Towards terrorism
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
India's govt turns blind eye to domestic Hindu terrorism
India's 'Other' Terrorism
by Chad Hazlett, director of protection at the Genocide Intervention Network
Posted December 23, 2008
The terror attacks on Mumbai made headlines around the world. When the dust settled, we found ourselves asking the same questions, "How did this happen?" and "What could we have done to prevent this?" But while India and the world contemplates the causes and consequences of these attacks, we ignore India's "other" terrorism: From late August through October, organized Hindu extremist groups committed systematic attacks killing more than 100 people, mostly Christians, in the eastern India state of Orissa. Most worrying, the terrorists responsible for Orissa's violence remain at-large and have explicitly threatened to repeat their attacks on Dec. 25.
Three Hindu extremist groups—the RSS, VHP, and the Bajrang Dal—are responsible for this autumn's violence, destroying some 4500 homes and burning 147 churches. The dead are mostly Christians and some moderate Hindus. Father Akbar Digal, a Christian, was beheaded after three times refusing to convert to Hinduism. Gayadhar Digal, a Hindu, was hacked to death and his wife and son nearly killed for appearing sympathetic to Christianity. Others have been burned alive and beaten then buried alive. Some 40,000-60,000 sought refuge in the forests where they were further hunted. Hundreds remain missing. Over 11,000 remain displaced, and the attackers have threatened to kill them upon returning if they do not convert to Hinduism.
The attacks have been alarmingly systematic. Repeating tactics used by these groups in similar attacks last year, the August attacks began with cutting down trees to block the roads and cutting phone lines to block communications. Mobs led by these extremist groups were armed with guns and machetes, shouting slogans such as "Christians must become Hindu or die. Kill Them. Kill Them. Kill Them." The same groups have organized related attacks across the country, the best known being in Gujarat in 2002 where some 2,000 Muslims were killed.
In each of these cases, violence continued for weeks without intervention by the state, and the perpetrators have enjoyed impunity thereafter. Six years after the Gujarat killings, there has been only one conviction. There were no convictions after the December 2007 violence. Without any punishment, we can expect these extremist groups to continue terrorizing civilians as a tactic to impose their will on the state and drive out minority religious communities.
In fact, threats of renewed violence in the coming weeks are so clear that if we ignore them and violence escalates, nobody can say we "didn't know." The extremists remain at-large and have demanded that the Orissa government pass several laws to further suppress Christianity. Failure to impose these laws, they threaten, will result in more violence through a ban on all public activity on Dec. 25—enforced by club-toting members of these groups—effectively prohibiting Christmas festivities.
Responsibility for preventing further violence lies with the Indian government. The attacks in Mumbai have shown that when terrorists strike at Westerners and expensive hotels, Indian security forces can react and kill or arrest the terrorists within days. In Orissa, by contrast, two months into the violence, victims were still being burned alive.
Orissa's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, does not appear to be a Hindu nationalist zealot. But he is politically beholden to parties that use this violence to rally votes. At the national level, federal security forces finally came to stop the violence—after two months. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not banned the parties responsible despite calls from advisers to do so, perhaps because doing so could be bad for politics in this Spring's election. This element of government sympathy and political hedging make international condemnation all the more important. The international community should do its part to ensure that banning violent extremists and ending impunity for them is to India's political and economic advantage. However, if the West is to speak more loudly on this issue, it must do so in the name of counterterrorism, religious freedom, and the fundamental human right, not because it is Christians who were attacked this time.
The U.S. public response has been almost entirely the result of mobilization by Christian groups with close ties to churches in Orissa. But the public coalition that can and should unite behind this is much larger. Darfur's atrocities provoked an unprecedented American constituency for stopping genocide. While this constituency continues pressing for peace and protection in Darfur, situations like Orissa that are more tractable and still in their formative stages offer an opportunity to achieve the most important goal of fighting genocide and atrocity: prevention. more
by Chad Hazlett, director of protection at the Genocide Intervention Network
Posted December 23, 2008
The terror attacks on Mumbai made headlines around the world. When the dust settled, we found ourselves asking the same questions, "How did this happen?" and "What could we have done to prevent this?" But while India and the world contemplates the causes and consequences of these attacks, we ignore India's "other" terrorism: From late August through October, organized Hindu extremist groups committed systematic attacks killing more than 100 people, mostly Christians, in the eastern India state of Orissa. Most worrying, the terrorists responsible for Orissa's violence remain at-large and have explicitly threatened to repeat their attacks on Dec. 25.
Three Hindu extremist groups—the RSS, VHP, and the Bajrang Dal—are responsible for this autumn's violence, destroying some 4500 homes and burning 147 churches. The dead are mostly Christians and some moderate Hindus. Father Akbar Digal, a Christian, was beheaded after three times refusing to convert to Hinduism. Gayadhar Digal, a Hindu, was hacked to death and his wife and son nearly killed for appearing sympathetic to Christianity. Others have been burned alive and beaten then buried alive. Some 40,000-60,000 sought refuge in the forests where they were further hunted. Hundreds remain missing. Over 11,000 remain displaced, and the attackers have threatened to kill them upon returning if they do not convert to Hinduism.
The attacks have been alarmingly systematic. Repeating tactics used by these groups in similar attacks last year, the August attacks began with cutting down trees to block the roads and cutting phone lines to block communications. Mobs led by these extremist groups were armed with guns and machetes, shouting slogans such as "Christians must become Hindu or die. Kill Them. Kill Them. Kill Them." The same groups have organized related attacks across the country, the best known being in Gujarat in 2002 where some 2,000 Muslims were killed.
