Indian Subcontinent Watch Thread

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caltrek
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In India a Mosque Can’t Be Turned into a Hindu Temple. Period. The Law Says So.
by Nitya Ramakrishnan
June 19, 2022

Introduction:
(Janata Weekly) On television debates and elsewhere, it is being said that the Places of Worship Act, 1991 (1991 Act for short) will not apply to the ongoing Gyanvapi mosque cases because of an exception clause in its Section 4. Such a suggestion cannot seriously be made by anyone who has cared to read the 1991 Act, which is all of 8 sections.

Every mosque is a ‘place of worship’ as defined by Section 2(c) of the 1991 Act. Any conversion of any mosque by anyone at all into a place of worship of a different religion is forbidden by Section 3. This prohibition admits of no exception, and its violation is a criminal offence entailing a jail term. The exceptions listed in Section 4, which are discussed later, do not affect Section 3. So, the Act applies to every place of worship.

The status of the Gyanvapi mosque as a Muslim place of worship is a plain fact that has been recognised by courts and not open to question.

Can there be any doubt that a bid to set up Hindu idolatry within the mosque is a bid to change a Muslim place of worship into a Hindu one? Whatever has the effect of changing a mosque into a temple is forbidden conversion – whether it is sought to be done on the basis of the mosque’s history, or in the guise of title suits, or rights of faith, or upon the discovery of an artefact or architectural relic. A suit to enforce what is forbidden by law cannot be maintained. Section 3 alone will suffice for courts to dismiss any suit of that nature.

Section 4: A special provision for places of worship existing at Independence

Parliament was aware of the clamour to resurrect temples destroyed centuries ago by now destroying mosques in their stead. So, it made additional provision to end all possible avenues for agitating real or perceived historical wrongs of that nature.
Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/a-mosque-can ... -says-so/
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Concerns grow that India is ‘back door’ into Europe for Russian oil
Sun 26 Jun 2022

The huge blue and red hull of the SCF Primorye came into port at Vadinar, western Gujarat, India, earlier this month. The 84,000-tonne oil tanker, built in 2009 and sailing under the Liberian flag, had arrived from the port at Ust-Luga, a settlement in Russia near the border with Estonia.

Until 2017, the Vadinar oil refinery was controlled by Essar – the Indian owner of the Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port. Since then a consortium including the sanctioned Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft and the commodities trader Trafigura, which holds a 24.5% stake, have owned Nayara Energy, which runs the refinery.

The tanker’s arrival came as India ramped up imports of Russian oil. The Asian nation’s willingness to snap up Russian crude at discounts of up to 30% has undermined efforts from the US, Europe and the UK to deplete Vladimir Putin’s war coffers by curtailing imports. Russia raked in $20bn from oil exports in May, bouncing back to pre-invasion levels. Now, concerns are growing that India is being used as a potential back door into Europe for Russian oil supplies,given the surge in imports.

Before the invasion of Ukraine, India’s imports of Russian oil were negligible due to high freight costs. But recently, imports of Russian oil to India have increased. Vadinar’s owner, Nayara, purchased Russian oil in March – just before international restrictions on its exports were introduced – after a gap of a year, buying about 1.8m barrels from Trafigura, Reuters reported.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ussian-oil
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Increasing Heat Waves Affect Up to Half a Billion People
June 28, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Climate change is a reality and extremely high temperatures have been reported by India and Pakistan in the spring. In a new scientific journal article, researchers from the University of Gothenburg, amongst others, paint a gloomy picture for the rest of the century. Heat waves are expected to increase, affecting up to half a billion people every year. In turn, they can lead to food shortages, deaths and refugee flows when the heat reaches levels that exceed what humans can tolerate. But this does not have to happen if measures are put in place to reach the Paris Agreement targets, the researchers say.

In India and Pakistan, heat waves with temperatures above 40 degrees in the shade are a directly life-threatening form of extreme weather. In a new article in the journal Earth’s Future, researchers have outlined different scenarios for the consequences of heat waves in South Asia to the year 2100.

“We established a link between extreme heat and population. In the best scenario, we succeeded in meeting the targets in the Paris Agreement, which added roughly two heat waves per year, exposing about 200 million people to the heat waves. But if countries continue to contribute to the greenhouse effect as they are still doing now, clearing and building on land that is actually helping to lower global temperatures, we believe that there could be as many as five more heat waves per year, with more than half a billion people being exposed to them, by the end of the century,” says Deliang Chen, Professor of Physical Meteorology at the University of Gothenburg and one of the authors of the article.

Population growth drives emissions

The study identifies the Indo-Gigantic Plains beside the Indus and Ganges rivers as particularly vulnerable. This is a region of high temperatures, and it is densely populated. Deliang Chen points out that the link between heat waves and population works in both directions. The size of the population affects the number of future heat waves. A larger population drives emissions up as consumption and transport increase. Urban planning is also important. If new towns and villages are built in places that are less subject to heat waves, the number of people affected can be reduced.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/957117
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With No Fuel and No Cash, Sri Lanka Grinds to a Halt
July 4, 2022

Introduction:
(Al Jazeera) Sri Lanka has less than a day’s worth of fuel left, the energy minister says, with public transport grinding to a halt as the country’s economic crisis deepens.

Power and energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera on Sunday said petrol reserves were about 4,000 tonnes, just below one day’s worth of consumption, as queues snaked through the main city of Colombo for kilometres.

