Kashmir What's Your Destiny

Posted by: Vijayabharathi C

It’s August 24, 2008

It’s curfew time in Srinagar, the capital of Indian Administrated Kashmir. Most people are staying indoors and the atmosphere is one of eerie silence. A loud scream piercing the silence originates from the street running by Ghulam Qadir Hajam's house, deep inside a maze of narrow lanes. Hajam knew it was his son Mohammad Yaqoob who had just stepped out to fetch milk for preparing the afternoon tea. Anxious, the 70-year-old local barber first asks his other son Hilal to check. The screams grow louder now and he decides to go out as well. Moments later, he is shot dead in cold blood. The CRPF men opened fire at him, a few meters outside his house. His son, Yaqoob too was hit with bullets and both are battling for life. Hilal is clueless as to what crime his father and brother had committed, to get a round of bullets in the chest. As Hilal is crying on the road, an ambulance takes the people towards the nearest hospital....

It’s October 24 1947

The clock is now shifted back by 61 years. It’s a chilly autumn night on 24th October 1947..Maharaja hari singh, ruler of J & K is merrily enjoying the festival of lord Shiva in his palatial palace in the presence of his commanders and ministers. This festival is prominent for its colorfulness and vivacity. But, at the same time, 100 Miles away a man is busy lighting the fuse of a few gelatin sticks covertly placed in the main chamber of the Mohra hydro electric power station, constructed on the banks of river Jhelum. A few seconds later, a thunderous noise erupts and the entire power station is reduced to rubble. The aftershock of the blast could be felt 100 miles away from the power station, when all the lights went out in Srinagar. Suddenly, the city of Srinagar was plunged into darkness. The Maharaja, the British living in houseboats, and mainly the people of Srinagar, had no idea of what was happening. They didn’t think that it was a bad omen for the state and a harbinger of things to come. At the same time, hundreds of jackals, armed to the teeth are now nearing Baramulla, a border town in the valley. These jackals are nothing but wild natured Pathans originating from Peshawar. They are very optimistic about capturing the Kashmir valley and making it accede to Pakistan. This daring move from the Pathans was aided predominantly due to a political blunder made by the Maharaja of J&K, Hari Singh. During the accession of princely states with India and Pakistan, Lord Mountbatten urged him to make J&K accede to Pakistan, because of its predominant Muslim population and geographical proximity to Pakistan. He declined, as he was a Hindu. Mountbatten requested him to consider the option of merging with India at least. Again he declined, probably because the power and the charm associated with the throne intoxicated his mind. As a result, these marauders from the West began to invade J&K, spurred by vested interests in Pakistan. As these wild barbaric Pathans began closing in on the bustling town of Srinagar, they went on a killing and looting spree in the adjoining areas. The Maharaja was left with no option and blindly signed the accession treaty with India, without taking into account the will of his subjects. On October 27 1947, the Indian army entered the valley from the Jammu side and began to repel the marauding Pathans. This event marked the start of the first Kashmir war……


Troubled Region

After the first Kashmir war between India and Pakistan in 1947, the state was divided between the 2 nations. India took Jammu, Ladakh, and the Kashmir valley while Pakistan took the small strip of western Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan. According to the UN treaty, the state is disputed territory. Neither India nor Pakistan can claim the state. A plebiscite to decide whether the territory belongs to India or Pakistan has not been conducted for the past 61 years. Separatism and anti India feelings began to grow in the valley from 1947 onwards. The reason being its predominantly Muslim population and geographical proximity to Pakistan began to make the Kashmiri Muslims develop a soft corner and a sense of false brotherhood towards Pakistan. Since the early 1950’s, many people in the valley, especially Muslims, were made to believe that their land was being illegally occupied by India, thanks to the propaganda created by hardcore separatist leaders.

Till 1988, though this thought was ingrained in the hearts of many people, apart from a few, many didn’t express their outburst publicly. After the allegedly rigged elections in 1988, Kashmiri Muslims started to give vent to their anti India feelings publicly through violent protests. The agitation took an ugly turn when many of the youth started to take Kalashnikovs in their hands, and started waging Jihad (a holy war) against India. Consequently, militancy erupted and peaked in the early nineties. The Indian army controlled militancy during the mid and late 90’s.Miltancy started to decline after 2003 as a result of peace talks by the governments India and Pakistan and a bilateral ceasefire agreement followed. Militancy declined, but the alienation of Kashmiri Muslims from India’s mainstream was very pronounced and was at its zenith since the dawn of militancy. The Indian army already had a notorious name in dealing with counter insurgency. A standing example of this is when they were sent as peace keeping forces in Srilanka. There, they violated human rights in many Tamilian areas. They repeated the same blunder in Kashmir, thereby losing the faith and the trust of the people. Pro-Pakistani ISI elements in the valley used this opportunity to
further fuel the fire about separatist sentiments in the valley.

