The last few days have been very crucial for the investigators of the pan India bomb blasts. They seem to have found some leads after the humiliating 4 years where they were running around in circles (like a dog trying to jab its tail). As usual the police and the public gave different version of things which most of the media was quick to show as “Breaking News”. The media content swung like a pendulum moving from India’s Osama Tauqeer to Azamgarh being India’s Waziristan. One channel showed Tauqeer and others with devils ears and tongue. Please for god sake “SHUT UP”. If this is the level of media coverage then I and other sane people will support going back to the days of “Dukhdarshan” (Doordarshan).
As being slightly more “knowledgeable” and “Level minded” (pun intended) than our electronic media journalists, there are a couple of points that I wish to communicate out on these bomb blasts, their investigation and also take the liberty of commenting on some allied issues.
The Delhi – Batla House Encounter
Please for god’s sake, this was not a fake encounter. Fake encounters are not done in broad day light in the middle of a colony, nor does the mission leader tell his family that he is going to be back in a couple of hours leaving behind his critically ill son. Please accept the encounter story of the Delhi police as they are saying the truth (at least this time). Any sceptic can watch a very balanced coverage on headlines today news channel which was able to procure the actual encounter footage shot either with a mobile phone camera or a normal camera with low quality digital zoom. It clearly showed a below par police action where casualty was nearly 100% sure. As has been reported in some creditable media that the cops were of the opinion that this would be a “QUICK ARREST” operation and before other people realise it, they would be back at their Lodhi Road office. Some Police officers want to join such raids for the lure of medals; some for promotions but some do have genuine team spirit and all these scenarios’ can lead to mistakes and lots of them were committed on that fateful day. As for the shots having hit Inspector Sharma from the back, the headlines today clip clearly shows the volley of fire coming from the house and the ill equipped and ill prepared raiding party rushing downstairs to escape that gun fire. As for the escape of the terrorist, well if such was the planning of the arrest, then escapee of 2 -3 or all the terrorists is no big deal. Having myself seen visuals and also read about the manual of procedures employed by a raiding party in U.K, I can tell that this was a shoddy work by the special cell. The blame if any goes to the concepts in training for such operations that Indian police employ in which a false sense of bravado and complete sense of recklessness gets groomed into them. In this age of the internet and you tube, just look into clips of such raids by U.K and U.S police and one can appreciate my view on this. I do not doubt the bravery or the team spirit of these policemen but just sacrificing one’s life leads to nothing. What if the court tomorrow says that no the encounter was not perfect or the captured people are not terrorists? These scenarios can happen and the only reason is that our police hardly go with an effort to create a case against the accused. The entire exercise is to capture an accused and then “Break” him down to reveal everything. This does sensationalise the news of that day but when the story goes to the inner pages of the newspapers, the terrorists go scot free. This is totally opposite to the procedure employed by the U.K police who operate in a scenario where the suspects are trailed for months and only when enough legally admissible evidence is accumulated, the cell is busted. This is the biggest reason that police in such countries enjoy far higher credibility than our police do. Such credibility not only leads to better moles in the terrorist cells but also in improved convictions.
Month of Ramdan – There were murmurs at the Batla house area that a Muslim could not do something so un-Islamic during the holy month of Ramdan. The terrorist have no knowledge of Islam or love for it. They only know the language of hate and nothing else. This was reaffirmed as within a couple of days the terrorist and that too the wahibi’s (purist) nearly blew up the Marriott in Islamabad and that also when an iftar dinner was being organised. This is their level of knowledge of Islam and their thoughts for a Muslim Ummah or an Islamic Caliphate.
What can be done to assure the sceptical people of India that such encounters are genuine?
1. Give raiding party helmet cams (U.K police has started using them). This if needed can show if the raiding party was following the set procedures or not. Army has been doing this for a long time and it is time that the police forces start the same also.
2. All deaths natural and unnatural needs be verified by a system called Coroner’s Inquest. This simple process goes a long way in clearing the air about encounters. The system is presently working in the U.K and has been able to produce wonderful results. The Coroner is somewhat like a constitutional figure and he/she goes beyond the role of a post mortem expert. He/She also enquires about the conditions leading to the death and also what could and should be done to prevent such a loss of life. Lots of changes have been bought into the emergency management system in the U.K by such inquests.
In the U.K even the Armed Forces are under the preview of the Coroner’s Inquest which might not be possible so we could have a separate Coroner for Armed forces directly reporting to the Defence Minister. We need this openness not only for keeping the Armed Forces record clean but also to make sure that generals who are responsible for the life of the front line jawans and officers give them the best quality tools to achieve their missions. Right now jawans and officers who lay down their lives for this nation are quickly termed Saheed and no institutional effort is made to address the root causes of their deaths. Lots of deaths in Indian Armed forces are attributed to malfunctioning of ammunition or poor quality of communication equipment or weapons or body armour and nothing is done quickly enough to correct these issues.
3. Please allow press briefings to be done by professionals and not regular policemen and women. Train your P.R cops in what P.R means. For someone who has wielded lathi all his life, words would not be the easiest things which would flow from his/her mouth.
4. Rumour mills work over time at such places especially where the majority of the people are either illiterate or semi educated or like most Indian’s - Born sceptics. What the police and their P.R fellows need to do is to make sure that their voice is heard. Tools that You Tube, Orkut, Face book and Internet chat rooms offer a quick and easy way to disseminate your point of view. These days even royal family of U.K, U.N, etc have their own video channels on the You Tube.
5. Order a Coroner’s Inquest and publish its finding or even updates on the internet.
6. Train and prepare your men and women on such missions well enough. Equip them well and show your evidence gathered to a magistrate before a raid is started (Italy does that – A Magistrate leads the police campaigns against mafia’s, terrorist or other shady characters). This will allow the encounter specialists to access if the evidence gathered is good enough or more needs to be done under the existing laws to nail the terrorist in a court of law.
7. Pick up more people from smaller communities into the force especially Delhi Police in the lower rung. There are hundreds of young retired ex Army men and women including Muslims who could be immediately absorbed into the force. This will allow some credibility and increase professionalism into the police forces.
As I have reported in my earlier blogs that intelligence agencies and police forces are busy doing “bandobast” for their “bade sahibs” and their free loader relatives rather than trailing the terrorists. A quick reading of Maj. Gen V.K Singh’s book on R&AW reveals the same, 90% of all information in R&AW is purely technical and that is shocking. Human assets remain and will remain your best bet in thwarting any sinister plans of the terrorists.
Religion from a modern perspective is the right to practise your rituals and beliefs without any fear until and unless they impede on the other person’s right of existence. If you look at these terrorists this is not what they want, they are hell bent on forcing their beliefs on people lesser capable of defending themselves which include groups like women, economically downtrodden, etc. Forcing religious beliefs leads to different problems and that is pretty well seen in Muslim countries. If you starting discriminating than people have a habit to take such acts to levels beyond the comprehension of sane people. Glaring examples are Muslims in Iraq; first the division was between Iran and Iran, then it was divided between Iraqis and Kurds and the Iraqis subdivided themselves between Iraqis and marsh Arabs; then Iraqis got divided into Shia’s and Sunni’s and then Shia and Sunni’s got divided into different factions and then these factions would finally get divided into different factions as per each household. Gen. Petreus of the U.S ARMY did nothing extraordinary but just divided people as per their wishes and some kind of peace was restored in Iraq.
