In their continued efforts to win over tribal people and carve out a sanctuary for themselves in Kerala, Maoists have struck again this time, vandalizing a villa in the hill district of Wayanad, Kerala, set high on the Western Ghats. Forests in this region are connected to those in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu covering various … Continue reading Kerala: Maoists Warn Locals of Dire Consequences
terrorism
Kerala Faces an Uphill Task as Maoists Seek Sanctuary in the State
KOYAMOOPPAN, AS HE is reverentially called by his Tribal community, is more than a century old, but he doesn’t know his real age. “Yes, I am more than 100 years old,” he says after making a few calculations that receive a nod from his octogenarian wife who keeps a close watch on him. Notwithstanding the … Continue reading Kerala Faces an Uphill Task as Maoists Seek Sanctuary in the State
Memoir of a Kurdish Sniper Who Helped Stop the ISIS in Syria
IS FIRST NAME on his British passport is ‘Darren’ and his sniper name ‘Azad’. As a child from a Kurdish family who grew up in Iran in the 1980s, his parents used to call him ‘Sora’. Yes, we don’t know his real name yet, and we may never know. For his riveting book Long Shot, he … Continue reading Memoir of a Kurdish Sniper Who Helped Stop the ISIS in Syria
Sri Lankan blasts unprecedented in scale, coordination: Ex-UN official and author
Gordon Weiss, a former senior United Nations official and chronicler of the last phase of the war between the Sinhalese-dominated government forces and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, says he is deeply shocked by the enormity of deaths and the extent of planning that went behind multiple terror blasts that ripped through the island … Continue reading Sri Lankan blasts unprecedented in scale, coordination: Ex-UN official and author
The Fog of War: Amid Pre-Poll Sloganeering, Modi Takes On Pakistan
ON FEBRUARY 27TH, WHEN PAKISTAN used US-made, agile, new F-16 aircraft to unsuccessfully bomb Indian military facilities in Kashmir, American President Donald Trump was away in Hotel Metropole in Hanoi, Vietnam, to hold parleys with the recalcitrant North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, offering to make the East Asian country an “economic powerhouse” if it became … Continue reading The Fog of War: Amid Pre-Poll Sloganeering, Modi Takes On Pakistan
This District in Maharashtra Is Being Buffeted By a New Wave of Islamist Radicalisation
ON QUILA ROAD in the Bir area of Beed in central Maharashtra, a number of star-and- crescent flags on electricity poles flutter in the morning wind as burkha-clad women walk past, chaperoning their children to school, and men, mostly wearing skull caps, ride motorbikes, slowing down every few moments to give strangers hostile stares. There are … Continue reading This District in Maharashtra Is Being Buffeted By a New Wave of Islamist Radicalisation
Tariq Ali Resurrects Lenin from the Distortions of History (Book Review)
The Dilemmas of Lenin: Terrorism, War, Empire, Love, Revolution | Tariq Ali | Verso | 384 Pages | Rs 1,750 SOVIET-ERA PUBLICATIONS have for long offered us a highly truncated picture of Vladimir Lenin. Besides those endless hagiographies, I remember reading one book that was slightly different for the age before the fall of the … Continue reading Tariq Ali Resurrects Lenin from the Distortions of History (Book Review)
The Radicalisation of Indian Muslim Youth in the Age of ISIS
INSIDE AN OFFICE at the packed Mahim Dargah in Mumbai, people are drinking water and nibbling bananas as they break the customary fast of Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan. M Suhail Khandwani is usually there at sundown for the occasion, but today he is at home less than a minute away, a few … Continue reading The Radicalisation of Indian Muslim Youth in the Age of ISIS
The Truth About SIMI: Faith, Fear and Banishment
HIS UNANI CLINIC is difficult to locate even in a place as laidback as Azamgarh’s Millatnagar area, even though it overlooks a gaudily painted police station one can’t miss. It is set along a typical pot-holed road in eastern Uttar Pradesh populated with cycle rickshaws pedalled by scrawny old men with goatees. Hakeem Shahid Badr … Continue reading The Truth About SIMI: Faith, Fear and Banishment
Nicolas Hénin: ‘France Should Not Make the Mistake the US Made After 9/11’
French journalist Nicolas Hénin wrote the best-selling Jihad Academy: The Rise of Islamic State after he was released by ISIS in April last year, 10 months after they captured him from the Syrian town of Raqqa and held him in inhuman conditions. He was held hostage along with James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Alan Henning and … Continue reading Nicolas Hénin: ‘France Should Not Make the Mistake the US Made After 9/11’
Ullekh NP 