The question how to fight terror should concern all right thinking Indians as well as others affected by the menace directly or remotely. But fighting terror should not be fighting ideology of those you consider your rivals or the “other”. Fighting terror should be your strategy and not your own warped ideology. Given this veritable although unpleasant truth as the rock foundation of fight against terrorism we must not indulge in fear peddling nor should we keep harping on what is skewed perception at the best.
Nowhere is this more pertinently true than in the zeal and enthusiasm shown in fighting what is generally called the jihadist terror. Terror itself does not make discrimination. The relatively easygoing concern for ULFA or Naxal terror is quite obvious. Those who are immediately in the vicinity of such a terror can only express their apprehension. Their concern is not shared with the political right or even the left. But the jihadist terror is another kettle of fish, at least in India.
The perception of the investigation or intelligence agencies also is equally skewed. Thus CBI says that there is a great difference between Malegaon blasts of 2006 and Jaipur blasts of 2008. The agency says that the explosions in Malegaon were calculated to produce less casualties than those in Jaipur.. This would imply that the terrorists wanted to minimize the toll in Malegaon but maximize it in Jaipur. As a matter of fact more than forty lost their life in Malegaon while 80 in Jaipur. But there is a vital factor that the agency does not consider. There were only three bombs which blew up in Malegaon, two in the cemetery and one in the Mushawarat chowk. In Jaipur there were eight bombs which exploded at five different places.
As far as the shibboleth of terror in India is concerned it is Afzal Guru. There is a fair amount of reason that Afzal Guru could also have been acquitted had an astute lawyer with legal acumen been available for him. As Sayyed Abdul Rehman Geelani could fortunately get support of excellent legal help and support of fellow teachers and students his innocence was made convincing in the court of law. There are certain dark areas in the mess up in which Afzal Guru found himself. Our assumption is and should be that if Afzal is guilty he should hang. There should be no ifs and buts there.
However the matter does not rest there. There are puzzling circumstances structurally built into the whole affair. Was he really employed by the special task force of the police? If so what task was he assigned to do just before the attack on the parliament of our country? He transported a would-be terrorist from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi and helped him obtain the car used in the attack. Who exactly used him and for what? There is a kind of idiocy and naiveté ascribed to him that makes him look like the retarded brother in law of The Secret Agent of Joseph Conrad who carried the bomb to the observatory. He was incapable of understanding what he was doing. No doubt Afzal is not mentally handicapped but what if he was used by someone? Who used him is more important.
We almost went to war with our neighbour Pakistan for the attack on Parliament. The US and allies attack on Iraq on the pretext of a bogus WMD and terrorist link has now made many Americans rue the day they went to war on so called terror in Iraq. With a hind sight it would be better that we do our home work with meticulous care before we rush to any conclusion. A lone convict in death row can wait as long as possible till those who are behind him are also caught and punished. Punish we must, we did it once in the case of Maqbool Butt. No one should doubt our resolve!
How much more stringent antiterrorist law could you make? The contemporary American laws in the matter of water boarding, all the three kinds of renditions, including the extraordinary, the Guantanamo detention without trial have all failed. More innocent people have suffered. Did Khwaja Yunus also go through water boarding? What killed this innocent citizen of our country? He came from a part of Maharashtra where de facto terrorist attacks have taken place. They have been brushed under the carpet of crackers. If the police selectively apply even the most stringent laws will it be effective? The fear is that more disaffection between people will be produced. And against what?
