…aka “The Great Joke that is Indian Media - Part VIII” or…one standard for Sadhvi Pragya and another for Mohammed Shakeel & Zia-ur-Rehman.
On Oct 23, NDTV reported that
The Maharashtra ATS “…claim that they have evidence that Hindu groups were involved in the blast” in Malegaon
Note that although there was only one (single) blast, the headline of the story says: “Police claim to crack Malegaon blasts case” (notice the plural?)
The NDTV report also mentioned that
Evidence of a Hindu group’s involvement was found while tracing the origins of a scooter found in Malegaon.
The Times of India later quoted Jt Commissioner of Police (ATS) saying that
There is no specific organisation to which the three belong…
The ToI report also mentioned:
The Joint Commissioner denied they had found any links between the trio and other right wing groups like Sanatan Sanstha in Maharashtra whose members were accused of carrying out blasts in Navi Mumbai and Thane earlier this year.
To my untrained mind (and speaking as a layman), it reads like Sadhvi Pragya has so far only been accused not convicted…
If you only rely on the English MSM (mainstream media) though, you may have missed that. Also, I have not seen anyone rising to her defence yet…
Quite a contrast to the students of Jamia who are allegedly involved in the terrorist blasts (as in plural) in Delhi. In a statement issued Sept 22nd, their Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan said:
…the university feels morally bound to defend its students until proven guilty and we will use the legal apparatus for this purpose.
Very good.
Sadly Sadhvi Pragya does not belong to any university and appears to be short on any kind of support.
Also Mushirul Hasan almost got away with accusing the police of lying about the involvement of Jamia students in the Delhi attack:
On Saturday, I informed the minister for human resource development, the secretary and joint secretary of the MHRD and the chairman of the University Grants Commission that Jamia students had no connection with the unfortunate incident.” However, he simultaneously confirms that two of the students picked up by the police on Sunday are on the rolls of the university. [ link ]
…but I have not seen any one accusing the Maharashtra ATS of that (yet).
I would like to end with a quote by Prof Hasan:
“ (the students)…cannot be branded as terrorists until proven guilty — and if they are proven guilty by the court of law, not a tear will be shed by anyone.”
Amen.
P.S.Did anyone notice that the Sadhvi has been cleared of any involvement in the Modasa blast?
…Sabarkantha DSP KK Mysorewala also reached the city to question the Sadhvi in relation with Modasa blast. He gave her clean chit in the case.
“I interrogated the Sadhvi but didn’t find anything that could link her to Modasa blast,” he said.
Related Posts:
“The great joke that is Indian Media” series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7
Malegaon, SIMI, “rule in and rule out”…
and finally, a thought-provoking piece by Sandhya Jain: Karachi, Kansas, Kurukshetra.
November 2nd, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Hindu Dharma, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Indian Media, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
18 comments
Last week, I was alerted to two excellent initiatives: Jaago Re! and ADR.
Jaago Re!’s focus is to get India’s one billion voters to register and participate in the electoral process.
Its uniqueness lies in exploiting technology “…to make registering to vote online a possibility. It also serves as a one-stop-shop solution to all your voting needs.”
On top of that, “…it gives you the opportunity to run your own voter registration drive and be a part of the movement to get the entire country registered!” I whole-heartedly support this initiative and recommend everyone to at least have a look at the website.
I believe Jaago Re! is also partnering with Loksatta in Maharashtra to accelerate voter registration in the state.
ADR or Association for Democratic Reforms was formed almost 9 years ago by a group of academics from IIMs at Bengaluru & Ahmedabad and NID, Ahmedabad. The story of its “birth” is interesting:
It came into being with the filing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court asking for mandatory disclosure of criminal, financial and educational backgrounds of candidates contesting elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures, prior to the polls. The Delhi High Court in 2001 gave a judgment in favour of ADR and the same was challenged by the Government in the Supreme Court. Several political parties also intervened in the matter opposing the Delhi High Court’s judgment.
After a long hearing, the Supreme Court in a land mark judgment upheld the High Court Judgment and directed the Election Commission to issue orders making it mandatory for candidates contesting elections to Parliament and state assemblies to submit affidavits along with their nomination papers giving information about criminal cases pending against them, if any; financial assets of the candidate, his/her spouse and dependents; financial liabilities and educational qualifications of the candidate.