A proof of forcing people to follow a certain philosophy is that a few days back I read an interesting fact about Pakistan. Lots of Sunni Muslims write their faith as Shia Muslims to escape the compulsory Zakat during the months of Ramdan that Gen. Zia had introduced in that country. This Zakat amount is compulsorily deducted from the salaries for all Sunni Muslims and exempted for Shias and other Minority groups. Also anybody flying into Bangkok can find Saudi jets with their billionaire owners are parked in Bangkok and other places of pleasure for days at end – Do not think for prayers (As far as I know Bangkok is NOT famous for that).
Trust me if Hindu’s think that their saviour in the current times is Dr. Praveen Togadia or Raj Thackeray and Muslims think that their saviour is Osama or some Paki funded politician or “Amar Chitra Katha of Dalal Salam fame and his Netaji or the very “Punny” Chara Eater – Laloo, Aloo, Balu and his family including his railway platform changing brother in Laws” then all the best to those who believe in this. I would to stick myself to reading books and writing by blog.
Live together we have to, so better it is that we start quickly.
p.s – Ignorance breeds even more ignorance: I asked a friend of mine if he knew who was ABU FAZL. The answer even before I could end the question was TERRORIST (As all terrorists change their names to Abu something). All I can say is the fact is that Abu Fazl was one of the most learned scholars that Akbar had in his court. Abu Fazl wrote Akbarnama, translated Bible into Persian and also was instrumental in changing Akbar’s temperament to a modern outlook.
Now there are two ways of looking at this answer, one all is lost and now Muslims are doomed. The other way is that such things need to be highlighted. Firstly accept that there is a problem and this cycle of violence that can be stopped if and only if people from within the Muslim community wake up and tell not only other Indians but also young boys and girls of their community that their ideals need to be Abu Fazl or Dara Shikoh and not osama’s of this world.
Please also read: Muslim Freedom Fighters of India/edited by S. Ganjoo. ISBN 81-261-1281-6
Friday 26 September 2008
India - Union, Federation or Commonwealth
Human beings by their nature are divisive people, they are greedy and if left to them, they would like to blow up the whole world and have all its riches for themselves. Strength of nations is their ability to work together as one. Why India is a success is not because we are able to help each individual in his or her hour of crisis but the belief of people to keep their past behind and move ahead to create a bright and positive future for this great land. The greatness of Sardar Patel is magnified million fold as he was able to tell different Indian ethnic groups that their destiny laid in a common and strong India. He greatness was that he was able to tell people to keep their belief in this gods own country called India. He was able to tell a Dogra that what they historically did to say a Punjabi or what the rajputs did to maratha’s was irrelevant in this new India. The idea of India is to keep people together and not further divide them. Just read some constituent assembly debates on allowing secession and the reasons given against them. Hardly a few would know that the constituent debated on the definition of India and whether to keep India a federation or a commonwealth or a union and finally settled for a Union. One of the most liberal constitutions was framed so that people do not feel the need to secede and find their voices heard with the frame work of the Union of India. The problem is that the system has failed and not the constitution.
The constitution allows a great deal freedom and if any section of the society feels that the executive or even the legislature is not up to the mark, the judiciary can be called upon to act like an alibi. In how many countries and that too developing can an ex P.M be taken to a small district court and made to stand in the convict’s box. The liberalism of this nation even after enduring subjugation in form of a foreign rule for nearly 800 years and even after seeing 30% of your territory taken away by creating an experimental country called Pakistan is something that enhances my respect to our nation’s constitutional forefathers. How many nations which have gone through all that we underwent prepare something as liberal as our constitution? Even issues like declaring this nation a Hindu Rashtra or banning conversions was debated in the constituent assembly and finally decision was taken not to go in that direction. Look at our neighbourhood and one realises what was the calibre our leaders who allowed such a thing. Pakistan – Muslim nation, Nepal – Hindu, China – Communist (Han), Sri Lanka – Sinhala, Burma – Buddhist, Maldives – Muslim, Afghanistan – Muslim and later Bangladesh – Muslim and INDIA - SECULAR. Look today where most of these other nations are; top in the list of failed states and ask a reason why – the answer is not difficult, religion cannot be a basis of nationhood, secularism will be. Mr. Jinnah’s experiment called Pakistan has failed and faster the Paki’s accept that the better it is. Nations like Saudi Arabia or Bahrain or Qatar survive as they hold a tight lid over their people and incentives like free cash doles and loan waivers are granted to keep the population from revolting. Time is a great leveller, it shows your propaganda might be the best (Pakistan’s) but it is the ethos that run a nation. Paki’s might fill venom in their text books against India and call Indian by their casteist names but “SATYAMEV JAYTE” – another great motto by our nation’s founders has come true. The millions of baby snakes made to order for India are now biting their own people in Pakistan. Hate only breeds hate; travel on a Paki passport and you see your condition at the immigration desk of any country. Over the years an Indian passport has earned for itself a great degree of respect and thanks to our software professionals and people like the Tata’s and the Mittal’s and many more like them.
Most of our countries problems are human created and that too mostly by the great politicians. You need not go further than see the state our parliament is in today. 90% of the members do not even come prepared for important discussions on subjects like 123 Nuclear Deal, Defence Budget, etc. The parliament has been reduced to a verbal and sometimes physical duel between members on issues which a national parliament should not even discuss. Our parliament discusses issues like village roads, rural health, poverty alleviation, etc leaving no time for issues concerning our strategic depth, energy security, reform of services like immigration, armed forces, Para military, police, etc. Why should centre even have a ministry like rural health or tribal welfare when the same issues are state subjects? Why should centre even spend money directly on issues like rural roads, health, etc? All these issues should be given to the states to handle and centre should move out of the same ASAP. This was the biggest crime that congress did to this country; it never allowed institutions to be formed autonomously. They subverted the entire democratic process of this country just because Justice Sinha of Allahabad high court declared Indira Gandhi’s election for the Rae Bareilly lok sabha seat null and void. Centre and its institution should now focus themselves on issues like defence, finance and security – energy, internal, etc.
My idea is to make states an equal partner in the development of this nation and not to overlap schemes which only result in increased bureaucracy and lesser delivery on the ground. Some ideas can be like the Airports in metro’s have been privatised, make assets like Non metro airports a JV between centre and state governments and run by professional bodies. All local city and within state trains should be run by a JV company similar to the lines of NJ transit in America and all interstate trains to be run as they are (under Indian Railways). In U.S, such ports and trains are operated by local municipal authorities like Ports Authority of NY and NJ handles most of the airports in the NY/NJ area and also run the NJ transit system. I can also say the in case of currency notes; we can issues them bearing great freedom fighters of each states. I saw a very similar system done by U.K for their regions of Northern Ireland and Scotland. Both regions have something called a Scottish or Northern Irish Pound which is always pegged to the U.K pound. Such measures will not make states secede from India but will allow them room to manoeuvre on issues like finances, social harmony, etc. This will allow a more serious leadership to come up in states as they will have no longer an option to blame centre for all their ills. The centre should act as a friend and a guide to states and not a big daddy as it does today.