Present Turmoil

The state is well known for its religious harmony. Hindus and Muslims have lived in harmony for many years in the valley. During the partition of India, one part of the country, which didn’t bear the brunt of the Hindu-Muslim riots, was Kashmir valley. Even Mahatma Gandhi had a word of praise for the valley for maintaining its harmony and tolerance to other religions. But, at the onset of militancy, this house of harmony began to develop fissures. There were terrible and macabre attacks on Hindus (Kashmiri Pundits) by Islamic fundamentalists. This led to the ethnic cleansing of pundits from valley. Nearly five hundred thousand pundits abandoned the valley for fear of their lives (This divide became wider in the recent Amarnath land transfer controversy). Separatists began to control the functioning of the valley from this point onwards, firmly and fanatically.

When Hindu fundamentalists in Jammu began to enforce an economic blockade in the valley by stopping traffic on the NH-1A (Srinagar –Jammu highway which is the lifeline of the valley) a storm started brewing in Kashmir. Initially the situation could be compared to a Category 1 hurricane, when hundreds of people started to protest in the streets of every town of the valley. It became further elevated to a Category 3 hurricane like situation, when thousands of people tried to cross the LoC in trucks for doing trade as per the separatists call. The date was August 12, 2008, when 33 human lives were snuffed out, thanks to the stray bullets of the police and CRPF. A violent Category 5 hurricane like scenario started taking shape, threatening to raze to the ground everything that came in its midst. Just like a dam breached, the floodgates were thrown open and Millions of Kashmiri Muslims began to pour in from every nook and corner of the streets for each separatist’s protest call. Thousands and thousands of people defied the curfew, braving the bullets and the bitter cold. When Separatists chanted slogans like ‘Pampore Chalo’, ‘IdGah Chalo’, Lakhs and Lakhs of people attended the rally, chanting the same slogans along with their leaders in a state of frenzied stupor. It was just like a sea of people, with human waves as big as a tsunami. Separatists couldn’t believe that this much support could be garnered in such a short span of time. What militants, the ISI, and separatists failed to achieve in the valley since 1989, Hindu fanatics and a complacent Central Government have achieved for them. All this cauldron of frustration and pent-up emotions needed was a small spark of
hatred at the right time. And that was indeed present.

Wakeup India!!

What is Kashmir’s Destiny?

At present, we can think of two possible scenarios. As this chronic problem has not been amicably resolved for the past 6 decades, we have to completely rethink our policy towards Kashmir. For every kashmiri muslim, his/her blood flows with unique blood group namely F+, i.e. Freedom!! How long can we appease them with some CBM’s? CBM’s like constructing railways, srinagar-muzaffarabad trade, can make only temporary solution in their heart. Freedom is in their deep mind. So we can think rationally of giving self determination to the people.let them deceide their fate of 3 options,Independence,Pakistan,India. Kashmiri muslims at this stage will opt for independence as it is known by poll conducted by CNN-IBN 8 months ago. My mind says this solution as one option.. but thinking of this solution, as a Indian my heart breaks..

On the other hand, for a country to give an unstable and polarized territory autonomy is nothing short of hara-kiri for its national integrity and unity. Suppose the government fails to solve this issue amicably, at some point of time, Kashmir may get independence like Kosovo or may merge with Pakistan thanks to disgruntled and irate Kashmiris fighting for their cause. As an upshot, the adverse effects of this eventuality on India cannot even be imagined. Separatism may engulf many states of India like a raging forest fire. As of today, half a dozen states in the North eastern area are asking for freedom. The freedom of Kashmir may embolden them and they may pursue their cause further. After some years, India may have like situation of USSR splitting into pieces, Who knows, after some time even tamilnadu led by local Dravidian parties may ask freedom. Remember there was separatism in tamilnadu upto 1960.

