O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Terror in Ayodhya
Wipe out remnants of militancy
A GREAT tragedy was averted when the five terrorists who exploded their way into the sensitive area in Ayodhya were shot before they could do any harm to the makeshift temple there. One shudders to think what would have happened if they had succeeded in their nefarious mission.

Distant encounter
Probing the origins of life
A mission in deep space unfailingly appeals to either the frontier spirit of the human race, or to our urge to reach out to the unknown, and probe the mysteries of life and the universe. The “Deep Impact” mission is in the latter category. A projectile released from the NASA spacecraft with a Hollywood name slammed into Comet 9P/Tempel 1 on Monday, 130 million kilometres from the earth.

• Thought for the day

Editor’s Column

Mission to Washington
PM is willing, but there are critics and comrades
by H.K. Dua
Washington has lately been sending across the word that President George W. Bush has ordered an extra length of red carpet to give Dr Manmohan Singh the kind of reception given only to a few heads of government.

MIDDLE

My religion, race and caste
by Baljit Malik
My religion is not the one I was born into. It is not derived from one source, one or even two, or three sacred books. It is also not derived from one or two traditions of religious experience, thought and philosophy.

OPED

News Analysis
Tussle on Telangana
by Ramesh Kandula
It was a marriage that was bound to fail. So when the bitter honeymoon ended with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi pulling out of the Congress-led government in Andhra Pradesh, no one was surprised.

Japan PM wins vote on reforms
by George Nishiyama
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi scored a slim victory on Tuesday when parliament’s lower house approved bills to privatise Japan’s postal system, legislation that is the centrepiece of his reform agenda.

Divorce hits men more than women
by Maxine Frith
Rather than feeling devastated at the end of their marriage, women are more likely to see it as a fresh start, while their ex-husbands remain stressed and unhappy even years after they receive their decree absolute.

From the pages of

February 22, 1893

REFLECTIONS

EDITORIALS

Terror in Ayodhya
Wipe out remnants of militancy

A GREAT tragedy was averted when the five terrorists who exploded their way into the sensitive area in Ayodhya were shot before they could do any harm to the makeshift temple there. One shudders to think what would have happened if they had succeeded in their nefarious mission. It was a daring attempt, not so much to destroy the shrine as to cause widespread communal disturbances. It is shocking that they were able to penetrate several layers of security before they were brought to summary justice. Given the nature of the Ayodhya dispute and its emotional appeal, there should have been no lowering of guard at the shrine. Only an inquiry would be able to fix responsibility for the security breach. The incident is one more proof that political and religious groups inimical to the country are still active and they need to be guarded against.

It should not be difficult for the authorities to establish the identity of the terrorists and the ones who masterminded the attack. They have got a vital clue in the person who drove them to the shrine. Though the threat of a communal conflagration has receded, the Central and state security agencies all over the country cannot relax, particularly in view of tomorrow’s nationwide protest against the terrorist attack. The sponsors of the protest should ensure that it does not go out of control. There can be no relaxation in vigilance till all those who conspired to bring about a catastrophe in the country are brought to justice. A repeat of such an attempt anywhere in the country is what needs to be averted. This is easier said than done as terrorists thrive on the element of surprise they are able to spring on an unsuspecting population.

Terrorists have no religion, though it is in the name of faith that they often strike. Their only aim is to cause panic and mayhem. All sensible people have to bear this in mind while reacting to events like the attack in Ayodhya. Unfortunately, terrorists of different persuasions have, of late, become active. The recent attack on some cinema theatres of Delhi by Babbar Khalsa is a grim reminder that attempts, however muted, are on to revive militancy in Punjab. This cannot but cause deep consternation to all peace-loving people. It is now the responsibility of the Central and state governments to ensure that terrorist groups are nipped in the bud. They are enemies of the nation who want to create instability in the country and don’t deserve any mercy.

Distant encounter
Probing the origins of life

A mission in deep space unfailingly appeals to either the frontier spirit of the human race, or to our urge to reach out to the unknown, and probe the mysteries of life and the universe. The “Deep Impact” mission is in the latter category. A projectile released from the NASA spacecraft with a Hollywood name slammed into Comet 9P/Tempel 1 on Monday, 130 million kilometres from the earth. The 370 kg “impactor” was travelling relative to the comet at a speed of 37,000 kms per hour, and was pulverised at collision, creating a huge crater in the 4-km-by-14-km, potato-shaped, comet. Large quantities of gas, dust and debris were released from the comet’s nucleus. Deep Impact’s telescopes and cameras watched from about 500 km away, gathering vital data that was transmitted to the earth through X-ray links.

