The morning after Indira Gandhi's assassination, I was at home, probably because school was closed on account of the state of mourning declared by the government. As I sat near a window in the quarter (one of four dwelling units in a 'block') which had been allotted to my father by his employer, like thousands of others who worked for the public sector unit, I could hear the wives of his colleague who lived next-door and the one who occupied the flat above ours converse among themselves. I do not recall the details, but do remember that there were a lot of unkind words said about the Sikh community, in general.
That evening, I stepped out on the front porch, upon hearing my mother's loud expression of anger, to see huge flames rising into the sky from the spot where the colony's Gurdwara had been. She ordered me inside and went off to ring up the fire brigade. We did not have a telephone connection at home and my father had gone to fetch the family's daily supply of milk.
The Sikh gentleman whose place my mother had gone to for making the telephone call told her that he had already contacted the fire-fighters and that she should go home, give my brother (who was a few days short of his first birth-day at that point of time) a teaspoon of Phenergan, so that he would sleep peacefully through the night, and turn out the lights after having locked all doors and drawn the curtains. She took his advice. Later, when my father returned, he told us about all that he had seen and heard during the day, as we sat in the kitchen, which was lit dimly by a small lamp that he installed there. The rest of the night passed uneventfully.
Early the next morning, my chacha (father's younger brother), who worked in the same manufacturing plant as my father and lived a few minutes of driving distance away, came to see us. He had seen the fire that engulfed the Gurdwara, the previous evening, and had been worried about our safety. As the day wore on, news came in that the home of another Sikh family, at about 10-15 minutes of walking distance from ours, had been attacked by the mob that burnt the Gurdwara and some members injured grievously. The police had been almost completely inactive throughout, so the threat to our lives seemed very real.
The non-Sikh tenants in the quarter diagonally opposite the one we had, offered to let my mother keep her jewellery and some other valuables with them until the violence subsided, for safety, which she accepted. Another such family in the adjacent block offered to let my father park his car in their garage, which he did. The next-door neighbours stored water in drums, whether to help us in case of a calamity or to safeguard themselves, I am not sure.
Since we did not have any weapons for self-defence, except kitchen knives, my mother (since she was not as easily recognisable as a Sikh as my father and I) brought in paving stones, one by one, from a nearby road-construction site, which were then stacked on the inside of the front door. My parents instructed me to pick up my brother and slip out through the back door to hide in the thick foliage behind the residence, with one hand cupped tightly over his mouth, while they would try to stop the hoodlums for as long as they could, in case of an attack.
No such eventuality arose, however, and the army staged a flag-march in the town on the following day, after which no violent incidents were reported. Like us, my chacha and his family, comprised of his wife and young son, also survived unscathed, even as thousands of other Sikhs perished in various parts of India.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
My Memories of 1984 (Part 1)
My brother was less than a year old and I was eight, in June 1984.
During the summer break at school, my mother, brother and I had gone to visit my maternal grandparents at Chandigarh, while my father staid back at Hardwar in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where he worked for a public sector unit. One fine day, curfew was imposed on the city with shoot-at-sight orders, for which no one really knew the reasons. People could not even procure essential supplies, since they risked being shot at if they ventured outside their houses. Fortunately, we had a relative in the local police force, who was able to help us during the few days that there was no relaxation in curfew.
Then, we heard on All India Radio that Sri Harmandir Saahib (Golden Temple) at Amritsar had been stormed by the Indian Army. A day or two later, the curfew was lifted and life went on, though not the same as before, as I was going to find out subsequently. When my father came to fetch us home towards the end of my holidays, a neighbour of my grandfather's, whose son was an army officer, offered to have a batman sent along with us, but my father refused. On the way, ours appeared to be the only car that was stopped and searched at several army and police check-points. They not only searched our luggage, but also made my mother open her hand-bag and the bag containing my brother's diapers, even as vehicles with non-Sikh occupants sped by, unchecked. Out of the handbag's contents, one of the policemen found a pen that could also be worn as a bracelet to be highly suspicious. He made my mother use it to write on a piece of paper, while he and his colleagues at that particular check-post stood at a safe distance, just in case there was to be an explosion.
From all that happened between then and the carnage that took place in the month of November, a couple of incidents stand out in my mind. In the first instance, I was walking alone along a street near where we lived, to run an errand for my mother, the details of which I do not recall now, when a man on a bicycle rode past and then turned around to shout, "Oye aatank-waadi!" (Terrorist!). The same epithet was hurled at me in the second one as well, by a boy a little older than myself, while he and I played with toy guns in a park in the neighbourhood.
During the summer break at school, my mother, brother and I had gone to visit my maternal grandparents at Chandigarh, while my father staid back at Hardwar in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where he worked for a public sector unit. One fine day, curfew was imposed on the city with shoot-at-sight orders, for which no one really knew the reasons. People could not even procure essential supplies, since they risked being shot at if they ventured outside their houses. Fortunately, we had a relative in the local police force, who was able to help us during the few days that there was no relaxation in curfew.
Then, we heard on All India Radio that Sri Harmandir Saahib (Golden Temple) at Amritsar had been stormed by the Indian Army. A day or two later, the curfew was lifted and life went on, though not the same as before, as I was going to find out subsequently. When my father came to fetch us home towards the end of my holidays, a neighbour of my grandfather's, whose son was an army officer, offered to have a batman sent along with us, but my father refused. On the way, ours appeared to be the only car that was stopped and searched at several army and police check-points. They not only searched our luggage, but also made my mother open her hand-bag and the bag containing my brother's diapers, even as vehicles with non-Sikh occupants sped by, unchecked. Out of the handbag's contents, one of the policemen found a pen that could also be worn as a bracelet to be highly suspicious. He made my mother use it to write on a piece of paper, while he and his colleagues at that particular check-post stood at a safe distance, just in case there was to be an explosion.
From all that happened between then and the carnage that took place in the month of November, a couple of incidents stand out in my mind. In the first instance, I was walking alone along a street near where we lived, to run an errand for my mother, the details of which I do not recall now, when a man on a bicycle rode past and then turned around to shout, "Oye aatank-waadi!" (Terrorist!). The same epithet was hurled at me in the second one as well, by a boy a little older than myself, while he and I played with toy guns in a park in the neighbourhood.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Remembering Lahore of Yore
Khaled Ahmed, a Pakistani journalist, has written recently in the Indian Express about Lahore, as it was known to previous generations and the way in which recent events indicate its transformation into a very different city.
The portions that I found particularly to be of interest include:
The portions that I found particularly to be of interest include:
"Lahore was known as a tolerant city with a big heart that set cultural trends. It published all the books and magazines that mattered in India and Burma. Jats and Rajputs belonging to Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities formed cross-communal “unionist” governments that disallowed entry into the province to both Congress and the Muslim League."and
"The 1941 census had recorded 700,000 people in the city of Lahore out of which 240,000 were Hindus and Sikhs, who owned much of the city’s wealth. There were entire areas in the city, like Chuna Mandi and Shah Alami, which were non-Muslim."
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Rock On, Baba Bulleh Shah!
Baba Bulleh Shah, the Sufi mystic, was always a bit of an iconoclast. That is one of the reasons because of which I enjoy reading and listening to his poetry. Unconventional as he was, I am sure he also would approve of the potent combination formed by his poetry and rock music. The following tracks range from rock to rock-fusion, I believe, in terms of genre.
