First anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks - never forget and do not forgive

It is ironic and symbiotic that today marks a day of giving thanks in two of the largest democracies of the world - India and the United States.

In India it is the first anniversary of the dastardly and murderous rampage by Pakistan based, aided, and assisted terrorists, that began one year ago at precisely the time this article is being written.

One year on, the nation of India remembers those who fell in those 62 hours. Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Havaldar Gajendra Singh, both of the 51 Special Action Group of the NSG; Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar, and 11 of their colleagues from the Mumbai police; and last but not the least, the hundreds of innocent civilians who were slaughtered or grievously wounded.

One year on, Mohammed Ajmal Amīr Kasāb the lone surviving terrorist and the co-perpetrator of the slaughter of 58 civilians at Mumbai CST railway station, is the most protected human being in Mumbai, if not in India.

Over Rs. 31 Crore ($6.6 million) have been spent till date on his protection. This money would have provided 250,000 children meals for an entire year.

One can debate, whether is worth spending all this money to protect and keep alive a man who will eventually, and most deservedly, be hanged? I say no. If his terrorist masters in Pakistan want him dead, and organise a hit on him, that is just great, at least we save the hangman's fees.

One year on, the puppet civilian Government in Pakistan is still dancing to the tune of the Pakistani Army and its terror abettor the ISI intelligence agency, and has abdicated all sense of propriety and responsibility. The ISI is a known active incubator of terrorism that has now spread across the world.

I can only wonder, what is so special with the water in Pakistan that terrorists keep emanating from there and always go back to spawn more terrorists? Even the 9/11 hijackers killed themselves and never returned to their countries.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, Maulana Masood Azhar, have been "arrested" by the Pakistan government after mountains of pressure by foreign governments. Forget the seven dossiers of hard evidence and information provided to them by the Indian government, corroborated by the intelligence agencies of the world from the FBI, to Scotland Yard, to Mossad.

The arrests are a joke. The police are providing protection rather than restraining these terrorist leaders allowing them free roam around Pakistan.

I thought Islam forbade the consumption of mind altering substances, but the Pakistan Interior Minister A. Rehman Malik keeps coming up with public statements that would make even the most understanding of humans, wonder what he's been smoking.

I can sympathise with the Indian government. Going to war with Pakistan is in reality, not an option. India is surrounded by enemies on three sides. From Burma in the east, to China and Nepal in the north, and Pakistan to the Northwest, India is ringed by the Sino-Pakistan clique. The United States with it's priorities in the AfPak region cannot be relied upon to unconditionally support India, and Europe is too pacifist.

At these times I think of one of the staunchest allies of the US -- Israel.

Israel has a strong policy of retaliation for any terrorist attack on it's soil or it's citizens. Six Israelis were butchered at Nariman House during 26/11.

Someone needs to remind the government in India of the Israeli response to the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. It is time to show these terrorists the "Wrath of God" and the "Spring of Youth".

Instead of spending these huge sums of money and hours of efforts protecting Kasab, on dossiers and international diplomatic efforts, use the money to put a bounty on the heads of these murderers hiding in Pakistan. Use the experience and intelligence of the Israelis. Send in covert hit teams and, in parallel, develop a strong counter-terrorist infrastructure along with a policy of hitting back at the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

India is fast embracing amnesia when it comes to 26/11. It is a mental struggle to keep from forgetting and an emotional one to keep from forgiving, but we have to never forget and never forgive.

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Intruding Volga Dnepr Antonov AN-124 finally departs Mumbai

The intruding Volga Dnepr Antonov Anotnov AN124 finally departed Mumbai late on Saturday evening at 22:39 (17:09Z).


The aircraft apparently has been "wet leased" i.e. aircraft and crew, by the US military for supply flights between the US base at Deigo Garcia in the southern Indian ocean and Kandahar in Afghanistan. The aircraft has made many supply trips over the last few days, but on the night of June 19, something happened.


As per officials, the aircraft entered Indian airspace on Friday June 19 around 20:00 with a call sign Victor-Delta-Alpha (VDA 4466) and a civilian aircraft status. While still in Indian airspace off the west coast of Gujarat, near the front-line Indian Air Force (IAF) base of Jamnagar, and just before entering Pakistani airspace near Karachi, the pilot radioed the Pakistan air traffic control with a different call sign, "REACH 813", which meant it was a military cargo aircraft.