Despite this, the former lawyer and now a spokesperson of BJP Arun Jaitley has counted 5 reasons why we are unable to fight terror. One, the BJP ruled states want very strict laws against terror but the central government does not allow them to have such laws. In his sophistry he mentions Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh but does not mention Gujarat where even ordinary crimes are booked under Pota. Even so the attack on Akshardham had taken place. He mentions Maharashtra which has a law against organized crime. How does he forget that despite this law the explosions of bombs in Nanded in the house of RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP activists were cavalierly treated. Incidentally the Supreme Court recently came down heavily against booking the alleged culprits of bomb blasts of 2006 against the organized crime law. Two, the central government has failed to execute Afzal Guru. Three, those who allegedly burnt Sabarmati express are booked under Pota and yet the central government is helping them. Arun Jaitley does not specify what he means by help. He should not have better mentioned Gujarat. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had ignored the written letters of the President of India, KR Narayanan, on the situation in Gujarat at that height of the massacres of Muslims in 2002. Jaitley also mentions Madhya Pradesh. But he conveniently forgets that Mr Sreekumar was DIG of intelligence department of Gujarat police. He has mentioned in diary the details which would have damned any head of state elsewhere in the world. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh was no other than BJP President Rajnath Singh who was also entrusted with Home Department and he had not complied with the reporting of the unruly behaviour of the kar sevaks of the Sabarmati express which had passed through his state. Confessions of crime by people like Babu Bajrangi have been recorded on camera and yet nothing has happened. What greater Pota does Gujarat want? Even in the investigation of the burning of the train different inquiry commissions have found different versions of truth and the confessions of the alleged and also police statements have been changed and facts fabricated. Four, confession of alleged perpetrators is not taken as proof of their crime. Jaitley would like mere confession as admissible proof, and he a former lawyer at that! Five, the culprits are able to get bail easily. How short is our memory! The bomb blasts of Faizabad, Lucknow and Varanasi reveal that the alleged criminals were attacked by lawyers and their bail applications are pending because no lawyer can dare plead for them. This is not only unconstitutional but inhuman. Jaitley and his party would make this unconstitutional into a stringent law to fight terror. Perhaps this can be done otherwise. But then India would have to attack and annex a part of Sri Laka and create its own Guantanamo prison somewhere in Jaffna.
Spain did fight terrorism with convincing justification as far as the Madrid bombing is concerned. It did not take on the followers of any ideology per se. Nor did it pass any more stringent laws to deal with the situation. Australia did try to use extraordinary legal provision but then set Dr Haneef free although his cell phone card was used by his cousin who blew himself at the Glasgow airport. Dr Haneef himself was not involved. In the case of 7/11 metro bombing in England a brother of the main accused was set free which would be impossible if the kind of draconian law we want to enact here in our own country. There was no proof against him. His identity was not important there. But is the identity of an accused important here?
Hi, I just stumbled on to this blog, and was, honestly, very impressed by the balance in the arguments at the start of the article. However, I was quite disappointed by the follow through, where the article gets into the usual BJP bashing and defending a certain religion. I think time has come to understand that you can’t keep fooling the entire nation by crying foul everytime somebody is tried in Gujarat, or for that matter anywhere. While lauding the exemplary actions of Spain and Australia, the author slips into amnesia quielty, while he himself has talked in the article earlier about how Prof. Geelani (rightly or wrongly) was exonerated. So, lets either decide that the Courts in India too are biased, or they are not. Let me take this opportuntiy to also assure you that with some legal aid, you can actually murder someone in broad daylight and still get away with that.. Pls don’t tell me that you do not really know this fact. I am not concluding that Geelani’s acquital was necessarily foul, and hence I should probably not be raising my fingers to another judgement where Afzal Guru was found guilty. One has to draw lines as to how much can one keep questioning the decision, without really pointing out an iota of evidence in favour of Afzal Guru. While I am no expert in terror laws, I find the examples of attack on Akshardham or the Parliament as an excuse to not have POTA, as they are also ineffcetive as just lame. Seriously, are you trying to say that since the laws existing (and I am not talking about any POTA here) were unable to stop the theft/murder in your neighbourhood, why have laws? My very simple understanding is that laws do not necessarily contain crimes, but deter crimes and also ensure that justice is delivered after the crime. Whether POTA, or anything else, the efficacy of a law cannot be measured by the happening event, but how many could it have stopped as well as whether an honest trial was helped by such laws. I really get cheesed off with articles, where BJP bashing has become a compulsive habit. Lets stop doing that, sense the mood of the nation, and then find out if the suggestions really make soem sense? The recent victory of the party in Karanata, and lets not just be obstinate about this, can be partly attributable to the BJP being seen as more effective party to contain terrorism, which has been spreading in a relatively calm state like Karantaka. I guess I make some sense, but you have all rights to defend your arguments.