Title: Aleph
Album: Parvaaz
Artiste(s): Junoon
Title: Bulleya
Album: Parvaaz
Artiste(s): Junoon
Title: Bulla Ki Jaana Maen Kaun
Album: Rabbi
Artitste(s): Rabbi Shergill
Title: Bandeya
Album: OST Khuda Ke Liye
Artiste(s): Khawar Javed
Title: Aleph
Album: Parvaaz
Artiste(s): Junoon
Title: Bulleya
Album: Parvaaz
Artiste(s): Junoon
Title: Bulla Ki Jaana Maen Kaun
Album: Rabbi
Artitste(s): Rabbi Shergill
Title: Bandeya
Album: OST Khuda Ke Liye
Artiste(s): Khawar Javed
Monday, March 16, 2009
A Few Conclusions Based On The Mumbai Audio Intercepts
A few days ago, a television news-channel aired excerpts from audio intercepts of telephonic conversations amongst those who attacked Mumbai and their mentors. Based on the portions that I managed to listen to, the following appear to be quite plausible conclusions, if the recordings are presumed to be authentic, apart from the most obvious one i.e. the entire operation was micro-managed from the 'war-room':
1. The attackers were well-trained in the use of fire-arms and other hardware required to achieve their objectives, including electronic equipment, but probably had little combat experience, before they were sent into Mumbai. Also, they had not been put through much training for close-quarter combat in an urban environment, it seems.
Those who laid siege to Nariman House, for instance, expressed their inability to decide upon the appropriate defensive positions to be taken near a staircase and sought guidance from their mentors, after commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) landed on the roof of the building and began to make their way downwards. Similarly, those who were at the Taj and the Trident required advice on how to take position in the hotels' rooms and when to hurl grenades upon security forces' personnel.
It had appeared to me earlier that the attackers must have been trained as well or perhaps even better than the Indian commandos, since such a small number of them had managed, for so long, to hold off commando forces that are supposed to be India's best. However, as is clear from the audio intercepts, it was not the case and they managed to pull off that feat, to a large extent, on account of live assistance (available round the clock through telephone) from experts.
2. In light of the above, it may be fair to conclude that had communication between the attackers and their handlers been jammed, the terrorists may have been overpowered much sooner than they actually were and, possibly, at a lower cost in terms of loss of life and property. On the other hand, it could be argued that listening in could keep the security forces apprised of the terrorists' activities as well as plans and, therefore, be the more effective approach. That the latter was adopted is now part of history. Whether it was utilised to save the lives of as many non-combatants as possible is something I am not very sure of, however.
During a conversation, after negotiations for meeting some of the terrorists' demands in return for the release of two Israeli women taken hostage in Nariman House had come to naught, a handler ordered them to shoot the women dead. The one who took the call told his superior though that his partner had gone off to sleep, since he was too tired. So, together they decided to postpone the killings for half an hour, when the mentor would call his wards again.
It is difficult to be absolutely certain about whether the women's lives could have been saved if the NSG commandos had stormed the building at that point of time, but that was the only chance they had. Nothing of the sort happened, however, and the security forces continued to listen in, as both women were done to death during the next telephone call, a good 30-40 minutes later. They stormed the building only the next morning, soon after they had heard the terrorists' advisers tell them to move out and attack the security forces in a final and, possibly, suicidal assault, if the besiegers did not enter Nariman House within a certain period of time.
From the aforementioned sequence of events, one may reasonably conclude that whoever was making decisions on behalf of the security forces that day found the hostages' lives to be far less valuable than the opportunity to capture the terrorists alive and to minimise the casualties among the commandos, on account of the terrorists becoming hungrier and thirstier as their food and water supplies ran out and, therefore, their fighting abilities being diminished.
3. If the tapes are to be believed, the television coverage of the attacks did prove to be of assistance to the terrorists, particularly in the case of those besieged at Nariman House. With the help of the visuals provided by various news-channels, those at the command centre informed the foot soldiers that the NSG's men had taken up position on some of the surrounding structures and included snipers with their rifles aimed at the windows of the building, which should be kept away from for that reason. They conveyed to the men that security force personnel were finding it difficult to find a place in the narrow lanes that could provide sufficient cover for them to take up position at and was close enough to the building, in order for the final assault to be launched. Among other vital pieces of information that were passed on was an approximation of the number of commandos dropped on to the roof of Nariman House by helicopter, at a later stage.
The continuous coverage by electronic news-media was also utilised by the controllers to boost the morale of their boys. Details of the number of policemen and soldiers killed, along with their ranks, proved useful in this respect, in addition to the expressions of fear and anxiety by prominent personalities in front of television cameras.
4. Any one who listened to the conversations recorded from Nariman House would know that these were in the Urdu language, whereas those recorded from the Trident were in Punjabi and those from the Taj were partially in Urdu and partially in Punjabi. The Urdu speakers among the mentors sounded, at least to me, like they had a distinct Punjabi accent, however.
Furthermore, it seems to me that some of the mentors had been to schools and/or colleges where the medium of instruction was English, because just like I often tend to do, whenever they were at loss for the appropriate word in Urdu/Punjabi, they made use of an English word instead. Those who have been to educational institutions where the medium of instruction is a regional language also use English words while speaking in the vernacular, but such usage generally tends to sound deliberate.
1. The attackers were well-trained in the use of fire-arms and other hardware required to achieve their objectives, including electronic equipment, but probably had little combat experience, before they were sent into Mumbai. Also, they had not been put through much training for close-quarter combat in an urban environment, it seems.
Those who laid siege to Nariman House, for instance, expressed their inability to decide upon the appropriate defensive positions to be taken near a staircase and sought guidance from their mentors, after commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) landed on the roof of the building and began to make their way downwards. Similarly, those who were at the Taj and the Trident required advice on how to take position in the hotels' rooms and when to hurl grenades upon security forces' personnel.
It had appeared to me earlier that the attackers must have been trained as well or perhaps even better than the Indian commandos, since such a small number of them had managed, for so long, to hold off commando forces that are supposed to be India's best. However, as is clear from the audio intercepts, it was not the case and they managed to pull off that feat, to a large extent, on account of live assistance (available round the clock through telephone) from experts.
2. In light of the above, it may be fair to conclude that had communication between the attackers and their handlers been jammed, the terrorists may have been overpowered much sooner than they actually were and, possibly, at a lower cost in terms of loss of life and property. On the other hand, it could be argued that listening in could keep the security forces apprised of the terrorists' activities as well as plans and, therefore, be the more effective approach. That the latter was adopted is now part of history. Whether it was utilised to save the lives of as many non-combatants as possible is something I am not very sure of, however.
During a conversation, after negotiations for meeting some of the terrorists' demands in return for the release of two Israeli women taken hostage in Nariman House had come to naught, a handler ordered them to shoot the women dead. The one who took the call told his superior though that his partner had gone off to sleep, since he was too tired. So, together they decided to postpone the killings for half an hour, when the mentor would call his wards again.
It is difficult to be absolutely certain about whether the women's lives could have been saved if the NSG commandos had stormed the building at that point of time, but that was the only chance they had. Nothing of the sort happened, however, and the security forces continued to listen in, as both women were done to death during the next telephone call, a good 30-40 minutes later. They stormed the building only the next morning, soon after they had heard the terrorists' advisers tell them to move out and attack the security forces in a final and, possibly, suicidal assault, if the besiegers did not enter Nariman House within a certain period of time.
From the aforementioned sequence of events, one may reasonably conclude that whoever was making decisions on behalf of the security forces that day found the hostages' lives to be far less valuable than the opportunity to capture the terrorists alive and to minimise the casualties among the commandos, on account of the terrorists becoming hungrier and thirstier as their food and water supplies ran out and, therefore, their fighting abilities being diminished.
3. If the tapes are to be believed, the television coverage of the attacks did prove to be of assistance to the terrorists, particularly in the case of those besieged at Nariman House. With the help of the visuals provided by various news-channels, those at the command centre informed the foot soldiers that the NSG's men had taken up position on some of the surrounding structures and included snipers with their rifles aimed at the windows of the building, which should be kept away from for that reason. They conveyed to the men that security force personnel were finding it difficult to find a place in the narrow lanes that could provide sufficient cover for them to take up position at and was close enough to the building, in order for the final assault to be launched. Among other vital pieces of information that were passed on was an approximation of the number of commandos dropped on to the roof of Nariman House by helicopter, at a later stage.