The IAF's South-Western Air Command air defence movement liaison unit observed the ambiguous status of the aircraft and activated the standard operating procedures under which the Mumbai air traffic control ordered the plane to land in Mumbai . Adding to the fears, the behemoth transporter entered the ADIZ (Air Defence Identification Zone) without having obtained the required AOR (air operations routing) of the Indian Air Force which triggered the security alert.

The aircraft landed in Mumbai on Friday. On Saturday morning it was taken to a remote cargo bay. CISF personnel cordoned off the plane, while sleuths from the Intelligence Bureau and officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation checked the plane's cargo hold. The 18 crew and passengers on-board were interrogated by IAF officials. Contrary to initial fears, the aircraft did not carry any arms and ammunition on board. It had three non-military armoured ambulances and was also carrying bedsheets and medicines.

"The pilots were not well-versed in English and only one of the other passengers spoke English,'' an official said. "They stayed inside the plane through the 24 hours they were in Mumbai but the aircraft was provided with an air-conditioning unit and a water/toilet cart,'' a Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said.

"The aircraft got all the sanctions needed to continue the flight. The IAF gave the aircraft the AOR (air operations routing),'' defence ministry public relations officer Capt M Nambiar said.

Post the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, since the terrorists came to Mumbai from Karachi via the sea, the whole area is on a much higher state of alert.

Apparently this is not the first intrusion by this aircraft; it has been happening for the past 15 days. The failure of the Indian authorities to register this intrusion earlier, has raised several questions about the alertness of the agencies entrusted with the task of giving air clearances to all flights using Indian airspace.

Images courtesy Google Earth.

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Taj and Trident reopen after Mumbai terror attacks

The two luxury hotels at the hub of the recent Mumbai terror attacks, the Trident Hotel, and the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers, re-open in Mumbai today.

Ratan Tata, chief executive of the Tata Group which owns the Taj, has vowed to restore the building to its former glory after it was ravaged by fire, bullets and grenades.

The whole nation has responded with pride and praise at the indomitable spirit of both hotels, and the effort required, for the speed with which both hotels have been readied for business again.

I can think of no better way to respond the terrorists and their masters at Pakistan's ISI agency.

Guests will check in at the Trident hotel from Sunday morning, with about 100 of the 550 rooms booked and all four restaurants serving diners. At the Taj, more than 1,000 key clients and guests have been invited for a private reception before an evening reopening of 268 rooms and seven eateries in the modern Tower wing.

The domed Palace part of the hotel has been heavily damaged and requires extensive repairs.

Raymond Bickson, chief executive and managing director of the Indian Hotels Co. Ltd, which runs the Taj, has said the re-opening is an "affirmation of the values of courage, resilience and dignity".

"To re-open the Taj with such speed but with no loss of attention to details, shows our resolve to commemorate all the innocent and brave people who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks,".

"In their honour, the Taj will shine again in all its brilliance."

Trident Hotels president Rattan Keswani said he felt "deep pride" for his staff's work both during and after last month's attacks.

"Yes, there is grief, there is definitely a huge amount of sadness in everybody's mind because of colleagues and guests that we lost," he told a news conference.

"But since those days and the days after that, they have been committed 100 percent to whatever the needs are and they are desirous that the hotel bounces back as quickly as possible."

Kudos to all of you.

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Ladder point checking to be introduced at airports

With terror threat on the aviation sector looming large, Government has decided to introduce checking of passengers at ladder-points in all functional airports across the country and enhance the strength of sky marshals on more flights.

These and other measures were reviewed at a meeting Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had with airport operators, airlines and all concerned agencies.

"The ladder-point checking (of passengers) will be introduced at all airports progressively," Patel said, adding that security at all functional airports, big or small, was being "re-looked, reviewed and strengthened".

He said the strength of the sky marshals would be enhanced and the number of domestic flights, on which they would be deployed, increased.

