(7 votes, average: 1.57 out of 5)
Loading ...970 views
There is nothing new in the saber rattling in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. Indian jets straying into Pakistani space on December 13,2008 is the latest jejune trick of real politicks. To say so is not to diminish the enormity of the attacks in Mumbai but rather to highlight it.
The so-called ’stateless actors’ who attacked the metropolis were dubious in character. If they were jihadists they were also drinking alcohol. If they were Muslims they were also killing innocent people and prominently passengers, women and children and smirking at their crimes. If they were Pakistanis they were also endangering their country into a retaliation that would be catastrophic to them, to say the least. If they were after an imaginary Islam that is based on sharias alone, India was not the place for it let alone an ideal place. However, their evil deeds have unleashed a pent up hysteria for war.
Some people in India have mistakenly believed that war could solve the problem of terror. Israel has fought more terrific wars with its Arab neighbours. But each war has spawned more terror. The doppelganger of Hezbollah is nothing but the product of war, the Israelis rue the day it was born. Who fathered LTTE after Singhalese terror of the yore?
Our neighbour is desperately trying to survive its own misdeeds of mixing religion and politics and playing second fiddle to the West. We are surely falling into the same pitfall. The shoe thrower journalist at President George Bush’s press meeting was also a warning us, as enormous amount of writing against the unjust war had not been heeded for so long. In no way is Pakistan going to benefit from the Mumbai attacks or any war.
But those who cry from the top of the roof of their house for war must reckon with the lumpen network of gangsters and cohorts of politicians. There is a thriving thralldom where rickshaw pullers and shopkeepers have to pay through their nose to the local muscleman or gangster regular hafta or extortion which ultimately reaches the pockets of the political bosses or the cops. They must also see how Madina Pathan of Gujarat is retracting. In the aftermath of the Gujarat genocide she had identified the accused who had raped her and burnt alive her family. But now she is recanting. She is saying that no one raped her and burnt her family. Considering the incidents of shocking violence and cruelty in Mumbai we are outraged. How is it that we fail to be outraged when we see victims of another outrage retract their accounts of those who perpetrated the worst acts of terror on them in full view of the public who till that morning were their neighbours and fellow citizens? Why is this gross violation of morality and decency not an outrage to us? Maqsood Mian Patan had seen senior police officer KK Mysorewala taking a black suitcase from Naroda corporator Vallabh Patel and Ashok Saheb and leaving the Muslims to be slaughtered in their hundreds in Naroda Patia and not arresting even when there was order of the commissioner to shoot Babu Bajrangi on sight. Maqsood is now turning hostile and is saying that these things did not happen. These cases have gone to the Supreme Court. Incidentally the same Mysorewala is in charge of Modasa that along with Malegaon suffered terrorist attack of September 29, 2008. Will he again prefer money to duty?
Why is one outrage prompting us to war on a neighbour country and another outrage not even making us give a rap on the knuckles of the rapists and murderers?
The Sadhvi accused in Malegaon blast and the Kasab accused in Mumbai attacks are perverted individual persons and their collective occupational nouns neither can whittle down nor enhance their crimes; nor can their gender nouns. They are satanic forces personified. To save the Sadhvi and group Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and BJP would go to any extent, even to the extent of civil strife. Similarly to deny legal succor to the Kasab the same groups would go to vandalism and violation of the constitution of the land. These hawkish outfits of Mars would be the pioneering forces that threaten to wage war within and without even before the formal declaration of war.
There are two conflicting and contradictory current theses on possibility of war between India and Pakistan. Pakistan had once tried to lead India into a military confrontation over the terrorist attack on the Parliament in 2001 when India responded by Operation Parakaram. But now India has grown wiser and this old alibi for not tackling terror by the neighbour will not work. Hence India must take on Pakistan. This view is coloured by the weltanschauung or world view of Islam as terrorism as it views the Mumbai attack as “jihadi offensive against civilized nations and values.” (K Subramanyam). Diametrically opposite to this is the view that in a situation of war Pakistan will have to take its soldiers from the western borders, which are hotbeds of terrorism of the al Qaeda and the Taliban type and deploy them on the Indian borders. That would not solve the problem of terrorism(Ahmed Rashid). Those who subscribe to the first theory believe war as solution.