The continuous coverage by electronic news-media was also utilised by the controllers to boost the morale of their boys. Details of the number of policemen and soldiers killed, along with their ranks, proved useful in this respect, in addition to the expressions of fear and anxiety by prominent personalities in front of television cameras.
4. Any one who listened to the conversations recorded from Nariman House would know that these were in the Urdu language, whereas those recorded from the Trident were in Punjabi and those from the Taj were partially in Urdu and partially in Punjabi. The Urdu speakers among the mentors sounded, at least to me, like they had a distinct Punjabi accent, however.
Furthermore, it seems to me that some of the mentors had been to schools and/or colleges where the medium of instruction was English, because just like I often tend to do, whenever they were at loss for the appropriate word in Urdu/Punjabi, they made use of an English word instead. Those who have been to educational institutions where the medium of instruction is a regional language also use English words while speaking in the vernacular, but such usage generally tends to sound deliberate.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Quote of the Year
"You can't make corruption an issue for deciding the political programme and understanding between political parties. (In this manner) we can't have an understanding with any political party."- Prakash Karat, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Friday, February 06, 2009
Ashok Chakra awarded despite controversy
At least one of the winners of the Ashok Chakra, the highest peace-time gallantry award in India, this year, has been granted the honour despite controversy surrounding the supposed act of valour.
In view of the above, the hope for an impartial enquiry being conducted into the incident has receded further. There appears to be a strong possibility that those who decided upon the list of awards might also have arranged for reliable material evidence like autopsy (post mortem examination) reports, which could have proved that there hardly was any bravery involved, to vanish.
The main-stream news-media have mostly remained silent on the issue.
In view of the above, the hope for an impartial enquiry being conducted into the incident has receded further. There appears to be a strong possibility that those who decided upon the list of awards might also have arranged for reliable material evidence like autopsy (post mortem examination) reports, which could have proved that there hardly was any bravery involved, to vanish.
The main-stream news-media have mostly remained silent on the issue.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
A Thought for Republic Day
"Kya banaane aaye thhe aur kya banaa baithhe
KahiN Mandir, kahiN Masjid, kahiN Gurdwara, kahiN Girja banaa baithhe
Hum se toh achhi hai zaat parindoN ki
Kabhi Mandir, kabhi Masjid, kabhi Gurdwaare toh kabhi Girje pe ja baithhe"
(It would be difficult for me to attempt a translation, with my limited talents, without some of the impact being lost. However, it can be safely stated that the poet laments upon the rigid manner in which humanity has been divided on the basis of religion and seeks to compare humans against birds, which visit places of worship of different religious faiths without discrimination and which, therefore, may be considered to regard all religions as equal.)
KahiN Mandir, kahiN Masjid, kahiN Gurdwara, kahiN Girja banaa baithhe
Hum se toh achhi hai zaat parindoN ki
Kabhi Mandir, kabhi Masjid, kabhi Gurdwaare toh kabhi Girje pe ja baithhe"
(It would be difficult for me to attempt a translation, with my limited talents, without some of the impact being lost. However, it can be safely stated that the poet laments upon the rigid manner in which humanity has been divided on the basis of religion and seeks to compare humans against birds, which visit places of worship of different religious faiths without discrimination and which, therefore, may be considered to regard all religions as equal.)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday, December 29, 2008
Defenceless Victims of Reckless Driving
My mother tried to coax the little one to drink some milk, but he would not come anywhere near her. She chased him for a while, but he ran into the park across the road. So, she returned to her chair in the front-yard, where she and I were sunning ourselves that afternoon. A few minutes later I saw him running along the inside of the boundary-wall on the farther side of the park. A little while after that my mother noticed that he stood at the park's corner and was poised to cross the road. We resumed our conversation about something else and then heard him squeal briefly, once or twice, like he would when his brother bit his ear too hard, while playing. We did not turn around to see what might have made him do that.
"Woh pilla aap ka hai?" (Is that puppy yours?), said a woman's voice that broke the subsequent silence. She had been pruning some of the bushes in the park. The little brown dog's body lay sprawled in the middle of the road. The driver of the vehicle that crushed him had either not bothered to apply the brakes at all or not hard enough, since we heard nothing unusual.
The pup was one of three born to a stray bitch nearly a month ago. She was killed in a similar manner, a few days after giving birth, leaving her offspring in a hole in the ground, in the park mentioned earlier. My mother persuaded a couple of neighbours to take turns with her, to feed the young ones, with milk at first and then with biscuits or bread dissolved in milk. My friend Zakhmi guarded the orphans at night, coiled up on a mound of dirt next to their sleeping-quarters. They largely remained confined to the park until very recently.
Over the past few years, I have seen many such dogs, mostly young pups, mowed down by speeding cars around where I live. The drivers responsible for the deaths have little to fear in terms of complaints being lodged with the police (I am not sure if there even is a law in this country, regarding that.) or crowds gathering to beat them up and damage their vehicles or the news-media reporting upon their deeds, as might be expected if the victims happen to be human. Their own consciences appear to be the least of their problems, in any case.
The only plausible solution, it appears at the moment, is to construct speed-breakers on the road, but I do not have the resources and other local residents do not seem concerned. Government officials do not seem to have the issue anywhere on their list of priorities.
It would obviously be much better though, if people would drive more carefully and spare the lives of defenceless creatures that obviously can not be taught road-sense in the way that humans can be. I also hope that the readers of this blog-post will help spread the word around, since none of the animal-rights organisations in India seem to focus on prevention or to campaign for punitive legislation, even though some provide ambulance services for injured animals.
"Woh pilla aap ka hai?" (Is that puppy yours?), said a woman's voice that broke the subsequent silence. She had been pruning some of the bushes in the park. The little brown dog's body lay sprawled in the middle of the road. The driver of the vehicle that crushed him had either not bothered to apply the brakes at all or not hard enough, since we heard nothing unusual.
The pup was one of three born to a stray bitch nearly a month ago. She was killed in a similar manner, a few days after giving birth, leaving her offspring in a hole in the ground, in the park mentioned earlier. My mother persuaded a couple of neighbours to take turns with her, to feed the young ones, with milk at first and then with biscuits or bread dissolved in milk. My friend Zakhmi guarded the orphans at night, coiled up on a mound of dirt next to their sleeping-quarters. They largely remained confined to the park until very recently.
Over the past few years, I have seen many such dogs, mostly young pups, mowed down by speeding cars around where I live. The drivers responsible for the deaths have little to fear in terms of complaints being lodged with the police (I am not sure if there even is a law in this country, regarding that.) or crowds gathering to beat them up and damage their vehicles or the news-media reporting upon their deeds, as might be expected if the victims happen to be human. Their own consciences appear to be the least of their problems, in any case.
The only plausible solution, it appears at the moment, is to construct speed-breakers on the road, but I do not have the resources and other local residents do not seem concerned. Government officials do not seem to have the issue anywhere on their list of priorities.
It would obviously be much better though, if people would drive more carefully and spare the lives of defenceless creatures that obviously can not be taught road-sense in the way that humans can be. I also hope that the readers of this blog-post will help spread the word around, since none of the animal-rights organisations in India seem to focus on prevention or to campaign for punitive legislation, even though some provide ambulance services for injured animals.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A Stark Contrast
This is about two events, A and B, which took place in a country called India. Actually, both comprised a series of events, but these have been considered as single entities here, for the purpose of comparison. A large number of innocent people were killed in both these violent occurrences. That, however, is where the similarity ends. These were different in ways that include the following :
1. While A occurred only a few days ago, B occurred about 24 years ago.
2. While less than 200 people were killed in A, more than 4000 were killed in B.
3. While most of the victims in A were shot dead, in B some were hacked to death, while others were burnt alive after their hands having been tied behind their backs, their bodies drenched with kerosene and burning tyres put around their necks. The women-folk amongst the victims were, in the latter case, forced to watch the male members of their families being killed, including young children, after which they were raped and then killed. Some of the youngest victims were tossed in the air, to be killed by falling on to sharp-edged weapons like spears.