Among other measures was to strengthen security system on the perimeter of airports and introduce biometric access to airports, he said. "I would urge all those concerned, including the passengers, to cooperate in strengthening the security measures. Everyone should cooperate." Asked whether security surcharge would be introduced to meet the additional costs, the Minister said this was not yet being considered. Security systems would be introduced at all airports "whatever it takes. We will put in place sophisticated equipments at the airports."

Airports in major metro cities have been on high security alert in the wake of intelligence inputs that terrorists may attack them. PTI

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Shooting scare at New Delhi airport

All the major airports across India have been turned in to fortresses following perceived threats.

The jitters created a security scare at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport in the early hours of Friday, and triggered panic among passengers and sent security officials into a tizzy.

The chaos began when a sound similar to gunshots were reportedly heard from the facility.

The control room of the CISF received a call at around 1.10 am IST from passengers that they heard sound of gunshots from the vicinity of Gate 4 of international departure lounge of the airport.

The security was immediately stepped up but police could not ascertain the cause and the nature of firing. "We received a call that some passengers heard a sound similar to two gunshots, but there were no eyewitnesses. No evidence has so far come up to suggest that it was a firing and we cannot confirm it as a gunshot," DIG, CISF Udayan Banerjee said.

There is speculation that the initial "cracks" heard could have been a plastic bottle or tetra-pak coming under the wheels of some vehicle.

Post the 26/11 carnage, some pranksters are taking cheap thrills by attempting panic amongst an already jittery public.

But to re-iterate, everything at Delhi and across India is normal. Do not give in to "FUD".

-- Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.

Images courtesy AP

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'Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price'

My good friend K.B. Syed, recommended this article as a counter balance to the Arvind Lavakere article.

It is not my intention to turn this in to a religious or ethic debate, but rather to raise awareness, on the methods, blatant and devious, used to divide us, instead of uniting us. In this regard, my respects to Mobashar Jawed Akbar.

Devesh
----------------------

M J Akbar is one of India's best-known journalists and commentators, someone with a deep insight into the Indian people and their mindset. In this first-person, as-told-to piece, Akbar discusses the Mumbai attacks and their relevance for India.

Many people forget that India is a tough nation. Toothless leaders have turned India into a soft nation. People forget that India has fought back Muslim terrorism in Kashmir; Sikh terrorism in Punjab, Christian terrorism in Nagaland and Hindu terrorism in Assam, and amongst the Naxalites .

We have had everything thrown at the Indian nation State. Still, we have stood up. The people of India have shown the courage and ability to believe in their nation and to fight back. But the completely impotent leadership of five years have turned a tough country into a soft State.

I am very sad. I keep feeling that if they protect India as they protect their leaders -- whether it is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress President Sonia Gandhi -- I think I would be safe. Today, India's leaders are safe and India is in panic.

On what India's response should be:

India's proper reaction would be possible if we understand the extent of the disease.

If the disease is cancer, you can't apply band aid. After making a complete mess of security issues for five years by asking Shivraj Patil to go finally we may have a home minister who doesn't comb his hair and change his clothes. But we want something more than that. If it is cancer, we need chemotherapy, a much more serious exercise. It needs a legislative and executive framework. It needs political mobilisation. People are numbed.

The Indian people have no leadership. You have a prime minister. Did you see him when he addressed the nation? Nobody knew if he was addressing the nation or having a cup of tea?

He looked serious, but he didn't talk to us about our anger and about our anguish. I think this administration is tone deaf to the anguish of the people. They just cannot understand what the people are going through. They just don't understand our pain or our anger. The most important thing is that, perhaps, we have politicised not only the instruments of the State like the police but we have also politicised the understanding of the nature of the problem.

I think the very first thing to do is to ensure security so that it prevents the next attack. If any attack takes place under someones job should go. Don't come to me with alibis.

On the terrorists getting local support:

I am an Indian Muslim and I am very proud of both, being an Indian and a Muslim. I do not see any contradictions. This is my land and I have nowhere else to go.

But can I say because I am an Indian Muslim that no Indian Muslim is involved? Can you, because you are a Hindu, say that no Hindu is involved? We have to behave like Indians first. Not as a Muslim or as a Hindu first. Because we need Hindu votes and Muslim votes and because this government thinks that it needs Muslim votes so it has been in complete denial.