The icy core of a comet, known as its nucleus, is made of material that is said to have remained unchanged since the solar system was formed 4.5 billion (450 crore) years ago. There will be clues there as to the system’s origins. Many scientists also think that the earth was hammered by hundreds of comets in its early days, in many ways “seeding” barren rock with the potential to create life. Comets may have actually been the source of H2O, water, and organic molecules, laying the foundation for complex biological systems and organisms. In other words, we may owe our existence to comets.

While that is the intriguing part, there are aspects to the mission, rooted in American culture and concerns, which are actually amusing. For one thing, NASA’s “public education and outreach” programme had invited people to put up their names to be etched on a CD, which was put on the Impactor to be vapourised on collision. The idea was public participation and a sense of connection with a high technology mission. Six lakh people actually did so. And the choice of the July 4 date? American Independence Day, an occasion for not just patriotic fervour but lots of fireworks. You can’t beat a megaton explosion in space. Well, the NASA mission is after all about a distant encounter with, perhaps, ourselves.

Revolt over Telangana
TRS storm in UPA teacup

The resignation of five Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ministers from the Congress-led government in Andhra Pradesh is an unsettling development, but it is unlikely to make the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) lose an ally at the Centre. There are a number of reasons why the whole episode may turn out to be not more than a storm in a teacup. The exit of the TRS from the cabinet of Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy is dictated primarily by the threat of the Maoists who rule the roost in Telangana. The Maoists, who have successfully sabotaged election processes in the region, backed the TRS in the last Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Their support, besides being calculated to cut the ground from under the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party, was in return for the TRS pushing for a separate Telangana. As long as the demand was being “studied” and the state government negotiating with the Maoists, the TRS did not feel the heat. Now that the Maoists have lowered the boom, the TRS has to distance itself from the Congress if only as a survival tactic.

With a strength of 185 in the 292-member assembly, the Congress has no reason to worry about its stability in Andhra Pradesh. On the contrary, it is the TRS that may have to contend with factional pressures in its ranks, already evident in one of the six ministers refusing to quit till TRS chief R Chandrasekhara Rao and his colleague resign from the UPA government at the Centre. Since the TRS, with its five MPs, would be left without an effective platform if it breaks with the UPA, Mr Chandrasekhara Rao would not be imprudent enough to resort to any extreme action.

This explains the TRS demand for Mr Rajasekhara Reddy’s resignation assuming almost as much importance as that for a separate Telangana, even while the party has reiterated support to the UPA and confidence in Mrs Sonia Gandhi. All of which only underscores that the TRS action is aimed more at buying peace, and their own security, with the Naxalites than opting for a showdown with the UPA.

Thought for the day

When you have nothing to say, say nothing. — Charles Caleb Colton

Editor’s Column

Mission to Washington
PM is willing, but there are critics and comrades
by H.K. Dua

Washington has lately been sending across the word that President George W. Bush has ordered an extra length of red carpet to give Dr Manmohan Singh the kind of reception given only to a few heads of government. Key functionaries of the Bush Administration have also been telling New Delhi that the Prime Minister’s visit later this month could mark a watershed in the relations between India and the United States.

There are influential people in Dr Manmohan Singh’s government who are also looking forward to the visit. They tend to believe that the world situation has changed over the years and that the time has come for India to give up its old mindset, look far into the future and evolve a new relationship with the world’s most powerful country.

Often in the past, the love-hate relationship between the two largest democracies has witnessed hesitations and prevented them from coming closer. Often, adversarial feelings, embedded in mutual distrust, have ruled the relationship. Often, a step forward has led to two steps backwards.

There are people in the United States who still do not relish India having developed nuclear weapons or trying to emerge as a major power of the 21st century. They think that India is too big a country and it will always be difficult to tame its ambitions for carving out an important role for itself in the world and an independent foreign policy.

Lately, there are, however, more people in the US establishment who think that India can be gainfully co-opted into the US strategic view and its global and Asian policies. The number of the Americans who have reservations on India is said to be going down lately.

