The Myanmar government doesn’t deny its involvement in the slaughter of Rohingya Muslims, so it is accepting responsibility and cocking a snoot at Muslims. But why Bangladesh government should act like Myanmar .

As an Islamic country, the Bangladeshi government must bring to book the criminals behind such outrageous act. It’s high time they should refrain from blaming this atrocity on ‘international conspiracy. Instead of being seen in contempt and complicity Bangladesh government should track down the scoundrels behind the attack and set an example of living in peaceful co existence.

How long such action and reaction of minority persecution will go on in South Asia ? Each of us in fact is a minority in one sense or other, if we just try scratching our identities.

The best example to site could be that of Babu Bajragi, the man who orchestrated the orgy of communal violence against Muslims in Ahmedabad. He is found to be complaining that while serving life imprisonment in jail, he finds himself as a minority surrounded by the Muslims inmates as a majority.

In fact if reports are to be believed on one occasion Bajragi was even thrashed inside the prison. What more ironical story could be better than this, when we compare the demon of a person letting loose the trail of blood and mayhem against the minority Muslim during the post Godhra riots. At that time he always thought he belongs to majority community and can get away doing whatever crime against the minority.

Anyway coming back to the point, such senseless act of persecuting the minorities is going on for long in South Asia . There seem to be no remedy in sight, no one knows, when such mindless retributions is going to stop and each group would live in peace and harmony.

It is high time some concrete plan of action has to be made to address this issue. I have always been arguing that the religious, the ethnic, the linguistic minorities in south Asia can only be safe, under the umbrella of South Asian Federation.

If there are any takers of this idea let us take it forward and make South Asia a better place to live.

AUTHOR: Mujtaba Syed
URL: http://mujtabas-musings.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: syedalimujtaba [at] yahoo.com

“To know the food is to know the culture and tradition,” This statement certainly justifies the meaning as food that entails different aspect of traditional values. Nepali food is something that gives you the right taste and flavors. In Nepal there are around 50 different ethnic groups, with distinctive languages, dress, and customs and to degree cuisines. In remote areas, there is little choice, you eat what you grow. But the foods prepared during festivals are rare and unique in their own way. Nepalese recipes consist of many spices and herbs, which are used in each dish in a different proportion and manner. This makes each recipe unique in its own way. Heavily influenced by Indian and Tibetan cuisine Nepalese food still hold its unique taste and presence where it is highly considered healthy and extremely nourishing.

Highlighting, that there are several regional variations in Nepali food, but one dish more than any other has come to characterize the country’s cuisine it’s the dal-bhat-tarkari. Dal is a lentil sauce that is eaten with the bhat (rice). Tarkari is a generic name for curry vegetable and can be prepared in different ways according to seasonal availability of vegetables and local preferences. It is often served with achar (pickles) which do much to enhance overall appeal.

Like such, the Thakali food is yet another rich version of dal-bhat-tarkari which is popular for its tastes and species. The Thakali food has also aspired its ways to the Nepali Restaurant Industry and to dining habits and may be due to its full diet or vivid taste it is very popular among Nepali as well as foreigners. The Thakali food comes from the tradition of the people of Tibetan affinity who settled in Thak-Khola Valley. Thakali cuisine also uses locally-grown buckwheat, barley, millet and dal as well as rice and dal. The Thakali food set generally consist flavors of rich spicy content that shows the rich and vast array of exploration of taste buds.

Now talking more about the taste variation, Nepalese love spices and pickles, it’s an essential part of their diet. Pickles mostly come salty, sour, sweet or tangy, all big on flavor such that just a spoonful is needed with the meal. It adds flavor and it blend into any type of dish and has become an important part of Nepali cuisine.

Looking and understanding the taste, dal bhat tarkaari is common among Newars, one of the oldest inhabitants of Kathmandu but they have incorporated it in a variation of taste. Another popular item among them is chiura: dried beaten rice, served with an array of meat and vegetable curries and pickle. Outside the Kathmandu Valley where the variety of vegetables and ingredients is much less, diets are simpler. Above 3000 meters, of altitudes, corn, millet, buckwheat, barley and wheat take over as staples. The everyday lunch and dinner of many hill villagers is dhindo, a thick mush of boiled ground grains, doctored up with a soupy vegetable sauce of the ubiquitous.