In each of these cases, violence continued for weeks without intervention by the state, and the perpetrators have enjoyed impunity thereafter. Six years after the Gujarat killings, there has been only one conviction. There were no convictions after the December 2007 violence. Without any punishment, we can expect these extremist groups to continue terrorizing civilians as a tactic to impose their will on the state and drive out minority religious communities.
In fact, threats of renewed violence in the coming weeks are so clear that if we ignore them and violence escalates, nobody can say we "didn't know." The extremists remain at-large and have demanded that the Orissa government pass several laws to further suppress Christianity. Failure to impose these laws, they threaten, will result in more violence through a ban on all public activity on Dec. 25—enforced by club-toting members of these groups—effectively prohibiting Christmas festivities.
Responsibility for preventing further violence lies with the Indian government. The attacks in Mumbai have shown that when terrorists strike at Westerners and expensive hotels, Indian security forces can react and kill or arrest the terrorists within days. In Orissa, by contrast, two months into the violence, victims were still being burned alive.
Orissa's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, does not appear to be a Hindu nationalist zealot. But he is politically beholden to parties that use this violence to rally votes. At the national level, federal security forces finally came to stop the violence—after two months. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not banned the parties responsible despite calls from advisers to do so, perhaps because doing so could be bad for politics in this Spring's election. This element of government sympathy and political hedging make international condemnation all the more important. The international community should do its part to ensure that banning violent extremists and ending impunity for them is to India's political and economic advantage. However, if the West is to speak more loudly on this issue, it must do so in the name of counterterrorism, religious freedom, and the fundamental human right, not because it is Christians who were attacked this time.
The U.S. public response has been almost entirely the result of mobilization by Christian groups with close ties to churches in Orissa. But the public coalition that can and should unite behind this is much larger. Darfur's atrocities provoked an unprecedented American constituency for stopping genocide. While this constituency continues pressing for peace and protection in Darfur, situations like Orissa that are more tractable and still in their formative stages offer an opportunity to achieve the most important goal of fighting genocide and atrocity: prevention. more
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Now, 'Chilli smoke' grenades to dig out holed up terrorists
Swapna Tarafdar New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Next time terrorists plan to take hostages, they may have to think twice as the security personnel could be armed with hand grenades laced with chilli powder drawn straight from hills of Northeast. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed this "chilli smoke" grenades which may become useful for bringing out the holed up terrorists.
The grenade, yet to be put to use, has been christened as Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) in which the DRDO has used extract of dried capsicums and a complex mixture of essential oils, waxes, coloured materials, and several 'capsaicinoids' which give burning sensation in the eyes. "The chemical grenade like the tear gas will only irritate eyes, respiratory tracts and skin.
"OC, is an inflammatory agent and causes an almost immediate swelling of the eyes and breathing passages," W Selvamurty chief controller, Life Sciences and Human Resources, DRDO, told PTI. "There is an intense burning sensation in the eyes, throat and the skin happens when the agent is inhaled. more
The grenade, yet to be put to use, has been christened as Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) in which the DRDO has used extract of dried capsicums and a complex mixture of essential oils, waxes, coloured materials, and several 'capsaicinoids' which give burning sensation in the eyes. "The chemical grenade like the tear gas will only irritate eyes, respiratory tracts and skin.
"OC, is an inflammatory agent and causes an almost immediate swelling of the eyes and breathing passages," W Selvamurty chief controller, Life Sciences and Human Resources, DRDO, told PTI. "There is an intense burning sensation in the eyes, throat and the skin happens when the agent is inhaled. more
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
communalism and terrorism are the same - Orissa CPI(M) leader
Orissa bandh on Christmas Day a 'communal conspiracy': CPI(M) MP
New Delhi (PTI): A CPI(M) member on Wednesday alleged in the Lok Sabha that a "big communal conspiracy" was being hatched against Christians in Orissa with a "communal" organisation giving a call for a 'bandh' on the Christmas Day.
"A big communal conspiracy is being hatched by communal organisations to bring parts of the country into the milieu of communal disturbances," senior CPI(M) leader Hannan Mollah said during the Zero Hour.
A "communal" body had called a bandh in Orissa on December 25, he said adding, "this is a serious matter and the Christians may be attacked again by the VHP-Bajrang Dal elements."
Asking the Centre to take serious note of the developments in the state, the CPI(M) leader said "communalism and terrorism are the same and government should also include communal attacks in the ambit of the new anti-terror laws."
Mollah was supported by Congress member Madhusudan Mistry and RJD's Devendra Prasad Yadav. more: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200812171540.htm
New Delhi (PTI): A CPI(M) member on Wednesday alleged in the Lok Sabha that a "big communal conspiracy" was being hatched against Christians in Orissa with a "communal" organisation giving a call for a 'bandh' on the Christmas Day.
"A big communal conspiracy is being hatched by communal organisations to bring parts of the country into the milieu of communal disturbances," senior CPI(M) leader Hannan Mollah said during the Zero Hour.
A "communal" body had called a bandh in Orissa on December 25, he said adding, "this is a serious matter and the Christians may be attacked again by the VHP-Bajrang Dal elements."
Asking the Centre to take serious note of the developments in the state, the CPI(M) leader said "communalism and terrorism are the same and government should also include communal attacks in the ambit of the new anti-terror laws."
Mollah was supported by Congress member Madhusudan Mistry and RJD's Devendra Prasad Yadav. more: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200812171540.htm
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Chidambaram assures Orissa Christians Safe Christmas
India Leader Assures Christians of Safe Christmas
By Dibin Samuel
Christian Today Reporter
Sat, Dec. 13 2008 09:05 AM EST
- Unlike 2007, Christians in Orissa, India, might be fortunate to celebrate Christmas this year, after Home Minister P. Chidambaram assured them that the Center would ensure their safety.