While the Bush Administration seems to have worked out its strategic policy on Asia, including a role and place for India, the establishment in New Delhi is not yet sure on how far it can go in developing a new relationship with Washington. India is slowly giving up its old mindset, and the realities of a changed world are being acknowledged, but there are some lingering feelings that the new relationship with the US will cramp India’s search for an independent foreign policy.

Dr Manmohan Singh, despite his gentle profile, does not shirk from making major departures from settled policies if it helps the country in a given situation. In the 1990s, as Finance Minister, he launched irreversible economic reforms, overturning the earlier dogmas and policies. Whether he is fully ready now to follow his instinct for a new foreign policy needed for the 21st century and take the plunge now for a cosier relationship with Washington remains to be seen.

With the Soviet Union having collapsed and China determined to emerge as a major power in the next 20 years, the US is keen to retain a leadership role in the world, possibly in the company of important regional powers. Hence, Washington’s keenness to have India on board.

The attitude of a part of the establishment Dr Manmohan Singh is himself presiding over and of the Left parties backing his government can place constraints on his taking major steps forward in the talks in Washington. The Prime Minister has to prepare his colleagues in the government, the bureaucracy and the top brass of the military for what he would like to do.

He has also to make special efforts to tackle the Left parties who are making more than proforma noises against forging closer ties with the United States.

The comrades, who are already worked up over the government’s plans for disinvestments in BHEL and have chosen to boycott the UPA’s coordination committee, have now pounced upon the 10-year agreement the Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, signed last week in Washington on the future collaborations between the two countries in crucial areas of defence and military affairs.

The details of the Defence Minister’s statement had hardly come to be known when the CPM’s politburo met suddenly to issue a statement loudly protesting against the nature and content of the emerging defence relationship with the US. The CPM and the other Left parties supporting the government have taken a hard position on the defence agreement, and it looks like Dr Manmohan Singh will require considerable persuasive skill to talk the comrades out of their fears of India getting sucked into the United States’ global and strategic designs.

The CPM politburo statement is too critical to bring comfort to the government. It says that the 10-year agreement, if carried forward, will place India in the same category as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines – all traditional allies of the United States. In particular, it has questioned the collaboration between India and the US in multinational operations and in missile defence, fearing that Washington is drawing India into its missile defence shield round the world as also in naval operations in the Indian Ocean.

India has been entering into strategic partnerships with several countries improving bilateral relations, acquiring flexibility in foreign policy and updating it for the present needs and future prospects. The nature and content of strategic partnership – lately a catchphrase – vary depending on the country and the context. A strategic partnership with the United States acquires a different dimension considering that the US is the only super power. And if Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit is to be a watershed, as Washington would like it to be, it is bound to evoke excitement among those in India who for long have been wanting closer ties with the US and protests from those who have been critical of Washington’s global and South Asian policies.

President Bush and Dr Condoleezza Rice have lately spoken about Washington’s support to India’s keenness to emerge as a major power in the 21st century. The coming visit could see Washington agreeing to greater flow of advanced technology, relaxation of a few sanctions so that India could buy nuclear fuel from the US or some other countries and greater cooperation in science and technology and research and development in many high-tech areas, agriculture research, fight against HIV and AIDS.

While the UPA government is unlikely to undo the 10-year defence agreement Mr Pranab Mukherjee has signed, it remains to be seen whether the Prime Minister goes about convincing President Bush to travel a few more miles to meet some of the essential Indian needs and concerns that have blocked improvement in Indo-US relations during the last few years.

Whether President Bush meets some essential Indian concerns is not yet clear, but there are no signs that the US is going to supply nuclear power reactors which India badly needs to reduce its dependence on oil, or let it have access to more-advanced areas of nuclear and space technology, despite the fact that India has always stood for non-proliferation and recently passed a law against weapons of mass destruction.

India has also been wanting Washington’s support for its claim to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The US has spoken about India’s importance and its playing a greater role in the United Nations and has said that it meets all the criteria which it has proffered for a permanent seat at the Security Council. It is, however, highly unlikely that Washington will announce support for India’s seat at the UN Security Council during Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit.