War begins in the minds of men. As Eugene O’Neill said of tragedy that we wear masques and our tragedy or misfortune begins when we evaluate ourselves through the eyes of others. Today we see through the western perspective, hence the corrective need to claim Mumbai attack as our tragedy (Arundhati Roy). Moreover terrorism is a technique (Zbigniew Brezesnki, a former national security advisor to the US president) and needs to be fought by a technique. But this time around as of now India is keeping sanity and not rushing where angels fear to tread.
{ 36 comments }
← Previous Comments
M Naqqaad ,
I am not sure I understand the question completely. But if your objection is to Jihadi terrorists, I am not sure I can agree. They themselves call themselves Jihadis; what else should we call them? If you read any responsible Pakistani newspapers, that’s what they call them too.
And where did Hindus and Muslims came into picture here?
Milind,
This is getting interesting. Which fundamental premise you don’t believe in? You cited examples of BJP playing politics. I agreed. And then I gave you example of what Congress has been doing. You agree to that or disagree?
I like to debate specifics and not platitudes. And I am also very curious to understand, how has BJP violated unity? By criticizing the government? It is the fundamental right of every citizen in a democracy to criticize the government.
As I said, BJP deserves a lot of criticism, for example, on its conduct on the Malegaon investigations. (Btw, just a few weeks before that Muslim organizations and politicians like Amar Singh were playing the same kind of politics on the Batla House encounter.) But to blame it for everything is just simply nonsensical.
But, I am still willing to understand what ”fundamental premise” you don’t understand. I would appreciate moving beyond platitudes like”broadmindness” India is known for e.t.c. In fact, a detailed reading of Indian history would help you understand that the Hindu-Muslim angst predates BJP and things like partition. (To give one example, during the revolt of 1857, in Delhi, with British Army knocking on the door, Hindus and Muslims were fighting on cow slaughter!No wonder, they lost!!) Anyway, that is a discussion for another day and another thread, for now, help me understand what you don’t understand. And help me understand why BJP criticizing the government is politics but Congress demanding the head of Masood is not.
Rohit,
You stated that the Congress plays the Kandahar card on every occassion it gets. I do not agree that this is the case.
By organizing the Rath Yatra, which set the stage for the Babri Masjid demolition, BJP seriously eroded national unity. It has always supported the right wing organizations which have carried out atrocities against Christians ans Christian missionaries.
Coming out in defense of the Sadhvi and Purohit was the worst thing it could have done. People criticize Antulay just for demanding a probe while people like Advani get away with supporting all kinds of dubious characters.
OK. What exactly do you mean by “get away with”? That there’s no criticism of Advani? I can give you numerous links that criticize Advani and BJP.
And are you saying that Congress or other non-BJP parties do not “get away with” supporting dubious characters? Who supports Imam Bukhari? How about MIM and its dubious characters? How about promoting Miraz Khaled Noor’s resemblance to Osama to win Muslim votes? The same logic applies to these instances too – that people who support these dubious characters “get away with it”.
Or are you applying different standards for same actions done by different political parties based on which one you like/hate? It’s not as if non-BJP parties operate on a higher moral ground, or have better ethical standards than BJP. The former do all the same things that BJP does – divide people on communal and sectarian issues to win votes.
Dear Milind,
”
You stated that the Congress plays the Kandahar card on every occassion it gets. I do not agree that this is the case.”
So you say Congress plays the Kandhar card occasionally or never? I passed you a very specific link which showed that the Congress was trying to get Azhar only to show BJP in bad light! If this is not politics, then pray what is?”Again, BJP has indulged in politics, all right, but Congress is hardly the incarnation of morality on this earth!
”By organizing the Rath Yatra, which set the stage for the Babri Masjid demolition, BJP seriously eroded national unity. It has always supported the right wing organizations which have carried out atrocities against Christians ans Christian missionaries.”
Your specific accusation against BJP was that it destroyed national unity after the Mumbai attacks. Did it do so by organizing the rath yatra in 1992? Guide me because I am a little lost.
Again, if history is going to be your guide, let me go back a little. Have you ever bothered to read about who propped up Bhindarwale in Punjab? It was Mrs Gandhi and her diabolical son–just read Mark Tully’s book on the same topic. And then Congress organized the 1984 anti-sikhs riots. Have you forgotten that or you never bothered to read about it?