The cash-strapped nation on Sunday extended school closures because there is not enough fuel for teachers and parents to get children to classrooms, with most pumping stations being without fuel for days.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Al Jazeera last week the petrol shortage will last until July 22 when the next oil shipment is expected. He said a gas deal has been secured which will ensure supplies for the next four months.

“It [fuel shortage] is a big setback to the economy and has caused lot of hardship to people. When we came in, the shortage of dollars actually contributed to this situation. We have been taking steps since then especially to get gas which will be available in the next few days, diesel and furnace oil as well,” he said.
Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/ ... to-a-halt

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Sri Lanka’s Great Crisis And The Failed Regime Change
by Dr. S. I. Keethaponcalan
July 6, 2022

Introduction:
(Eurasia Reveiw) On May 9, Mahinda Rajapaksa met his supporters at the Temple Trees, the prime minister’s official residence, before stepping down. His emotionally charged supporters came out and violently attacked the protesters camped in front of the building. They proceeded to the so-called Gota-Go-Gama and destroyed the protest site igniting a nationwide anti-government riot. The day’s events also ignited the fear that the country could fully or partially drift into military rule. It was against this backdrop Ranil Wickremesinghe, the lone member of the United National Party (UNP) in parliament, was appointed prime minister. He was sworn in on May 12.

Failure

Despite the total lack of parliamentary strength of his own, his appointment was accepted for two main reasons. One, the suffering masses believed that he could effectively resolve the “scarcity”problem. Two, the ruling party knew that Wickremesinghe had the potential to mitigate the strength of the protest. In an essay entitled, Sri Lankan Crisis and Regime Change (Eurasiareview, May 15, 2022), I pointed out that “Wickremesinghe may be acceptable to a part of the resistance as the new prime minister. His experience and the people’s desperation could influence some Sri Lankans to accept him to run the country.” As expected, with the appointment of Wickremesinghe as prime minister, the ferocity of the resistance weakened, and public protest almost disappeared. Therefore, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s strategic calculation in appointing Wickremesinghe to lead the government proved effective.

Nevertheless, the two-month experiment with Wickremesinghe as prime minister proved a failure. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had three significant problems to deal with: (1) resolving the economic crisis, (2) closing the deal with the IMF, and (3) mitigating presidential power through the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.
Further extrtact:
Gotabaya Rajapaksa…would not mind sacrificing Ranil Wickremesinghe… He does not want to lose any powers vested on him currently by the Constitution. He also does not want to step down as a “failed president.” Gotabaya Rajapaksa seems determined to complete his term and step down at the end of 2024. The only consolation prize the people received from him was the promise that he would not contest for a second term. Therefore, Sri Lanka seems to be moving towards another stalemate after July 9.
Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/06072022 ... nge-oped/
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Sri Lanka: Protesters storm President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence

By Alys Davies & Simon Fraser
BBC News

24 minutes ago

Thousands of protesters have stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence in the capital of Sri Lanka.

Demonstrators from all over the country marched to Colombo demanding his resignation after months of protests over mismanagement of the country's economic crisis.

Reports say he has already been moved to a safer location.

The country is suffering rampant inflation and is struggling to import food, fuel and medicine.

Thousands of anti-government protesters travelled to the capital, with officials telling AFP news agency that some had even "commandeered" trains to get there.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62104268


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Sri Lanka’s President Rajapaksa to Step Down on July 13
July 9, 2022

Introduction:
(Al Jazeera) Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to step down next week, the country’s parliamentary speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, has said.

The announcement came hours after protesters stormed the president’s official residence to vent their anger over the country’s severe economic crisis. Protesters later broke into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe residence in the capital Colombo and set it on fire.

“To ensure a peaceful transition, the president said he will step down on July 13,” Abeywardana said in a televised statement.

Rajapaksa will remain as president until Wednesday to ensure a smooth transfer of power, Abeywardena said.
Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7 ... ignation
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I'm not Indian and haven't looked into their politics - is this a good or bad development?
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Vakanai wrote: Sat Jul 09, 2022 10:01 pm I'm not Indian and haven't looked into their politics - is this a good or bad development?
For Sri Lanka, which is a separate country from India, this may be masked as a mark of success in the likeness of a popular uprising. However, in the larger scheme, this will simply add to the inertia of destabilization and act to ensure continued chaos as it's unlikely his replacements will last long themselves. The rise of terror is to be expected.

As for India, when it comes to Indian administrations, this is more unwelcome evidence that they will have to contend with an increasingly unstable and wild element in their regional sphere. For Indian nationalists, however, this may incite hopes that a potential reclamation of another part of historic Greater India could be on the horizon.
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Sri Lanka Hopes to Install New Government After Day of Chaos and Rage
by Aanya Wipulasena
July 10, 2022

Extract:
(Al Jazeera) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who assumed the post only two months ago, also offered to resign to allow an all-party interim government to take over.

Rajapaksa, 73, has urged people to allow a peaceful transition of power, which he plans to supervise before quitting office.

A meeting of the leaders of the political parties is scheduled on Sunday, with opposition politicians claiming they have the parliamentary majority to form an interim government.

“We need a change. This is not the way we deserve to live. The leaders are responsible for what has happened to this country,” K Chandra, a demonstrator, told Al Jazeera.

Following the resignations of the president and the prime minister, Parliament’s Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is expected to take over as acting president as per Sri Lanka’s constitution.
Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/ ... -and-rage
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