In a bid to dilute the full effect of the judgment, the Government issued an Ordinance amending the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951, partially implementing only the Supreme Court directions. ADR challenged this ordinance and amendment act before the Supreme Court.
In September 2003, the Supreme Court struck down the amendment as unconstitutional and restored its earlier directions. Several State Election Commissions have also passed orders making such declarations mandatory even for Panchayat/local bodies’ elections.
ADR also conducts “Election Watch” activities throughout India, spending considerable time and effort to dig into the backgrounds of political candidates and their antecedents.
Again, I would request everyone to spend some time on their website and think how we can help and work with them.
***
I have an introduction to Prof Trolochan Sastry of IIM-Bangalore, one of the founders of ADR and I hope to speak to him in the next few days.
I do not know Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan of “Janaagraha” (who are behind the Jaago Re! movement) but if any of you know them and are willing to make an introduction, I shall be grateful…otherwise I will “cold call” them in the next few days.
Related Posts:
Politics & Corruption: Here’s how to “fix the system”
What is stopping you from joining active politics?
Fixing the “system” - getting down to the nuts and bolts
Lets come together to build a *new* and proud India
November 2nd, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Corruption in India, Elections Analysis, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Politics and Governance, Politics and Governance in India |
one comment
This is a dark story* in many ways befitting tonight’s ”Amavasya” (eve before the new moon). It comes from Bengaluru which - one believed - had managed to raise itself from the mire of corruption, crime and dirty politics that pervades Bharat. Unfortunately this story could have come from any big city in India…
But as hopeless as the situation looks to be, we cannot let this dampen our spirits. As Anil Chawla wrote in a comment on this blog: “…We have to keep the lamp of faith and hope alive….May we be filled with hope when everyone else despairs…”
.
*** Excerpts from “The Godfather of Bangalore” by Scott Carney ***
It’s a little past midnight, and a lonely parcel of farmland not far from the new international airport in Bangalore, India, is soaking up a gentle rain. At the center of the lot is a house surrounded by a low stone wall. There’s a hole in the roof and a bushel of ginger drying under an awning. Large block letters painted on the wall read: this property belongs to chhabria janwani. Inside, eight men—two armed with shotguns—confer in hushed voices as they peer out the windows. Is it safe for them to go to sleep, or should they stand watch another few hours? A guard wearing a dirty work shirt is the first to notice signs of trouble. In the distance, flashlight beams sweep the roadway. The lights advance, accompanied by a chorus of voices. Then the sound of people scrambling over the wall. One of the guards makes a break for the gate, sprinting toward a police station a mile away. Before the others can do much more than scramble to their feet, 20 attackers brandishing swords and knives emerge from the shadows. Some carry buckets of blue paint. It takes them only a minute to overrun the building. Three guards who stood their ground lie bleeding on the floor. The others surrender.
Firmly in control, the marauders shift gears. They pull out rollers and slather paint over Chhabria Janwani’s claim to the land. By the time a police jeep pulls up, the sign is only a memory. The attackers have achieved their goal. Thanks to the convoluted rules surrounding land ownership, the removal of Janwani’s lettering throws his claim into question. The dispute is no longer just a criminal matter of a gang of outlaws taking over a piece of ground; now it’s a civil issue that will have to be mediated in the courts. This kind of legal battle, with its near-endless appeal process, could easily last 15 years. If Janwani hopes to develop or sell the parcel during that time, he’d be better off just letting his assailants have the property in exchange for a fraction of its value.
Keep Reading…
October 28th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Corruption in India, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Indian Economy, Politics and Governance in India |
no comments
Courtesy Lokmanch*, the popular Hindi blog, I picked up this worrying bit of information:
- Between Jan - Jul 2008, almost 30% of Pakistani citizens who travelled to India did not go back after the expiry of their visas
- The actual number is 9635 people (until July ‘08 alone)
- In 2007, 7404 Pakistani citizens did not go back on expiry of their visas
- Of those who arrived in 2006, 7650 overstayed and are not traceable
- Of the ones that came in 2005, the number is 7043
…which means that more than 30,000 Pakistani citizens are now officially untraceable in India…and this in the last four years alone.
To make it worse, even if we detect and try to deport them, there is no guarantee that they will be taken back.