Now, as far as Ayodhya agitation is concerned, BJP was definitely the guilty party. In fact, I have called for (and I still stand by it) that the so-called temple should be demolished and the site handed back to Muslims. But sir, that does not explain what happens in 2008! And in case it does, then I draw your attention to what happened right before that. The Congress’ soft communalism–from listening to Muslim fundamentalists in Shah Bano case to opening the doors of the Babri Masjid as a balancing act to placate the Hindu Fundamentalists–it is the Congress party which precipitated the Ayodhya mess.
”Coming out in defense of the Sadhvi and Purohit was the worst thing it could have done. People criticize Antulay just for demanding a probe while people like Advani get away with supporting all kinds of dubious characters.”
Again, your reading of history is either selective or you are completely unaware. As I said, no defending BJP’s conduct on Malegaon, but what was happening right before it? Who was distributing money to terrorists killed in Batla house? Who was doubting the veracity of encounter? I am sorry to say some of folks on this very blog were dismissive of police version. And their sudden trust in what people say about Malegaon–only because it has targeted Hindu terrorists–is touching indeed! (In case you don’t realize it, that was sarcastic)
And Antulay sir, was hardly as innocent. He was a serving minister. If he doubted his own government, he should have resigned from it. And btw, conspiracy theories directly implicating the Indian government–including Congress party–for attacking its own people are freely circulating in Urdu press. Here is what Rashtriya Sahara says,
”Urdu daily claims Mossad, CIA behind Mumbai attacks
22 Dec 2008, 2300 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: In the season of conspiracy theories, there is another one that is gaining ground. A demand for the probe of Mossad and CIA’s role behind the Mumbai terror attacks has been made by Roznama, Rashtriya Sahara’s Urdu daily.
The demand comes at a time when minority affairs minister A R Antulay, supported by large sections of the Muslim community, has demanded a probe into the killing of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.
Roznama group editor Aziz Burney said the operation could not have succeeded without local support. “The terrorists came at least some time before 26/11. They created a hub in Nariman House. Neighbours have said that they noticed the presence of some strangers a few days before the attack,” said the well-known Urdu journalist in an effort to link the Mumbai attacks to a conspiracy involving Jews. Nariman House is owned by a Jewish sect. According to him, terrorists ordered large amounts of mutton and other provisions to last for several days.
He also added that it was impossible to stash such arms and ammunition in the Taj Hotel without having checked in for some time. “Why isn’t the guest list being checked. The terrorists would have received some support from within the hotel,” he said.
Linking the Mumbai terror attacks to 9/11, the editor said that on the day that New York was attacked, deaths of Jewish citizens was minimal because they had been forewarned and had taken off from work. “That was a plot hatched by Mossad and CIA and so is the Mumbai attacks,” he said.
Burney said the attacks were part of a larger conspiracy hatched in connivance with the Congress government, Leader of Opposition L K Advani, Mossad and Chota Rajan to disable the Malegaon investigations. He also named Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Rajnath Singh as involved in the conspiracy.”
There are plenty more floating around if you read Urdu press.
Anyway, the purpose of this exercise as far as I am concerned was not defense of BJP–I have more problems with the party than most people I know–but to point out that your absolute, deliberate and amazing inability to understand the criminal neglect of internal security by the current government and your insistence to this feel-good let’s all be united nonsense (who is saying we don’t need to be united!)as a counter to a strategic assault on India is laughable and dangerous. And it is reflective of the lack of understanding and due deliberation rampant among our educated. And needs to be called out. Which I have done.
I am sure you will answer wit more platitudes; I will let you have the last word since I cannot begin your education from the scratch.
Warm Regards
On the Editorial Page of “TheHindu”dated 25th December,2008, Bhadrakumar’s article styled,”U.S.draws
India into the Afghan War”,has appeared.Another article stating that Khyber Pass is under the control of Taliban has appeared on 26th.Further,supporting the stand of select editors of South Asia, the Delhi Union of Journalists and its Ethics Council have , on Thursday, cautioned against warmongering,whipping up frenzy and jingoism in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attackcoveage and connected developments in Pakistani and Indian media.S.K.Pande, DUJ President has said South Asia should be saved from the machinations of the arms bazaar and forces of belligerence!From the above ,it becomes clear that the Tamil proverb is quite correct and valid for all times and climes: “What is heard is not true, and what is seen is also not true!”Hence, we have to be highly circumspectful and not fall an easy prey to bigpower’s plot.