There cannot be two opinions about the need for effectively combatting terrorism!But the problem with Indians is that there is no consesus on the definition of “terrorism”.Whenever and wherever a bomb blast or serial blasts take place,we are obliged to make a thorough investigation without any bias or prjudice regarding the culprit.Then all material evidence has to be got to make the case impregnable.Lastly the polie must assist the public prosecutor to win the case and confirm theguilt.
Terrorist have no religion nor nationality.they might be emotionally screwed up or incentive package might have been alluring.So the police must not proceed with preconcluded notions.Till all the matters are properly placed, there is no need to keep the public informed about the progress.
No doubt a certain political party or coalition of parties form the govt.,i does not follow that “Govt. is that party’s orcoalitions”! It is a national govt.and has to treat all qually.
Politicising and governance are two separate items.After the swearing in of the Govt. politicising ends and governance begins.
The demolition of Babri Masjid and Gujarat pogrom continue as eye sores of secular polity of India!
That shall not happen again!
Nyamutallah talks about Babri demolition. Is he aware how many religious places of worship (belonging to minorities) have been destroyed in Pakistan and bangladesh. Let us not see things with one eye. The Indian Muslims should muster guts to stand up against the terror perpetrated by a few religious fanatics (who claim to be waging a holy war) of their community.
As far as Afzal Guru’s case is concerned, it is just idiotic now to put up imaginary defences and stating that had he been able to get a good defence team he would have been aquitted. The converse is had the prosecution been strong, probably Geelani would have been in the condemned prisoners’ cell. There was clainching evidence to nail Guru and he has been convicted. But not carrying out the sentence, is the political game of the ruling parties.
Ariel:
Why should Nyamutallah be answerable to you (or anybody else for that matter) for the places of worship destroyed in Pakistan and Bangladesh?
Why should anyone be answerable to anyone for places of worship destroyed in other countries. India claims to be a secular democratic country, Pakistan and Bangladesh do not. Hindus/Christians who decided to stay in those countries did so after being fully aware of these realities. They are made scapegoats so that we are foolish enough to attack our own citizens. Imagine a scenario when Hindu fundamentalists taking cue from Taliban/Al Quaeda start suicide bombings targeting anyone who does not align with their philosophy (and not just the other religion).
The case of Afzal Guru has been brought out by many activists as being disputed as far as the trail proceedings were concerned. Also it needs to be very clearly established if he was really a mastermind behind the episode. But I’m sure that people actually involved in prosecution the case should have gone into all details. It will be sad if this is made a “muslim” issue than a case of terrorism.
Goes without saying that statements from the PM about getting sleepless nights thinking about the “innocent” youth suspected of terrorism and not losing sleep over the hundreds who get killed by the very jihadists does not indicate any strong resolve of the state. The struggle by “Jihadists” is more because of having lost out in the competition with modern life with other communities, the desolate sadness of having been left behind and the frustration from the defeat of their own limited intelligence.
@ Mohib,
Its very naive of you, if u feel we are a isolated country and actions outside the country dont impact us.
If thats your point, y was there a demonstration against Bush in India for Afganistan/Iraq war?
The bottomline is this……muslims in India enjoy more religious freedom than all of the minorities in all Islamic countries….Indian muslims dont appreciate this…and every time they whine about being victimized, they dont even think for a moment how come other minorities are able to develop and prosper….
have you even thought for one minute why muslims have deep problems with all the other major religions in the world?
Jews, hindus, christians and sikhs……….can u honestly say whether muslims have good relations with anyone of them?
its a very naive mentality to think that the majority are out to get you…..even if thats the case….doesnt it raise self-doubts on maybe there is a chance that the mistake is on your side?