Do you think that these people came across from Pakistan and had no support in Mumbai?

It is not possible. It was a huge operation. Ten people hit nine places and you killed nine of them. You want to say that they went from place to place? Who knows some of them must have slipped away to create new sleeper cells to hit us six months later.

They are hiding things. I would like to believe that there was an underworld connection. Because, Karachi and Mumbai are also linked by drug smuggling. The culture of criminals is aggression. It comes naturally to them. It is not easy for you and I to become aggressive, however angry we are. It does not come naturally to us. These are people who are trained psychologically in aggression. They have no respect for the State. They have no love for the country. And they have no respect for authority.

Why? Because the only face of authority is the corrupt policeman. The criminal gives money in the morning and money in the evening. Why should he have respect for somebody he gives bribes to? For the guy from the underworld his understanding of the Indian State and authority is corruption. He has no patriotism to stop him. Why would he not join hands with the terrorists? In any case, he belongs to another world. We have not even begun to address and discuss this.

On the Pakistan factor

I am tired of giving Pakistan a long rope on some excuse or the other. Everybody is saying this will happen if we do this, that will happen if we do this. Our relations with Pakistan will go, then, let them go. What has our relations with Pakistan brought us except violence and terror? Why should we be in charge of saving Pakistan? For what? Every time they turn around and they say they want evidence. Now, finally we have evidence.

I have been an editor for 35 years from the age of 23. From that time on, since the days of General Zia-ul Haq, I have been hearing 'Pakistan is asking for evidence'. We asked for withdrawal of their support to the movement for Khalistan, they said, 'Oh, we don't know anything about it.' On Kashmir, they kept repeating where is the evidence. Benazir Bhutto came, she asked for evidence. Nawaz Sharif came, he asked for evidence. I think Pervez Musharraf asked for less evidence. Now again, they are asking for evidence.

There is a terrorist in Mumbai, captured and arrested. How much more evidence do you want? If what he is saying is not evidence, then how can you get more evidence?

This government is in its 11th hour. Now they will bluff the people to protect their votes. There is no time left for them. The agony of departure will be hard from this government.

On the reaction in the West

The US and Britain have a vested interest in telling India to look within. Why? When Americans die then they can send their air force 7,000 miles and bomb every country to smithereens. But when Indians die, they tell us no, no, you must be patient. You must act like a swami and a yogi. Why? Is an American life more precious than an Indian life? Why should we keep listening to them? But we have a government that keeps listening to them all the time. We don't get tough.

The last time we got tough was after the attack on Parliament. We took some tough actions under Operation Parakram and then there was a certain lull. Three years ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was able to tell President George W Bush that there are no terrorists amongst Indian Muslims. That means that lull continued.

Pakistan must be made to realise that it will have to pay a heavy price. Not necessarily through war, but a heavy price will have to be paid in loss in trade, in cancellation of orders and other engagements. They should pay a heavy price in terms of people to people relations. I am not saying you can freeze a relationship to death, but the message must go out that if there is a crime there will be a penalty. You just can't get away with it.

Let the Pakistan government cooperate with us. But look at how the Pakistan government has buckled down and we are sitting here whimpering.

They want to send some lowly officers to India. For what? Even Pakistan is treating the Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi government with total contempt. They know how weak it is.

Delink Hindu-Muslim relations and Pakistan

Look, you must not confuse the Pakistan issue with the Indian Muslims issue. Their so-called alienation or their economic deprivation is not linked to the issue of Pakistan.

Indian Muslims have nothing to do with Pakistan. They have absolutely no sympathy for Pakistan. They know that Pakistan was the biggest mistake committed in the history of Indian Muslims. They know it. You can ask anyone in Baroda, Bihar or Mumbai. They know how they are suffering the backlash of all the consequences of cross-border terrorism.

Today, they fear retribution from the government, they fear retribution from popular disenchantment and anger. They feel helpless. They feel afraid.

We must understand finally that it is not so much the 'local people', it is the local underworld that is involved in anti-India activities. In 1993, who were involved in terrorism? The underworld. Why have you not done anything about it? The State turns a blind eye to the police and corruption. I don't know how many readers smoke hashish and other stuff, but I am accusing them of cross-border terrorism. Drugs come to India from Afghanistan via Karachi.

