The carnage in Quetta

The suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta on Monday that left at least 72 people dead is yet another violent reminder of the security challenges Pakistan faces. What makes matters complicated this time is that the attack in the Balochistan capital has been claimed by two terrorist groups, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a home-grown faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the Islamic State (IS). But irrespective of the organisational links of the bomber, it is apparent now that militant groups that suffered a setback after the army’s heightened counter-terror operation two years ago are striking back whenever they get the opportunity. Take the case of the JuA. Founded in 2014, it has already emerged as one of the most potent terrorist groups in Pakistan. It remains loyal to the TTP, but had earlier declared support to the IS leadership. Over the last two years the JuA had carried out a number of deadly attacks, including the Wagah strike of 2014 and the Lahore park bombing in March this year. If the JuA is behind the Quetta blast, it is yet another warning to the Pakistani establishment. The IS connection too is worrying. The authorities say the IS does not have any organisational presence in the country, but Pakistan actually faces a high risk of IS-linked terror. The group has already established a foothold in eastern Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan. Also, Pakistan’s jihadist underworld, largely based in the northwestern region, is a potential recruiting ground for powerful terrorist groups. Besides, the IS’s proximity to groups such as the JuA and the fact that both groups have claimed the Quetta attack raise questions on whether the TTP factions are cooperating with the IS.

For the Pakistani army and civilian government, this is the new reality they have to come to grips with. The rising number of terror attacks and the entry of new outfits into the region’s jihadist map show that whatever the army and the government have been doing in the fight against terror has simply not been enough. A large part of the problem is with Pakistan’s anti-terror strategy itself. Though terrorism cannot be eliminated overnight, governments need a comprehensive strategy to counter it. Pakistan has a history of supporting groups fighting Afghanistan and India, while cracking down on those operating within the country. The military’s close ties with the Afghan Taliban, for instance, have compromised its fight against the TTP, which now refuses to pipe down despite military action. If Pakistan is serious about tackling this jihadist complex, it should first stop categorising them as good Taliban and bad Taliban, or as good terrorists and bad terrorists.

Source of news..The Hindu newspaper

Flooded canyons found on Saturn’s moon Titan: NASA

First direct evidence of the presence of liquid-filled channels on the ringed planet's moon, besides the deep canyons.

• NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has discovered steep-sided canyons, hundreds of meters deep, on Saturn’s moon Titan that are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons.
  The finding represents the first direct evidence of the presence of liquid-filled channels on Titan, as well as the first observation of the deep canyons, NASA said.
  Scientists analysed Cassini data from a close pass the spacecraft made over Titan in May 2013. During the flyby, Cassini’s radar instrument focused on channels that branch out from the large, northern sea Ligeia Mare.
  Narrow, deep canyons
  The observations show that the channels — in particular, a network of them named Vid Flumina — are narrow canyons, generally less than a kilometre wide, with slopes steeper than 40 degrees. The canyons also are quite deep — those measured are 240 to 570 metres from top to bottom.
  The branching channels appear dark in radar images, much like Titan’s methane-rich seas.
  This suggested that the channels might also be filled with liquid, but a direct detection had not been made until now.
  Previously it was not clear if the dark material was liquid or merely saturated sediment — which at Titan’s frigid temperatures would be made of ice, not rock.
  Radar as altimeter
  Cassini’s radar was used as an altimeter, sending pings of radio waves to the moon’s surface to measure the height of features there.
  The researchers combined the altimetry data with previous radar images of the region to make their discovery.
  The radar instrument observed a glint, indicating an extremely smooth surface like that observed from Titan’s hydrocarbon seas.
  The timing of radar echoes, as they bounced off the canyons’ edges and floors, provided a measure of their depths.
  The presence of such deep cuts in the landscape indicates that the process that created them was active for a long time or eroded down faster than other areas on Titan’s surface.
  The researchers’ proposed scenarios include uplift of the terrain and changes in sea level, or perhaps both.
  “It’s likely that a combination of these forces contributed to the formation of the deep canyons, but at present it’s not clear to what degree each was involved,” said Valerio Poggiali, Cassini radar team associate from the University of Rome and lead author of the study.
  Patterns found along the Colorado
  Earthly examples of both of these types of canyon-carving processes are found along the Colorado River in Arizona.
  An example of uplift powering erosion is the Grand Canyon, where the terrain’s rising altitude caused the river to cut deeply downward into the landscape over the course of several million years.
  “Earth is warm and rocky, with rivers of water, while Titan is cold and icy, with rivers of methane. And yet it’s remarkable that we find such similar features on both worlds,” said Alex Hayes, from Cornell University.
  The finding was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Source of news....The Hindu newspaper

11 Aug. 2016 March for Dalit pride draws huge support in Gujarat

The Dalit Asmita Yatra — or Dalit Pride March — started by a group of Dalit activists and civil society leaders to protest against atrocities on schedules castes is receiving huge support in villages where hundreds of Dalits are joining to end “caste-based discrimination” they face in their day-to-day life in Gujarat.

The 400 km yatra was launched in Ahmedabad on August 4 and will culminate at Una — where four Dalits were publicly flogged for skinning a dead cow — on August 14 and marchers will hoist a flag on Independence Day to seek “freedom from atrocities and caste-based discrimination.”

In each village en route, villagers, mostly Dalits or lower castes, gather to welcome the 60 or so people participating in the yatra. They hold meetings in which locals share their experiences about discrimination and then they take a pledge to not skin and dispose of dead animals in their villages and fight for their rights.

“Each village presents unique experience. In each village, people ranging from 200 to 500 gather and take a pledge against skinning dead animals or put up with any atrocity any longer,” said Pratik Sinha, a member of the yatra. Pratik is the son of late activist and human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha, who fought for justice to the victims of 2002 riots till his death in 2014. Besides, Pratik, his mother Nirjari is also participating in the yatra.

“This is for liberation of Dalits and we will spread this message across the country. En route to Una, we will stop at each village and tell Dalits to give up traditional works like sanitation, cleaning drainage and disposing dead animals. We will create awareness among them to seek alternative opportunities for themselves,” Jignesh Mewani, the face of the yatra and one of the organisers, had told the gathering while launching it from Ambedkar Chowk in Vejalpur area of western Ahmedabad.

Key participants in the yatra include former IPS officer Rahul Sharma, who had taken on the Gujarat administration during Narendra Modi's tenure, when he had prepared a set of two CDs containing call detail records of key persons during the 2002 riots triggered by the attack on Sabarmati Express in which 59 kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya were charred to death near Godhra railway station.

source of news...The Hindu newspaper