So, this issue is very intricate and delicate, like a silk suit entangled in a thorny bush. It’s comparable to the unenviable situation of two airplanes standing on either sides of the same runway, wanting to take-off at the
same time. If both of them try to take-off at the same time, neither one will take-off. Similarly, the residents
of J&K need to unite, sit and talk together and iron out their differences to find an acceptable solution. So, a collective will is required from the people of Jammu, Kashmir and the rulers of the nation to achieve a common consensus, keeping in mind the nation’s best interests and developing a higher degree of tolerance towards the beliefs of other communities. One possible solution to current situation can be private investment and capital can enter the impoverished state. This will provide the youth of Kashmir with jobs in their hands instead of AK-47s and Kalashnikovs. Remember, economic salvation and the promise of a better future to Kashmir’s younger generation hold more water than idealistic (radical) principles. Of course, taking such a bold step requires a lion hearted administration, both at the centre and the state, educating the separatists and hard core leaders of the opportunities that lie before them if such a law is enacted and curbing the vested interests that may scuttle the implementation of such a law. This can also serve the purpose of integrating Muslims into the Indian mainstream, a cry long heard from many frustrated Muslims, Islamic clerics and politicians alike.

As this article is being drafted, another youth has perished on the already blood dyed streets of Srinagar. It makes one ask “Is blood cheaper than water in Kashmir”? Only the sands of time can reveal the answer.

http://www.risingkashmir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6811&Itemid=44

Bhiwani to Beijing: Lessons from a journey

• Posted by Rajdeep Sardesi
  

Journalism has a nose for nostalgia : Twenty years ago ahead of the Seoul Olympics, I was sent as a cub reporter to track down the family of KD Jadhav, independent India's first Olympic medallist. The story of a wrestler in the small town of Karad in Maharashtra had a familiar ring to it: neglect, deprivation and a sense of anger at being forgotten in a cricket-crazy country. Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Jadhavs once again experienced their ritualistic date with fame. Perhaps, it's the last time we'll tell their tale. In the aftermath of Beijing, the country has found new Olympian families to showcase: next time, it will be the Bindras of Chandigarh and the Kumars of Bhiwani who will be celebrated. While India's first medallist died battling for his policeman's pension, the new generation heroes are already on the crorepati list.

Its taken fifty-six long and frustrating years for bronze to turn into gold for India's Olympic athletes.In the meantime, China, which won its first Olympic gold as late as 1984, has become the number one Olympic country, the US remains a powerhouse of talent, and even tiny Jamaica has established an enviable reputation.

If the Olympic medal tally was to rank countries in a ratio of population to medals won, we'd still probably be close to bottom, our sole satisfaction emerging from the fact that our eternal rivals, the Pakistanis, have drawn a blank.

Jadhav won his medal in the same year (1952) that India had its first general election. His win at the time should have heralded the arrival of a young nation on the world stage. Instead, it became a footnote in the history books. This was a time of the grand Nehruvian dream: of five year plans, scientific temper, non-alignment, big dams and heavy industries.In this vision of a new India, Olympic sports had little place. Hockey alone prospered because of the legacy that had been handed over by the colonialists: the clubs and army grounds remained the nurseries of the sport. The rest of Indian sport was literally consigned to endless debates about why we were an Olympic zero.

The Nehruvians saw sports as yet another large public sector undertaking, to be managed like a steel plant. The Soviet-style buildings that housed our sporting bodies typified a bureaucratic mindset: the malaise of sporting talent being controlled by mean-spirited officials never left us from the very beginning. Ironically, the Soviets (and now the Chinese) were highly successful in developing Olympic sport through a "controlled" system. The reason was simple: an autocratic model of managing sport can work in a totalitarian political system, not in a chaotic democracy like ours. The Chinese system can train six year old gymnasts to do sixty sit ups: in India, child rights activists would have filed a petition complaining of child abuse

And yet, maybe for the first time in six decades of independence, there may be a twist in the Indian Olympic tale and Beijing 2008 could mark a defining moment. For the first time there is a genuine belief that India's next Olympic gold wont take quite so long, and that by the year 2020, we might actually get enough medals for customs officials to take note. What has changed? On the surface, very little. Our officials still remain as lethargic and junket-obsessed as ever. We still hire sporting grounds for marriages. Our athletes still receive shamelessly meager daily allowances. And we still cant shake off the monopoly of cricket in our lives.