Chidambaram assured this on Wednesday when a delegation led by Delhi Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao met him to inform him about Christians fearing attacks during Christmas.
"We apprised the Home Minister of our very strong apprehension that the celebrations will be targeted by unruly elements as it happened last time," Babu Joseph, spokesperson for Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI), told Press Trust of India.
Concerns were raised after Hindu extremists called for a statewide bandh, a form of protest or strike that shuts down the entire society, on Dec. 25, which could trigger more attacks against the Christian community.
The Home Minister, according to Joseph, has detailed and ordered the Orissa government to ensure safety to the Christian community. more
Christmas at UTC with Widows Of Orissa Violence
INDIA Widows Of Orissa Violence Brought Across Country For Christmas Celebration
BANGALORE, India (UCAN) -- A Christian group here organized an advance Christmas celebration for some women widowed during anti-Christian violence in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.
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| Asmitha Digal is among 24 widows who lost husbands in the anti-Christian Orissa violence in India, taking part in Christmas celebration in Bangalore on Dec. 8. |
"We have lost our husbands to a hate campaign, yet we believe that only love and forgiveness can bring peace in society," asserted Kadamphul Nayak, widow of Pastor Samuel Nayak.
She was among 24 widows and two children who traveled 1,400 kilometers from Orissa to the southern Indian city of Bangalore to attend the Dec. 8 celebration. The ecumenical Global Council of Indian Christians, which is based in the city and organized the event, is involved in rehabilitation work for the Orissa victims.
About 150 people from various Churches joined the celebrations held at Protestant-run United Theological College in Bangalore, 2,060 kilometers south of New Delhi. They sang together hymns of praise and joy.
The Churches and their institutions gave the guests pots and other household items, clothes and sweets. They also shared a Christmas cake, and sang Christmas carols. Some of the Orissa visitors performed a tribal dance depicting the birth of Jesus.
Retired Methodist Bishop Sampath Kumar told UCA News the faith of the simple women amazed him and made the event the most meaningful celebration in his life. "We celebrate Christmas in our fullness, but they celebrated it in an utter hopeless situation," he remarked. more
http://howrah.org/india_news/36987.html
Campaign for a peaceful Christmas in Orissa
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Even as Sangh Parivar calls for a bandh in Orissa on December 25, a group of organisations comprising students, farmers, workers, teachers and social activists has initiated 'Christmas for Orissa' campaign for peaceful celebration of the festival.
Over 700 campaigners, representing seven citizens' groups of Orissa-based organisations, are seeking to make "peace and justice" the theme for this Christmas in the state.
"We will organise a special Christmas for Orissa by organising vigils and prayer meets," convener of the Christmas for Orissa Campaign, Joe Athialy, said.
There will also be such programmes outside Indian embassies and VHP offices abroad besides at many places within the country, he said.
Several churches, missionary-run schools, hostels and dispensaries in Kandhamal district were attacked by mobs after the killing of Laxamananda Saraswati.
"We are exploring a legal retaliation to the bandh call as well with a writ petition before the Supreme Court as it had banned bandhs through one of its orders earlier.
"However, if the bandh supporters remain undeterred we will give a call to people in Orissa to come out in its defiance and celebrate Christmas across the state," said M J Vijayan, convener of the Delhi Solidarity Group - a trust formed by some Delhi NGOs.
Activists of the 'Christmas for Orissa' campaign said they intend to send out Christmas cards bearing the social message of Christmas to BJP and BJD leaders in the state.
Heads of different churches and a Central fact-finding team headed by JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav have requested Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ban the bandh," Archbishop of Orissa, Raphael Cheenath told PTI.
"There is definitely some malicious intention of the Sangh Parivar behind calling the bandh on the day of a national holiday," the Archbishop alleged adding, "We are meeting the Chief Minister and the Governor of the state again on December 17."
Meanwhile, the Catholics Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) had sought arrest of the VHP workers to prevent them from organising the bandh on Christmas day.
Swami Lakshmanand Saraswati Shradhhanjali Samity (SLSSS) had asked the state government to arrest the persons involved in the killing of the VHP functionary by December 15, failing which they would call for the bandh on December 25.
Anticipating violence against Christians on Christmas, embassy representatives of some European Union countries including Britain, Ireland, Netherland and others held discussion with the Orissa government on Saturday to ensure security in sensitive areas.
Orissa Home Secretary A P Padhi is learnt to have told the group that the state government has formulated extensive security plans for the day to ensure that no violence occurs and Christmas is celebrated in a peaceful manner.
The Orissa crime branch had already arrested three people in connection with the killing of Saraswati and the look out continues for 10 more accused. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had also given his assurance for a peaceful Christmas in Orissa. courtesy
Friday, December 12, 2008
Arundhati Roy on Terrorism in India
If you were watching television you may not have heard that ordinary people too died in Mumbai. They were mowed down in a busy railway station and a public hospital. The terrorists did not distinguish between poor and rich. They killed both with equal cold-bloodedness. The Indian media, however, was transfixed by the rising tide of horror that breached the glittering barricades of India Shining and spread its stench in the marbled lobbies and crystal ballrooms of two incredibly luxurious hotels and a small Jewish centre.