Nepali saag (spinach), gundruk (dried and fermented vegetable leaves) or sisnu (nettles) are commonly used according to availability. In the far west, hill dwellers subsist on heavy bread made from a crude brown wheat or buckwheat. Barley, potatoes, dairy products and a few hardy vegetables fuel the highest Himalayan settlers of Nepal. Traders to Tibet cross 6000 meter passes carrying little more than dry tsampa (roasted fine-ground grains) to mix with butter tea, and perhaps some dried cheese (churpi) or meat. If you’re up in the Khumbu, Langtang or Manang/Jomsom areas, be sure to try some tsampa. You can also buy it in Kathmandu’s Asan bazaar. The delicious, nutty flavor and nutritious, high-energy content make it an ideal trekking food. You may have less success in downing a cup of Tibetan butter tea, known to put off most Westerners and even Nepali lowlanders.

Tibetan influences increase the further north you go, although perenial favourites, such as the momo (a stuffed dumpling, fried or steamed), are widely available in the lower regions too. In the trekking regions, you are likely to encounter little other than Nepali food, which some people may find slightly monotonous. The choice is greater in the Terai where you will also find many excellent Indian dishes.

Perhaps, the traditional food in Kathmandu has been monopolized by few of the restaurants creating their own name and fame in giving people a new taste in same old traditional way.

Bhojan Griha is one of the oldest restaurants located in Dillibazar with the taste and feel of ancient days. The property is located in a traditional setting and dates back over 150 years. Originally belonging to the royal priest of the king of Nepal, it’s a historical monument. A renovated history of 4 storey building, it Taste authentic organic Nepalese food then what more can you expect. The food is served with local folk dances and songs with the tradition of Nepali essence. Dining at Bhojan Griha, meaning House of Food, is a unique experience of splurging into the taste of Nepal. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner every day.

Similarly, Bhancha Ghar is yet another destination that highlights the enigmatic presence and essence of Nepali tradition. It has been more than two decades that the Bhancha Ghar has been catering the needs of foreign guests. From 1989 AD, Bhancha Ghar has been promoting Nepalese cuisine with no priority for an entirely Nepalese restaurant. Bhancha Ghar is a total experience that serves not only food but a feeling and essence of Nepali tradition. With spices making the taste the variable meat dishes and vegetarian dishes prepared with Newari style, accompanied by house blends of raksi, gives it the taste of Nepali at its best. Center of focusing the lifestyles of various ethnic groups of Nepal the cultural show gives you the feel of true Nepali taste. Established in a faithfully restored aristocratic household and completely furnished with authentic Nepali craftsmanship, it offers fine traditional food in a relaxed and intimate setting.

Likewise, Nepali Chulo is yet another destination located in Lazimpat Road. The decor and interior highlights the Nepali tradition and culture that gives you the rich taste and flavor of its richness and essence. The building is an ancient Rana palace that is loud and clear about its standing. It offers the supreme traditional Nepali and Newari cuisine with dynamic cultural programs. The menu covers a veg and non-veg set plate, a thali on which will come all your smaller dishes.

Tukuche Thakali Kitchen, of Durbar Marg in Kathmandu, offers excellent food. The name itself Tukuche is an ancestral home of the Thakali people. The Tukuche serves 100% the traditional Thakali food that taste, smells and presents itself with the name and quality. In menu, one can find a wide selection of items that are typically Thakali as well as a smaller collection of items created to cater to customer demand. Usually, people who come here tend to go for the set meals, which are convenient and filling, but the other items on the menu are also worth exploring. With the essence of giving the taste even the meat used here is exclusively of hardy mountain goat or chicken. Among the several Thakali restaurants in town, Tukuche is one of the oldest establishments offering the best in terms of quality taste and presentation. Over their years of service, this place has gained a lot of ground in the local market. It’s certainly a great place to experience authentic Thakali cuisine.

Food in Nepal is not an option it’s a way of life. People have been eating food for many reasons, but in Nepal the food speaks the language of tradition and values. It’s a way to understand the true spirit where one can easy know the nature and presence by knowing the food.

AUTHOR: Shreedeep Rayamajhi
URL: http://www.rayznews.com
E-MAIL: weaker41 [at] gmail.com

The new agreement comes after promising results from early stage clinical trials showed that the GSK TB vaccine candidate known as M72/AS01_E^* has an acceptable safety and reactogenicity profile and demonstrated an immune response.