To end this essay on India all I can say is that apart from SATYAMEV JAYTE, the very idea of India is derived from 2 mottos; E Pluribus Unum (U.S.A) meaning FROM MANY, ONE and Dieu et mon droit (England) meaning GOD AND MY RIGHT. The American motto is something that we truly are – one in a million and to further enhance our prestige we need to constantly introspect. For surviving and thriving in this modern uni-polar world; my logic would be to have an eagle sharp mind like America and a compassionate soul like Europe.
p.s - Next in the series, I would write this in context of Kashmir
The constitution allows a great deal freedom and if any section of the society feels that the executive or even the legislature is not up to the mark, the judiciary can be called upon to act like an alibi. In how many countries and that too developing can an ex P.M be taken to a small district court and made to stand in the convict’s box. The liberalism of this nation even after enduring subjugation in form of a foreign rule for nearly 800 years and even after seeing 30% of your territory taken away by creating an experimental country called Pakistan is something that enhances my respect to our nation’s constitutional forefathers. How many nations which have gone through all that we underwent prepare something as liberal as our constitution? Even issues like declaring this nation a Hindu Rashtra or banning conversions was debated in the constituent assembly and finally decision was taken not to go in that direction. Look at our neighbourhood and one realises what was the calibre our leaders who allowed such a thing. Pakistan – Muslim nation, Nepal – Hindu, China – Communist (Han), Sri Lanka – Sinhala, Burma – Buddhist, Maldives – Muslim, Afghanistan – Muslim and later Bangladesh – Muslim and INDIA - SECULAR. Look today where most of these other nations are; top in the list of failed states and ask a reason why – the answer is not difficult, religion cannot be a basis of nationhood, secularism will be. Mr. Jinnah’s experiment called Pakistan has failed and faster the Paki’s accept that the better it is. Nations like Saudi Arabia or Bahrain or Qatar survive as they hold a tight lid over their people and incentives like free cash doles and loan waivers are granted to keep the population from revolting. Time is a great leveller, it shows your propaganda might be the best (Pakistan’s) but it is the ethos that run a nation. Paki’s might fill venom in their text books against India and call Indian by their casteist names but “SATYAMEV JAYTE” – another great motto by our nation’s founders has come true. The millions of baby snakes made to order for India are now biting their own people in Pakistan. Hate only breeds hate; travel on a Paki passport and you see your condition at the immigration desk of any country. Over the years an Indian passport has earned for itself a great degree of respect and thanks to our software professionals and people like the Tata’s and the Mittal’s and many more like them.
Most of our countries problems are human created and that too mostly by the great politicians. You need not go further than see the state our parliament is in today. 90% of the members do not even come prepared for important discussions on subjects like 123 Nuclear Deal, Defence Budget, etc. The parliament has been reduced to a verbal and sometimes physical duel between members on issues which a national parliament should not even discuss. Our parliament discusses issues like village roads, rural health, poverty alleviation, etc leaving no time for issues concerning our strategic depth, energy security, reform of services like immigration, armed forces, Para military, police, etc. Why should centre even have a ministry like rural health or tribal welfare when the same issues are state subjects? Why should centre even spend money directly on issues like rural roads, health, etc? All these issues should be given to the states to handle and centre should move out of the same ASAP. This was the biggest crime that congress did to this country; it never allowed institutions to be formed autonomously. They subverted the entire democratic process of this country just because Justice Sinha of Allahabad high court declared Indira Gandhi’s election for the Rae Bareilly lok sabha seat null and void. Centre and its institution should now focus themselves on issues like defence, finance and security – energy, internal, etc.
My idea is to make states an equal partner in the development of this nation and not to overlap schemes which only result in increased bureaucracy and lesser delivery on the ground. Some ideas can be like the Airports in metro’s have been privatised, make assets like Non metro airports a JV between centre and state governments and run by professional bodies. All local city and within state trains should be run by a JV company similar to the lines of NJ transit in America and all interstate trains to be run as they are (under Indian Railways). In U.S, such ports and trains are operated by local municipal authorities like Ports Authority of NY and NJ handles most of the airports in the NY/NJ area and also run the NJ transit system. I can also say the in case of currency notes; we can issues them bearing great freedom fighters of each states. I saw a very similar system done by U.K for their regions of Northern Ireland and Scotland. Both regions have something called a Scottish or Northern Irish Pound which is always pegged to the U.K pound. Such measures will not make states secede from India but will allow them room to manoeuvre on issues like finances, social harmony, etc. This will allow a more serious leadership to come up in states as they will have no longer an option to blame centre for all their ills. The centre should act as a friend and a guide to states and not a big daddy as it does today.
To end this essay on India all I can say is that apart from SATYAMEV JAYTE, the very idea of India is derived from 2 mottos; E Pluribus Unum (U.S.A) meaning FROM MANY, ONE and Dieu et mon droit (England) meaning GOD AND MY RIGHT. The American motto is something that we truly are – one in a million and to further enhance our prestige we need to constantly introspect. For surviving and thriving in this modern uni-polar world; my logic would be to have an eagle sharp mind like America and a compassionate soul like Europe.
p.s - Next in the series, I would write this in context of Kashmir
Wednesday 17 September 2008
DELHI BOMB BLAST - 13 SEPTEMBER 2008 – COMMENT REPLY
Thanks to my learned friend who has put his comments on my blog about the Delhi Blasts. Let me clarify some things on what I wrote, firstly none of the people whom I criticised is a constitutional authority. P.C Halder and Home Minster form the bureaucracy/executive. Only people in the position like the President of India or the Governor of a State or the Election Commissioner or the Judges of Supreme Courts are constitutional authorities. Even if they were constitutional authorities, why should we not be able to criticise their conduct. Look at what the courts have said about the family of the President, there are cases of first degree murder on the immediate family members of the president and we should allow such people to hide behind the cloak of not criticising any constitutional authority. Look at the cases of the judges of the Ghaziabad courts defrauding the lowest rung employees of their life’s saving (P.F Scam). Our motto should be the one that I have taken from an American Security Organisation - IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS WE INTERCEPT. No one is above the law and that too when people’s lives are involved.
Secondly, again I was tagged along with a few million eunuchs who ran away, from where I do not know but if this blog commentator person is referring about the Kashmiri Migrants, well at least I and my community are clearly on one side and not like other Kashmiri’s who are still in the valley and chant Pro India slogans when they come begging for their monthly cash dole and anti India slogans when they reach back in the valley. My close family, friends as also the wider community to which I belong have been working in the government and security forces trying to fight terror not only in the Valley but in other parts of India (and around the world too). Lots of our community boys have laid down their lives fighting terrorist in the valley and more so like I have said before, our community does not need any certificate from anyone for our patriotic feelings; it is the others who need to show where they belong too; India or Jhootistan. Where ever our community has gone it has always raised the bar as far education and other activities is concerned. Look at the valley, even today thousands of kashmiri muslims send their kids outside of the valley so that they get some good education. This was not an inborn phenomenon as the Kashmiri muslims were deprived from good education before the Indian independence. Whatever mass Kashmiri education came in the valley was only after Bakshi’s saw that the biggest reason that the pundits did well for themselves was their strong emphasis on education. Look at the scenario today, the same things the pundits have done to the Jammu region as well. There is a mass education movement on and what is different from the previous times is that the dogra boys and girls are pushing for higher studies and not stopping at graduation. Jammu has witnesses an exceptional boom in their economy after the migration 1989-90 and lots can be attributed to the Pandits. As a community we have always pushing more on education and less on guns. Imagine the situation in valley now and see where Jammu is today, Valleys loss is Jammu’s gain. Pandits are not pickpockets or rapist but educationist and they have shown that in Jammu. I again say look at the valley and look at Jammu.