We're told one of these hotels is an icon of the city of Mumbai. That's absolutely true. It's an icon of the easy, obscene injustice that ordinary Indians endure every day. On a day when the newspapers were full of moving obituaries by beautiful people about the hotel rooms they had stayed in, the gourmet restaurants they loved (ironically one was called Kandahar), and the staff who served them, a small box on the top left-hand corner in the inner pages of a national newspaper (sponsored by a pizza company I think) said "Hungry, kya?" (Hungry eh?). It then, with the best of intentions I'm sure, informed its readers that on the international hunger index, India ranked below Sudan and Somalia. But of course this isn't that war. That one's still being fought in the Dalit bastis of our villages, on the banks of the Narmada and the Koel Karo rivers; in the rubber estate in Chengara; in the villages of Nandigram, Singur, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Lalgarh in West Bengal and the slums and shantytowns of our gigantic cities.
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Terrorism is a heartless ideology, and like most ideologies that have their eye on the Big Picture, individuals don't figure in their calculations except as collateral damage. It has always been a part of and often even the aim of terrorist strategy to exacerbate a bad situation in order to expose hidden faultlines. The blood of "martyrs" irrigates terrorism. Hindu terrorists need dead Hindus, Communist terrorists need dead proletarians, Islamist terrorists need dead Muslims. The dead become the demonstration, the proof of victimhood, which is central to the project. A single act of terrorism is not in itself meant to achieve military victory; at best it is meant to be a catalyst that triggers something else, something much larger than itself, a tectonic shift, a realignment. The act itself is theatre, spectacle and symbolism, and today, the stage on which it pirouettes and performs its acts of bestiality is Live TV. Even as the attack was being condemned by TV anchors, the effectiveness of the terror strikes were being magnified a thousandfold by TV broadcasts.
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We had Suketu Mehta, author of Maximum City and co-writer of the Bollywood film Mission Kashmir, give us his version of George Bush's famous "Why they hate us" speech. His analysis of why religious bigots, both Hindu and Muslim hate Mumbai: "Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness." His prescription: "The best answer to the terrorists is to dream bigger, make even more money, and visit Mumbai more than ever." Didn't George Bush ask Americans to go out and shop after 9/11? Ah yes. 9/11, the day we can't seem to get away from.
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It was after the 2001 parliament attack that the first serious questions began to be raised. A campaign by a group of lawyers and activists exposed how innocent people had been framed by the police and the press, how evidence was fabricated, how witnesses lied, how due process had been criminally violated at every stage of the investigation. Eventually the courts acquitted two out of the four accused, including SAR Geelani, the man whom the police claimed was the mastermind of the operation. A third, Showkat Guru, was acquitted of all the charges brought against him but was then convicted for a fresh, comparatively minor offence. The supreme court upheld the death sentence of another of the accused, Mohammad Afzal. In its judgment the court acknowledged there was no proof that Mohammed Afzal belonged to any terrorist group, but went on to say, quite shockingly, "The collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender." Even today we don't really know who the terrorists that attacked the Indian parliament were and who they worked for.
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On the November 25 newspapers reported that the ATS was investigating the high profile VHP Chief Pravin Togadia's possible role in the Malegaon blasts. The next day, in an extraordinary twist of fate, Hemant Karkare was killed in the Mumbai Attacks. The chances are that the new chief whoever he is, will find it hard to withstand the political pressure that is bound to be brought on him over the Malegaon investigation.
While the Sangh Parivar does not seem to have come to a final decision over whether or not it is anti-national and suicidal to question the police, Arnab Goswami, anchorperson of Times Now television, has stepped up to the plate. He has taken to naming, demonising and openly heckling people who have dared to question the integrity of the police and armed forces. My name and the name of the well-known lawyer Prashant Bhushan have come up several times. At one point, while interviewing a former police officer, Arnab Goswami turned to camera: "Arundhati Royand Prashant Bhushan," he said, "I hope you are watching this. We think you are disgusting." For a TV anchor to do this in an atmosphere as charged and as frenzied as the one that prevails today, amounts to incitement as well as threat, and would probably in different circumstances have cost a journalist his or her job.
So according to a man aspiring to be the next prime minister of India, and another who is the public face of a mainstream TV channel, citizens have no right to raise questions about the police. This in a country with a shadowy history of suspicious terror attacks, murky investigations, and fake "encounters". This in a country that boasts of the highest number of custodial deaths in the world and yet refuses to ratify the International Covenant on Torture. A country where the ones who make it to torture chambers are the lucky ones because at least they've escaped being "encountered" by our Encounter Specialists. A country where the line between the Underworld and the Encounter Specialists virtually does not exist.
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Nor for that matter will any other quick fix. Anti-terrorism laws are not meant for terrorists; they're for people that governments don't like. That's why they have a conviction rate of less than 2%. They're just a means of putting inconvenient people away without bail for a long time and eventually letting them go. Terrorists like those who attacked Mumbai are hardly likely to be deterred by the prospect of being refused bail or being sentenced to death. It's what they want.
What we're experiencing now is blowback, the cumulative result of decades of quick fixes and dirty deeds. The carpet's squelching under our feet.
The only way to contain (it would be naïve to say end) terrorism is to look at the monster in the mirror. We're standing at a fork in the road. One sign says Justice, the other Civil War. There's no third sign and there's no going back. Choose.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/12/mumbai-arundhati-roy
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
LeT stage-managed Mumbai strikes from Karachi, Lahore: NYT
Washington, Dec 5 (IANS) For three months before the terror attackers landed on Mumbai's shores, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative was in Karachi to manage the assault, the New York Times reported, citing a Pakistani official.
The Lashkar commander, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi who is normally based in Kashmir, helped organise the plot from Karachi for the last three months, said a Pakistani official in contact with Lashkar, the influential US daily reported Friday.
Fresh evidence unearthed by investigators in India, the daily said, indicated that the Mumbai attacks were stage-managed from at least two Pakistani cities by top leaders of the Pakistan-based terror group LeT, prime suspect in last week's attacks.
