legislative Assembly. On behalf of the Congress party, Kiranshankar Roy and Dhirendranath Datta were elected to be the Leader and Deputy Leader respectively of the opposition party in the assembly. Since the possibility of partition of India and the province of Bengal was gaining ground in 1946, he had to take some of the most critical decisions of his entire political career. A life-long champion of Hindu-Muslim unity, Dhirendranath Datta was horrified to see the rise of communalism and the Hindu-Muslim riots in 1946. On the eve of the division of India, he had several options. As the Deputy Leader of the Congress parliamentary party in the Bengal Legislative Assembly, he could choose to opt for India where his political career would have been protected. He could realize that his future was at best problematic in a Muslim majority country if he opted for Pakistan. Yet Dhirendranath Datta made a conscious determination to opt for the new nation of Pakistan. On a matter of principle, he was unwilling to abandon his constituents. He became a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP) in December 1946 and continued to be a member of the CAP till this body was arbitrarily dissolved in October 1954. He attended the first session of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP) on August 12, 1947. He also attended the historic session of the CAP on August 14, 1947 in which Lord Mount batten, the last Viceroy of India, had transferred power to M.A. Jinnah, the newly appointed Governor General of the new nation of Pakistan. It was Dhirendranath Datta who had moved an amendment at the CAP on February 25, 1948 for adopting “Bengali” as one of the official languages of the CAP. It is clearly evident from his speech that he also demanded Bengali to be one of the “State” languages of Pakistan. Among many others who were in the vanguard of the formative phase of the Bengali Language Movement, his role was seminal in the process of jumpstarting our resistance against those anti-Bangalee forces that were engaged in repudiating the rudiments of Bengali language and culture through the imposition of Urdu.CONCLUDING REMARKSIn order to fully comprehend the factors that motivated Dhirendranath Datta to opt for Pakistan where he was to be treated as an alien in his own homeland, one has to appraise the nature of his political struggle before the partition of India. It is evident from Dhirendranath Datta’s memoirs that his political philosophy and his commitment to freedom struggle during the British period were enormously conditioned by his early political socialization process and the insights that he had gained during his student days from 1904 through 1910. He was also greatly influenced by Surendranath Banerjee, his teacher at Ripon College, and Barrister Abdur Rasul (1872-1917), a follower and supporter of Surendranath Banerjee and a practicing Barrister who happened to hail from Tripura district. Both of these remarkable men were in the vanguard of the anti-partition movement during the period from1905 to 1911. It seems that his political philosophy and social orientation, and his life-long commitment to social justice and fairness might have been greatly moulded by these two distinguished gentlemen of extraordinary merit and dedication. Dhirendranath Datta was an outstanding lawyer-politician with an impeccable record of professional integrity. It is evident from whatever scanty literature is available on the formative phase of his life that his motto of social service was greatly shaped by his concern for the country and for his compassion for the common masses. However, the most distinctive quality of this extraordinary man of integrity and honesty was that numerous opportunities could not add luster to his reputation even when he became a provincial minister in the then East Pakistan in 1950s. He never shunned the code of ethics of his legal profession. Nor did he ever deviate from his cherished life-long motto of social service. He was regarded as a person of amiable disposition, and it is fair to suggest that he was a gentleman par excellence. His was a graceful and courteous presence both inside and outside of the courtrooms or legislative chambers, and humility was the hallmark of his character. However, on a matter of principle, he was not willing to demonstrate any kind of timidity or ambiguity in front of the most powerful.There is no doubt that Dhirendranath Datta went through a social and political transformation during the Non-violent and Non-cooperation movement in early 1920s. His participation in this historic movement also gave him a golden opportunity to practice politics among the common masses of various remote villages of the then Tripura district. Notwithstanding his personal risks and sacrifices, his activities during the non-cooperation movement can be characterized as the on-the-job training for a budding nationalist leader. His political life was also seriously impacted byHis involvement in the historic Civil Disobedience Movement that was launched by the Congress in early 1930s, and during different phases of this movement, he had suffered three separate prison terms totaling a period of sixteen months. As a participant in the Satyagraha and the ‘Quit India’ movements that took place in early 1940s, he was put behind bar twice for a total period of eighteen months. The way he had courted arrests and jail terms during those tumultuous years of Bengal politics is an exemplary testimonial of a true freedom fighter and a patriot. Since his direct participation in various anti-British movements involved a great deal of personal risks and sacrifices, his deep sense of patriotism and selflessness, and his commitment to his constituents can be identified as the chief incentives behind his bold decision of staying back in Pakistan for which he had to endure humiliation and various forms of hardships. Even after the black night of 25th March in 1971, he had refused to move out of his modest Comilla residence for a taking a safe haven in neighboring Tripura state of India. Due to his refusal to leave his beloved motherland, he had to sacrifice his life at the age of 85 in the hands of the brutish Pakistani genocidal army. Dhirendranath Datta, a forgotten martyr of our liberation war, has remained unwept. It is indeed Bangladesh’s national shame that a hero of the Bengali language movement of Dhirendranath Datta’s stature has essentially remained unsung even though marginal roles of many self-declared language activists have often been embellished, magnified, and glorified in recent years. However, his sacrifices did not go in vain. Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta’s profile in courage that was demonstrated both before and after the partition of India and his role as a dauntless defender of the Bengali language and culture will be remembered beyond the boundaries of time.