What we can do as individuals

If whoever is responsible for protecting the nation fails, then he or she should not be allowed to continue in power. That is the toughest and sharpest message we can give. You can tell that you may be a soft State, but we are a hard people and we are hard voters.

We are not going to forgive you for your lies and deception and for your waffling. How many blasts do we need to understand that? When Jaipur , Ahmedabad , Mumbai and Delhi happened no one who was genuinely guilty was caught.

We have to understand now that corruption has eaten away vitals of this nation. It is the biggest danger to the security of India. It is not just the case of some spectrum being sold to someone by some minister in. Everyone who is corrupt get out!

It Is a failure all around. We have to be extremely practical and pragmatic. There is great deal to be depressed about as an Indian. Frankly speaking, I feel very angry and upset. I am never upset by the behaviour of our enemies. I am only upset by the betrayal of those I trust.

M J Akbar, editor-in-chief, Covert magazine, spoke to Sheela Bhatt

The original article can be read here.

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Omkar Goswami: I Accuse

In an open letter to the Prime Minister, Dr. Omkar Goswami says our governments have created a state that is completely unprepared to deal with growing terrorism.

Dear Prime Minister

On 13 January 1898, Emile Zola wrote an open letter to the French president in a major daily titled J’Accuse (I Accuse). It accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus for espionage. The letter caused a stir and forced the re-trial of Dreyfus, in which he was cleared of all charges. Since then, J’Accuse has been used to publicise charges against the powerful and the mighty.

I don’t expect that piece will change anything. Yet, after witnessing 60 hours of carnage in Mumbai which cost the lives of at least 200 innocent women, men and children, it is my duty as a citizen to state what many millions of us believe but have not said.

I accuse the state of becoming soft on terror. On the UPA government’s watch, I have collated 16 episodes of terrorist attacks on Indian soil.

• October 29, 2005: New Delhi, the pre-Diwali blasts. 62 people killed.
• March 7, 2006: Varanasi temple blasts. 20 killed.
• July 11, 2006: Mumbai train blasts. 187 killed.
• November 6, 2006: Guwahati blasts. 11 killed.
• February 19, 2007: Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express blasts. 68 killed.
• May 18, 2007: Hyderabad mosque blasts. 11 killed.
• May 26, 2007: Guwahati blasts. 7 killed.
• August 25, 2007: Hyderabad blasts. 43 killed.
• November 24, 2007: Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad blasts. 16 killed.
• May 13, 2008: Jaipur blasts. 80 killed.
• July 25, 2008: Bangalore blasts. 2 killed.
• July 26, 2008: Ahmedabad blasts. 45 killed.
• September 5, 2008: Malegaon blast. 5 killed.
• September 13, 2008:New Delhi shopping centre blasts. 21 killed.
• October 30, 2008: Assam blasts. 80 killed.
• November 26-27, 2008:Mumbai hotels, train terminus killings. At least 200 killed.

That’s over 850 innocent deaths under the UPA. The list is not complete and doesn’t account for those routinely killed in Kashmir, or by the Maoists in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Since 2004, India has the distinction of suffering the brunt of more terrorist casualties than any country in the world, except Iraq. It has everything to do with the government’s softness on terror.

India is the soft underbelly of terrorism. To the west, we have an anarchy called Pakistan whose government has no control over militant jehadis — who wage war on their own country no less actively than they do on our soil. To the east lies Bangladesh, another nation rife with militant Islamist groups, operating with the knowledge that the government has neither the inclination nor the ability to do anything. To the north lies the porous border of Nepal, from where terrorists and Maoists move as they wish.

Given that we are encircled by terror, what has been the response of the government? First, the quality of intelligence. How many of the 16 episodes given above were accurately anticipated by the nation’s intelligence agencies? I don’t mean vague signals. I mean solid actionable intelligence that clearly expects a specific city to be hit on or around a specific date. And if we had such intelligence, what did the state governments do with it? Should not the relatives of the dead know whether the state genuinely tried to protect their lives, but failed? Or that it just didn’t care sufficiently enough?