4. The victims of event A mostly included those present in the hotels and the railway station under attack, but during event B, people were dragged out of their own homes to be killed, after which their houses were set on fire.
5. While the police force fought hard against the killers in A, in event B it was either inactive or, in some cases, even assisted the killers by blocking the victims' possible escape routes.
6. While the army was called in within hours of the attacks having begun in the case of event A, it was called in after several days of the commencement of event B, in order to give the killers a free run for that long, even though it acted in an unbiased manner, once it was sent into the affected areas. It is a different matter, however, that there was not much left for it to do.
7. Whereas 9 out of the 10 killers in the case of event A have been shot dead and the remaining one arrested, nearly all of the killers in the case of event B are still at large.
8. While the alleged masterminds of A are said to be located outside India and are sought to be captured at the earliest, even if that involves launching attacks on a neighbouring country, those for B are all present within India and yet none of them have been brought to justice over the past 24 years. As a matter of fact, some of them have been legislators and even cabinet ministers in the government of India during that period.
Some of them, ironically, are protected by the men of the same elite commando force i.e. National Security Guards (NSG), which was sent in to fight against the attackers in A. The political party that these alleged masterminds belong to, won a huge electoral victory in the general election that followed event B, almost as if it was being rewarded by large sections of India's population for its 'good work' that was widely perceived to have included the organisation of the massacre.
9. Following event A, the prime minister of India declared that such events are a threat to pluralistic societies, while the (then) prime minister of India said following event B, "Jab baRaa peyR girtaa hai toh dharti toh hilti hi hai." (When a large tree falls, the earth is bound to shake.).
10. Following event A, there has been a large-scale outpouring of grief by various sections of the general public in the form of demonstrations replete with banners, black arm-bands and plenty of slogan-shouting, in addition to candle-light marches, chain-letters circulated through email, etc., while very little of anything like that was in evidence after event B or for the 24 years that have gone by since then.
11. Whereas politicians are being criticised and even being abused following event A, the politicians perceived as being largely responsible for event B were able to build up a huge fan-following, on account of which, as mentioned above, they were able to win general elections with a huge margin of victory, soon after the violence.
12. One of the most prominent slogans that have been raised after event A is, "Enough (of terrorism) is enough!", but since there have hardly been any protests after event B, over the past 24 years, except by some of those belonging to the same community as the victims, there is no question of any such slogans having been raised. However, soon before event B, one of the slogans raised was, "Khoon ka badlaa khoon se laiNgay!" (We shall avenge blood with blood (of innocents who had nothing to do with the incident sought to be 'avenged')!)
Incidentally, if event A is substituted by any other instance of terrorist violence in India and event B is substituted by any other instance of communal riots in the country, the contrast is likely to remain almost as stark.
The foremost question that arises in my mind, in view of all of the above facts, can be summed up in one word i.e. why?
Update: March 7, 2009. Apparently, I am not the only one who has noticed the contrast. The following is an excerpt from a letter published on page 14 of the March 2009 issue of the Indian edition of the Reader's Digest:
1. While A occurred only a few days ago, B occurred about 24 years ago.
2. While less than 200 people were killed in A, more than 4000 were killed in B.
3. While most of the victims in A were shot dead, in B some were hacked to death, while others were burnt alive after their hands having been tied behind their backs, their bodies drenched with kerosene and burning tyres put around their necks. The women-folk amongst the victims were, in the latter case, forced to watch the male members of their families being killed, including young children, after which they were raped and then killed. Some of the youngest victims were tossed in the air, to be killed by falling on to sharp-edged weapons like spears.
4. The victims of event A mostly included those present in the hotels and the railway station under attack, but during event B, people were dragged out of their own homes to be killed, after which their houses were set on fire.
5. While the police force fought hard against the killers in A, in event B it was either inactive or, in some cases, even assisted the killers by blocking the victims' possible escape routes.
6. While the army was called in within hours of the attacks having begun in the case of event A, it was called in after several days of the commencement of event B, in order to give the killers a free run for that long, even though it acted in an unbiased manner, once it was sent into the affected areas. It is a different matter, however, that there was not much left for it to do.
7. Whereas 9 out of the 10 killers in the case of event A have been shot dead and the remaining one arrested, nearly all of the killers in the case of event B are still at large.
8. While the alleged masterminds of A are said to be located outside India and are sought to be captured at the earliest, even if that involves launching attacks on a neighbouring country, those for B are all present within India and yet none of them have been brought to justice over the past 24 years. As a matter of fact, some of them have been legislators and even cabinet ministers in the government of India during that period.
Some of them, ironically, are protected by the men of the same elite commando force i.e. National Security Guards (NSG), which was sent in to fight against the attackers in A. The political party that these alleged masterminds belong to, won a huge electoral victory in the general election that followed event B, almost as if it was being rewarded by large sections of India's population for its 'good work' that was widely perceived to have included the organisation of the massacre.
9. Following event A, the prime minister of India declared that such events are a threat to pluralistic societies, while the (then) prime minister of India said following event B, "Jab baRaa peyR girtaa hai toh dharti toh hilti hi hai." (When a large tree falls, the earth is bound to shake.).
10. Following event A, there has been a large-scale outpouring of grief by various sections of the general public in the form of demonstrations replete with banners, black arm-bands and plenty of slogan-shouting, in addition to candle-light marches, chain-letters circulated through email, etc., while very little of anything like that was in evidence after event B or for the 24 years that have gone by since then.
11. Whereas politicians are being criticised and even being abused following event A, the politicians perceived as being largely responsible for event B were able to build up a huge fan-following, on account of which, as mentioned above, they were able to win general elections with a huge margin of victory, soon after the violence.
12. One of the most prominent slogans that have been raised after event A is, "Enough (of terrorism) is enough!", but since there have hardly been any protests after event B, over the past 24 years, except by some of those belonging to the same community as the victims, there is no question of any such slogans having been raised. However, soon before event B, one of the slogans raised was, "Khoon ka badlaa khoon se laiNgay!" (We shall avenge blood with blood (of innocents who had nothing to do with the incident sought to be 'avenged')!)
Incidentally, if event A is substituted by any other instance of terrorist violence in India and event B is substituted by any other instance of communal riots in the country, the contrast is likely to remain almost as stark.
The foremost question that arises in my mind, in view of all of the above facts, can be summed up in one word i.e. why?
Update: March 7, 2009. Apparently, I am not the only one who has noticed the contrast. The following is an excerpt from a letter published on page 14 of the March 2009 issue of the Indian edition of the Reader's Digest:
"This country is known for its double standards. Orissa was targeted by our "in-house" terrorists and no one really cared about the innocent civilians who were burnt alive or about a nun who was gang raped in front of mute policemen. But when it comes to Mumbai being terrorized, every politician is playing his part and the whole nation is voicing its opinion."
Monday, December 01, 2008
Prima Facie: A Few Observations on the Mumbai Attacks
In view of the recent events in Mumbai, in particular, and India, in general, after I put aside the feelings of pride based on the valour displayed by the officers and men of the Mumbai Police and Fire Brigade Departments and those of the Indian Army, Navy and various special forces, the staff of the Taj Mahal and Oberoi-Trident hotels, in addition to those of grief on account of the loss of so many innocent lives, I have the following observations to make:
1. Hemant Karkare, who was the chief of Mumbai police's anti-terrorism squad (ATS), died in the course of the attacks, having been shot thrice in the chest, even though he was wearing a bullet-proof jacket. It leads me to wonder whether those who were responsible for procuring the jacket decided that Mumbai's policemen did not need a jacket that could stop bullets fired from an AK-47 or whether they, in fact, accepted bribes to procure jackets that were not up to the requisite quality standards.
2. A contingent of the National Security Guards (NSG) was flown in from New Delhi to tackle the gunmen. Their flight took off from New Delhi at about 1:15 a.m. on November 27, even as the attacks had begun at about 9:15 p.m. on the previous day. They are reported to have gone into action at only about 6:00 a.m. on November 27.