What we have shaken off though is the inferiority complex that was sustained by a litany of past failures. Its not just Abhinav Bindra's Mr Cool act that symbolizes a quiet confidence that was missing in previous Olympics. As a child of privilege, Bindra had the benefit of exceptional parental support from a very young age. In an expensive sport, his success was almost fashioned like a well-crafted business plan for which his family deserves enormous credit. But what is perhaps even more creditable is the remarkable performance of our boxers and wrestlers. Its not just the medals they've won, it's the journey they've undertaken to get there that suggests we have finally crossed a psychological barrier to actually compete at the highest level.

From Bhiwani to Beijing is an arduous road but one that the Kumars have shown the courage and passion to undertake. Mohammed Ali once famously said that to be a good boxer you needed strong fists, but an even stronger heart. To watch our boxers, win or lose, look at their opponents in the eye, must rank as one of the finer moments in Indian sport. Not to forget bronze medallist Sushil Kumar and tiny Saina Nehwal who showed enough talent in her first Olympic appearance to make us believe that she will win a medal in the future.

Undoubtedly, there are many more Sainas and Sushil Kumars waiting to be discovered. We are an aspirational society, one which is on the cusp of change. Sporting success is part of that process of change, of unleashing the dormant energies that were stifled by bureaucratic chains. We still don't have a sporting culture like the Americans or the Australians, but atleast we've moved beyond the Hindu rate of growth. As the economy expands, sports will be a natural beneficiary since it offers increasing opportunities for upward mobility, a chance to move overnight from a tinshed to a bungalow. Moreover, in the age of 24 hour news television, new role models are being constantly thrown up, with every medal won spurring a wave of nationalistic pride.

What is needed then is to sustain the Beijing momentum with a single-minded commitment to harness talent across the country, not just in the big cities. Cricket 'democratised' itself , which is why we have achieved so much success at the game. Now, other sports too need to be 'liberated' from the mai-baap culture of the Nehruvian era.

Here's a thought: why don't each of the IPL team owners adopt one sport and make it part of their business plan? Bhiwani could do with a world-class boxing gymnasium.

Posted by Rajdeep Sardesi

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/52610/bhiwani-to-beijing-lessons-from-a-journey.html

Ambivalent views over Gandhi killer

Ambivalent views over Gandhi killer
By Rajesh Joshi
BBC Hindi service


As India observes the 60th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's death, Hindu nationalist groups still grapple with the question whether to reject or appreciate his killer.

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse on 30 January, 1948 in Delhi's Birla House.

In the communally charged atmosphere during India's Partition in August 1947, Godse and his accomplices held Mahatma Gandhi responsible for the miseries of the Hindus and accused him of appeasing Muslims.

Right-wing Hindu nationalist organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, (Nationalist Volunteers' Organisation) were banned and many of its leaders were sent to jail following the assassination of Gandhi.

The RSS is the ideological fountainhead of India's main opposition party BJP.

'Selfless act'

Nathuram Godse was later tried and hanged but the RSS was exonerated and the government decided to lift the ban on its activities.

Even though the RSS publicly rejects Nathuram Godse, its leaders don't hide their appreciation for what they call his "selfless act".

"We will have to accept that Nathuram Godse acted with selfless spirit; he did not have any self-interest in it. He must also have been aware that he would be hanged for what he was going to do. This spirit cannot be denied," RSS ideologue Devendra Swaroop told the BBC.

"But he was wrong if he thought that Gandhiji was taking history in a wrong direction and by killing him he could correct the course of history," adds Mr Swaroop.

"RSS firmly believes that Godse acted at the spur of the moment and it was quite detrimental for the Hindu society. Gandhi dead proved to be stronger than Gandhi alive."


Leaders of the Bajrang Dal, another affiliate of the RSS, believe that Godse's role in history needs to be reassessed.

"People may object to his method but I don't believe that he committed such an act (of killing Gandhi) with some personal animosity," says Prakash Sharma, head of the Bajrang Dal.

"He was concerned for the country and at that time he did what he thought was right."

Gandhi and his thoughts have more than once posed a challenge to the ideology of Hindu nationalists.

Some Hindu leaders openly condemned Gandhi's policy of non-violence and friendship between Hindus and Muslims during the anti-Muslim riots that broke out in India's western state Gujarat in February 2002.

'Abandon Gandhi'

Pravin Togadia of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) said in a public gathering: "Until the day we give up Gandhi's ideology of non violence and the ideology of surrendering before the Muslims, terrorism cannot be defeated."

"My brothers, we will have to abandon Gandhi."

However, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav denies that his organisation faces a dilemma about Godse.