P.S. According to this exchange in Parliament, apparently 10 million (yes, you read that right) foreigners from Bangladesh, Pakistan etc are staying illegally in our country…
* For my readers unfamiliar with Hindi, here is a ToI report mentioning these statistics.
Related Posts:
North-East “burning”
Bend over backwards…
An eye-witness account of *militants* crossing into J&K
.
October 24th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Human Rights and Legal Issues, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
4 comments
…in which I get annoyed by Praful Bidwai’s gratuitous reference to “ethnic cleansing” and “communal clashes” while conveniently forgetting Assam where these words have taken on an entirely different meaning…and the scale of human misery has well surpassed the killings and attacks in Orissa, Karnataka etc..
Related Post:
The not so “communal” clashes in Assam
October 20th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Godhra, Human Rights and Legal Issues, India & Its Neighbours, Politics and Governance in India |
2 comments
Many of you must have, read about the controversial move by the Maharashtra state government to amend the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) Sec. 125 with a view to legalising “live-in relationships”. I spent a few hours today gathering links in favour of and against the debate.
The arguments that have been made “for” this move are:
It will protect the interests and rights of the so-called ‘mistress’ or ‘other woman’. We may not admit it but we all know that these women are the worst sufferers in the current system in spite of giving up years of their lives (and more) to one man without any legal protection at all (especially in cases of abuse or harrassment). The move would equate such women to legally married wives in matters of property, inheritance and maintenance
In the words of women’s activist Flavia Agnes:
“…Men, who until now used to deny such a relationship on grounds that the marriage was never conducted as per Hindu rites, shall now have no escape route…” (and) this will protect the rights of such women who had limited protection under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 [ link ]
As Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi said:
You need a law that protects children and entitles these women to a share or property. It is a step forward in recognising the autonomous rights of women [ link ]
Keep Reading…
October 12th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Debates & Discussions, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Hindu Social System, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Politics and Governance in India, Women in Hinduism & India |
59 comments
Some of you may have picked up the news on Friday that US has (once again) included China in its list of ”Countries of Particular Concern” (CPCs) mentioned in the International Religious Freedom’s annual report*. The report lists countries and regimes who restrict or suppress religious freedom..The worst violators are mentioned as “Countries of Particular Concern”.
China has been on this list since at least 2005 (possibly earlier) and was first included in 1999.
Against this backdrop, read how China treats its religious minorities in these excerpts from Ramadan Curbs Imposed in China:
…Local governments in a Muslim desert region in western China have imposed strict limits on religious practices during the traditional Muslim fasting month of Ramadan…according to the Web sites of four of those governments.
The rules include prohibiting women from wearing veils and men from growing beards, as well as barring government officials from observing Ramadan.
…The Web site of the town of Yingmaili lists nine rules put in place to maintain stability during Ramadan.
They include barring teachers and students from observing Ramadan, prohibiting retired government officials from entering mosques and requiring men to shave off beards and women to doff veils. Mosques
cannot let people from outside of town stay overnight and restaurants must maintain normal hours of business. Many restaurants close in daytime hours during Ramadan because of the sunrise-to-sunset fasting.
In nearby Xinhe County, the government has decreed that Communist Party members, civil servants and retired officials must not observe Ramadan, enter mosques or take part in any religious activities during the month. Worshipers cannot make pilgrimages to tombs, so as to avoid any group event that might harm social stability…
…Shayar County, which includes the town of Yingmaili, said on its Web site that migrants must register with the police, and that any missionary work by outsiders is banned. Even outside Ramadan, China is wary of missionaries doing any kind of work in the country.
The city of Artux is also preventing its teachers and students from observing Ramadan. As a result, schools have to keep serving food and water, city authorities said.
More on CPCs here: http://www.stimson.org/pub.cfm?ID=603
P.S. In case you are curious, India has been mentioned too (although not as a CPC)
Related Posts:
India and China: Apples and Oranges
Does “secularism” mean “favouritism towards Muslims”?
If only we were Chinese…
When is it OK to shut down a place of worship?
September 21st, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
China related, Current Affairs, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Politics and Governance |
5 comments
…Muslims need to look within their own community and build reforms within it.
Last weekend, I finally managed to read the entire transcript of the Karan Thapar – Shabana Azmi interview and stumbled upon this bit in which she comments on the need for reform within the Muslim community:
Karan Thapar: Today, not just abroad but even in India, people say that Muslims have to take on the onus of changing the image of their religion and the image of the community. Is that a fair thing to say?