Thirdly as far as our identity is concerned, well it will be preserved come what may. That is protection that any Indian will get in our country, unfortunately people who have been fed on Jhootistan propaganda know very little of this. I really hope that the government of India freely opens up the muzzafarabad route for both trade and people to people contact so that people on the Valley realise that there the original state subjects of P.O.K have been put in a minority in their own state by the Punjabi’s through the Pakistani army’s ex servicemen rehab scheme. Better still has been done in Northern Areas – Gilgit and Baltistan, where the Shia’s after their rebellion during Zia’s tenure were brutally hacked and driven out of their land. The shia’s have been revolting frequently against this inhuman treatment in more than one way, Zia’s death is also blamed on a Shia airmen who came from the northern areas. In contrast if there is some semblance in P.O.K area (due to its propaganda nature), the northern areas are a black hole. There is no government and the only authority that people know is the Army and the I.S.I. Look in one of my previous blogs and you would see what Baloch’s say about Pakistan and how their leaders are treated by the Pak army and the ISI and we on the other hand pay for the medical treatment of Kashmiri separatist leaders. Helping some in need is the Indian ethos but let it not be known that Kashmiri’s are thankless people. Indian ethos stems from the old proverb that a fruit bearing tree is always bent downwards, so we need to be humble for all the acts that we do but the other side should not see that as our weakness.
Kashmiri people in the valley should see this and realise that what their ancestors did during the 1948 Pakistani - Kabaili raid was because they saw through the designs of Jhootistan. Today 99% of the valley folk would not know that today’s Lal chowk in Srinagar infamous for grenade attacks was actually the place where Pakistani - Kabaili’s who were caught by the JK Militia were publically executed in that square. As I have said before that an entire generation has grown up in the valley without any knowledge of their history and only knowing the Nizam e Mustafa that has been enforced privately since 1989.
p.s – Just got a post asking if I am in the army, Please NO. That was a typo error which I realised after I published it. I am a common Indian citizen who is in a private organisation and that is the reason that I do not write under my name. As for hunting down is concerned, well house to house search is common in all law and order manuals all around the world. In the recent muslim youth riots within Denmark, the police used the same techniques to quell the riots. The 2006 Paris immigrant riots were quelled by the French police only after a house to house raid at the Picasso estate area of Paris. In the 2000 BNP-South Asian riots, the Leeds, Leicester, bradford and other police forces in the U.K used house to house searches and identity parades to fight this menace. What we need to remember that community needs to be involved in such mass exercises and educated on the need for the same.
Also please do not publish hearsay stories about the truckers and this donation. Please all of it is based on hearsay - Half truths and full lies and lots of rumours. Lots of people have called saying that on the 6th October, Geelani is going to declare Independence after the Id namaz and Pakistan, Bangladesh and some other Muslim nations will recognise it. All this has stemmed from just one statement of Zardari at his swearing in press conference that something is going to be done within a month. Lots of our friends who are honest, secular Kashmiri’s (including Minority shia’s) have called our relatives to enquire if such reports were true. Ha Ha Ha.
Please we cannot be bogged down by half truths and full lies and lots of rumours. Please there is so much to do, there are so many people suffering and if we the lucky few who are blessed with good education and support waste our time on 400 acres of Land then there is nothing sadder to say. The faster that issue is over the better it is, we have family ties with so many kashmiri muslims that it is amazing that we have allowed the situation to reach such a turn. The main culprits are the leaders of the valley and then Jammu. Now if there are any bad feelings talk it across and clear it up. We would meet each other again and then as a saying goes – Hate a person but not so much that next time you meet, you would have to lower your eyes in shame.
My strength and that of this nation comes from our democracy. My personal motto IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS WE INTERCEPT gives me the freedom to criticise our own bad politicians, our own gods, our holy books which have some negative references and it is because of this freedom I still say that GOD BLESS INDIA. This great country of 5000 years, of a book of knowledge of Rig Veda and it has managed to retain its roots. It is amazing and nothing else. The more I have read about the ethos that defined this nation even in 1947, the more I respect it. The debates in the constituents assembly before the constitution was passed are iconic and should be read by one and all as to why we call this nation as great and why I will stand by each and every letter of the same.
More later.
Secondly, again I was tagged along with a few million eunuchs who ran away, from where I do not know but if this blog commentator person is referring about the Kashmiri Migrants, well at least I and my community are clearly on one side and not like other Kashmiri’s who are still in the valley and chant Pro India slogans when they come begging for their monthly cash dole and anti India slogans when they reach back in the valley. My close family, friends as also the wider community to which I belong have been working in the government and security forces trying to fight terror not only in the Valley but in other parts of India (and around the world too). Lots of our community boys have laid down their lives fighting terrorist in the valley and more so like I have said before, our community does not need any certificate from anyone for our patriotic feelings; it is the others who need to show where they belong too; India or Jhootistan. Where ever our community has gone it has always raised the bar as far education and other activities is concerned. Look at the valley, even today thousands of kashmiri muslims send their kids outside of the valley so that they get some good education. This was not an inborn phenomenon as the Kashmiri muslims were deprived from good education before the Indian independence. Whatever mass Kashmiri education came in the valley was only after Bakshi’s saw that the biggest reason that the pundits did well for themselves was their strong emphasis on education. Look at the scenario today, the same things the pundits have done to the Jammu region as well. There is a mass education movement on and what is different from the previous times is that the dogra boys and girls are pushing for higher studies and not stopping at graduation. Jammu has witnesses an exceptional boom in their economy after the migration 1989-90 and lots can be attributed to the Pandits. As a community we have always pushing more on education and less on guns. Imagine the situation in valley now and see where Jammu is today, Valleys loss is Jammu’s gain. Pandits are not pickpockets or rapist but educationist and they have shown that in Jammu. I again say look at the valley and look at Jammu.
Thirdly as far as our identity is concerned, well it will be preserved come what may. That is protection that any Indian will get in our country, unfortunately people who have been fed on Jhootistan propaganda know very little of this. I really hope that the government of India freely opens up the muzzafarabad route for both trade and people to people contact so that people on the Valley realise that there the original state subjects of P.O.K have been put in a minority in their own state by the Punjabi’s through the Pakistani army’s ex servicemen rehab scheme. Better still has been done in Northern Areas – Gilgit and Baltistan, where the Shia’s after their rebellion during Zia’s tenure were brutally hacked and driven out of their land. The shia’s have been revolting frequently against this inhuman treatment in more than one way, Zia’s death is also blamed on a Shia airmen who came from the northern areas. In contrast if there is some semblance in P.O.K area (due to its propaganda nature), the northern areas are a black hole. There is no government and the only authority that people know is the Army and the I.S.I. Look in one of my previous blogs and you would see what Baloch’s say about Pakistan and how their leaders are treated by the Pak army and the ISI and we on the other hand pay for the medical treatment of Kashmiri separatist leaders. Helping some in need is the Indian ethos but let it not be known that Kashmiri’s are thankless people. Indian ethos stems from the old proverb that a fruit bearing tree is always bent downwards, so we need to be humble for all the acts that we do but the other side should not see that as our weakness.