The Prime Minister is indeed attaching considerable importance to the visit. For it to be a great success, he may have to spend the next few days convincing critics in his own government and the Marxists that what he is doing is in the wider national interest and that India, given its confidence and capability, cannot become a surrogate US state. On the other hand, he has to convince the Bush Administration that it should meet India’s concerns crucial to its really becoming a major power of the 21st century.

Dr Manmohan Singh’s challenge is essentially political at home and diplomatic in Washington.

MIDDLE

My religion, race and caste
by Baljit Malik

My religion is not the one I was born into. It is not derived from one source, one or even two, or three sacred books.

It is also not derived from one or two traditions of religious experience, thought and philosophy.

Whatever my religion, it is one that is incomplete; one that is in constant motion or acceptance, rejection, confirmation, reconsideration. My religion is a mix of Christan, Hindu, Islam, Buddhist, Sikh and the poetry of the Beat Generation of the sixties.

And, older than all these, it derives inspiration from the life, style, beliefs and culture of the Adivasi or Indigenous Peoples of our Planet Earth.

For me my long hair, turban, hat, bangle, kirpan (dagger) or sword have nothing to do with my religion... though I do believe that certain symbols like the Cross and long hair do represent certain life forces and values. I believe in those values and forces rather than in the symbols themselves.

I am talking about values and forces that stand for human rights, children’s rights, women’s rights and equality; also values and forces that reject corporal and capital punishment and violence and war as a means of settling family, national or international disputes. I am also talking about religious values and forces that reject nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, and of religious values that are protective of Mother Nature.

The ultimate reckoning of my Religion, Race and Caste is if they are protective of Nature, Life and the Cosmos. If not, then I would need to.

OPED

News Analysis
Tussle on Telangana
by Ramesh Kandula

It was a marriage that was bound to fail. So when the bitter honeymoon ended with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) pulling out of the Congress-led government in Andhra Pradesh, no one was surprised.

There were enough inherent contradictions and conflicting interests in the Congress-TRS alliance to drive them to a breaking point. And it came sooner than expected.

Though there is a sense of relief in a section of the Congressmen over the end of the 13-month long uneasy relationship with the TRS, the development is fraught with serious political ramifications for the Congress-led governments in the state and at the Centre.

Surely, the resignation of the five of the six TRS ministers will not upset the Congress applecart in the state, given that the latter has a comfortable majority of its own to run the government. It has 185 MLAs in the 294-member Assembly.

However, having freed itself from ministerial shackles, the sub-regional party is expected to go full throttle on the highly emotive issue of a separate state for Telangana. Given the antipathy that the TRS harbours against Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the Rayalaseema strongman, as the single biggest obstacle to achieving their object of dividing the state, the Telangana party is set to unleash a no-holds-barred fight against the Congress government.

From day one, the Congress and the TRS were not best of the friends. What united them in the run-up to last year’s Assembly elections was the need to defeat their common enemy N Chandrababu Naidu, the TDP supremo who was threatening to pull off an electoral hat trick and had to be stopped in his track.

That the alliance had severe limitations was clear from the word go when Rajasekhar Reddy, the Congress’ star campaigner, was reluctant to go with the TRS. His opposition to the statehood demand is also well known.

Once swept to power, the Congress high command, prizing the five MPs that the TRS had, asked Reddy to accommodate the sub-regional party in his ministry, even though more Congress legislators were elected from the Telangana region than TRS MLAs. Reddy honoured the party directive rather reluctantly and did not hide his distaste for his TRS colleagues.

Though many in the state Congress argued that the electoral verdict was in favour of the Congress and the TRS benefited out of its alliance with them, the Congress high command, forming its first-ever coalition government at the Centre, wanted to show to the world that it valued its partners whether they mattered in the formation of the government or not. As a result, Reddy had to provide more berths to the TRS than to his party men from Telengana.

More than the issue of spoils, separate Telangana was the point of departure for Rajasekhara Reddy. An avowed integrationist, he steadfastly refused to toe the separatist line. He consistently maintained that the Congress was committed to constituting a second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), which will decide the fate of Telangana.

The TRS, on the other, argued that it was a ploy to delay the new state and Telangana can be formed by a stroke of the pen by Parliament.