Second, coordination between different agencies. We know that the National Security Advisor had repeatedly warned the coastline states of terrorist attacks from the sea. Yet, there was no coordination between the various intelligence agencies, the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Mumbai police. Every law enforcement agency worked in silos — each loath to share information with others.

Third, equipment and morale. The Mumbai police was woefully equipped. No proper Kevlar vests; no real weapons — just pistols and 303 bolt action rifles; no night vision equipment; no stun grenades; no real anti-terrorist training; nothing that could give them an upper hand against these well-armed terrorists who were determined to kill and die. Instead of equipping the police properly and backing them to the hilt, they are told that their major challenge lies in “restoring the faith of the people, especially those belonging to religious and ethnic minorities and the weaker sections” and that “many are convinced that the police is less than fair… even when policemen die in their line of duty.”

Fourth, the centrality of Delhi to the neglect of all other metros. The NSG is located in Delhi. Why? Because our nation’s leaders live there. In the last decade, what has prevented us from having battalions of NSGs being posted in Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Guwahati — ready to move at short notice to meet terrorist threats? The denouement: 10 hours for the NSG to reach South Mumbai, by which time the terrorists had established their killing fields.

Fifth, our disgraceful political stance on terror. Terrorists are killers. We don’t care whether they are Ram, Rahim, Rupinder or Richard. They are killers, and must be killed before they kill. Yet, to protect ephemeral vote-banks, we can’t call a Pakistani or Simi-trained terrorist an Islamist. Just as L K Advani won’t call Hindu bomb-throwers terrorists. Our political discourse on terrorism is vitiated to the point of impotence. Any sensible citizen of India will agree that our squabbling leaders have failed to put national security above partisan politics.

If the government wishes to rise above vote-bank politics and tackle the terror, it has to do much better. It must admit that terrorism is public menace number one; that it will go after it single-mindedly, irrespective of the consequences; that it will not distinguish killers by their religion; that it will not allow vote-bank politics to come in the way; that it will never fight shy of wielding force; that it will accept collateral damage if need be; that it will give our intelligence, our cops and our armed forces all the resources that they need. And will walk the talk.

Will you? And instead of yet again rejoicing in Mumbai’s spirit, can you and other politicians first save its citizens?

The author is chairman, CERG Advisory Private Ltd. Views expressed here are personal

Original article on the Business Standard

Profile of Dr. Omkar Goswami (from Infosys website)

Dr. Omkar Goswami is the Founder and Chairman of CERG Advisory Private Limited (CERG is the acronym for the Corporate and Economic Research Group).

A professional economist, Dr. Goswami did his Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics in 1978 and his D. Phil (Ph.D) from Oxford in 1982. He taught and researched economics for 18 years at Oxford, Delhi School of Economics, Harvard, Tufts, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Rutgers University and the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi.

In March 1997 he moved away from formal academics to become the Editor of Business India, one of the country’s prestigious business magazines.

From August 1998 up to March 2004, Dr. Goswami served as the Chief Economist of the Confederation of Indian Industry — India’s premier apex industry organization. Dr. Goswami has served on several government committees. He was the Chairman of the Committee on Industrial Sickness and Corporate Restructuring in 1993, which recommended revamping India’s bankruptcy laws and procedures; member of the Working Group on the Companies Act; the CII Committee on Corporate Governance; the Rakesh Mohan Committee on Railway Infrastructure Reform; the Vijay Kelkar Committee on Direct Tax Reforms; the Naresh Chandra Committee on Auditor-Company Relationship; the N.R. Narayana Murthy SEBI Committee on Corporate Governance Reforms, etc.

Dr. Goswami has been a consultant to the World Bank, the IMF, the Asian Development Bank and the OECD. Other than his regular columns for newspapers and magazines,

Dr. Goswami has authored three books and over 70 research papers on economic history, industrial economics, public sector, bankruptcy laws and procedures, economic policy, corporate finance, corporate governance, public finance, tax enforcement and legal reforms.

List of articles by Dr. Goswami on BusinessWorld

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Mumbai terror attacks - It was a national humiliation

I came across this rather provocative article, and while I do not fully subscribe to the author's views, it nonetheless raises some interesting questions about governance in a democratic system, and the tendency of politicians to subvert the democratic ideals in favour of vote-bank politics.