Indian and American intelligence officials have already identified a Lashkar operative, who goes by the name Yusuf Muzammil, as a mastermind of the attacks, it noted. more
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Enough is Enough - Says who to whom? asks Badri Raina
Today, thanks to the exemplary courage and discipline of India's security forces, the Taj may have been disfigured and damaged, however brutally, but not demolished—something that seemed to have been the intent of the terrorist attack.
But, alas, some sixteen years ago a four-hundred year old iconic mosque was axed and hatcheted out of existence while the forces stood and watched, as did the whole nation on television.
Neither that fateful day, nor once in the last sixteen years, has the cry gone up "enough is enough" on behalf of those that are now so outraged. Educated noises have been made, which is not the same thing as saying never again should this country countenance social forces that brought that watershed calamity about.
Only conscientious citizens have struggled since to bring succour and justice to the victims, often suffering opprobrium from elite India that sees them as busybodies.
Indeed, the worthies that were visibly culpable in inflicting that blood-thirsty catastrophe on the nation continue to remain in good favour with influential sections of the corporate media which may have carried on a debate on the issue but never admonished "enough is enough."
Some two hundred lives have been lost to the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Yet when, following the demolition of the Babri mosque, our own people killed a thousand or so of our own people in the very same Mumbai, the debate never ceased, and has not to this day.
Nor has the same terminal urgency that is now in evidence informed elite comment as to why those found guilty in that massacre (1992-93) by a high-powered Commission of Enquiry have not been given their due deserts
And what of the Gujarat massacres of 2002? No terrorists from outside there too, but our own good citizens, secure in the knowledge that they had the blessings of the top man in the job. The very top man who continues to be the darling of many elites who do not fight shy of drooling over what a wonderful chief executive he would make for the whole country, full of "development" and profit maximization.
No wonder that Mr.Modi should have been the first to hold a press briefing outside "ground zero" (am I sick of that copy-cat phrase) even while the bullets were flying, making it an occasion to deride no less than the Prime Minister.
The same Mr.Modi who until the other day publicly vented his strongest barbs at the ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) for daring to enquire into cases of Hindutva terrorism.
Narry an "enough is enough" there; only a shamefaced disapproval barely audible on the channels.
Indeed, should you ask me, I might say that the most heroic vignette during the current imbroglio has been the refusal of the widow of the slain Karkare, erstwhile head of the ATS, to accept Modi's devious offer of money. read it all
Confronting the Terrorist Within -- Chris Hedges to Americans
Confronting the Terrorist Within
Posted on Dec 1, 2008
 |
| AP file photo |
A mother tends to her injured child in a hospital 35 miles northeast of Baghdad after a U.S airstrike that killed three civilians and wounded five others. |
By Chris Hedges
The Hindu-Muslim communal violence that led to the attacks in Mumbai, as well as the warnings that the New York City transit system may have been targeted by al-Qaida, are one form of terrorism. There are other forms.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when viewed from the receiving end, are state-sponsored acts of terrorism. These wars defy every ethical and legal code that seek to determine when a nation can wage war, from Just War Theory to the statutes of international law largely put into place by the United States after World War II. These wars are criminal wars of aggression. They have left hundreds of thousands of people, who never took up arms against us, dead and seen millions driven from their homes. We have no right as a nation to debate the terms of these occupations. And an Afghan villager, burying members of his family’s wedding party after an American airstrike, understands in a way we often do not that terrorist attacks can also be unleashed from the arsenals of an imperial power. more
4100 terror attacks in India since 1970
India has experienced over 4100 terror attacks since 1970
Wed, Dec 3 01:35 PM
Washington, Dec.3 (ANI): A University of Maryland study has claimed that India has experienced over 4100 terror attacks since 1970.
According to the university's Global Terrorism Database (GTD), which the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) maintains, the number of fatalities number in the thousands.
This information is freely available online.
The GTD is the most comprehensive and detailed open-source terrorism database available. Funding comes from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The GTD statistical summary on terrorism in India is as follows:
India has experienced 4,108 terrorist incidents occurring between 1970 and 2004.
During this period, India ranked sixth among all countries in terms of terrorist incidents (behind Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and Spain). more
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Fresh Blood From an Old Wound
Fresh Blood From an Old Wound
MIDWAY through last week’s murderous rampage in Mumbai, one of the suspected gunmen at the besieged Jewish center called a popular Indian TV channel. Speaking in Urdu (the primary language of Pakistan and many Indian Muslims), he ranted against the recent visit of an Israeli general to the Indian-ruled section of the Kashmir Valley. Referring to the Pakistan-backed insurgency in the valley, and the Indian military response to it, he asked, “Are you aware how many people have been killed in Kashmir?”
In a separate phone call, another gunman invoked the oppression of Muslims by Hindu nationalists and the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in 1992. Such calls were the only occasions on which the militants, whom initial reports have tied to the Pakistani jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, offered a likely motive for their indiscriminate slaughter. Their rhetoric seems all too familiar. Nevertheless, it shows how older political conflicts in South Asia have been rendered more noxious by the fallout from the “war on terror” and the rise of international jihadism.
Pakistan, a nation-state founded on Islam, has long claimed Muslim-majority Kashmir, and has fought three wars with India over it since 1947. In the early 1990s, as an anti-India insurgency in Kashmir intensified, groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba became the Pakistani government’s proxies in its war of attrition with its neighbor.
American pressure after 9/11 forced Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, to ban Lashkar-e-Taiba, which had developed links with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. With General Musharraf’s departure from office in September, it would be no surprise if this turned out to be the Muslim group’s first major atrocity since 2001. more
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Celebrity terrorism.