Rohit,
Thanks for a very detailed response. It indcates, at the outset, that you passionately feel about what you say. Given that, I am willing to overlook the angst and the barbs.
The BJP eroding national unity is not confined to 1992 or 2008, so don’t get lost there. It is a lingering melody.
The Mossad and CIA being behind the Mumbai attacks or Jews being behind 9/11 are theories that are so bizzare that they do not merit the attention of any serious student of sober history.
Come to the point of the Congress. I do NOT support them blindly. I disagree with the way they are softballing the saffron brigade. They need to come down very heavily on them, which they are not doing at all. I was not happy with the manner in which Sant Bhindranwale was handled either.
National unity is not a platitude. It is the only reality which will help us survive as a nation.
Amit,
I do not apply different standards for different political parties. However, discrimination is rampant in our system. SIMI gets banned while VHP struts around merrily with its people boasting to this day about how they destroyed the Babri Masjid
Mr.Kher,the attacks of 9/11 were masterminded by Bush.To you,like many others,it may look bizarre.If 9/11 merits more attention than due(9/11 of Chile found little mention in the world media),every one who raises any question as to how WTC came under attack without complicity of Bush administration is rubbished as conspiracy-theorist.This is the irony,our apathy and proneness to fall victim to propaganda.
Please read 9/11 and American Empire(2 volumes:VOL1 edited by David Ray Griffin and Peter Scott,VOL2 edited by Revin Barrett,John Cobb and Sandra Lubarsky).After reading this book kindly post your opinion on 9/11.
If we rely on media reports,we won’t be able to know the truth.
Mr Khan,
Your article is well written but keeps repeating the same old Indian Muslim ideology of supporting Pakistan, no matter what. You know in your heart that these perpetrators came from Pakistan and killed so many Indians, Hindus, Muslims without discrimination. But you still want to believe that it was our problem. Let me ask you as a true Indian, do you believe Pakistan is a terrorist state? Or do you believe Pakistan is friendly state to India? Please don’t try to divert these questions with BJP, RSS and others. You know as much as any other Indians that they do not have anything to do with this. In your article, you do not hesitate to point fingers at Hindus for any violence but give a benefit of doubt to Pakistan and fellow Muslims. You just make the case stronger everyday that if we can ever trust Indian Muslims. I still believe that there are patriotic and loyal Indian Muslims. But there are a lot more like you, who tend to weaken the stand for the good ones.
Milind,
Thanks for your response.
Editor,
Is there a particular reason why my name does not link to my blog? Or it is a policy on this blog not to let people link their names to their blogs?
Also, why are all my comments held in moderation? I have no complaints since all my comments have been in the past approved but I was wondering if this is website policy..
Thanks.
The Hindu-Muslim enemity and distrust for 150 years, aided and abetted by the British, has culminated into the birth of Pakistan in 1947 and more than a million people, mostly Muslims, lost their lives and properties during the partition. A significant population of around 80 million Muslims were left in the middle as it was impossible to divide the land any further. From day one, the loyalty of Indian Muslims has become questionable and they were seen as a threat and unwanted burden by the Hindu ruling class. The Muslim elites and Congress leadership built a nexus and formulated a policy based upon alienation, suppression, fear and poverty to mould them as their vote bank.
The political and religious machinery of both the nations have successfully exploited the wounds and bitter memories of partition as a tool to protect their sovereignity and territorial integrity.The Indo-Pak rivalry and the unfinished agenda of Kashmir has resulted in three wars and today, both the nations, stand as nuclear powers capable of eliminating each other in few hours. The multiethnic and multireligious diversity had insulated India from religious fundamentalism, despite depicting it as “Bharat Mata” refering to the Hindu Goddess “Durga”, while the integration of Islam in politics and governance had pushed Pakistan as a fundamentalist theocratic state which gets easily isolated in the comity of nations.
The recent Mumbai terror attack and the suspicion of Pakistan as a perpetrator is a natural extension of the post partition enemity and rivalry. Is it possible for India to use this opportunity to bring Pakistan down to it’s knees and ascertain it’s regional supremacy?. Unfortunately, “Allah and Army” of Pakistan is much more powerful than the military might and the geopolitical clout of India. The recent declaration of Taliban to join hands with Pakistan army in case of a Indo-Pak war is ample proof that the jingoistic noise of patriotism in the sub continent will get easily diluted in the thunder of “Naar-e-thakbir” and “Allah-o-Akbar” and can immediately replace “Jihadi” suicide bombers with nuclear bombs.