Having spent a significant portion of my life outside India, in the US and in Singapore, where, in both countries, I was a minority, I cannot help, but compare, the politics of the United States and Singapore. Two diametrically opposed systems as far as personal freedoms and role of government goes, but with one common thread - a citizen is a citizen regardless of ethnicity, religion, or gender, and one law applies to all, criminal and civil.

Comments and thoughts are, as always, requested and invited.

************************

It was a national humiliation
by
Arvind Lavakare

Arvind Lavakare may be 71, but the fire in his belly burns stronger than in many people half his age. The economics post-graduate worked with the Reserve Bank of India and several private and public sector companies before retiring in 1997. His first love, however, remains sports. An accredited cricket umpire in Mumbai, he has reported and commented on cricket matches for newspapers, Doordarshan and AIR. Lavakare has also been regularly writing on politics since 1997, and published a monograph, The Truth About Article 370, in 2005.

Hang your heads in shame, my countrymen. Do it because a dozen-odd terrorists traveled 500 nautical miles of the Arabian sea from Karachi to Mumbai's Gateway of India, just opposite the grandiose Taj Mahal Hotel and proceeded to humble the city of 16.4 million into utter helpless ness for over 48 hours even as over 125 civilians and some distinguished professional security men lost their lives to the hand grenades and rifle bullets of a fanatical mindset. It was a humiliation worse than the drubbing the Chinese army gave us in 1961.

It was because our motherland, India, is a soft nation, tested and proven so several times. Despite the weighty evidence of Clement Atlee, the Britain's post World War II prime minister to the contrary, the Congress party brainwashed the entire nation, including the press, that it was the non-violence strategy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi that brought us independence.

Atlee had expressed fears regarding the rage of Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army as a reason for its decision to give us independence; another reason was that World War II had liquidated the British Empire and left it to ration even eggs to the citizens of England. But Gandhi disliked Bose's guts and gumption and Nehru sent the officers of the valiant INA to a secret trial in the Red Fort.

Thus, even as the Congress of Gandhi and Nehru, his pampered disciple, ahimsa, non-violence, became the motto of our motherland. So bad has this become over the last 60 years that today even killing a stray dog on the street, however vicious and sick, has become a crime, courtesy another Gandhi, Maneka by name.

Take the more serious issue of terrorism. Excepting during the Khalistan uprising in the eighties that was ultimately doused by K.P.S. Gill and his brave police force, our country's approach to terrorism has all along been tepid and timid, castrated and impotent.

Because almost all the terrorist acts in recent years have involved Muslims as the perpetrators, and because of the Congress fetish of appeasing the minority Muslim community at any cost, our soft national psyche inherited from Gandhi, our response to terrorism has become a combination of impotence and vote bank politics sought to be covered by rhetoric and pleas for peace.

At every stage of our every "encounter" with a terrorist act, our collective national response has been reactive rather than active, defensive rather than offensive. Public statements are issued, action is promised. Period. Nothing else really happens.

At the base of it all is the shameful fact that we choose to be confused by terrorism. We are not sure whether to treat it as a law and order problem or as an act of war against the nation. Our elite journalists of the print and TV/radio world are not even sure as to whether to describe those who indulge in an act of terror as "militants" or "terrorists".

Reams of newspaper reports are testimony to this confusion. The latest Mumbai drama was no different as one prominent TV channel kept on describing the killed terrorists as "militants". Politicians are, or choose to be, equally confused in this simple matter.

Yes, it is a simple matter because the English dictionary will tell you that a militant is one who confronts, face to face, not one who wears a mask; and this militant does not wield an AK 47 or throws hand grenades or detonates a bomb with remote control mechanism.

Further, we have had the phrase "terrorism act" well defined in one of our Constitutional documents right from 1985.

Called "The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order", it empowered Parliament to enact any law to prevent "terrorist acts" and went on to define "terrorist act" as "any act or thing by using bombs, dynamite or other explosive substances or inflammable substances or firearms or other lethal weapons or poisons or noxious gases or other chemicals or any other substances (whether biological or otherwise) of a hazardous nature." By corollary, the perpetrator of a "terrorist act" is a "terrorist If you get your concepts right; the right action will follow --- provided you love your country more than your political party or your own advancement in political circles.