"This issue had been resolved decades ago that he (Godse) had nothing to do with RSS and Gandhiji's assassination had nothing to do with RSS," he said.

But Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tushar Gandhi is not impressed - he accuses the RSS of doublespeak.

"Whenever an organisation uses a weapon to achieve its agenda, it abandons the weapon after using it. They use and throw it like a condom," he said.

"I have seen a deep feeling of devotion in the Sangh Parivar (or the RSS family) for Nathuram Godse and I know how they cherish him. But they do it secretly because they lack the courage."

Courtesy: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7217146.stm

Impressions from Kashmir war zone

Impressions from Kashmir war zone

Indian troops have been fighting an insurgency by Islamic militants in Indian-administered Kashmir since 1989. Here, a young Indian soldier who has just been stationed there reflects on the sadness of war.

First impressions - I land at Srinagar after waiting for six hours for the flight to take off.

Indian troops are highly visible on the streets of Srinagar

It's winter here, that's why the delay, but still I'm excited. Almost think of it as my destiny.

I don't believe in destiny, that's why almost. The air is cold. Bites me.

It's fresh, exhilarating. It's different. But I feel unusually happy. Wonder why?

There are vehicles here to receive us at the airport, and we drive back to our location.

Distrust

I drive through the city and I see people who wear clothes differently.

The women are beautiful. Not like the good-looking women down in Delhi, but really beautiful.

And it takes a decent amount of effort not to stare. But I manage.

The shadow of the gun looms large and suddenly I feel very suffocated

I am so enthralled by the trees, the streams, the hills in the far distance, the cold air, the snow, everything. But there is something else.

Every 50 metres there's this man standing with a weapon. In uniform. A soldier.

Every five minutes there is a convoy of army vehicles passing by with weapon-bearing, menacing-looking men, standing on top, looking down.

Eyes furtively searching for something. Anything.

The air is heavy and not free. The shadow of the gun looms large and suddenly I feel very suffocated.

The army is omnipresent. It's like darkness filling up a vacuum.

I don't think these people think of me as their own, the local public that is.

But since they have no choice they accept me (they have no choice). And I think, why is it this way?

Why is it that the place I think of as my own country, people that I think of as my own people do not really want me here?

Their eyes look at me with distrust, and resignation. And I want to get out and tell them that I'm alright.

'Another soldier in uniform'

Then I look at myself, and see myself in uniform and I see what they see.

A Kashmiri woman argues with a soldier during a search operation

"Another soldier in uniform."

And I guess they are not wrong in feeling what they feel. And I feel very sad at the state of affairs.

I want to tell them that I am about as good or as bad as any of them, and I am not here to harm them.

Beneath the uniform I am just a young man in his twenties trying to find answers in life.

I also love the smell of freshly fallen rain on the earth, laugh with my friends, smile when a baby smiles, love a beautiful woman, enjoy movies and music and do all the normal things that anyone does.

I am not responsible for the state of affairs.

Then the question pops in my mind, who is?

There come a multitude of answers: the Indian government, the Pakistani state, poor leadership, mismanagement of affairs, rigged elections and many more.

Just history?

But all this is just history and we cannot do anything about it. The real reason for the state of affairs is us - you and I.

We are responsible for how things are and we alone can put them right.

There are discussions and more discussions on the solutions to the problem and I really do not want to get into any of that.

Kashmiri children playing near the Line of Control

All I am saying is that it is sad that small children are not amazed any more when they see a weapon-carrying man around them - a militant or a soldier.

That if one is not home at night, the fear of never seeing them again sets in, that young teenagers grow up in an atmosphere of terror, never realising what it means to be free.

What I am saying is that I may be a soldier, but I am definitely not the enemy.

In the end, there is still hope. As we turn round the corner, we slow down. There are small children playing.

One of them, a small boy of five or six, looks up and waves at me. And he smiles. A genuine smile that only children have.

I wave back. He has not learnt yet that here you do not wave and smile at army men. There is still hope.

The soldier wished to remain anonymous. His account first appeared on the BBC Urdu service website.

Courtesy: BBC news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6262743.stm

How the PS3 led Blu-ray's triumph

How the PS3 led Blu-ray's triumph

By Will Smale Business reporter, BBC News

Blu-ray looks to have won the high definition DVD battle

The next-generation DVD format war is over, and the future is Blu-ray.

Ever since the two rival high definition DVD systems were launched in 2006 - Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD DVD - there could only be one winner.

