Gated communities slam down the gates Polarization with a vengeance!

There were a total of 23 Pradesiya Sabhas and Urban Councils in Tamil majority areas up for grabs on 23 July (Jaffna District 16, Killinochchi 3, Amparai 2, Mullaitivu 1 and Trinco just 1 Tamil majority UC). The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) or a TNA alliance won every single one; well not quite, three small island sabhas, which were locked down and rigged by a politico-military operation, went to the UPFA in its Douglas avatar. Typical of the emotions of the Tamil man would be Nallur, rightly you will say hidebound Nallur if the discussion was about social matters, where the vote divided 81% to the TNA and 17% to Rajapaksa’s UPFA. This for better or worse is the fact of the matter; Tamils en masse rejected Rajapakse’s regime and reposed their confidence in a nationalist alliance.
The other side of the story is equally dramatic. Every council or sabha in the rest of the country (Sinhalese majority) was won by the UPFA usually with 60 to 65% share and in a few cases above 70%. The UNP was locked down to its core 30% - that is, it failed to win any floating votes - and the JVP was stuck at about 4%. All this has been commented on profusely and I will not repeat any of it. I have a different take on what lies at the root of the two communities raising barriers, locking gates and turning their backs on each other. Let me place it before you.    Read more... 
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Kashmiri Pandits, Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian hypocrisy

Aditya Sinha | Sunday, July 31, 2011 In two recent books on Kashmir (Until My Freedom Has Come: The New Intifada In Kashmir and A Tangled Web: Jammu & Kashmir; a full review will appear on the Books page in a coming issue), one repeatedly comes across an argument that has lingered during the past 20 years, an argument that is bothersome simply because Indian conservatives use it to hold to ransom any meaningful discussion of the main issue in Kashmir, which is the people’s desire for freedom. This issue is of Kashmiri Pandits and their exile from their homeland.
While it is sad that Kashmiri Hindus are internal refugees in India, some living in deplorable conditions in Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere, it is hypocritical to lament their fate while ignoring that of a larger exiled community: the Sri Lankan Tamils. One can’t help but think that the conservative lament over the “ethnic cleansing” of Kashmiri Hindus is nothing but a cynical tactic to derail the longer-lasting and deeper grievances of Kashmiri Muslims. It sadly means that the Kashmiri Hindu plight is exploited; and that implies a lack of sincere empathy.
In articles by conservatives (though few of such writers have visited Mishriwala camp in Jammu or Lajpat Nagar in Delhi), the statistics on Kashmiri Hindus often take on a life of their own. One Chennai reader (of my previous newspaper) once wrote in asking “What about the ethnic cleansing of seven lakh Kashmiri Pandits?” This number suspiciously mirrored the numbers of Indian soldiers that Pakistan inflates and claims we use in the Valley (the Pakistanis conveniently tack on the soldiers deployed in Siachen, along Aksai Chin, and at Udhampur, all technically a part of J&K).      Full Story>>>