Tragically, that hasn't happened in our country so far and is unlikely to ever happen till, heaven forbid, a colossal and unbelievable act of terror paralyses the entire country into a daze.

Just recall some events of recent years. The UPA government that came in 2004 quickly repealed the Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA) which the Vajpayee-led NDA government had introduced after the ghastly attack in December 2001.

It was not withdrawn because of its stringent features but because it was allegedly misused against the minorities (read Muslims). The basic fact was that the Congress, which heads the UPA sarkar, wanted to appease and win over the Muslims with one more lollipop.

Amusingly enough, any call by the BJP for the re-introduction of POTA or some such tough law is counterattacked by the Congress. "Did your POTA prevent the attack on the Akshardham Temple?" they ask.

Forgotten in this child-like question is that it was POTA that secured the conviction of Afzal Guru. Forgotten is that the acceptance of a confession to the police as evidence (considered a draconian legal provision) was what led to the conviction under TADA of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins.

In several other areas as well, our successive governments have failed to act in ways so crucial to minimize, if not totally stop, the reign of terror that now occurs so frequently that from a tragedy it has become a joke for the cynic.

Take the policing of our urban areas which are the focal points of terrorism. Lt General Sinha recently disclosed that in the last sixty years after Independence the number of police stations in the country has increased by a laughable 15 per cent over the figure of 12,000 that existed then.

In contrast, he says, our population has increased four times in that same period even as policing has become so much more complex than before.

Further, whatever police force available is overworked but underpaid, apart from being manipulated and exploited by their political bosses. That is why, at least Mumbai's policemen, and policewomen , look so unfit, almost obese, and so blank in face.

Ditto with our Intelligence force. Marginal increase in their strength has occurred, but assignments include assessment of likely performance of the ruling party in the coming elections. And why the National Security Advisor should have been involved so much in the Indo-US nuclear deal as he actually was is a mystery.

Then there's the human rights industry and our politicians' concern for it much beyond national interest. And there's that impractical concern for "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" even in matters of terrorism. If cockroaches had votes and rats had a religion, our politicians would enact a law prohibiting killing of those two living species as well.

Imagine the People's Democratic Party of Jammu & Kashmir granting pensions from government to families of slain terrorists. Imagine, the Prime Minister himself disclosing his sleepless night over the plight of the mother of an Indian Muslim held in police custody in Australia on suspicion of being involved in a bomb blast but not over the plight of mothers of thousands of his innocent countrymen killed in terrorist violence.

Imagine two Cabinet Ministers oppose the ban on SIMI despite the latter's proven guilt. Imagine one Cabinet Minister wanting all illegal migrants from Bangladesh to be given full citizenship rights, when it is well-known that many among them have links with terrorists. Imagine another Cabinet Minister approving of a University vice chancellor's decision to deploy funds provided by a foreign government to be utilized for the legal defence of two of his University students accused of involvement in terrorist violence.

Imagine, lastly, that amounts running into thousands of crores have been spent on the Haj subsidy for Muslims but the security of our very long coastline on the west is so ill-funded that terrorists can come from Karachi across the Arabian Sea to Mumbai without being spotted.

Contrast all of this is typically indolent-cum-idealistic-cum-selfish Indian attitude to the stark realism and patriotism of the USA when 9/11 occurred in 2001. One thing that nation did shortly after that dastardly day was the enactment by the USA Congress of what's come to be known as the USA Patriot Act. That nomenclature is really an acronym, and the full name of that legislation is "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001". If a name can arouse emotions, that one certainly does. And however draconian that law has been, it has prevented the recurrence of 9/11.

Unless the whole young nation of ours forgets non-violence as a magic mantra and unless our politicians show a commitment similar to that of the USA to engage in a literal war against terror, we shall continue to allow just about a dozen-odd terrorists to humiliate an entire nation for over 48 hours, even as a naïve Prime Minister calls the Pakistan chief of intelligence to share info with us.

Original article on Sify.com

By the same author:
Their Surreal Agenda for Kashmir Polls
A diary of Kashmir’s murky politics

(The views expressed in the article are the author’s and not of Sify.com
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