The Marine Commando Corps (MARCOS) of the Indian Navy, stationed at Mumbai itself, was ultimately called into action, but that too happened several hours after the NSG contingent had become airborne.
The NSG's men are supposed to be able to get ready to board an aircraft with all their equipment within 30-45 minutes, but in this case it took much longer as an aeroplane had to be arranged for first. Later, apart from those who were dropped by helicopter on to Nariman House's roof, the rest had to be transported there by buses requisitioned from the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST).
Apparently, no one had ever considered before that action by an elite commando force may be required in a city like Mumbai, in case of a terrorist attack, at any point of time and planned for it at all.
3. The press-conference conducted by a section of MARCOS that took part in the operations made two things very clear. They were not even provided with a copy of the building-plan of the Taj Mahal hotel, before they were sent in and secondly and even more importantly, some essential equipment that they did not have included night-vision devices.
The terrorists were able to strike at will, more or less, since they knew more about the building-plan than the commandos. It may be worth noting here that if a skilled set of commandos are provided with the layout of a building that they are about to storm, even a few minutes before they move in, a huge difference can be made in the effectiveness of their operations and, therefore, help them save more lives.
Since the MARCOS did not have night-vision devices, the terrorists could escape when they encountered the commandos in the dark and cause much greater damage later. It also led to two of the commandos suffering from serious injuries in that particular fire-fight.
The building-plan could have been provided to the MARCOS by Mumbai's civil authorities, if not the hotel's management.
As far as the procurement of essential equipment is concerned, perhaps the chiefs of the three defence services could exhibit the same kind of unity and strength of will while asking for it, as they did while trying to get a salary raise equivalent to bureaucrats and policemen for themselves and the soldiers they command. The bureaucrats and politicians in the Ministry of Defence might then let them have it.
4. The NSG not only lost one of its men during its operations at Nariman House, but also failed to save the lives of five people that the two gunmen holed up there had taken hostage, even though it managed to kill the gunmen. Another commando of the NSG was killed during its operations at the Taj Mahal hotel. Although I am not fully competent to comment on this, but I do wonder whether the NSG's skills are getting rusty owing to a lack of time and resources to practice for such situations, as a large number of its men have been employed as personal security guards for the country's top politicians.
Incidentally, some of the politicians protected by the NSG have been widely accused of embezzlement of crores of rupees, nepotism, incitement of communal riots, deliberate inaction during widespread communal violence (in which thousands of innocent people were robbed, raped and/or killed in a brutal manner and their properties set on fire) while serving in positions of power, among other such grave charges.
5*. Unlike the MARCOS, who were very careful about protecting their identities, many of the NSG's men did not wear the balaclava helmets issued to them in a proper manner, while they were in action at the hotels and at Nariman House. As a result, the faces of many of them were revealed to television cameras. A number of them spoke briefly to television news-channels after the encounter at Nariman House was over, with their faces uncovered. An injured NSG commando admitted to a hospital in Mumbai has been interviewed by television news-channels including BBC World Service and NDTV 24x7. Although they do not seem to have realised this, such actions could expose the men, while they are off-duty, as well as their families to retribution by terrorist organisations.
Perhaps it is time for their senior officers to remind them to be more disciplined, like the MARCOS.
6*. The interviews with the injured NSG commando made it clear that the NSG's men also did not have night-vision devices, just like the MARCOS.
7. When Lieutenant General N. Thamburaj, chief of the Indian Army's Southern Command, held a press conference on the morning of November 28, he mentioned that the NSG had suffered casualties, but he would rather not say whether these had been fatal or non-fatal, since that could, according to him, affect the remaining terrorists' frame of mind. I knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth that the NSG had suffered fatal casualties i.e. some of its men had lost their lives. If I could make that out, obviously the terrorists also could, if they managed to listen in to the Lieutenant General's statement.
8. The electronic news-media in India, it appears, has still not come of age. While the BBC World News channel called in intelligence analysts and anti-terrorism experts to discuss all that was unfolding, Indian television channels interviewed actors and directors from the Hindi film industry, in addition to members of the general public, to discuss the state of affairs in Mumbai, besides making an attempt towards sensationalising minor discoveries, even as bullets flew and their reporters stood outside the buildings under attack, counting the number of gun-shots and explosions that they could hear. Also, news from all other parts of the country and from the rest of the world was almost completely taken off air for the duration of the attacks, which was nearly three days.
9. I think I will not be surprised at all if it is found that the terrorists and their arsenal came in through a regular route for smuggling via sea, after the usual amounts of bribes having been paid to the staff of relevant government agencies that were on duty.
10. Not so long ago, investigations by the Hemant Karkare-led ATS revealed that recent bomb-blasts in the town of Malegaon, in Maharashtra, which led to the loss of many innocent lives, were planned and executed by certain Hindu right-wing organisations and subsequent arrests included Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and a serving officer of the Indian Army i.e. Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit.
Initially, when the Sadhvi was sought to be linked to senior leaders of the principal opposition party in the lower house of parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on account of information dug-up by the news-media, it sought to distance itself from her. However, later on, when it became known that no substantial material evidence had so far been gathered against her by the ATS, the party's president, Mr. Rajnath Singh, and its prime ministerial candidate, Mr. L. K. Advani, began to defend her in a big way through public statements.
More recently, however, Mr. Karkare and his men were reported to have obtained clinching evidence in the form of video and audio recordings of meetings in which the Sadhvi, the Lieutenant Colonel and their cohorts were seen and heard planning the bomb-blasts. These were, apparently, found on the laptop computer of one of their co-accused. It was also reported that the ATS meant to make the entire plot public, after tying up a few loose ends, very shortly. If that had happened, Mr. Advani, Mr. Singh and their party-men might have found themselves at a loss for words with respect to this issue, especially while facing the electorate in the upcoming general elections.
Now that Mr. Karkare is dead, though, no one really knows as to what is likely to become of the investigation. The new chief of the ATS may not be as upright an officer and may not pursue the matter as vigorously. In any case, the accused in the Malegaon bomb-blast case and the BJP have already benefitted from the Mumbai attacks, in this respect, since the attention of the news-media has been diverted completely.
So, ultimately, the Islamist militants who attacked Mumbai appear to have come to rescue of the Hindus accused of terrorism in Malegaon. It seems as if there is greater solidarity amongst the Hindus and Muslims who are terrorists than those who are the common citizens of India. As a matter of fact, India might not have been a victim of terrorism at all if there had been greater solidarity between the majority community i.e. Hindus and the various minorities like Muslims, Sikhs and Christians.
I have seen in this country something that can only be termed as 'selective grief'. Whereas there is a huge outpouring of grief and rightly so, from all over the country, when nearly 200 people are killed in a terrorist attack, it is also true that there are large numbers of people who celebrate the killings of 2000 or 4000 people during communal riots by rewarding politicians widely perceived as having organised and presided over these with huge electoral victories, as happened in the elections for the Gujarat state legislature in 2002 and for the Lok Sabha in 1984, following anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh riots, respectively. Many of these politicians, as pointed out earlier, are now protected by personnel of the same NSG that battled against terrorists in Mumbai over the past few days. It is almost needless to add that these powerful men and women have been able to successfully prevent or stall legal proceedings against the majority of those responsible for communal violence or, when proceedings have been completed, to have them acquitted of most of the charges. Factors like these help provide fresh local recruits to terrorist organisations, in the form of actual combatants as well as those who provide logistical support.
*Updates to original blog-post, on December 04, 2008.
1. Hemant Karkare, who was the chief of Mumbai police's anti-terrorism squad (ATS), died in the course of the attacks, having been shot thrice in the chest, even though he was wearing a bullet-proof jacket. It leads me to wonder whether those who were responsible for procuring the jacket decided that Mumbai's policemen did not need a jacket that could stop bullets fired from an AK-47 or whether they, in fact, accepted bribes to procure jackets that were not up to the requisite quality standards.