India can use it’s large peace-loving Muslim population to build permanent peace with Pakistan and can easily become a regional superpower by consensus instead of force and coercion.
“more than a million people, mostly Muslims, lost their lives and properties during the partition”
Incorrect. Equal number of Hindus were killed. The riots were started by Pakistanis and tit for tat response was given by Hindus.
“The multiethnic and multireligious diversity had insulated India from religious fundamentalism, despite depicting it as “Bharat Mata” refering to the Hindu Goddess “Durga””
Sorry, friend. 80% of Indians are hindus and this land is known for eons as Bharat.
“Unfortunately, “Allah and Army” of Pakistan is much more powerful than the military might and the geopolitical clout of India.”
By this statement, you have supported the view that Pakistanis’ jihad against India is based on religion.
“India can use it’s large peace-loving Muslim population to build permanent peace with Pakistan and can easily become a regional superpower by consensus instead of force and coercion”
Why should India strive for peace while Pakistan organizes terror attacks against its citizens? The army and ISI of pakistan, scoundrels that they are, will not stop from instigating attacks against India as they see Allah and army as synonymous.
Enough of this nonsense.
Where most nations score over India is in their being very firmly united as a nation.
India unfortunately does not display that kind of unity. People wanting unity and communal harmony are dismissed as “pseudo secularists”. That really does not help.
The only way out is for religion to be completely kept out of dealings of one community with another. Interact and cooperate well at the human level. No need to visit each others’ places of worship or participate in each others’ festivals if you want to do it in the hope of reciprocation or earning brownie points.
Rohit:
Sorry for the delayed response.
Thanks for pointing out the link issue. I use Google Chrome these days and didn’t notice this problem which is there in IE and Firefox. I will try to figure out a solution.
Yes, we do keep all comments in moderation before we approve them. It has been a policy since we started the blog.
Rohit – well argued. I have always requested (especially to Indian Muslims) to look and Babri Masjid beyond the day it was demolished. Even Gujarat. Besides a national history, we need to take into account the regional history as well.
As far as Israel-Palestine is concerned, when PLO and Hamas keep repeating that the issue is of ethnicity and political, and so it is, I do not understand why is it that Indian Muslims get so sensitive about it. It was Palestine who have time and again refused to settle the issue. Hamas is a millitant organisation who like Yasin Mallik and Geelani claim to have people’s support. I mean why should Kashmiri Pundits or Israelis talk to the same people who have killed them. Let Israel and Palestine alone solve their problem. The day Lebanon, Jordan and Syria walks away it will get better. Palestines not as worse in a situation as Kurds are. All these issues are of ethnicity. Its about Arab and non-Arab where the Arabs negates the existence of Jews as a tribe let alone a country. And they are bharkao-ed by Lebanon, Syria and Jordon. And it is always these Arab nations who starts war.
Coming back to India, this is no time for war. BJP has always wanted stronger terror law, but Congress kept saying that BJP will use it against Muslims. And Muslims want to believe it. Then why such laws now? Has Congress not refused any kind of enquiry in batla case. And those who question BJP favouring Pragya, kindly answer for the Mumbai ATSs obssession with Pragya that they overlooked the Mumbai attack, the reports by Gujarat govt and police and that of UP ATS as well.
In your hatred towards BJP please do not get used by Congress. In spite of the Mumbai attacks Muslims vote will go to Congress alone. And this is where we support BJP and not because we hate Muslims. There needs to be a balance.
Anyway HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Mohib,
Thanks for the clarification. Appreciated.
Hello,
I am not a by-birth Indian but my roots are from Merut and Agra. My parents lost every heritage during 1947. Now I would like to find anybody who know my family. If anybody willing to help me out then I would go further.
Basically, I am now in US but originally born in Karachi. I always feel that I am as an Urdy speaking person is not a very well fit there too. My traditions, and culture is from UP and I want to continue to follow, and make it more stronger.
Please let me know.
Regards,
Dr. Ali.
← Previous Comments
Comments on this entry are closed.