Shabana Azmi: I think it is. I would accept that because I don’t think that the Muslim leadership has bothered to clear the air about what Islam is all about….
And:
Karan Thapar: Do Indians, particularly those who aren’t Muslims, understand the extent of these problems that we have created by this prejudice for the 14-15 per cent Muslim minority? Do you think people understand this?
Shabana Azmi: Yes, and no. And when they don’t, I think it’s about time that Indian Muslims stopped viewing themselves as Muslims. I think otherwise they tend to get into that victim mode.
Karan Thapar: But what can they do?
Shabana Azmi: Firstly, you have to look within your community, you have to build reforms within it. You have to say that you want to look into things like education.
Keep Reading…
September 7th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Identity, Islam & Reform, Muslim Population in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement |
12 comments
….and the world remained silent….
For those of you who are not old enough to remember how it all started, here is a brief excerpt from The bushfire of Hindu rage (emphasis mine):
…For the benefit of those who have come of age in the last two decades, among them many of the 24×7 news channel anchors who talk utter gibberish while donning an air of supreme confidence to camouflage their limitless ignorance, let me recount the events of January 1990, which mark the beginning of the latest crusade against the Hindus of Jammu & Kashmir. Since ’secularists’ are allergic to events of the distant past, we need not go into the details of how Hindus were decapitated by the Sword of Islam wielded by the original Islamists. The present will suffice to highlight the duplicity of those whose hearts beat for the hate-India hordes in Kashmir.
Srinagar, January 4, 1990. Aftab, a local Urdu newspaper, publishes a Press release issued by Hizb-ul Mujahideen, set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami in 1989 to wage jihad for Jammu & Kashmir’s secession from India and accession to Pakistan, asking all Hindus to pack up and leave. Another local paper, Al Safa, repeats this expulsion order. In the following days, there is near chaos in the Kashmir Valley with then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and his National Conference Government abdicating all responsibilities. Masked men run amok, waving Kalashnikovs, shooting to kill and shouting anti-India slogans. Reports of killing of Hindus, invariably Kashmiri Pandits, begin to trickle in; there are explosions; inflammatory speeches are made from the pulpits of mosques, using public address systems meant for calling the faithful to prayers. A terrifying fear psychosis begins to take grip of Kashmiri Pandits.
Srinagar, January 19, 1990. Mr Jagmohan arrives to take charge as Governor. Mr Farooq Abdullah, whose pathetic, whimpering, snivelling Government has all but ceased to exist, resigns and goes into a sulk. Curfew is imposed as a first measure to restore some semblance of law and order. But it fails to have a deterrent effect. Throughout the day, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and Hizb-ul Mujahideen terrorists use public address systems at mosques to exhort people to defy curfew and take to the streets. Masked men, firing from their Kalashnikovs, march up and down, terrorising Pandits. As evening falls, the exhortations become louder and shriller. Three taped slogans are repeatedly played the whole night from mosques: “Kashmir mei agar rehna hai, Allah-hu-Akbar kehna hai” (If you want to stay in Kashmir, you have to say Allah-hu-Akbar); “Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa” (What do we want here? Rule of shari’ah); “Asi gachchi Pakistan, batao roas te batanev san” (We want Pakistan along with Hindu women but without their men). As the night of January 19, 1990, wears itself out, despondency gives way to desperation. And tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits across the Valley take a painful decision: To flee their homeland to save their lives. Thus takes place a 20th century Exodus.
Their wounds, as also the wounds of Hindu India, have been festering for 18 years. The simmering anger of Hindus has now burst into a raging bush fire that threatens to burn to ashes media’s perverse notions of ’secularism’ and destroy the politics of Muslim appeasement.
Related Posts:
Cry of the Valley - *must read*
The lies about Amarnath…
No land for the Yatris - Government capitulates
How many “Hindus” would it take to change the demography of Kashmir?
August 13th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Jammu & Kashmir related, Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Post Independence History, Terrorism in India |
12 comments
Great article by Tarun Vijay in today’s TOI: Reclaiming India.
