Vehemently opposing the Human Rights violation report submitted by the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navnanethem Pillay, the Sri Lankan (SL) government has recently rejected her call for establishing ‘an international inquiry mechanism to further investigate the alleged rights violations (both Human Rights and Humanitarian Law) and for monitoring any domestic accountability process in Sri Lanka.

This is the second and final part of article series on Naxalite Menace.

There seems to be no end to the spate of spine chilling incidents of mob violence. The alarming regularity at which such incidents are taking place leaves no doubt in the minds of the people that our country is on the verge of civil unrest. All in the name of democratic dissent, getting quick justice and a perceptible pessimism about bringing the offenders to book, people resort to vandalism, physical thrashing, killing and lynching every now and then.

The Naxalite/Maoist movement in Orissa is gaining momentum gradually along with State government’s proposed industrial zones. The red rebels have virtually set up ‘liberated zones’ along with industrial hubs in Orissa by adopting new line of operations by mixing up both democratic and violent means to consolidate their position in these areas. Both the means are being used considering the geographical, social and political situations on the ground. As far as tribal regions are concerned, Naxalites are using violent means to maintain their support base.

It would be too simple an explanation to categorize or brand recent Kandhamal incident as just ethnic or communal clashes. It could be anything from a pre–meditated design to a collision of socio-political-religious factors to the involvement of extremist forces. But it cannot be the result of a small religious tiff. The trap of violence in Kandhamal reflects the failure of civil society over some of the crucial issues of the mankind.

The involvement of a number of Indians in the foiled UK terror plots of early July this year rang alarm bells in India. Are Indian Muslims being lured into al-Qaida's global jihad? Britons of Indian origin have been tied to al-Qaida in the past, including the Muslim convert Dhiren Barot and Haroon Aswat, the alleged mastermind of the 21/7 bomb attacks. Unlike these Qaida predecessors, Kafeel Ahmed, one of the Glasgow car bombers, was born and raised in large part in India, in the booming hi-tech city of Bangalore.

Contesting claims over territorial supremacy by rival insurgent groups have not only resulted in violent conflict between the insurgents’ themselves, but, it also has potential to generate misunderstanding between communities they claim to represent. This is exactly the present state of affairs in India’s northeastern state of Manipur where several such groups have turned this beautiful land into their fiefdom.

Like in any nuclear weapon state, multiple vulnerabilities exist in a nuclear weapons complex. In the case of Pakistan, it is possible that groups or individuals may violate security rules for a variety of reasons, including profit making, settling a vendetta, or religious or ideological motives. Rogue elements may try to gain control over sensitive items for their own use or to transfer these items to another state or to other non-state actors for financial or ideological reasons.

May 18 (Friday) terror blast at Mecca Mosque in Hyderabad reveals the persistent challenge of terrorist groups to foment violence and communal acrimony in India. The blast that took nine lives and injured more than 50 people, occurred during Friday prayers inside the historical Mecca Mosque located near the well-known Charminar, a major landmark of the City that attracts several tourists from India and abroad. The police also recovered three more bombs in the mosque and defused it.