Kashmiri people in the valley should see this and realise that what their ancestors did during the 1948 Pakistani - Kabaili raid was because they saw through the designs of Jhootistan. Today 99% of the valley folk would not know that today’s Lal chowk in Srinagar infamous for grenade attacks was actually the place where Pakistani - Kabaili’s who were caught by the JK Militia were publically executed in that square. As I have said before that an entire generation has grown up in the valley without any knowledge of their history and only knowing the Nizam e Mustafa that has been enforced privately since 1989.
p.s – Just got a post asking if I am in the army, Please NO. That was a typo error which I realised after I published it. I am a common Indian citizen who is in a private organisation and that is the reason that I do not write under my name. As for hunting down is concerned, well house to house search is common in all law and order manuals all around the world. In the recent muslim youth riots within Denmark, the police used the same techniques to quell the riots. The 2006 Paris immigrant riots were quelled by the French police only after a house to house raid at the Picasso estate area of Paris. In the 2000 BNP-South Asian riots, the Leeds, Leicester, bradford and other police forces in the U.K used house to house searches and identity parades to fight this menace. What we need to remember that community needs to be involved in such mass exercises and educated on the need for the same.
Also please do not publish hearsay stories about the truckers and this donation. Please all of it is based on hearsay - Half truths and full lies and lots of rumours. Lots of people have called saying that on the 6th October, Geelani is going to declare Independence after the Id namaz and Pakistan, Bangladesh and some other Muslim nations will recognise it. All this has stemmed from just one statement of Zardari at his swearing in press conference that something is going to be done within a month. Lots of our friends who are honest, secular Kashmiri’s (including Minority shia’s) have called our relatives to enquire if such reports were true. Ha Ha Ha.
Please we cannot be bogged down by half truths and full lies and lots of rumours. Please there is so much to do, there are so many people suffering and if we the lucky few who are blessed with good education and support waste our time on 400 acres of Land then there is nothing sadder to say. The faster that issue is over the better it is, we have family ties with so many kashmiri muslims that it is amazing that we have allowed the situation to reach such a turn. The main culprits are the leaders of the valley and then Jammu. Now if there are any bad feelings talk it across and clear it up. We would meet each other again and then as a saying goes – Hate a person but not so much that next time you meet, you would have to lower your eyes in shame.
My strength and that of this nation comes from our democracy. My personal motto IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS WE INTERCEPT gives me the freedom to criticise our own bad politicians, our own gods, our holy books which have some negative references and it is because of this freedom I still say that GOD BLESS INDIA. This great country of 5000 years, of a book of knowledge of Rig Veda and it has managed to retain its roots. It is amazing and nothing else. The more I have read about the ethos that defined this nation even in 1947, the more I respect it. The debates in the constituents assembly before the constitution was passed are iconic and should be read by one and all as to why we call this nation as great and why I will stand by each and every letter of the same.
More later.
Sunday 14 September 2008
DELHI BOMB BLAST - 13 SEPTEMBER 2008
So the eunuchs have stuck in Delhi and killed innocent people and as usual our leaders are even bigger eunuchs. They have lost all moral decency and are clinging on. The leader of the pack is Shivraj Patil - the Marathi manoos of Raj Thackery, followed by P.C Halder and tons of other like laloo, Aloo and Balu. I get shocked when i think that this is the same seat on which my ideal and idol Sardar Patel used to sit. This is the same marathi manoos that Raj Thackery wants to defend. This is my problem with such issues, you are deviating from the core issues. Our nation is under threat and we need to to fight it together. Mr Patil, get out of the ministry and get lost to Italy and enjoy the favours of the pope. Your heart cried when kadamal burnt and you have no tears when Indian's were killed in Delhi. People who were killed were Indian and not Hindus, Muslim's, etc. For the sake of India, get out of the ministry and the bureau and allow new people to run them. Open up the intelligence services to common men and women of India, throw IPS officers out of the IB and recruit ordinary citizen who have a caliber to understand the terrorists. Recruit people from all sections of the society where the criteria is their caliber and not the person being a marathi manoos or kashmiri manoos or kerala manoos.
Also simultaneously hunt down the laloos and aloos who visit the Abu Bashir's of India and stop police from doing their duty. Hunt down the Raj Thackery, Abu Azmi and the Raza Murad's of this world who want to destroy India and its ethos, who think that they can cook their political roti's over the lives of people killed. Hunt down the people who take as little as Rs 700/- and provide bangladeshi's the false identity papers when they land up in India. Hunt down the Mohammad Azam Khan's and Mohd. Shabuddin's who are the listed I.S.I agents in the books of Intelligence agencies. Hunt down each and everyone, even if one has to do house to house search or crack down that we ask our security forces to do in the Kashmir valley.
Remember that we are the third biggest sufferer of terror attacks after Iraq and Afghanistan. Time now is to hunt down one and all who do such killings.
p.s - I have seen some new comments that someone calling himself/herself as anonymous. A lot of garbage has been written in the same and I will soon respond to that person. Again like previous times and true to a Kashmiri's mindset, a lot of rumours have been used to create this response. Half truths and full lies are being used to write responses to this and other blogs and newspaper article. I will respond point to point but right now just too troubled with the blasts.
Also simultaneously hunt down the laloos and aloos who visit the Abu Bashir's of India and stop police from doing their duty. Hunt down the Raj Thackery, Abu Azmi and the Raza Murad's of this world who want to destroy India and its ethos, who think that they can cook their political roti's over the lives of people killed. Hunt down the people who take as little as Rs 700/- and provide bangladeshi's the false identity papers when they land up in India. Hunt down the Mohammad Azam Khan's and Mohd. Shabuddin's who are the listed I.S.I agents in the books of Intelligence agencies. Hunt down each and everyone, even if one has to do house to house search or crack down that we ask our security forces to do in the Kashmir valley.
Remember that we are the third biggest sufferer of terror attacks after Iraq and Afghanistan. Time now is to hunt down one and all who do such killings.
p.s - I have seen some new comments that someone calling himself/herself as anonymous. A lot of garbage has been written in the same and I will soon respond to that person. Again like previous times and true to a Kashmiri's mindset, a lot of rumours have been used to create this response. Half truths and full lies are being used to write responses to this and other blogs and newspaper article. I will respond point to point but right now just too troubled with the blasts.
Friday 12 September 2008
KASHMIR - JK POLICE and CRPF - FOLLOW UP NEWS STORY
Well sometimes when you write your blog there is a strange feeling that what you write may come true and that is what happened with the last story. Within 2 days of writing this blog i read a news column that the central government has announced additional IPS positions for Para Military Organisations. I guess one must remember who is at the helm of affairs in the Home Ministry in New Delhi.
Govt nod for 48 new posts for IPS men in paramilitary forces
New Delhi: The government on Thursday cleared a proposal for creation of 48 new posts in various central police organizations to accommodate IPS officers — a move which has been strongly resented by cadre officers of the paramilitary forces who term it an attempt to provide a ‘parking lot’ for those senior cops who do not want to return to their parent states.
The decision — taken by the Union Cabinet — will create new posts of special directors-general of police (SDGPs) and extra posts of additional DGs and inspector-generals of police (IGPs) in paramilitary forces like CRPF, BSF, CISF and ITBP besides central police organizations (CPOs), including CBI.
Though the government called the decision a “functional necessity”, the cadre officers in the paramilitary forces said that “the move was not only demoralizing for them but also added fuel to the fire” at a time when the Centre has even denied them the recommendation of the 6th Pay Commission over the issue of giving more senior-level posts to officers from within the cadre.
The government, however, has a different take on it. Referring to the Cabinet decision, a senior home ministry officer said: “It will strengthen the supervisory structure of the CPOs for better command and control and for effective implementation and monitoring of projects and activities in the specified organizations.”