*** Excerpts below (emphasis mine) ***
“None should say Omar is not allowed in Jammu. Let him come, listen and speak. Like any other Indian should feel free to visit Kashmir or any other part of the nation. He is welcome to visit my home even if he denies me a piece of land in Kashmir. Why should a few words uttered by him make me change my Indian-ness? If he spoke in Parliament as a Muslim, asserting his Islamic identity, let denial of land to Hindus be his Islam and my Hinduness must keep my nation as a free democracy where difference of opinion is a natural phenomenon unlike Islamic countries.
…But he must stop to think why he can own a bungalow in Delhi or Bangalore and at the same time deny that privilege to a fellow Indian in Kashmir? Kashmiri Muslim leaders would like to enjoy the fruits and liberties of a Hindu majority democracy but vehemently deny that to Hindus in their area of influence. Why?
When they are in a minority they crave and get special privileges. But once a majority, every single right to be at par is refused to other minorities.
…Kashmir is predominantly Sunni and Wahabi. Hence the intolerance that denies even the basic features of Kashmiriyat.
And see what the de-Indianised intellectuals wrote on the front pages in Delhi’s newspapers: “All over a piece of land!” Really?
Then why are the Indian soldiers defending a barren piece of dead snow in Siachen? Or what’s that piece of cloth known as the Tricolor? Is it worth dying for?
…In fact the whole movement is a revolt of Tricolour people against unpatriotic politics on Kashmir. It’s an effort to reclaim India in a region where the central leaders and regional parties have abandoned the idea of pan-Indian nationalism and geographical integration. India has been reducing every day in the valley and the seculars keep on counting their votes and encouraging separatists at the cost of an Indian identity.
Keep Reading…
August 6th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
A Hindu Identity, An Indian Identity, Current Affairs, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Impact of Islam on India, Jammu & Kashmir related, Medieval Indian History, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement |
8 comments
Amidst the outpouring of years of pent-up anger in Jammu, I came across this vivid, very sad and intensely poignant first-hand account of living in the shadow of terror and the forced migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley… Please read and circulate widely…
*** Cry of the Valley ***
A cold winter night has fallen outside and the power cut makes it all the more gloomy inside. Huddled together in the warmth of blankets and a kerosene lamp we just sit silently watching each others expressions. I am too young a kid to understand the full implications of what is happening and my younger sister is busy watching a small bug circling the candle our mother had lit in the gallery just outside the kitchen. My thoughts drift from game of cricket I’d played earlier that day to how bright the snow makes outside look. Among all these childish thoughts is a nagging feeling that I’m just not able to get rid of. I feel I’m never going to be in this house again. Never ever in my life will I play cricket with these friends again. Never ever will mother and father have the careless laughs that I so love. Never ever will the things be same again.
It started a few months before in summer when I came home after an extended play session with my friends. Father was waiting for me on the porch of our relatively new house. We were still building the second floor and it already looked like the biggest and the most beautiful house in the community. I especially liked the way the roof was built. There were multiple parts slanting over each other and I couldn�t wait for winter to see the snow sliding off these. I knew father had worked day and night to take us from a one room kitchen-cum-bedroom place to this house. The evidence of his hard work was on his callous fingertips that had hardened by continuous writing on multiple carbon separated sheets of paper that he used while teaching. I met him at the porch of our house and my instincts had sharpened enough to know that I was in trouble. But usually I knew beforehand. This time did not have the slightest of clues. The day had been good so far and I had behaved within reasonable limits. The bigger issue was not that I was in for a tough time, the problem was that I did not know the severity of the mischief I was going to be accused of and therefore couldn�t estimate the severity of the punishment. Anyway, I sat down with a feeling of a lump in my throat. Then he told me something that surprised me. He had heard me arguing with a couple of friends over a game of cricket a few hours earlier. He told me that I was to stop doing that I should either play without arguments or stop going out for fun altogether. I couldn’t understand this. From the time I could remember, these small arguments were the part of fun we kids had. Elders never cared to comment on such silly things and now I was facing an expression on my fathers face which was as serious as it I’ve ever known it. If I didn�t know my father better I’d have argued to get to the bottom of this but wizened with previous unpleasant thrashings I decided against that.