In a re-run of the VHS and Betamax video cassette battle of the early 1980s, each raced to win over both the home consumer and the big Hollywood film studios.

Toshiba's announcement that it is to stop production of HD DVD players leaves the way clear for Blu-ray to become the industry standard.

Yet how did Toshiba fail while Sony succeeded?

It is a story of computer game consoles, marketing savvy and schmoozing in Los Angeles, as well as Sony's determination not to let history repeat itself.

Which, at the end of the day, all boils down to much higher sales figures for Sony.

Playstation advantage

The first factor that needs to be put completely to one side is picture quality. Unless you are a technology geek with a television the size of a multiplex cinema screen, there is no difference between the output of HD DVD and Blu-ray machines.

Sony's Playstation 3 gave Blu-ray a key advantage

Both offer high definition DVD playback superior to standard DVD players.

Where Sony had the killer edge is that its Playstation 3 (PS3) computer games console comes pre-fitted with a Blu-ray player.

So as Sony has sold 10.5 million PS3 consoles since it was launched in late 2006, that is 10.5 million Blu-ray machines already in homes around the world, before you add sales of stand-alone Blu-ray players.

By contrast, Toshiba has sold only one million HD DVD machines.

Toshiba does have a tie-up with Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console, but Xbox users are required to buy an external HD DVD drive.

And as Toshiba's one million sales figure for HD DVD machines also includes shipments of these drives, it appears that not many Xbox owners have been bothered to go to the additional expense.

Hollywood moves

Sony also had a head start over Toshiba in persuading the big US film studios to back Blu-ray - its own Sony Pictures is one of the main players in Hollywood.

It's good for consumers, some of whom must have been resisting buying next-generation DVD recorders because of the two incompatible formats Gartner analyst Hiroyuki Shimizu

Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox joined Sony Pictures in supporting Blu-ray.

And although Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros initially decided to back HD DVD, Warner Bros switched sides last month.

For many analysts, this was the final nail in the coffin for HD DVD.

"When Warner made its decision, it was basically over," says Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo.

Key US DVD retailers Target and Blockbuster have also decided to go with Blu-ray.

Betamax lessons

Other analysts also point to Sony's better marketing campaign for Blu-ray, fuelled by its determination not to lose a format war that brought back painful memories of the defeat of its Betamax video format by the JVC-developed VHS.

Is HD DVD going to go the same way as Betamax?

Although Betamax offered better picture quality, VHS machines were cheaper and quickly gained the majority of market share, eventually killing off Betamax.

It appears that Sony spent many years analysing that defeat and this time around, it was much better prepared.

Putting a Blu-ray player in each PS3 was the secret weapon to ensure the format's presence in customers' front rooms around the world, effectively making their choice of high definition DVD player for them.

Toshiba's gain

While Toshiba's decision to end the production of HD DVD players is undoubtedly a humiliation for the company, analysts say it will be good for the firm's profits.

Goldman Sachs estimates that the move will boost Toshiba's profitability by up to 40bn yen ($370m; £190m) a year.

"The potential losses are small compared to the savings," says Goldman Sachs analyst Ikuo Matsuhashi.

Commentators also point to the fact that as consumer electronics is such a small part of Toshiba's business, it could afford to lose the format battle.

For while finished electrical goods such as laptops, DVD players and televisions make up just 6% of Toshiba's profits, it makes 40% of them from the sale of computer chips and a similar proportion from its nuclear power operations.

By contrast, consumer electrical goods have always been core to Sony's profits.

Uninterested consumers?

But what does it all mean for consumers?

"It's good for consumers, some of whom must have been resisting buying next-generation DVD recorders because of the two incompatible formats," says Hiroyuki Shimizu, an analyst at IT research company Gartner.

"If there's only one format, consumers don't have to worry about incompatibility."

Yet while Mr Shimizu predicts sales of Blu-ray players and discs will now take off, other analysts say the format battle is meaningless.

They say this is because a growing number of consumers are already turning their backs on DVD players to download their movies via the internet instead, or from their satellite or cable television provider.

Adding that electronics companies are wrong to assume that viewers want ever better picture quality, they point to the failure of high fidelity music formats Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio in the face of the explosion in the popularity of music downloads.

While typical digital music formats such as MP3 have reduced sound quality compared with even standard CDs, their convenience has more than won over consumers.

The future of high definition DVD players may very well be Blu-ray, but whether they can make a dent in the face of the growing march of computer downloads is quite another story.