2. A contingent of the National Security Guards (NSG) was flown in from New Delhi to tackle the gunmen. Their flight took off from New Delhi at about 1:15 a.m. on November 27, even as the attacks had begun at about 9:15 p.m. on the previous day. They are reported to have gone into action at only about 6:00 a.m. on November 27.
The Marine Commando Corps (MARCOS) of the Indian Navy, stationed at Mumbai itself, was ultimately called into action, but that too happened several hours after the NSG contingent had become airborne.
The NSG's men are supposed to be able to get ready to board an aircraft with all their equipment within 30-45 minutes, but in this case it took much longer as an aeroplane had to be arranged for first. Later, apart from those who were dropped by helicopter on to Nariman House's roof, the rest had to be transported there by buses requisitioned from the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST).
Apparently, no one had ever considered before that action by an elite commando force may be required in a city like Mumbai, in case of a terrorist attack, at any point of time and planned for it at all.
3. The press-conference conducted by a section of MARCOS that took part in the operations made two things very clear. They were not even provided with a copy of the building-plan of the Taj Mahal hotel, before they were sent in and secondly and even more importantly, some essential equipment that they did not have included night-vision devices.
The terrorists were able to strike at will, more or less, since they knew more about the building-plan than the commandos. It may be worth noting here that if a skilled set of commandos are provided with the layout of a building that they are about to storm, even a few minutes before they move in, a huge difference can be made in the effectiveness of their operations and, therefore, help them save more lives.
Since the MARCOS did not have night-vision devices, the terrorists could escape when they encountered the commandos in the dark and cause much greater damage later. It also led to two of the commandos suffering from serious injuries in that particular fire-fight.
The building-plan could have been provided to the MARCOS by Mumbai's civil authorities, if not the hotel's management.
As far as the procurement of essential equipment is concerned, perhaps the chiefs of the three defence services could exhibit the same kind of unity and strength of will while asking for it, as they did while trying to get a salary raise equivalent to bureaucrats and policemen for themselves and the soldiers they command. The bureaucrats and politicians in the Ministry of Defence might then let them have it.
4. The NSG not only lost one of its men during its operations at Nariman House, but also failed to save the lives of five people that the two gunmen holed up there had taken hostage, even though it managed to kill the gunmen. Another commando of the NSG was killed during its operations at the Taj Mahal hotel. Although I am not fully competent to comment on this, but I do wonder whether the NSG's skills are getting rusty owing to a lack of time and resources to practice for such situations, as a large number of its men have been employed as personal security guards for the country's top politicians.
Incidentally, some of the politicians protected by the NSG have been widely accused of embezzlement of crores of rupees, nepotism, incitement of communal riots, deliberate inaction during widespread communal violence (in which thousands of innocent people were robbed, raped and/or killed in a brutal manner and their properties set on fire) while serving in positions of power, among other such grave charges.
5*. Unlike the MARCOS, who were very careful about protecting their identities, many of the NSG's men did not wear the balaclava helmets issued to them in a proper manner, while they were in action at the hotels and at Nariman House. As a result, the faces of many of them were revealed to television cameras. A number of them spoke briefly to television news-channels after the encounter at Nariman House was over, with their faces uncovered. An injured NSG commando admitted to a hospital in Mumbai has been interviewed by television news-channels including BBC World Service and NDTV 24x7. Although they do not seem to have realised this, such actions could expose the men, while they are off-duty, as well as their families to retribution by terrorist organisations.
Perhaps it is time for their senior officers to remind them to be more disciplined, like the MARCOS.
6*. The interviews with the injured NSG commando made it clear that the NSG's men also did not have night-vision devices, just like the MARCOS.
7. When Lieutenant General N. Thamburaj, chief of the Indian Army's Southern Command, held a press conference on the morning of November 28, he mentioned that the NSG had suffered casualties, but he would rather not say whether these had been fatal or non-fatal, since that could, according to him, affect the remaining terrorists' frame of mind. I knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth that the NSG had suffered fatal casualties i.e. some of its men had lost their lives. If I could make that out, obviously the terrorists also could, if they managed to listen in to the Lieutenant General's statement.
8. The electronic news-media in India, it appears, has still not come of age. While the BBC World News channel called in intelligence analysts and anti-terrorism experts to discuss all that was unfolding, Indian television channels interviewed actors and directors from the Hindi film industry, in addition to members of the general public, to discuss the state of affairs in Mumbai, besides making an attempt towards sensationalising minor discoveries, even as bullets flew and their reporters stood outside the buildings under attack, counting the number of gun-shots and explosions that they could hear. Also, news from all other parts of the country and from the rest of the world was almost completely taken off air for the duration of the attacks, which was nearly three days.
9. I think I will not be surprised at all if it is found that the terrorists and their arsenal came in through a regular route for smuggling via sea, after the usual amounts of bribes having been paid to the staff of relevant government agencies that were on duty.
10. Not so long ago, investigations by the Hemant Karkare-led ATS revealed that recent bomb-blasts in the town of Malegaon, in Maharashtra, which led to the loss of many innocent lives, were planned and executed by certain Hindu right-wing organisations and subsequent arrests included Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and a serving officer of the Indian Army i.e. Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit.
Initially, when the Sadhvi was sought to be linked to senior leaders of the principal opposition party in the lower house of parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on account of information dug-up by the news-media, it sought to distance itself from her. However, later on, when it became known that no substantial material evidence had so far been gathered against her by the ATS, the party's president, Mr. Rajnath Singh, and its prime ministerial candidate, Mr. L. K. Advani, began to defend her in a big way through public statements.
More recently, however, Mr. Karkare and his men were reported to have obtained clinching evidence in the form of video and audio recordings of meetings in which the Sadhvi, the Lieutenant Colonel and their cohorts were seen and heard planning the bomb-blasts. These were, apparently, found on the laptop computer of one of their co-accused. It was also reported that the ATS meant to make the entire plot public, after tying up a few loose ends, very shortly. If that had happened, Mr. Advani, Mr. Singh and their party-men might have found themselves at a loss for words with respect to this issue, especially while facing the electorate in the upcoming general elections.
Now that Mr. Karkare is dead, though, no one really knows as to what is likely to become of the investigation. The new chief of the ATS may not be as upright an officer and may not pursue the matter as vigorously. In any case, the accused in the Malegaon bomb-blast case and the BJP have already benefitted from the Mumbai attacks, in this respect, since the attention of the news-media has been diverted completely.
So, ultimately, the Islamist militants who attacked Mumbai appear to have come to rescue of the Hindus accused of terrorism in Malegaon. It seems as if there is greater solidarity amongst the Hindus and Muslims who are terrorists than those who are the common citizens of India. As a matter of fact, India might not have been a victim of terrorism at all if there had been greater solidarity between the majority community i.e. Hindus and the various minorities like Muslims, Sikhs and Christians.
I have seen in this country something that can only be termed as 'selective grief'. Whereas there is a huge outpouring of grief and rightly so, from all over the country, when nearly 200 people are killed in a terrorist attack, it is also true that there are large numbers of people who celebrate the killings of 2000 or 4000 people during communal riots by rewarding politicians widely perceived as having organised and presided over these with huge electoral victories, as happened in the elections for the Gujarat state legislature in 2002 and for the Lok Sabha in 1984, following anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh riots, respectively. Many of these politicians, as pointed out earlier, are now protected by personnel of the same NSG that battled against terrorists in Mumbai over the past few days. It is almost needless to add that these powerful men and women have been able to successfully prevent or stall legal proceedings against the majority of those responsible for communal violence or, when proceedings have been completed, to have them acquitted of most of the charges. Factors like these help provide fresh local recruits to terrorist organisations, in the form of actual combatants as well as those who provide logistical support.