While the spat continued off and on between Reddy and TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, what infuriated the TRS were the ambitious plans on major irrigation projects, which the regional party was opposed to as against the Telangana interests. Pulichintala, one such contentious project, was kicked off by Reddy even though the TRS was strongly opposed to the construction in its present form. The project is aimed at benefiting 11 lakh acres in the Krishna delta region.

“Rajasekhara Reddy had done more harm to the interests of Telangana in just a year than Chandrababu Naidu could do during his nine-year term,” said A Narendra, TRS senior leader and Union Minister of State.

The TRS always suspected that Reddy was securing his political future in time as Chief Minister of future coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema by pushing his way in large-scale development of the Andhra region.

Having emerged as an undisputed leader in the Andhra region, which is seen largely as pro-integrated Andhra Pradesh, Reddy indeed seemed in a hurry to develop Visakhapatnam as a city of future, besides grounding many irrigation projects in the coastal region.

Another thorny issue was the approach to the Naxalite problem. Telangana is the hotbed of extremism and the Maoist-police face-off has seen a lot of bloodshed in the region. Reddy, who started off as a peacenik, later turned hawkish and left the issue to be tackled by the police.

As a result, there have been several killings on both sides in the last few months. The TRS felt the heat most as the party had the tacit support of the Naxals during the last elections. The Maoists have been rooting for a separate Telangana for their own advantage and hoped the TRS would do the job.

Angered by the police clampdown, the Maoists mounted pressure on the TRS to withdraw from the government. The last straw was the killing of a Janashakti top leader Riyaz last week in an alleged fake encounter.

The Chief Minister’s cavalier attitude towards the TRS’ objections and threats has also complicated the matters. When opposition to the Pulichintala project was brought to his notice at a press conference, the Chief Minister had sarcastically quipped: “So what?” On Sunday last, Reddy was dismissive about the TRS ministers’ threat to review the alliance. “They are so scared of their life (from Naxals). They say one thing to me, and another in public. I don’t want to waste my time talking about them,” he tartly replied.

Reddy, however, is not the supreme leader of his party. Like the TRS joined his ministry without his liking, their resignations also are not exactly in his domain. Till the Congress high command gives its nod, the Chief Minister would not be able to recommend to the Governor to accept the same. The defiant Reddy, however, showed his disdain for the party by going ahead with his foreign tour the same evening.

In asking his party ministers to quit, KCR played his cards well. The move, on the one hand, freed his party from the ministerial shackles in the state, where they can now rally around the cause of Telangana more vociferously and ramp up the sagging morale of the cadre.

Japan PM wins vote on reforms
by George Nishiyama

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi scored a slim victory on Tuesday when parliament’s lower house approved bills to privatise Japan’s postal system, legislation that is the centrepiece of his reform agenda.

Koizumi had said a failure to pass the bills, which faced opposition from within his own ruling party, would be tantamount to a no-confidence vote, a tacit threat to call a snap election if the legislation was rejected.

Japanese media said close to 40 out of the 250 lower house members of Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) defied party policy and voted against the bills, while several others abstained, bringing the final tally to 233 votes in support of the bills and 228 against them.

The bills were also backed by the LDP’s junior ruling coalition partner, the New Komeito, which has 34 seats in the powerful 480-seat lower chamber.

The bills will next be submitted to the upper house, whose approval is needed for them to be enacted. The ruling parties have a slimmer majority in the upper house.

“We still have a long way ahead of us in the upper house, but we will do our best to have them enacted,” Heizo Takenaka, cabinet minister in charge of postal privatisation, told reporters after the vote.

Privatisation of the postal system, which has assets of over $3 trillion, including the world’s largest bank, has long been a taboo within the LDP, as many lawmakers have used public works projects funded by postal savings to woo support.

Many LDP lawmakers also depend on local postmasters, who wield influence in rural areas, to turn out votes. Postmasters oppose privatisation because they fear they will lose their jobs. Financial markets were surprised by the closeness of the vote. “The yen briefly got a little boost, but it seems to have reversed those gains after people saw the difference was just 5 votes,” said Hideaki Furumaya, forex manager at Trust & Custody Services Bank.