A number of middle-level cadre officers of CRPF and BSF, however, questioned the Cabinet decision while talking to TOI, asking whether the cadre officers who fought Naxals and terrorists and thereby gained actual experience of the ground situation were not qualified enough for the job. The decision will help the country’s largest paramilitary force, CRPF, in getting three new SDGPs. They will be posted in Jammu and Kashmir (militancy), Bihar (Left-wing extremism) and Assam (insurgency).
Other organisations like BSF would get two new SDGPs who will be posted in Chandigarh (western front) and Kolkata (eastern front). ITBP and CISF will also get one SDGP each while the premier investigating agency, the CBI, has been sanctioned an additional Special Director’s post raising the number to two.
The Special DGs will have the rank of Director-General but a slightly lower pay scale.
In yet another decision, the Cabinet approved a Rs 500-crore special scheme to create police infrastructure in the Naxal affected states during the 11th Plan period.
CREDIT: TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Govt nod for 48 new posts for IPS men in paramilitary forces
New Delhi: The government on Thursday cleared a proposal for creation of 48 new posts in various central police organizations to accommodate IPS officers — a move which has been strongly resented by cadre officers of the paramilitary forces who term it an attempt to provide a ‘parking lot’ for those senior cops who do not want to return to their parent states.
The decision — taken by the Union Cabinet — will create new posts of special directors-general of police (SDGPs) and extra posts of additional DGs and inspector-generals of police (IGPs) in paramilitary forces like CRPF, BSF, CISF and ITBP besides central police organizations (CPOs), including CBI.
Though the government called the decision a “functional necessity”, the cadre officers in the paramilitary forces said that “the move was not only demoralizing for them but also added fuel to the fire” at a time when the Centre has even denied them the recommendation of the 6th Pay Commission over the issue of giving more senior-level posts to officers from within the cadre.
The government, however, has a different take on it. Referring to the Cabinet decision, a senior home ministry officer said: “It will strengthen the supervisory structure of the CPOs for better command and control and for effective implementation and monitoring of projects and activities in the specified organizations.”
A number of middle-level cadre officers of CRPF and BSF, however, questioned the Cabinet decision while talking to TOI, asking whether the cadre officers who fought Naxals and terrorists and thereby gained actual experience of the ground situation were not qualified enough for the job. The decision will help the country’s largest paramilitary force, CRPF, in getting three new SDGPs. They will be posted in Jammu and Kashmir (militancy), Bihar (Left-wing extremism) and Assam (insurgency).
Other organisations like BSF would get two new SDGPs who will be posted in Chandigarh (western front) and Kolkata (eastern front). ITBP and CISF will also get one SDGP each while the premier investigating agency, the CBI, has been sanctioned an additional Special Director’s post raising the number to two.
The Special DGs will have the rank of Director-General but a slightly lower pay scale.
In yet another decision, the Cabinet approved a Rs 500-crore special scheme to create police infrastructure in the Naxal affected states during the 11th Plan period.
CREDIT: TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Tuesday 9 September 2008
KASHMIR - J.K POLICE and CRPF Actions
Last month a strange thing happened, as i was all geared up to write a blog on the C.R.P.F’s handling of the current turmoil in the valley, i found that there were 5 comments by an unidentified blogger commenting on the same topic. In the last few days I have been troubled by the pathetic handling of the situation by 3 different parties, the central government, the governor and the CRPF. Today I would like to keep my focus on C.R.P.F’s handling of the valley situation and leave the other 2 characters for a later date.
Firstly, I would like the readers to go through my previous blog on police reforms and see this as a continuation of the same. Firstly it is my firm belief that the Local Police and the CRPF is the worst that the Indian state has to offer to the citizens. What creates my view is seeing their conduct from both historical and contemporary perspective in the valley as in the rest of India. This time my views are also supported by the fact that people on both sides of the Pir Panjal are unhappy with the handling of the situation by both the Local Police and the CRPF.
First let us the talk of the Police actions in Jammu, when Kuldeep Kumar Dogra died due to the intake of a poisonous substance at a rally in Jammu, the police in connivance with the hospital staff managed to smuggle out his body from the morgue and were trying to cremate it by putting it on fire using discarded car and truck tyres. They would have succeeded in the same had it not been for a passing sadhu who raised an alarm and alerted the local population of that area. This desecration of the mortal remains of a person killed during the agitation was the second big booster to the ongoing agitation; the first being Omar Abdullah’s parliament speech. Maybe the police as also Omar might have thought that the act would pass off as a regular police action or for Omar a freedom of speech. What both forgot is the fact that most of the Indians generally will forgive millions of acts that are perceived as not correct but something’s are generally non negotiable. These two were part of that which is termed as non negotiable especially when the scenario is as tense as it is now. We should not ignore the basic premise that people anywhere in India have a right to demonstrate. Why the extra judicial killing or the rallies there after Kashmir do not shake the national conscious is due to the fact that such rallies turn into a Pro Pakistani Pro Azaadi rallies. What amazes people in other parts of India is the condition that Pakistan is itself in. The kind of extra judicial killings that are being committed by each and every concerned (or unconcerned) party including government, ISI, Pakistan Army, US Army, CIA and many more is simply ignored. This added to the fact that Pakistani generals take money from CIA after each “terrorist” captured or killed or even after each “Predator” strike. This is quietly ignored by the people lecturing the common people in the Valley. Just because Justice Ifthkar Chaudhury the CJ of Pakistan Supreme Court wanted some sort of accountability from the government on these killing that emergency was imposed in Pakistan. This is the level to which our Jhootistan neighbour can go to hide their extra judicial killing machinery. So the less the valley and in particular Geelani talk about their undying love for the land of the pure the better it would be.
Now let us look at the CRPF, well this force is probably the most untrained, unmotivated, ill equipped and over utilised forces that the union of India has. There is no system of governance or leadership that exists in that force. The officers that command the frontline soldiers are mainly from the ranks whose training and leadership skills are suspect and the only reason of their promotion from the ranks is the length of service and their Annual Confidential Report. This is absurd as the basic criteria for a leader of soldiers is to have leadership qualities either in born in him or been trained to have them. This ACR driven promotion business works well in bureaucracy but not in forces either military or Para military. The best part is that hardly anyone understands the basic problems of the force and the main thrust for any so called correction in the force usually ends up creating more posts for I.P.S officers at the CRPF Hqrs in Delhi.
Looking specifically at the valley and the CRPF reaction, well the same things happened when B.S.F took charge of the valley. They used all kinds of trials and error methods to strengthen their grip in the valley. They had very few positives in their method of operations and even those were lacked by the CRPF. The biggest problem comes from the fact that Para military units do not have a fully vetted counter insurgency manual. This coupled with the unfamiliarity of working in new operational setup like CI Grid or using collateral Damage Avoidance procedures and Lack of adequate weaponry or training has created the situation which will take its toll not only on the people of the valley but also on the CRPF men and women who work there. Today the BSF may laugh and say that they had told the home ministry that CRPF is not equipped to handle the CI grid in the valley as the premier force along with the JK police but the fact of the matter is that BSF had itself been a totally disjointed and ill equipped force when it landed in the valley. They picked up after a long and painful period in which they used draconian methods like their PAPA ONE interrogation centre, capture, death and the brutal skinning of some BSF men in the villages of Kashmir, number of terrorist attacks at key installations in spite of having their own intelligence wing – the G branch cannot be forgotten. Also R.A.F was created out of the CRPF to handle such situations and again it has not been used in the valley. This act is unpardonable as it makes the Home Ministry suspect in the eyes of all the people who know the effectiveness of the R.A.F. I guess you cannot expect much from this home minister who is in a way there because MADAM likes meo cats and not roaring tigers in the Home Ministry. I guess as any other law abiding citizen of the country it is a matter of shame that we have to use illogical force on people who have a right to demonstrate. I might have a difference in opinion from the people who demonstrate but it cannot take away their rights. All peaceful agitations must and need to be promoted in all over India, however when they threaten life and limb – please use all modern methods minus firing to stop them. Crowd control is something that a lot of research is going on in Europe and lessons can be learnt from them. Use of dye coloured water, video recording of the event, issuance of criminal record on the person and the threat of dismissal from service can be used as more humane and civilised ways to control a crowd. The faster we move from the British methods of General Dyer, the better it will be for our nation.