The character of modern terrorism is widely understood to have been shaped by a mid-19th-Century idea known as the "propaganda of the deed" - a strategy for political change in which the message or cause is contained within, and expressed by the violent act.
In a novel twist, the Mumbai terrorists might have embarked on propaganda of the deed without the propaganda in the confident expectation that the rationalisation for the attack - the narrative - would be provided by politicians, the media and terrorism analysts.
 The attacks were a strike at the city's symbolic buildings |
Perhaps we have come to the point where casually self-radicalised, sociopathic individuals can form a loose organisation, acquire sufficient weapons and equipment for a few thousand dollars, make a basic plan of action and indulge in a violent expression of their generalised disaffection and anomie.
These individuals indulge in terrorism simply because they can, while their audience concocts a rationale on their behalf.
Welcome to the age of celebrity terrorism. read it all from BBC
Friday, November 21, 2008
A terrorist does not belong to any religion: L K Advani
Zeenews Bureau New Delhi, Nov 21: BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Leader of Opposition Lal Krishna Advani on Friday denounced all sorts of terrorism to the core saying that a terrorist has no religion.
Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here, Advani said, “It is wrong to brand a person as a Hindu, Muslim or Sikh terrorist.” On being asked about his comments defending Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Advani said, “I met NSA today and have spoken to PM clarifying my views about the case.” more
The Wounded Psyche
AGENDA | Sunday, November 16, 2008 | Email | Print |  The PioneerVatican owes us an apology Kanchan Gupta His Majesty the king has ordered that there shall be no Brahmins in his land and that they should be banished.” “In the name of his Majesty I order that no Hindu can or shall perform marriages…” “The marriages of the supplicants are superstitious acts or functions which include Hindu rites and ceremonies as well as cult, adoration and prayers of Hindu temples…” “I order that no Hindu temples be erected in any of the territories of my king… and that Hindu temples which already have been erected be not repaired…' Anybody familiar with the brutalisation of Hindu customs and practices, indeed Hindu faith and belief, could mistakenly believe these extracts have been taken from royal decrees issued during Muslim rule. The harshness with which suppression is prescribed in these decrees, the callous disregard that is advocated for the other’s sentiment, the cruelty that is so palpable in both thought and action, suggest that thesefirman could have been issued by one of the “shadows of god” who ruled this land, laying to waste Hindu lives and temples. But these are not extracts from firman issued by the Mughal court of, say, Aurangzeb. They have been taken from firmans issued by the Portuguese who ruled Goa and recognised no religion other than Christianity as the legitimate means of communion with god. It was no secular rule that they imposed, but a ruthless system of pillage disguised as trade and a cruel administration for whom Hindus were nothing more than “supplicants” to be crushed into submission or exiled into oblivion. The horrors inflicted on Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition — the Vatican has now admitted that the Church was wrong and Galileo was right — are well known. Not that well-known, and tragically so, are the horrors inflicted by the Goa Inquisition. Every child reads about Galileo’s trial and how it is symbolic of the triumph of science over faith. But there is no reference — indeed, all reference is scrupulously avoided — to the brutal attempts of the Church to stamp out Hinduism in the territories controlled by the Portuguese in India. And this silence is not because there exists no evidence: There exist, in full text, orders issued by the Portuguese Viceroy and the Governor. There exist, in written records and travelogues, penned not by the persecuted but by the persecutors, full details of the horrors perpetrated in the name of Christ. Hindus who dared oppose the persecution were punished, swiftly and mercilessly. Those who were fortunate, got away with being banished. The less fortunate had their property seized and auctioned — the money was used, in large measures, for furthering proselytisation. The least fortunate were forced to serve as slave labour on the galleys that transported loot from Indian shores to Portuguese coffers. Viceroy D Constantine de Braganca issued an order on April 2, 1560, instructing that Brahmins should be thrown out of Goa and other areas under Portuguese control. They had a month's time to sell their property — it is obvious who gained from such distress sale. Those found violating the viceregal order, it was declared, would have their properties seized. Another order was issued, this time by Governor Antonio Morez Barreto, on February 7, 1575, decreeing that the estates of Brahmins whose "presence was prejudicial to Christianity" would be confiscated and used for "providing clothes to the New Christians". The attitude of the Portuguese administrators in India and the Church hardened over the years, to a point where each fiat, each decree, each order, each letter, became an instrument of religious persecution. The Third Concilio Provincial — a gathering of bishops and other clerics — met in 1585 to review, among other things, the progress of converting the “heathens” to the “only faith”. The Concilio adopted a resolution which said, ‘His Majesty the king has on occasion ordered the Viceroys and Governors of India that there should be no Brahmins in his lands, and that they should be banished therefrom together with the physicians and other infidels who are prejudicial to Christianity, after taking the opinion of the Archbishop and other religious persons who have experience in the matter. As the orders of His Majesty in this regard have not been executed, great impediments in the way of conversion and the community of New Christians have followed and continue to follow.” One can quote from many other orders, resolutions and instructions that resulted in the hideous Vatican-backed Goa Inquisition. The details are not unknown to most of us; they are definitely well known to the Vatican. The reason I have raised the issue of the Goa Inquisition is two-fold. First, Pope Benedict XVI should bear in mind the horrors inflicted on Hindus in the name of Christianity before he berates them for being intolerant towards Christians. Second, the Vatican owes an apology for the crimes committed during the Goa Inquisition; it must apologise and repent for its misdeeds against Hindus and gross attempts to stamp out Hinduism. Not to do so would amount to continued endorsement of the crimes and the unfair practices of missionaries. Ten years ago, the Vatican issued a 14-page document, ‘apologising’ and ‘repenting’ for not doing enough to save Europe’s Jews from the Holocaust. While it is common knowledge that Pope Pius XII did not feel particularly appalled by Hitler’s ‘final solution’, the Vatican claimed in its 1998 document that he was unaware of the concentration camps, the mass slaughter, the gas chambers and the furnaces. The document, understandably, failed to impress Jews who have made it clear that Pope Benedict XVI is not welcome to visit Israel unless he offers an unqualified apology and makes public documents of that period which are now stored in the Vatican’s archives. The Vatican may have eliminated the phrase “perfidious Jews” from its liturgy and Pope John Paul II may have made it fashionable for the Pontiff to refer to Jews as “older brothers”, these are seen as no more than meaningless, insincere gestures. The purpose of securing an apology for the Goa Inquisition is not to belittle the Vatican, but to drive home the point that it cannot seek to occupy the moral high ground till such time it has apologised and atoned for the sins committed against Hindus. If the Vatican can say sorry to others, there is no reason why it cannot say sorry to Hindus. Their faith is no less than those of the Book. source |
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Politics helped Hindutva terrorists
Madhya Pradesh blast probe was put on ice
NEW DELHI: Authorities in Madhya Pradesh had evidence that members of Abhinav Bharat (not the charitable trust by the same name) — the Hindutva terror group responsible for a string of recent bombings targeting Muslims — were preparing for a nationwide bombing campaign as early as 2002.