The main opposition Democratic Party opposed the bills, which were revised in a bid to win over some LDP opponents, saying they call for only watered-down reforms and would not ensure complete privatisation. Koizumi has been advocating the privatisation since well before he became prime minister in 2001 and has staked his political legacy on achieving it, saying Japan Post is a symbol of the inefficiency remaining in the public sector. Set up in 1875, the postal savings system sucks up private savings and funnels the funds into public works projects. In addition to boasting almost 25,000 post offices and over 260,000 employees, Japan Post is the largest buyer of government bonds, helping the government to inflate its debt to the highest level among advanced industrial countries. Critics also charge that Japan Post enjoys an unfair advantage over private banks due to its geographical reach — the nearest post office is on average less than a kilometre (half a mile) away — and government guarantees on its deposits. Kirby Daley, a strategist at Societe Generale Securities’ Fimat division in Tokyo, said financial markets will take the vote as a positive factor over the long term.

“Those who believe that the administration’s reform efforts are good for the economy, for the economic recovery and therefore the markets, should take it as a positive.”

But he added: “The point is we’re still looking at a couple years off for implementation, we’re still looking at another passage that has to come through. It’s one step in the process although it is a victory.”

Under the reforms laid out in the bills, the system would be split into four units under a state-owned holding company in 2007 and would have to sell its savings and insurance businesses by 2017. — Reuters

Divorce hits men more than women
by Maxine Frith

Rather than feeling devastated at the end of their marriage, women are more likely to see it as a fresh start, while their ex-husbands remain stressed and unhappy even years after they receive their decree absolute.

Men are twice as women likely to feel suicidal about their divorce, the survey of more than 3,000 people for the Yorkshire Building Society found.

More than 150,000 couples divorce every year in Britain, and two out of three marriages will fail.

The people in the survey were divided into two groups: those who had divorced in the last two years and those who had been divorced for longer.

More than half (53 per cent) of the women who had divorced in the last two years said they were relieved about the break-up, compared with only 46 per cent of the men.

Four out of ten women said they felt liberated, while only a third of men experienced the same emotion.

One in three women said the divorce had made them happier, but only one in five men said they were more content.

Men had double the level of suicidal feelings, with seven per cent saying they had considered taking their own lives.

Ex-husbands were also far more likely than ex-wives to experience feelings of sadness, confusion and betrayal.

While more than half the men (56 per cent) said they felt sad at the failure of their union, only 45 per cent of women felt the same way.

Even years after divorce, men were still more likely than women to feel unhappy, with 41 per cent of long-time divorced males saying they felt sad, compared to a third of their female counterparts.

A quarter of the longer-term ex-husbands still retained a sense of betrayal, while 80 per cent of women felt no such negative emotion.

One in ten men said they were unhappier even years after divorce than when they were married, compared to just four per cent of women.

More than a third of all the men said the end of their marriage had caused them to drink more, while only one in five women turned to the bottle for solace.

And while six out of ten women spent more time with their friends and family, men were twice as likely to have casual sex, contact and old flame or join a dating agency.

Although they are more likely to find divorce emotionally battering, men are also far more eager to plunge into marriage again, the research found.

Within two years of agreeing to divorce, four per cent of men had remarried, compared to none of the women questioned by pollsters YouGov.

Rachel Court, head of mortgages at the Yorkshire Building Society, said: “These findings provide new insight into a significant national issue.

“The differences between men’s and women’s emotional experience of divorce is startling — women simply appear to be stronger than men throughout a break-up and afterwards.” The building society is now offering a “Fresh Start” mortgage specifically tailored for people coming out of a messy break up or divorce.

— The Independent

From the pages of

February 22, 1893

LYNCHING IN AMERICA

Lynch law is rampant in Texas and Virginia. Numerous cases have occurred, some of a very awful kind. A poor young coloured woman, wrongly suspected of poisoning a child, was hanged on a tree and then shot, just as the real culprit, a white farmer, was arrested and confessed his guilt. A Negro named Smith was burnt to death at Paris, Texas, after undergoing horrible tortures for nearly an hour at the hands of the relations of a little girl he had outraged and murdered. The murdered child’s father, brother, and uncles branded him inch by inch right up to his face. Finally the wretched man was drenched with kerosene, heaped around with cotton-seeds, and burnt to death. The State authorities have made no effort to punish the lynchers.

REFLECTIONS

— Book of quotations on Happiness

They are the ones who have bartered guidance for error: thus their trade does not profit and they are not guided.

— Book of quotations on Islam