Being a devil’s advocate, firstly it is not easy being CRPF trooper in India and more so currently in the Valley. They have no system of training either on induction or during their tenure. Their units are moved not as battalions but as companies. This goes against the basic tenets of any general duty force which 90% of the CRPF belongs to. Although comparisons are tough but a general duty force on a CI grid like the Indian Army infantry units on the other hand move only in battalion strength, making it easier to manage command and logistical issues. This added to the fact that army can use its own engineering or supply regiments to arrange for accommodation or other logistical matters which the CRPF lacks. Most of the times the CRPF moves to their designated location even before the CPWD which is tasked to help them in issues of accommodation start putting out tender notices. CPWD’s speed even at the best of the times is to wake up only after a couple of weeks of deployment have passed. The only Army units that work on company strength are specialised units like Engineers, medics, Bomb disposal and dog squads and those too within their command. In the CRPF it can happen that the commanding officer is in Kashmir and his 2 companies would have been airlifted for a deployment in Kerala. This deployment of the 2 companies of the CRPF is for infinite time leaving a complete sense of disarray in the battalion. The state government which request for these men and women do not want to relieve these units leaving even further disarray as far as the operational, leave and training requirements of that particular battalion are concerned. The charter of these men and women is just not defined making them tools in the hands of state governments. Then same company or even the battalion could be one day used for polling booths, next day for anti electricity theft operations, next day land clearing operations, next day for rally, then next day for VIP bandobast, the next day in anti naxal operations and finally to flush out heavily armed terrorist from some house in the valley. Please have a look at the quality of food of the CRPF men and women, their tents, their weapons, their duty hours, their nature of duties, their motivations and one will can easily understand why this force is totally out of the sync with the methods to be adopted in the valley. Which force can do all that? Is it humanly possible to do all this and then remain sane and think logically? How many of the CRPF DG’s have worked at the level of SP and below for more than 10 years in the force? Please read my previous blog on police reforms to understand the crux of this problem and maybe it’s possible solutions.
I have myself seen one of their ROP (road opening party) methods in Jammu division and all myself and a friend of mine (whose is in the army) could do is to hold our heads in disgust. The entire CRPF company had no arrangement for transportation or accommodation of the men and each of their boys were carrying their own gun, holdall, bucket, sticks and trunks. All this was on a road that was a very strategic road which terrorist were using as their main crossing point between P.O.K and Doda (for their onward movement to the valley from south Kashmir). This lacklustre approach was when there was a specific threat that the terrorist were thinking of ambushing forces on that road and Army (which was earlier doing the ROP) was relieved to make way for some clearing operations in the higher reaches of those hills to thwart such an attack. The next day Army had to spare some of its men to augment the CRPF ROP as the brigadier of that sector had no trust on the ROP abilities of the CRPF (as the road was also used by Army conveys). This example is only to illustrate the frustration of all the concerned parties in such a scenario.
There is no short cut to arranging leadership of troops. It is a very painful process that even the Indian Army is discovering given the drop in quality of people applying for the officer’s rank. I do not say the Indian Army is perfect and all other forces are fools but the fact of the matter is that the Army is able to adapt faster to such changes. The army is backed by schools for its troops like CI ops schools, High altitude schools, etc which the other forces do not have. They can rotate their troops from peace to active duty which CRPF cannot do; they have a system of no carry forward leave (all troops under the home ministry have that) which enables them to retain a minimum level of force for deployment. Small measures like splitting the very generalised of this force can help create a better CRPF.
All this is no sympathy for the near and dear ones of people who suffer due to such an action. This debate to re invent the CRPF and also the Indian police forces must be pushed to its logical end otherwise if today it is Kashmir, tomorrow it can be any other Indian City.
Firstly, I would like the readers to go through my previous blog on police reforms and see this as a continuation of the same. Firstly it is my firm belief that the Local Police and the CRPF is the worst that the Indian state has to offer to the citizens. What creates my view is seeing their conduct from both historical and contemporary perspective in the valley as in the rest of India. This time my views are also supported by the fact that people on both sides of the Pir Panjal are unhappy with the handling of the situation by both the Local Police and the CRPF.
First let us the talk of the Police actions in Jammu, when Kuldeep Kumar Dogra died due to the intake of a poisonous substance at a rally in Jammu, the police in connivance with the hospital staff managed to smuggle out his body from the morgue and were trying to cremate it by putting it on fire using discarded car and truck tyres. They would have succeeded in the same had it not been for a passing sadhu who raised an alarm and alerted the local population of that area. This desecration of the mortal remains of a person killed during the agitation was the second big booster to the ongoing agitation; the first being Omar Abdullah’s parliament speech. Maybe the police as also Omar might have thought that the act would pass off as a regular police action or for Omar a freedom of speech. What both forgot is the fact that most of the Indians generally will forgive millions of acts that are perceived as not correct but something’s are generally non negotiable. These two were part of that which is termed as non negotiable especially when the scenario is as tense as it is now. We should not ignore the basic premise that people anywhere in India have a right to demonstrate. Why the extra judicial killing or the rallies there after Kashmir do not shake the national conscious is due to the fact that such rallies turn into a Pro Pakistani Pro Azaadi rallies. What amazes people in other parts of India is the condition that Pakistan is itself in. The kind of extra judicial killings that are being committed by each and every concerned (or unconcerned) party including government, ISI, Pakistan Army, US Army, CIA and many more is simply ignored. This added to the fact that Pakistani generals take money from CIA after each “terrorist” captured or killed or even after each “Predator” strike. This is quietly ignored by the people lecturing the common people in the Valley. Just because Justice Ifthkar Chaudhury the CJ of Pakistan Supreme Court wanted some sort of accountability from the government on these killing that emergency was imposed in Pakistan. This is the level to which our Jhootistan neighbour can go to hide their extra judicial killing machinery. So the less the valley and in particular Geelani talk about their undying love for the land of the pure the better it would be.
Now let us look at the CRPF, well this force is probably the most untrained, unmotivated, ill equipped and over utilised forces that the union of India has. There is no system of governance or leadership that exists in that force. The officers that command the frontline soldiers are mainly from the ranks whose training and leadership skills are suspect and the only reason of their promotion from the ranks is the length of service and their Annual Confidential Report. This is absurd as the basic criteria for a leader of soldiers is to have leadership qualities either in born in him or been trained to have them. This ACR driven promotion business works well in bureaucracy but not in forces either military or Para military. The best part is that hardly anyone understands the basic problems of the force and the main thrust for any so called correction in the force usually ends up creating more posts for I.P.S officers at the CRPF Hqrs in Delhi.