This novel research and resource-sharing agreement between the largest non-profit TB vaccine biotech and one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies marks advancement in the race to develop new vaccines against TB, a global infectious disease killer.

“This partnership signals our commitment to building innovative collaborations to develop and deliver new TB vaccines,” said Jim Connolly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aeras. “We will never reverse the spread of the global TB epidemic without new vaccines as part of the solution.”

“When considering the massive public health impact and costs to society of neglected diseases including tuberculosis, global financing for R&D remains critically low in this area,” said Jim Connolly.

“Working in partnership with GSK – sharing resources, capabilities and know-how – affords us the opportunity to conduct this pivotal, multi-country proof of concept trial, getting us that much closer to potentially one day having a TB vaccine that could protect adolescents and adults from one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases.”

TB continues to kill 1.4 million men, women and children annually, despite the widespread use of the currently available TB vaccine, Bacille Calmette-Guèrin (BCG), in TB endemic countries. BCG prevents some forms of TB in infants but does not prevent pulmonary TB, which accounts for the majority of infections and deaths among adolescents and adults.

The GSK vaccine candidate developed under this new agreement is being designed to be used in addition to BCG.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

Making their way to the streets for the first general convention of the party’s National People’s Volunteer the Mohan Baidhya led fraction of the Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist announced the party military wing to be formed soon here at Basantapur Kathmandu on Wednesday. The announcement was made by Chairman Mohan Baidhya during the inauguration of the general convention of the party’s people’s volunteer bureau.

During the program the Netra Bikram Chand sectary of the fraction party said, “We are not here to be ignored, we will fight for our rights where we will not let the sacrifice of 16000 Nepalese go in vain. The current government and its leaders have forgotten their values. We declare a new war against that ideology which is corrupt and lack to understand people’s voices and sentiments.”

AUTHOR: Shreedeep Rayamajhi
URL: http://www.rayznews.com
E-MAIL: weaker41 [at] gmail.com

Anna Hazare

India is a queer land where many unbelievable developments happen every moment. Some of them are chronicled, others go unreported. Here an attempt is being made to portray the shocking side of India. If you have any problem in believing them, suffice would be to say; well this happens in India.

Have you heard about the traditional practice of senicide (killing of the elderly, whose illness gets prolonged and who refuses to die) by their own family members? Known as Thalaikoothal, its practiced in some parts of Tamil Nadu where the elderly person is given an extensive oil-bath early in the morning and subsequently made to drink glasses of coconut water that results in renal failure, high fever, fits, and ultimately to the death. Thalaikoothal has covert social acceptance and in some cases even the relatives called for the ceremony when it’s performed. These days lethal injection is given to perform Thalaikoothal, to make the death less painful and prolonged. This barbaric practice continues to thrive as people seldom complain to the police. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

The two holy cities of India; Mathura and Vrindavan houses more than 5000 widows who are living in pathetic conditions in the ashrams meant for them. These widows move to these holy cities in their twilight years as they believe to wash away their sins and attain Nirvana if they die in these holy places. However, after their death here they are denied basic human dignity. Their bodies are disposed off chopping into pieces and packing in gunny bags and being thrown on the river banks. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

In the coastal Tamil Nadu at Koodankulam, a valiant and peaceful protest by thousands of local people living in the vicinity of the under construction nuclear plant was met with brutal police repression. Tamil Nadu police has filed more than 55,000 FIRs against local villagers; among them some 6800 are charged with ‘sedition’ and ‘waging war’ against the nation. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

Odisha dateline 2006, when 14 Adivasis, were gunned down by the Police at Kalinga Nagar for protesting against accusation of their land by the Tata Steel Company. The National Human Rights Commission had discovered that Adivasis were forced to give it up their land were without adequate compensation with police intimidating and filing false cases against them. Such treatment of Adivasis is not unusual in India; thousands of them are languishing in jails often without a charge-sheet filed against them. The general opinion that is built about Adivasi is they are a Moaist. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