However, government sources told The Hindu, political pressures allowed members of the terror cell, including two suspects now being investigated by the Maharashtra Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, to walk free.
In December 2002, police in Madhya Pradesh discovered an improvised explosive device at Bhopal’s railway station. A second IED was found exactly a year later in Bhopal’s Lamba Khera neighbourhood. Both devices were made with commercial TNT cased in a four-inch tube-well pipe, linked to a detonator controlled both by a cell phone and a quartz alarm clock. source
Investigators determined that both bombs were intended to attack delegates arriving in the city for the annual convention of the Tablighi Jamaat — an event that attracts about 5 lakh people.
Arguably the world’s largest proselytising order, the Pakistan-headquartered Tablighi Jamaat is doctrinally hostile to politics and has been criticised by radical Islamists for its pietist posture.
However, some numbers of jihadists are known to have been drawn to terrorism after spending time in Tablighi Jamaat-linked missionary cells.
Madhya Pradesh police, the sources said, soon developed information linking the attempted bombings to local Hindutva activists, Ramnarayan Kalsangram and Sunil Joshi. Both men — now alleged by the Maharashtra Police ATS to have occupied command positions in Abhinav Bharat — were questioned, along with several other suspects linked to the Bajrang Dal’s activities.
Later, then-Chief Minister Digvijay Singh announced that he had evidence of the involvement of Hindu nationalist groups such as the Bajrang Dal in terrorism. source
Monday, November 10, 2008
High profiled Terror
Counter Terror
Bajrang Dal. VHP. Abhinav Bharat. The names of ultra right-wing outfits are increasingly cropping up as investigators wake up to a new form of terror. RANA AYYUB tracks the dangerous trend
The Nanded blast of April 6, 2006, was the first to open up a glimpse into the activities of the country’s saffron terror modules. It took place at the residence of RSS worker Lakshman Rajkondwar, a retired irrigation department engineer, and was apparently an accident, occurring during the preparation of bombs meant to be placed outside a mosque in Aurangabad after Friday prayers. The accident had, importantly, been fuelled by a need to uphold ‘Hindu’ honour. The aim, then, was to avenge the 2005 blasts in Delhi and the 2006 blast in Varanasi, by engineering explosions in Muslim-dominated areas in central Maharashtra and killing at least 300 to 400 Muslims in each incident. This was also the intention of the blasts at Parbhani, Jalna and Purna, all of which occurred outside mosques between 1.30 and 2 in the afternoon, to ensure as many casualties as possible.