*Updates to original blog-post, on December 04, 2008.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Punjabi Poetry From Across the Border
The following videos show Pakistani poet Anwar Masood reciting two of his Punjabi poems.
The latter poem refers to the famous Anarkali Bazar in the city of Lahore.
Recitations of some more of his poems, in his own voice, can be listened to at the website of the Academy of the Punjab in North America.
I would like to thank Asma, for introducing me to Masood saaheb's poetry.
The latter poem refers to the famous Anarkali Bazar in the city of Lahore.
Recitations of some more of his poems, in his own voice, can be listened to at the website of the Academy of the Punjab in North America.
I would like to thank Asma, for introducing me to Masood saaheb's poetry.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Reflections
Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, New Delhi, photographed by yours truly on Guru Nanak Dev ji's birthday, in the year 2005.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Little Drops of Water, Little Grains of Sand…
Apart from the rather well-publicised opening of a trade route between India and Pakistan across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, efforts made recently towards improving Indo-Pak relations have also resulted in the organisation of a music festival and a series of Kabaddi matches in Punjab. The latter, it appears, have not been covered as extensively in the news-media, nationally as well as internationally, as the former.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Three Centuries with the Eternal Guru
To mark the celebrations of the tercentenary of the elevation of the Guru Granthh Saahib as the Eternal Guru (teacher) of the Sikhs, a rather comprehensive yet concise write-up has appeared in the Sunday Magazine section of 'The Hindu', on October 26. In it have been described the events leading up to the elevation, those whose writings have been included in the holy book, besides the nature and structure of its contents and the manner in which these have been set to Hindustani classical music.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Where Do We Go Now?
My father and I were at a local chemist's to pick up some of my medicines, when I saw two young women leaving a neighbouring shop. One look at them and I was convinced that another sport India could possibly expect gold-medals from, as soon as it is included in the Olympic games, is Sumo wrestling. In any case, they walked away carrying polythene-bags filled with their shopping. As they did so, however, one of them dropped something. It looked like a very thick pen, but probably was a make-up tool. Since they failed to notice the loss, I rushed to pick up the instrument and return it to them. They left after briefly mumbling a few words of thanks.
A day or two later, I found out about a young lad who had tried to act as a good Samaritan, in a crowded market-place in New Delhi, and had his head blown off in the bargain.
These incidents reminded me of the lyrics of an old Hindi film song that went somewhat like:
"Ab kahaaN jaayeiN hum, ye bataa ai zameeN
Is jahaaN maiN toh koi hamaara nahi
Apne saaye se bhi loag darne lagay
Ab kisi ko kisi par bharosa nahi..."
(This can be roughly translated as:
"Where do we go now, tell us O Earth
There is no one that we can call our own in this world
People have begun to fear their own shadows
No one trusts any one else any more...")
One kind of organisation that is being trusted to a great degree these days by a large proportion of India's population though, especially with respect to the arrests of several 'masterminds' responsible for bomb-blasts in different parts of India and some such men being shot down in New Delhi, is the police.
It is quite interesting to note that the police did not inspire the same kind of trust amongst the public when they claimed to have solved the murder of a teenager, Aarushi Talwar, in Delhi's suburb of Noida and arrested her father for the heinous crime, in addition to having provided 'details' of the teenager's 'affair' with one of the family's servants, who was also found murdered at the same time, as well as the manner in which her parents were supposed to have swapped spouses and performed orgies along with another couple. In fact, some senior police officials were not only transferred by the concerned state government, but also severely reprimanded for making such 'wild allegations' by no less than the Union Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare.
The police also failed to inspire the same kind of confidence amongst the public when Manu Sharma could not be prosecuted for the murder of Jessica Lal, whom he had shot dead in front of several people in a restaurant, or when Santosh Kumar Singh could not be prosecuted for the rape and murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo, in the trial courts. Both these men were convicted in higher courts only after a massive public outcry, especially amongst members of 'civil society', and an intense campaign by some sections of the news-media.
Even if one were to put aside charges of inaction and even complicity, levelled against the police, the fact remains that hardly any convictions have been secured in cases related to the anti-Sikh communal riots, in 1984, in several parts of North and Central India and the small number of convictions achieved in cases related to the anti-Muslim riots that occurred in the state of Gujarat in 2002 have largely been in those cases, which have been moved to courts in states other than Gujarat.
It is rather strange that a large number of people are prepared to accept police officers' statements as the gospel truth, whenever these are related to any action of theirs that has the words 'terrorist' and 'Muslim/Sikh' associated with it. I recall a time when, in my home-state i.e. Punjab, one could literally have any one bumped off by the police, for an appropriate 'fee'. Soon thereafter, a report would duly appear in all major newspapers, describing the deceased as a 'dreaded terrorist' who had been shot down in an 'encounter' with the police and providing details of the arms and ammunition supposed to have been found in his possession. At other times, young men from well-to-do families were picked up and demands for ransom made from their near and dear ones, threatening them to pay up unless they wanted their boys to meet a fate similar to the one described in the previous sentence. Later on, when enquiries began to be carried out regarding police excesses, some senior officers preferred to commit suicide than to face up to their past deeds. During these men's heyday, they were, of course, hailed as heroes by the news-media as well as large sections of the country's population. Among extra-judicial killings in other states, the alleged murders of Sohrabbudin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi by some policemen in Gujarat and the subsequent arrest and trial of the errant officers have been well-publicised in the recent past. Condemnation for such abominable acts has come even from within the ranks of the police, at the highest level.
Coming to the recent 'encounter' in the Jamia Nagar area of New Delhi (which has also come to be known as the Batla House 'encounter'), the police's version appears to have been accepted completely by most Indians, including members of the news-media who had raised a lot of din regarding the investigation of cases related to crimes against Aarushi Talwar, Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo. Questions, even as there seems to be plenty of scope for these, are being raised only by some leaders from within the Muslim community, a few politicians from the Samajwadi Party, in addition to two civil rights groups.
Although the doubts that have been raised are based on a rational line of thought, I suppose these could have been far more specific, had the questioners had a good look at Mail Today's issue dated September 24, 2008. It includes an eye-witness account that can turn the police's version on its head. However, since there appears to be little probability of the witnesses quoted in the report ever testifying in a court of law, it should perhaps be more prudent to concentrate on some of the contents of the autopsy (post mortem examination) reports of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma (who was the only policeman killed) and one of the slain 'terrorists' that have also been published.
Regarding Inspector Sharma's autopsy, the newspaper report states the following:
So, it is quite difficult to comprehend the mysterious way in which the so-called terrorists were supposed to have shot at Inspector Sharma from his front-side, according to the police's version of the shoot-out, and yet the bullets that hit him were actually fired from behind him, as the autopsy report proves.
Also, since one of the 'terrorists' who were shot dead was obviously beaten to the ground and hit rather hard, as evident from his autopsy report, the reasons for which the police then let him go and fetch himself a gun to shoot at them are difficult to fathom. Anyhow, his being beaten up forms no part of the police's account.
If we assume that the 'encounter' was not fake, perhaps it so happened that as soon as the 'terrorists' opened the door, the policemen pounced upon them and gave them a sound thrashing (which the autopsy report provides credible evidence for), but soon the law enforcers were tired and decided to take a breather. During that interlude, one of the terrorists sneaked away and got his assault rifle and pistol from inside the house. Subsequently, he either jumped over Inspector Sharma's head or crawled between the Inspector's legs, without being seen by him (otherwise the Inspector might have turned around to face the 'terrorist'), to get behind him and then shot him three times from extremely close range. To my mind, however, it appears highly improbable, if not impossible, for anything like that to have happened, because the 'terrorist' would have had to be a comic-book super-hero with super-human powers, rather than a normal human being, in order to accomplish such a feat.
As the demand for a judicial probe into the incident is yet to meet with a favourable response from the government and the principal opposition party appears opposed to it as well, in addition to the courts not having taken suo moto notice of relevant reports in the news-media, there appears to be little hope for truth to triumph.