If Adivasis are Moaist, Muslims are criminals. There are 102,652 Muslims languishing in Indian jails. The number of Muslims in jails is highly disproportional to their population. For instance in Maharashtra Muslims account for 10.6% of the population, they comprise 36% of the prison population. In Gujarat, where Muslims account for 9.06%, they are 25% of prison inmates. Karnataka’s Muslim population is 12.23%, its jails have 17.5% Muslim. There are four big states West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh that has not submitted its report of its Muslim prison population. It’s likely the figures of Muslim prison population could be high in these states as well. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

In India you can also find armed extremists and criminals living comfortably in designated camps in the Northeast. They live under well-defined `ceasefire’ agreement with the Indian State. However in spite of restrictions on their movements, these militants cross the line of control at ease. Its common knowledge that they reign in night while the Indian state rules during the day. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

Contrary to northeast, it’s the Indian Army that holds sway in the Kashmir valley. The life, liberty and honor of the common Kashmiri people are at the mercy of these men in uniform. They live in an open prison under the watch of the barrel of the gun oozing out of the Army bunkers. Like it or not, the paradise on earth is reduced to a garrison state. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, is blamed for the insurgency in the northeast. The iron lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila Chanu is demanding its repelling and is on hunger strike since November 2000. Her protest has now become the world’s longest hunger striker entering more than 700 weeks. This kind of Gandhian protest once had shaken the might of the British Empire, but the Indian state seems undaunted even 12 years of such protest. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

While Anna Hazre and Baba Ramdev’s fast hogged media limelight, the fast of Swami Nigamanand went unsung. The Swami, who went on fast to “Save River Ganga” was allowed to die during his protest. The Swami demanded ban on mining to save Ganga and when his fast entered the 68th day (last 40 days in coma), was admitted to Haridwar district hospital, where sheer medical negligence resulted in his death. Earlier, he was successful in closing all the stone crushers in the ecologically sensitive areas around the Ganges banks. This time he was protesting against the Himalayan Crusher Company that was continuing its operation. At that time the entire country was busy watching the high drama of fast being played in New Delhi, its total neglect of the media that took the toll of a real crusaders life. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

This discussion may not be complete without the mention of the notorious mafia dons who live like kings in the prisons of UP and Bihar. They are served with the best of food and alcohol inside the prison cell. They settle property disputes; dictate transfers/promotions/appointments of government officials; they make phone calls to politicians and business leaders dictating them their demands. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

One can go on enumerating such inchoate images of India, but each of them can be contoured providing the brimming side of the country. It’s often said what true about India the opposite of it is also true. Well that’s the beauty of this country. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

AUTHOR: Mujtaba Syed
URL: http://mujtabas-musings.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: syedalimujtaba [at] yahoo.com

JMN Audit Report 2011-2012

AUTHOR: Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi
URL: http://www.pvchr.net/
E-MAIL: pvchr.india [at] gmail.com

Hina Rabbani Khar

“Mr. Gomes must be appreciated on taking a principled stand, exposing Such mischief makers. Hats off to you Mr.Gomes” – S.M.K Durrani

The recent series of news on so called love affair between Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and co-chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is perfect example of propaganda covertly packaged as credible news without sufficient transparency concerning the news item’s source and the motivation behind its release is very defamatory.

The news propaganda by salah uddin shoaib choudhury has violated the ‘ideal’ mission of journalism.

What Salah Uddin Shoiab choudhury has done in criminal law it is clear a fraud and is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual and very clearly defamatory in type.

Salah Uddin Shoiab choudhury engaged in borderline defamatory conduct, spreading innuendo about so called love affair between Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and co-chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that injured reputations of high profile politicians.

People from all around the world has condemned the yellow journalism of Salah Uddin Shoiab choudhury. Thanks for information about yellow Journalist.Hina Rubbani Khar are married with my friend and she will ignore all baseless reports.
Regards
Syed Zafar

Mr Williams has written a very good rejoinder; But I am sorry none has come our friends in Pakistan. Hina is an honourable woman, who has proved to be an excellent foreign Minister. This is just to let her down. Mr William Thanks once again
Muhammad Shahbaz Thuthaal
EME CHS
Multan road,Lahore

Mr. Gomes must be appreciated on taking a principled stand, exposing Such mischief makers. Hats off to you Mr.Gomes
S.M.K Durrani

Mr Gomes thank you for exposing the riff raff that destroy the image of the press. The foreign minister is of impeccable character and to strike her unfairly in this preposterous manner was repulsive to say the least. .
Best
Imran Husain