HIMANI SAVARKAR of Abhinav Bharat: Non Hindus are second-class citizens
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The niece of Nathuram Godse, married to Veer Savarkar's nephew, is the president of the Abhinav Bharat...  | ||||
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| Till 2000, Himani Savarkar was an architect. That’s when she discontinued her practice to become the president of the Hindu Mahasabha. The 61-year-old Himani lives in Pune and her hardline Hindutva roots are well-entrenched. She is the daughter of Gopal Godse, the brother of Nathuram Godse, and is married to Veer Savarkar’s nephew. Himani is also the president of the Abhinav Bharat. Some members of the organisation have been linked to the Malegaon bomb attack of September 29. Himani spoke to Outlook. Excerpts: How did you become the president of Abhinav Bharat? I had known Sameer Kulkarni (the Maharashtra ATS has alleged that he was part of the team that provided logistic support for the Malegaon blasts) for quite some time. Like me, he was also part of the rss. When he decided to start Abhinav Bharat, he approached me to become its president and I accepted. What are the objectives of Abhinav Bharat? Our aim is to fight terror—spread awareness of who the real terrorists are and teach people how to oppose terrorism. This should have been done by the government but it has failed to prevent terror attacks. Since the government failed to act, there had to be a reaction. If what the police claim against Sadhvi Pragya Singh and the others is true, then it is just a reaction against the real terrorism.... But is a blast-for-blast strategy the way to tackle terrorism? Didn’t Maharashtra deputy CM R.R. Patil say that we must reply with a bullet for a bullet? Then why can’t we have a blast for a blast? Sameer Kulkarni and the others are patriots who love their country. But the government is now trying to declare them guilty to weaken the Hindus. We have become a soft state...should we all wear bangles now? The government doesn’t want to fight terrorism. That’s why it will never take action against the Muslims. The police have cracked so many cases like the encounter in Delhi where Muslim terrorists were killed. But as soon as the police takes action, there are shouts for a judicial inquiry. You have faith in the police when it comes to Muslims as terror suspects but not so when Hindus are accused by the same cops? Also, Muslims say they never got justice after the 1993 Bombay riots and the 2002 Gujarat riots? How do you respond? This is a demand made by Muslims based on their religion. If they are to make such demands, then there are so many countries for Muslims and they should go live there. There is only one country for Hindus and we must protect it. I don’t believe in reports like the Srikrishna Commission report (on the ’92-93 Bombay riots) because I know how they are managed. So, has the Nanavati Commission’s report on the Gujarat riots also been similarly ‘managed’? I don’t know much about that report. But you must remember that it is normal human behaviour to react. All that is happening today is a reaction from the Hindus. I don’t believe in the philosophy of turning the other cheek if someone slaps you. We must strike back. So, if someone takes action to defend the Hindus, then we must defend them. How should India fight terrorism? We must declare ourselves a Hindu rashtra where everyone is a Hindu. Anyone who isn’t should be declared a second-class citizen and denied voting rights. Those who have problems with this should leave and settle in other countries. The Hindu votebank must unite to vote out any government that fails to tackle terror. Then we must throw out the outsiders like Bangladeshis who live off India’s wealth and work towards destroying us. |
Gujarat police protecting Terrorists
Congress: Modi’s stance disturbing
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday condemned the Gujarat government’s refusal to cooperate with the investigations being conducted into the Malegaon blasts by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
Reacting to reports of Gujarat police stopping ATS from picking up a suspect, party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, “This clearly exposes the double standards and hypocrisy of the Bharatiya Janata Party.”
Further, according to her, it showed a total lack of commitment – especially Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi – in fighting terror.
Stating that the Central and State governments were taking all measures to combat terrorism, Ms. Natarajan said the Modi government’s stance was disturbing.
“Those suspected in terror attacks should be interrogated and punished, and there cannot be different standards for those close to the BJP and others.”
The Congress also expressed shock at the manner in which Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Tukoji Rao Pawar “insulted” the Returning Officer for Sonkatch Assembly segment in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
VHP worker shot dead in Kandhamal
The Hindu , Nov 6, 2008
BHUBANESWAR: Tension prevailed in riot-hit Kandhamal district of the Orissa on Wednesday following the killing of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad worker by suspected Maoists.
Assailants fired 18 rounds at the VHP worker Dhanurjay Pradhani (36) at Kumbharigaon village around 1 p.m., police sources said.
Pradhani, who worked as a small-time contractor, was inspecting the construction of a school building at the time. He hailed from the nearby Jhinjirigaon village.
Maoists, who are active in Brahmanigaon and adjoining Tumudibandha, had recently put up banners threatening to eliminate Pradhani and several other local leaders of the Sangh Parivar.
District Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar reached Kumbharigaon with additional forces. One company of the Central Reserve Police Force also reached the area. source
Monday, November 3, 2008
Malegaon :' Why were only 6 people killed?’ Sadhvi Pragya Thakur asks Ramji
“Why were only six people killed when we had planned for more?”
This statement, the prosecution claimed in court on Monday, was from a conversation between Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Ramji, one of the suspects in the blasts that ripped through Malegaon on September 28.
According to the witness’ statement, Ramji replied: “As the area was crowded, I could not park the vehicle where it could have created maximum damage”.Special public prosecutor Ajay Mishar claimed that that this conversation was overheard by a witnesses, who gave a statement to the magistrate under the provisions of CrPC Section 164.
According to the witness’ statement, Ramji replied: “As the area was crowded, I could not park the vehicle where it could have created maximum damage”.Special public prosecutor Ajay Mishar claimed that that this conversation was overheard by a witnesses, who gave a statement to the magistrate under the provisions of CrPC Section 164.
According to the witness’ statement, Ramji replied: “As the area was crowded, I could not park the vehicle where it could have created maximum damage”. Ramji allegedly told Thakur that he was scared of being caught.
The witness also claimed that Thakur had said that if the motorcycle, on which the bombs were planted, was seized, she would say that she had sold the motorcycle a long time ago.
When asked about the significance of the witness, Mishar said the actual sequence of events took place as per the conversation between Thakur and Ramji. “After the blasts, Thakur told the police that she had sold her motorcycle long back,” said Mishar. source
Asghar Ali Engineer: And Now Hindu Terrorists?
And Now Hindu Terrorists?
By Asghar Ali Engineer
03 November, 2008
TwoCircles.net
TwoCircles.net
Muslims for long had been objecting to the term Islamic terrorists and when the term Hindu terrorists was used by a section of the media the Sangh Parivar members protested how can one use the term 'Hindu Terrorists? The first to object to this term was Mr. Ram Madhav of RSS told The Asian Age "There is no such thing as Hindu terror at all. It is an orchestrated campaign to protect the real terrorists." Also when asked about the Sadhvi Pragya's arrest, he immediately tried to distance RSS from her. The "involvement of individuals, he said, "had nothing to do with any Hindu organization."
Similarly Mr. Advani, the opposition leader, also distanced BJP and RSS from the Sadhvi. He claimed he had no knowledge as to who Pragya was till now. Advani told Times of India that it seemed obvious that she would have parted ways with the pariwar outfits because her thoughts and methods did not match with those propagated by the organizations which she may have belonged to. This was reason enough for her to move out of them." more
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