I didn’t have to wait long to get the cause of my father’s concern. In a couple of weeks one of my cricketing buddies was missing from the game. When I suggested that friend we should go to his home and call him, one other friend said that he was not home but had traveled across the border to get training in handling weapons. Without me knowing so at that time, I’d just had my first brush with the extremism that would change our lives forever. Suddenly the world around me had changed in a way that I could never imagine. My friends one-by-started going missing. Muslim kids went across the border and Hindus mainly started to migrate across to other parts of the country. I started spending more and more time at home. When the schools closed the previous fall for winter break little did anyone know that they would never reopen. As a child that was a welcome development for me. I could have all the time in the world to myself for play and mischief. But the irony was that I couldn’t go out anymore and there was nobody else to go out with.
Keep Reading…
August 4th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
A Hindu Identity, An Indian Identity, Current Affairs, Elections Analysis, Hindu Dharma, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Jammu & Kashmir related, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Post Independence History |
10 comments
This is probably a less lucid post than most of what I write…In spite of that it has taken me a very long time to draft this.
Last Sunday, after hearing of the blasts in Ahmedabad, I asked myself…what would I have done? What should the Government do? What can we do…as concerned, anxious and angry citizens?
I decided not to write anything more about the attacks until I had some idea of the answers to this questions…This post is an attempt in that direction…It mainly deals with what the government should do/ or consider doing…I may decide to write a separate post on what each one of us, as proud ”Bharatiyas”, can do…
The suggestions are organised in different sections (in no particular order):
The Political Will
Effective Policing and Intelligence Coordination
The role of the “middle class”
The role of the Muslim community
The role of Pakistan
Better Legislation
The Ideological Challenge
The ideas I have mentioned below are not all mine - they rely heavily on work and thinking done by others, more experienced and better informed than me…What I have attempted is to bring these ideas together - in a coherent, mostly consistent, way. I will be grateful for any critiques…Please contribute freely with your ideas and suggestions…
Jai Hind.
Tackling Terrorism: One Step at a Time
The Political Will
Our biggest weakness in this war is the lack of political will…No amount of proposals, ideas and counter-terrorist measures will work unless there is a clear, unambiguous and determined consensus - across all parties - at all levels - that this is WAR and it has to be fought with the same intensity and sense of urgency…The time for patting ourselves on the back about the “Spirit of Mumbai” (or Bengaluru or Ahmedabad) is past…
Political Will means bringing pressure on Pakistan …or as Ashutosh memorably mentioned in his comment on this blog, “turning on the heat“…It necessarily involves retaliation - something which NSA M K Narayanan hinted at a few weeks ago (after the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul)…It is time to follow-up on these statements…For more than a decade, we have been crying hoarse about terrorist camps and support infrastructure across the border…Well, THIS is the time to do something about it…
As Raja Ram mentioned in his comment following the Mumbai Blasts:
…The GOI has to present the evidence gathered publicly, set forth a clear demand for actions from governments - or agencies of governments - that may be involved with a clear time frame. This should be backed up with a clear promise of retributive action against the perpetrators with or without their support. International support for such should be channelised and developed.
…But this can happen only when the political class has the clarity of mind about dealing with terror in that manner. There are consequences to such actions that we must be ready to face. The political class, mind you is a creature of the people. The people should not only be ready to back them but demand such action from the political class and only then will they respond. Till that happens, concerned Indians can pull their hair and whack their heads - not much is going to come out of it. India will just have to take it in her stride yet again and fight on alone. There is no support for India in her war on terror. What is available is only meaningless platitudes.
The PM needs to get up and say, as did Tony Blair last June: “…This extremism can be defeated. But it will be defeated only by recognising that we have not created it; it cannot be negotiated with; pandering to its sense of grievance will only encourage it; and only by confronting it, the methods and the ideas, will we win.”
The President, Chief Commander of the Armed Forces needs to declare: India will not negotiate with terrorists… And every political party - and their leaders in Parliament - need to unequivocally support this stance…otherwise there is little hope.
Keep Reading…
August 1st, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Islam & Terrorism, Jammu & Kashmir related, LeT, SIMI etc., Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Terrorism in India |
30 comments
A new series starting today with two news items…
“The central government will be sending a package for orphans of the slain militants. Scholarships and pension will be provided to them similar to the relief being provided to other orphans,” Nirupama Kaul, chairperson of the All India Centre for Urban and Rural Development told media-persons in Srinagar on Wednesday (30th July ‘08).