Dear All: Irrespective of the stories being published in the foreign and local press with regard to the so called affair of Bilawal Bhutto and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, our journalists must always remember that great nations always keep high the considerations of their fame in the comity of the nations and esteem of their leaders; and that their great profession strictly warranted full compliance of the popular norms of professional ethics and our moral values. Ironically enough amid mushroom growth of the media industry in Pakistan the professional standard is fast on the decline wherein even the so called leading anchorpersons and editors have no capability to distinguish between the vicious propaganda and hard information; and that as to how such information could be useful for the public at large and its potential to pollute the patriotic sentiments of the nation especially the youth which is the future of Pakistan. In Britain the periodicals and dailies which are notorious for such filthy stuff is called gutter press; but in Pakistan even the so called big shots of our media have mixed up serious and gutter press; it is the high time for all and sundry to come forward to help rebuild the foundations of moral values and ethics of our noble profession.
ASLAM BUTT

I do not know Hina Khar personally, but professionally, what I have noticed about her is that she is a very sensible, level-headed young woman who has been doing quite a commendable job as Foreign Minister of our crisis-ridden country. She, perhaps, has more substance in her than all the rest of our bloated Cabinet put together. I am sure she has more sense than to be carrying on with an immature boy, but even if she is having an affair with Bilawal Bhutto, it is her own business and the business of her husband, NOT of gutter journalists who have nothing better to do than to wallow in the filth created in their own dirty minds. Let the poor woman do her work in peace. She already has more than enough on her plate…!!! Sheree Sardar
Senior Producer, Reuters Television (Pakistan)
Thomson Reuters

I fully agree to Sheree…there are few examples in MEN’s tribe who simply cannot see any woman going ahead of the parameters ,THEY,define for her…and if happens so…THEY launch character assasination move…It is so unfortunate
Rashida Sohail

AUTHOR: William Nicholas Gomes
URL: www.williamgomes.org
E-MAIL: williamgomes.org [at] gmail.com

According to bdnews24, on 30th September 2012, seven Buddhist Viharas, around 30 houses and shops were torched in the attacks that started at 11:30pm and lasted until around 4am on 1st of October. More than a hundred houses and shops were also reportedly attacked, vandalized and looted.

My sources inside Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) shared sensational inside story and background of the per-planned attack on the Buddhists in Cox’s Bazaar’s Ramu Upazila.

The whole attack was engineered by special unit of Indian Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) in coordination with DGFI.

A special team of monitoring the social media in the DGFI and R&AW were closely monitoring the social media to monitor the ongoing protest on anti Islam film in different parts of Bangladesh on social media.

The government was facing challenge to tackle the protest on anti Islam movie in different parts of the country
The social media monitor team within the intelligence agency noticed that different people were tagged different photos related anti Islam movie and defaming Holy Quran , Uttam Barua was tagged in the photo from a Facebook ID called ‘Insult Allah’.

The special units of R&AW consult with concern people in prime minister’s office ask to run special operation named “Operation Tango”.

The main aim of operation tango was to spread the violence in hill district, specifically on the Buddhist and Hindu minorities.

Selected officials were called immediately from different detachments of DGFI that includes Coxs’ Bazar, Khagrachari, Rangamati, Bandarban and Chittagong.

They were briefed, how to implement the operation tango. They special team of army commando were send to vandalized a village of Buddhists in Cox’s Bazaar’s Ramu Upazila early on 30th September 2012.

Cox’s Bazaar district’s Superintendent of Police Selim Mohammed Jahangir was informed earlier by the tango team to remain silent while tango team run the operation and police were on high alert that tango team can successfully end the operation.

Special units of R&AW informed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier that operation tango will help to get the sympathy of minorities.

They also briefed that minorities are your vote bank, before election this attack will benefit you in all ways
They also briefed BNP had embraced the government over Rohingya Muslims issue and it’s a proper time to use the situation while the opposition is protesting over anti islam movie.

The tango team had suggested spreading attacks on minorities in different minority populated areas all over the country and that will continue one after another.

A team of media professionals were briefed earlier to run continuous news propaganda naming the violence as an effort to Islamize the hill area and the opposition parties specifically BNP is behind the communal attack.

While the ruling government is playing dirty game on the life of minorities with the Indian intelligence R&AW , minorities are paying a high cost.