Vinod:
I never said that actions outside the country don’t impact us. Please don’t put words in my mouth. Thank you. Your rest of the rant against Muslims doesn’t addresses the question I raised.
The real question is why would you would go about casting aspersions on fellow Indians because something happens outside India. Just because they share a common religion? How different is it then to target some random Marathi manus in Bihar because of Shiv Sainiks targeting North Indians in Mumbai?
How different is it then to target some random Marathi manus in Bihar because of Shiv Sainiks targeting North Indians in Mumbai?
I am a marathi, and I would attack the marathi manus who justifies beating up anyone by going into the ‘root causes’ of mumbai’s problems or by trying diversionary tactics like ‘ lets (re)define terrorism’, or that ‘India’s definition is yet incomplete (or is brahminical)’ or some such.
Mohib Agreed! However why do fellow Indians have to support Taliban in Indian streets when it is a known terrorist outfit, a hindu killer and destroyer of ancient artifacts? Maybe outside events should not allow us to have a biased view but what about events back home in India.
I wish to submit that in my comments on”How to fight terrorism?”, I have honestly enlisted the ‘rigjht approach to probe the case and appehend the real culprits.’He who dastardly using remote control device, causes loss of innocent lives , maims and mangles others and runs away from the scene, leaving people to drawtheir own conclusions, is a”criminal”and has to be dealt with severely.It is the responsibility of the police to properly make the probe and bring the guilty to book.As a citizen, I am interested in results and not in opinions and theories of the police about terrorists and terrorism.
I for one firmly believe that no religion authorises its followers to kill innocent beings waiting for a train or bus or fondly hope to make purchases on the eve of festival!
Many non-Muslim friends have been led to believe by the western media that Islam authorizes its followers ‘ to fight in the cause of Allah!’ ‘It is literally and morally “absurd”!
No other Arabic word has been so much over used and misinterprtetted in recent times as the word “Jehad” is! Jehad literally means” striving to the utmost towards excellence”.Time was, when it was also meant “to fight in the cause of Allah!”But it has outlived its utilty in the last days of the Prophet(MPBH) himself!
Muslims are enjoined to engage themselves in” jehadekabeer’(the great jehad)till the last day.That jehad or ‘fight’ , the Holy Quran, defines as “striving to the utmost with the disbelievers with the verses of the Quran only.”(Holy Quran chapter 25 Verse 52).
The US misled the gullible and wild Afghans and Pakistanis saying driving away the atheistic Soviet forces from Afghanistan was “jihad” (fighting in the cause of Allah).Their incentives made Pakistani mullas to endorse it.Once that danger was removed, they held out the Taliban regime and mullas’ madrasa as greater danger andl aunched “Global War Against Terrorism”!
CIA has a record of eliminating heads of states and govts. It could do things and put the blame on Jihadis!so let us not have pre conceived ideas about any matter.
The question is whether we can influence it or not, even if it does impact us.
We are still quite low in the amount of influence we have on world politics. In fact our record in ensuring rule of law in our own land has been bleak. Such prominent cases related to Jessica Lal, Nitish Kataria and Priyadarshini Matto – took so many years, after having got perverse judgements in the first go. And these were open-shut cases. Dealing with the complexities of terrorism with a – corrupt political establishment, under equipped police force and ethnic strife bickering around caste reservations competing on who is more “backward” – is a tall task.
In such a scenario we should concentrate on setting our house in order, worry less about medieval prejudices. Certain things that have happened, however unfortunate – cannot be undone. But if we keep looking behind, we will continue to stumble.
Hmmm Sudie you have a point. I guess enough of going to the medieval world and enough of trying to find all issues in any particular community.
Bajrang Dal and VHP should be banned in India. If SIMI and NDF is banned in India, why Government is not putting a BAN on Bajrang DAL and VHP. Bajrang Dal and VHP is making the country into communal violance.