A battle between pens and guns

A battle between pens and guns
By Shujaat Bukhari

India journalist Shujaat Bukhari I have a thump of fear, each time the phone rings late at night at my home. It is not a normal state like any other Indian state, but one of the flashpoints in the world.

Only recently, Richard Armitage, said in Sydney, "Kashmir is a dangerous place." So everyday for a journalist in Jammu and Kashmir state in northern Himalyan region of South Asia is a new challenge.

I have grown up as a journalist in the strife which came to center stage in late 1989. I wanted to be a journalist, as at a distance it looked like a thrilling profession. My thoughts were of normal times and not based on the stories of bloodletting.

Sometimes, when provoked, I would have second thoughts, but at the same time, the experiences of the new day would hold me back.

"Why you cannot switch over to a normal job. It is hard to see you in the center of trouble," one of my close relatives asked me when I came home with my bandaged arm and limping leg. I was beaten by the security forces while covering an incident in a central Kashmir township on a sunny May day. I had nothing to say. In Kashmir the journalist is in the eye of storm from all sides.

Early days of militancy were too tough. If a press release by a militant group would not carry the meaning in the paper, it was hard to convince its leaders. The covering note would always carry a threat (in words) and sometimes it would translate into reality.

And that was not far away but happened in early 1990 when a local editor was gunned down by "unknown assassins." His death is still a mystery, like 11 others, who paid their lives for us, but his editorial comment was seen as the immediate provocation.

A journalist in Kashmir has failed to keep the warring sides happy. If an atrocity by security forces is reported, he may be dubbed as "anti- national" and highlighting the misdeeds of militants or extra-political activities of separatists would mean that he is "anti-tehreek" (anti-movement). A sword hanging over his head in both cases.

The killings in the initial days had a strong impact on my mind but with the passage of time, it started changing. I found myself stronger in taking the lead to have a look at a row of 17 dead bodies shrouded in coffins after a military-militant standoff.

But it certainly would change into tears, when a young photo journalist was crying after a parcel bomb exploded in his hands. Within minutes, it was blood all over. He died after three days in hospital.

Again, in August 2000, I had a close shave. A devastating car bomb exploded just near my office. I rushed, saw my coulleagues already on the spot. It was just a reprise of terror stories I had been reporting for a decade.

Before I could move ahead, a deafening sound threw another lot of bodies towards the road. A dismembered human body dangling from an electric pole, dripping blood was not another civilian for me but a visiting photo journalist from New Delhi. He was a friend of mine from Hindustan Times. I had met him an hour ago and could not believe him becoming the theme of yet another gory picture.

"I could have been there," I asked myself. This was the new phase in reporting Kashmir. The deadly suicide bombing started taking a new toll.

In Kashmir, every scribe has a story to tell. Yusuf Jameel, a well-respected journalist who was working with BBC and Reuters, escaped several times. The parcel bomb that claimed Mushtaq's life was meant for him. His office was attacked with grenades. Threat was a permanent feature of his life. He was awarded an International Press Freedom award by New-York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Habib Naqash is a photo journalist, who has made a record of not missing a single incident in which journalists were beaten by either side.

Things have not stopped as yet. Last year a young reporter survived an attack in his office. Doctors said it was a miracle how he is leading a normal life. Bullets pierced through his nose but the nervous system skipped. The last victim so far was Parvaz Sultan, editor of a local news agency, who was gunned down in his office, apparently for reporting a feud between the two factions of a militant group.

I am unable to recall the trauma when a group of journalists was taken hostage in South Kashmir by a pro-government militant outfit - Ikhwan. I was among five, who were locked up in a room and the "self styled commander" of the group thundered, "I want bodies of these five tomorrow." We came out safely, but it was unbelievable.

For a small community of journalists (not more than 100 people) to lose 11 members is a big price. And it is difficult to exist with recurrent, harassment, and intimidation. But amid the daily grind of violence, life goes on, of course with a difference. It is stressful and sleep is difficult. Who knows about tomorrow?

Shujaat is a visiting journalist from the Kasmir region of India. He works as a special correspondent for The Hindu, an English national daily newspaper in India. . A journalist with 13 years of experience, he covers the conflict in Kasmir, where the current round of violence started in 1989 and has consumed over 70,000 lives so far.

He is visiting America as part of the World Press Institute, based in St. Paul. He recently spent a week in Paynesville visiting a local farm and a smalltown media outlet.