AUTHOR: William Nicholas Gomes
URL: www.williamgomes.org
E-MAIL: williamgomes.org [at] gmail.com

Hina Rabbani Khar

Yellow journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury has recently propagated falsehood against foreign minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar.

He claims that Weekly Blitz is a tabloid newspaper published in Bangladesh every Wednesday but in reality it is not available in the market.

Yellow journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury has cheated many people among them two women who came in public and flashed his criminal face.

Brenda West wrote “Choudhury operates a shady website called Jethro Conglomerate, for which a scam alert has been posted by an organization that regulates the business dealings of the commodities Choudhury sells. (In case you are curious or are impressed with Choudhury’s interest in things Jewish, Jethro is the Hebrew word for Choudhury’s preferred moniker, Shoaib.) Choudhury states on the Jethro Conglomerates website that he represents a company called Noca. Noca itself does not seem legitimate. It is not licensed. It provides no information about who owns or runs the company. The representatives they do list could be of interest to law enforcement. The Noca site says it is located in Canada but it gives an unpublished Nevada phone number. There is an odor of mobster activity connected with this enterprise, as well as Choudhury’s involvement in it. As we shall see in Choudhury’s published resume, Choudhury worked closely with the indicted mobster, Aziz Mohammed Bhai, who fled Bangladesh in 2009 to avoid imprisonment for various charges, including murder.”

Brenda West wrote “In June 2011 Tass (info@itar-tass.com) spokeswoman Lora Potopova confirmed in an email and subsequent phone conversation with this reporter that the wire service never had a bureau in Bangladesh, and had no record of employ for Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury — as a stringer or otherwise. Potopova reported that her thorough search of all Tass branches found no trace of Choudhury or a Tass office in Bangladesh. “

Using the banner of media outlet Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is running his criminal business for years.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury has coined the falsehood. Weekly blitz is a part of a syndicate of Hindustan times. The propaganda was subsequently reported by Hindustan times and other India media.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury became successful in his plan when it was published in India and then he started lobbying with the friends in Bangladeshi media to get it reported in different media outlets.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is deliberately running this falsehood against Hina Rabbani Khar and Bilawal Bhutto to be discussed by international media to use that discussion for further criminal business.

AUTHOR: William Nicholas Gomes
URL: www.williamgomes.org
E-MAIL: williamgomes.org [at] gmail.com

Simon Denyer/The Washington Post – Children rescued from a bangle-making factory in New Delhi after a police raid on Sept.5, 2012. More than 90,000 children go missing in India every year, many of them sold into forced labor on farms and in factories.

Every six minutes, a child goes missing in India.

They are boys like Irfan, drugged and abducted at the age of 9 by two men on a motorbike as he walked home one day after playing with friends.

“It was living hell these past two years, trying to figure out where we could find him,” said his father, Iqbal Ali. “I used to run a biscuit bakery, but from the day he disappeared, I got so caught up trying to meet politicians, police and people who claim to do magic to get children back, that I had to shut down my bakery. I had no time for it.”

More than 90,000 children are officially reported missing every year, according to data compiled and released late last year by leading children’s rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which showed the problem was far greater than previously thought.

Up to 10 times that number are trafficked, according to the group — boys and girls, most from poor families, torn from their parents, sometimes in return for cash, and forced to beg or work in farms, factories and homes, or sold for sex and marriage.

It is an epidemic that, until a few years ago, remained unreported and largely ignored by the authorities.

But years of tireless work by activists, a few crucial victories in court — and the shocking discovery of the bones of 17 slain girls and young women around a businessman’s home in a suburb of New Delhi called Nithari in 2006 — have gradually put the issue on the nation’s agenda.

India’s 24-hour news channels have also played a role in highlighting an issue long tolerated by the country’s middle classes. The media frenzy surrounding the Nithari killings was a watershed, reminiscent of the way the disappearance of Etan Patz in Manhattan in 1979 helped spark the missing-children’s movement in the United States.

In recent weeks, footage from surveillance cameras — a new phenomenon in modern India — has also been repeatedly broadcast on television here, showing infants being brazenly snatched from train stations and hospital lobbies as parents slept nearby.