Kaul claimed she met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 25 and presented a charter of demands to him on behalf of nearly one lakh families of militants killed in the troubled state.
“The prime minister assured me that the Centre would be sending a package for the orphans,” she said.
From: Central aid for J&K slain militants’ kin, July 30, 2008.
Item # 2:
Saudi Arabia’s religious police have announced a ban on selling cats and dogs as pets, or walking them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women, an official said on Wednesday.
Othman al-Othman, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Riyadh, known as the Muttawa…said the commission was implementing a decision taken a month ago by the acting governor of the capital, Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz, adding that it follows an old edict issued by the supreme council of Saudi scholars.
The reason behind reinforcing the edict now was a rising fashion among some men using pets in public “to make passes on women and disturb families,” he said, without giving more details.
Othman said that the commission has instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops “to stop selling cats and dogs”.
From Saudi religious police ban pet cats and dogs
* With apologies to Ripleys.
P.S. I am still woking on the post detailing steps to counter terrorism…Hope to have it finished latest by weekend.
Related Posts:
Who are these “militants”?
The great joke that is Indian Media” series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
July 31st, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Human Rights and Legal Issues, Islam & Reform, Jammu & Kashmir related, Miscellaneous, Terrorism in India |
one comment
Why is the English mainstream media so scared of calling terrorists for what they are - instead of the silly label -”militants”?
Is thisnot an insult toour brave officers and soldiers who day in and day out expose themselves to enormous risks…and put their lives on the line to protect our country and uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India?
I am sad, disgusted and very very angry…
Here is a sample from today’s new stories:
An Army Major has been killed and two jawans injured in encounter with militants in Rajouri district in Kashmir. [ link ]
An Army Major and a police constable were killed and three other security personnel seriously injured in a fierce gun battle with a group of Lashker-e-Toiba militants in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir today (July 20). [ link ]
An Indian Army officer and a policeman were killed and four soldiers injured in a shoot out that erupted in a frontier district of Jammu and Kashmir Sunday, defence sources said. The sources said Maj. Bhanu Partap of 43 Rashtriya Rifles and Sanjeev of Kashmir police were killed while fighting heavily armed militants hiding in the Bangai forests in Thana Mandi area of Rajouri district, about 190 kms north of Jammu. [ link ]
An Army Major and a police constable were killed and three other security personnel seriously injured in a fierce gun battle with a group of Lashker-e-Toiba militants in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. [ link ]
Interestingly, the Hindi language media (with which I am somewhat familiar) uniformly uses the term “Aatankwadi” (Terrorist) - save for the lone BBC Hindi which prefers “Charampanthi” (Extremist) - but then it is the BBC, as you know.
Anydoubt why we need a robust, right-of-centre alternative to what passes of as mainstream media?
Related Posts:
The missing T-word
Nice, politically correct reporting -UPDATED
and “The great joke that is Indian Media” series:Part 1,Part 2,Part 3, Part 4and Part 5.
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UPDATE: According to this report, these so-called militants were using a woman as a shield:
Army sources claimed that on specific information, a joint team of the Thannamandi-based 43 RR and the Rajouri SOG launched a search and destroy operation in Kunda near here on Saturday night. After cordoning the area, a search party led by Major Bhanu reached a dhok (temporary shed used by nomads in higher reaches) owned by Gulzar Begum of Shahdara Sharief area and knocked at the door. Begum who was inside the dhok at that time was allegedly used by militants, reportedly belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), as their shield, sources added.
July 21st, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Jammu & Kashmir related, LeT, SIMI etc., Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
one comment
Apparently, when it becomes a training ground for Jihad.
Chinese authorities have…closed down 41 “illegal” places of worship (in the Muslim dominated Xinjiang province).
These places of worship were used as training ground for conducting a “holy war”, Chen Zhuangwei Chen, the police chief of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province, said. Xinjiang, which borders central Asia and Pakistan, has been the scene of a pro-independence movement by a section of the eight million Uighurs living there for a long time. [ link ]
What about these Madarsasthough? and what about the Deobandi madarsas where the Taleban were trained?
Highly Recommended: Mosque Demolition meets Deathly Silence
Related Posts:
When is it OK to storm a place of worship?
Chinas Afzal Guru
July 17th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
China related, Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Human Rights and Legal Issues, India & Its Neighbours, Islam & Terrorism |
4 comments