Besides, as shown by the mutually contradictory reports presented recently by the judicial commissions headed by Mr. Justice Nanavati and Mr. Justice Bannerjee, set up to investigate the events that led up to the anti-Muslim carnage in 2002, even judicial enquiries seem to have become politically motivated.
As the country continues to slide towards becoming a communal, capitalist, undemocratic republic, instead of the secular, socialist, democratic republic envisaged by those who wrote the Constitution of India, where does one turn to for justice, in the real sense of the word?
A day or two later, I found out about a young lad who had tried to act as a good Samaritan, in a crowded market-place in New Delhi, and had his head blown off in the bargain.
These incidents reminded me of the lyrics of an old Hindi film song that went somewhat like:
"Ab kahaaN jaayeiN hum, ye bataa ai zameeN
Is jahaaN maiN toh koi hamaara nahi
Apne saaye se bhi loag darne lagay
Ab kisi ko kisi par bharosa nahi..."
(This can be roughly translated as:
"Where do we go now, tell us O Earth
There is no one that we can call our own in this world
People have begun to fear their own shadows
No one trusts any one else any more...")
One kind of organisation that is being trusted to a great degree these days by a large proportion of India's population though, especially with respect to the arrests of several 'masterminds' responsible for bomb-blasts in different parts of India and some such men being shot down in New Delhi, is the police.
It is quite interesting to note that the police did not inspire the same kind of trust amongst the public when they claimed to have solved the murder of a teenager, Aarushi Talwar, in Delhi's suburb of Noida and arrested her father for the heinous crime, in addition to having provided 'details' of the teenager's 'affair' with one of the family's servants, who was also found murdered at the same time, as well as the manner in which her parents were supposed to have swapped spouses and performed orgies along with another couple. In fact, some senior police officials were not only transferred by the concerned state government, but also severely reprimanded for making such 'wild allegations' by no less than the Union Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare.
The police also failed to inspire the same kind of confidence amongst the public when Manu Sharma could not be prosecuted for the murder of Jessica Lal, whom he had shot dead in front of several people in a restaurant, or when Santosh Kumar Singh could not be prosecuted for the rape and murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo, in the trial courts. Both these men were convicted in higher courts only after a massive public outcry, especially amongst members of 'civil society', and an intense campaign by some sections of the news-media.
Even if one were to put aside charges of inaction and even complicity, levelled against the police, the fact remains that hardly any convictions have been secured in cases related to the anti-Sikh communal riots, in 1984, in several parts of North and Central India and the small number of convictions achieved in cases related to the anti-Muslim riots that occurred in the state of Gujarat in 2002 have largely been in those cases, which have been moved to courts in states other than Gujarat.
It is rather strange that a large number of people are prepared to accept police officers' statements as the gospel truth, whenever these are related to any action of theirs that has the words 'terrorist' and 'Muslim/Sikh' associated with it. I recall a time when, in my home-state i.e. Punjab, one could literally have any one bumped off by the police, for an appropriate 'fee'. Soon thereafter, a report would duly appear in all major newspapers, describing the deceased as a 'dreaded terrorist' who had been shot down in an 'encounter' with the police and providing details of the arms and ammunition supposed to have been found in his possession. At other times, young men from well-to-do families were picked up and demands for ransom made from their near and dear ones, threatening them to pay up unless they wanted their boys to meet a fate similar to the one described in the previous sentence. Later on, when enquiries began to be carried out regarding police excesses, some senior officers preferred to commit suicide than to face up to their past deeds. During these men's heyday, they were, of course, hailed as heroes by the news-media as well as large sections of the country's population. Among extra-judicial killings in other states, the alleged murders of Sohrabbudin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi by some policemen in Gujarat and the subsequent arrest and trial of the errant officers have been well-publicised in the recent past. Condemnation for such abominable acts has come even from within the ranks of the police, at the highest level.
Coming to the recent 'encounter' in the Jamia Nagar area of New Delhi (which has also come to be known as the Batla House 'encounter'), the police's version appears to have been accepted completely by most Indians, including members of the news-media who had raised a lot of din regarding the investigation of cases related to crimes against Aarushi Talwar, Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo. Questions, even as there seems to be plenty of scope for these, are being raised only by some leaders from within the Muslim community, a few politicians from the Samajwadi Party, in addition to two civil rights groups.
Although the doubts that have been raised are based on a rational line of thought, I suppose these could have been far more specific, had the questioners had a good look at Mail Today's issue dated September 24, 2008. It includes an eye-witness account that can turn the police's version on its head. However, since there appears to be little probability of the witnesses quoted in the report ever testifying in a court of law, it should perhaps be more prudent to concentrate on some of the contents of the autopsy (post mortem examination) reports of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma (who was the only policeman killed) and one of the slain 'terrorists' that have also been published.
Regarding Inspector Sharma's autopsy, the newspaper report states the following:
"The autopsy report on Sharma, which is with Headlines Today, says he was shot at from extremely close range, no more than a few centimetres from him. He was hit by three bullets.Whereas, with respect to the autopsy of one of the 'terrorists' it states that:
All of them entered through the back and followed top-to-down trajectory."
"Inspector Sharma was first shot in his left shoulder.
The next shot hit him a little lower with the bullet missing the spine and then, for the last time, he was shot just above the waist.
All three bullets exited his body from the front. No bullets were lodged in his body as an X- Ray showed. Also, the bullet wounds show that they entered Sharma’s body from a top angle. This indicates that whoever shot him had the advantage of height.
Under these circumstances, it’s very hard to say who shot the officer."
"The body of one of the ‘terrorists’ bears injury marks, sharp wounds and multiple internal injuries in the stomach. Doctors say such injuries are usually attributed to a scuffle, actually a violent physical assault. Someone may even have stamped on him."For the uninitiated, the wound caused by a bullet at its point of entry into a human body is quite distinct from the wound at the point of exit, thus making it possible for experts who conduct an autopsy to clearly distinguish between the two.
So, it is quite difficult to comprehend the mysterious way in which the so-called terrorists were supposed to have shot at Inspector Sharma from his front-side, according to the police's version of the shoot-out, and yet the bullets that hit him were actually fired from behind him, as the autopsy report proves.
Also, since one of the 'terrorists' who were shot dead was obviously beaten to the ground and hit rather hard, as evident from his autopsy report, the reasons for which the police then let him go and fetch himself a gun to shoot at them are difficult to fathom. Anyhow, his being beaten up forms no part of the police's account.
If we assume that the 'encounter' was not fake, perhaps it so happened that as soon as the 'terrorists' opened the door, the policemen pounced upon them and gave them a sound thrashing (which the autopsy report provides credible evidence for), but soon the law enforcers were tired and decided to take a breather. During that interlude, one of the terrorists sneaked away and got his assault rifle and pistol from inside the house. Subsequently, he either jumped over Inspector Sharma's head or crawled between the Inspector's legs, without being seen by him (otherwise the Inspector might have turned around to face the 'terrorist'), to get behind him and then shot him three times from extremely close range. To my mind, however, it appears highly improbable, if not impossible, for anything like that to have happened, because the 'terrorist' would have had to be a comic-book super-hero with super-human powers, rather than a normal human being, in order to accomplish such a feat.
As the demand for a judicial probe into the incident is yet to meet with a favourable response from the government and the principal opposition party appears opposed to it as well, in addition to the courts not having taken suo moto notice of relevant reports in the news-media, there appears to be little hope for truth to triumph.
Besides, as shown by the mutually contradictory reports presented recently by the judicial commissions headed by Mr. Justice Nanavati and Mr. Justice Bannerjee, set up to investigate the events that led up to the anti-Muslim carnage in 2002, even judicial enquiries seem to have become politically motivated.
As the country continues to slide towards becoming a communal, capitalist, undemocratic republic, instead of the secular, socialist, democratic republic envisaged by those who wrote the Constitution of India, where does one turn to for justice, in the real sense of the word?
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