“A couple of decades ago, there was no understanding of the issue of missing children or trafficking for forced labor — child labor was not even considered a crime,” said Bhuwan Ribhu, an activist for the children’s rights group. “Though things are slowly changing, the biggest issue is the lack of political and administrative will to enforce the law, which is often outside the reach of the common person.”

Irfan suffered perhaps the most common fate — kidnapped to satisfy India’s insatiable demand for cheap, agricultural labor.

In India and many other developing countries, children often work in agriculture. What is only now becoming apparent is the huge trafficking industry that has grown up outside the law.

Irfan’s story, though, has a happy ending. Last month, after more than two years away, he finally made it home to his joyous parents, after climbing on a chair in the shed where he was held and breaking a window with an earthen vase to escape.

“I was supposed to bathe the buffalo, to feed them, to pick up the dung,” he said, describing his life imprisoned in virtual solitary confinement in a room adjoining a buffalo shed outside the town of Mullanpur, some 200 miles northwest of Delhi.

“I was fed just once a day, just leftovers. When I used to shriek and make a fuss, they would tie my hands and feet at night.”

After escaping, Irfan found shelter with another family for several months. Then, last month, as the media furor about missing children reached its peak, he saw photographs of his parents and himself on a TV show.

Only then did he journey back to the New Delhi district of Nangloi, the only address he had in his memory.

“I took the train to Delhi, and a bus to Nangloi,” he said, “but when I arrived it had all changed. Before, there was no overpass, no metro. It looked like a completely different place to me.”

After half an hour of wandering, Irfan says he bumped into a friend, who took him home.

“We were just overwhelmed with happiness,” said his mother, Shabnam. “We went and got new clothes made for all of us. All his old clothes were too small, because he had grown so tall.”

Young laborers

Kidnapping represents just the tip of the iceberg of a vast child-trafficking industry in India. Many young children are sold by their parents or enticed from them with the promise that they will be looked after and be able to send money home. Never registered as missing, many simply lose touch with their parents, working long hours in garment factories or making cheap jewelry.

Globally, trafficking of children for forced labor and sexual exploitation remains a “largely hidden crime,” says the International Labor Organization, with no reliable data even existing on the scale of the problem.

The organization makes a “conservative estimate” that 5.5 million children around the world are trapped in forced labor, but in India alone the government uses estimates of 5 million to 12 million children forced to work.

On a recent raid with activists and police, 36 children were rescued from a series of tiny rooms where they were making bangles for 10 hours, some for just $4 a month.

One was just 6 years old, the son of a rickshaw puller from the faraway city of Patna, his hair and skin covered in glitter from the work. “They didn’t let me talk to my mother on the phone,” he said.

Last month, the Indian government proposed a blanket ban on the employment of children younger than 14, building on a 2009 law that established a child’s right to education until that age. Activists hailed the proposal, which now needs parliamentary approval, as a major step forward, but warned that enforcement will remain a significant challenge.

The U.S. State Department says India is making “significant efforts” to comply with minimum global standards for the elimination of trafficking, but notes challenges in enforcement and “the alleged complicity of public officials in human trafficking.”

Little help for the missing

The parents of several missing children interviewed in the past month said they had received little or no help from the police, largely, they said, because they were poor.

“The police were very cold. They just kept saying: ‘A lot of kids are missing. What can we do?’ ” said Kunwar Pal, 48, whose son, Ravi, was 12 when he went missing two years ago after going out to ride his bicycle. “Maybe if I had the money to pay a bribe, they would have found my kid.”

Nearly 450,000 cases of children trafficked for labor were reported in the past three years, but prosecutions were launched in just 25,000 of those cases and 3,394 employers were convicted, official figures show.

Twelve years ago, Pal’s wife died in childbirth, their infant daughter succumbing to diarrhea soon after. Now, in his bare one-roomed house, he pines for his favorite son, an obedient, undemanding and studious boy who dreamed of becoming a detective.

“He liked soap operas on TV, one called ‘CID,’ and he used to say he wanted to study and be educated and become a policeman,” said Pal, before breaking down in tears. “I am always expecting a call. ‘Papa, can I come home?’ ”

Rama Lakshmi and Suhasini Raj contributed to this report.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ALSO PUBLISHED IN THE WASHINGTON POST.

AUTHOR: Bachpan Bachao Andolan
URL: http://www.bba.org.in
E-MAIL: info [at] bba.org.in