Looking specifically at the valley and the CRPF reaction, well the same things happened when B.S.F took charge of the valley. They used all kinds of trials and error methods to strengthen their grip in the valley. They had very few positives in their method of operations and even those were lacked by the CRPF. The biggest problem comes from the fact that Para military units do not have a fully vetted counter insurgency manual. This coupled with the unfamiliarity of working in new operational setup like CI Grid or using collateral Damage Avoidance procedures and Lack of adequate weaponry or training has created the situation which will take its toll not only on the people of the valley but also on the CRPF men and women who work there. Today the BSF may laugh and say that they had told the home ministry that CRPF is not equipped to handle the CI grid in the valley as the premier force along with the JK police but the fact of the matter is that BSF had itself been a totally disjointed and ill equipped force when it landed in the valley. They picked up after a long and painful period in which they used draconian methods like their PAPA ONE interrogation centre, capture, death and the brutal skinning of some BSF men in the villages of Kashmir, number of terrorist attacks at key installations in spite of having their own intelligence wing – the G branch cannot be forgotten. Also R.A.F was created out of the CRPF to handle such situations and again it has not been used in the valley. This act is unpardonable as it makes the Home Ministry suspect in the eyes of all the people who know the effectiveness of the R.A.F. I guess you cannot expect much from this home minister who is in a way there because MADAM likes meo cats and not roaring tigers in the Home Ministry. I guess as any other law abiding citizen of the country it is a matter of shame that we have to use illogical force on people who have a right to demonstrate. I might have a difference in opinion from the people who demonstrate but it cannot take away their rights. All peaceful agitations must and need to be promoted in all over India, however when they threaten life and limb – please use all modern methods minus firing to stop them. Crowd control is something that a lot of research is going on in Europe and lessons can be learnt from them. Use of dye coloured water, video recording of the event, issuance of criminal record on the person and the threat of dismissal from service can be used as more humane and civilised ways to control a crowd. The faster we move from the British methods of General Dyer, the better it will be for our nation.
Being a devil’s advocate, firstly it is not easy being CRPF trooper in India and more so currently in the Valley. They have no system of training either on induction or during their tenure. Their units are moved not as battalions but as companies. This goes against the basic tenets of any general duty force which 90% of the CRPF belongs to. Although comparisons are tough but a general duty force on a CI grid like the Indian Army infantry units on the other hand move only in battalion strength, making it easier to manage command and logistical issues. This added to the fact that army can use its own engineering or supply regiments to arrange for accommodation or other logistical matters which the CRPF lacks. Most of the times the CRPF moves to their designated location even before the CPWD which is tasked to help them in issues of accommodation start putting out tender notices. CPWD’s speed even at the best of the times is to wake up only after a couple of weeks of deployment have passed. The only Army units that work on company strength are specialised units like Engineers, medics, Bomb disposal and dog squads and those too within their command. In the CRPF it can happen that the commanding officer is in Kashmir and his 2 companies would have been airlifted for a deployment in Kerala. This deployment of the 2 companies of the CRPF is for infinite time leaving a complete sense of disarray in the battalion. The state government which request for these men and women do not want to relieve these units leaving even further disarray as far as the operational, leave and training requirements of that particular battalion are concerned. The charter of these men and women is just not defined making them tools in the hands of state governments. Then same company or even the battalion could be one day used for polling booths, next day for anti electricity theft operations, next day land clearing operations, next day for rally, then next day for VIP bandobast, the next day in anti naxal operations and finally to flush out heavily armed terrorist from some house in the valley. Please have a look at the quality of food of the CRPF men and women, their tents, their weapons, their duty hours, their nature of duties, their motivations and one will can easily understand why this force is totally out of the sync with the methods to be adopted in the valley. Which force can do all that? Is it humanly possible to do all this and then remain sane and think logically? How many of the CRPF DG’s have worked at the level of SP and below for more than 10 years in the force? Please read my previous blog on police reforms to understand the crux of this problem and maybe it’s possible solutions.
I have myself seen one of their ROP (road opening party) methods in Jammu division and all myself and a friend of mine (whose is in the army) could do is to hold our heads in disgust. The entire CRPF company had no arrangement for transportation or accommodation of the men and each of their boys were carrying their own gun, holdall, bucket, sticks and trunks. All this was on a road that was a very strategic road which terrorist were using as their main crossing point between P.O.K and Doda (for their onward movement to the valley from south Kashmir). This lacklustre approach was when there was a specific threat that the terrorist were thinking of ambushing forces on that road and Army (which was earlier doing the ROP) was relieved to make way for some clearing operations in the higher reaches of those hills to thwart such an attack. The next day Army had to spare some of its men to augment the CRPF ROP as the brigadier of that sector had no trust on the ROP abilities of the CRPF (as the road was also used by Army conveys). This example is only to illustrate the frustration of all the concerned parties in such a scenario.
There is no short cut to arranging leadership of troops. It is a very painful process that even the Indian Army is discovering given the drop in quality of people applying for the officer’s rank. I do not say the Indian Army is perfect and all other forces are fools but the fact of the matter is that the Army is able to adapt faster to such changes. The army is backed by schools for its troops like CI ops schools, High altitude schools, etc which the other forces do not have. They can rotate their troops from peace to active duty which CRPF cannot do; they have a system of no carry forward leave (all troops under the home ministry have that) which enables them to retain a minimum level of force for deployment. Small measures like splitting the very generalised of this force can help create a better CRPF.
All this is no sympathy for the near and dear ones of people who suffer due to such an action. This debate to re invent the CRPF and also the Indian police forces must be pushed to its logical end otherwise if today it is Kashmir, tomorrow it can be any other Indian City.
Tuesday 2 September 2008
Hurrah - State of Pakistani Minorities
I dedicate this article to Mr. S.A Geelani and his band of terrorists in Kashmir
A Pakistani Sikh, who graduated from the Punjab University this year, has become the first from his community to receive a bachelor's degree from the prestigious institution since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
Juswinder Singh, who passed his Bachelors in Arts (Honours) programme, now plans to do his Masters in Business Administration in finance from the same university.
Singh said he was proud of being the first Pakistani Sikh in the country's history to get a four-year degree from the Punjab University and demanded that seats be reserved for in the institution for religious minorities.
Bilateral relations between India and Pakistan should be strengthened as this would give an opportunity to Pakistani Sikhs to pursue education in India, Singh told the Daily Times newspaper.
Singh, who hails from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas was admitted to the University in 2004 on a seat reserved for students from the tribal belt.
He demanded that the government frame a policy on admitting minorities seeking admission to the university.
The Punjab University has reserved seats for children of army personnel, teachers and varsity employees and those who excel in sports and debate.
"They have also reserved seats for students coming from ATA, Waziristan and Balochistan, but no seat has been reserved for minorities," he said.
Singh said he enjoyed his time at the Punjab University and faced no discrimination throughout his stay.
"No one discriminated against me because of my religion and appearance during my four years at the university," he said.
credit: NDTV
p.s: Sorry for being so cynical about our neighbour Jhootistan
A Pakistani Sikh, who graduated from the Punjab University this year, has become the first from his community to receive a bachelor's degree from the prestigious institution since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
Juswinder Singh, who passed his Bachelors in Arts (Honours) programme, now plans to do his Masters in Business Administration in finance from the same university.
Singh said he was proud of being the first Pakistani Sikh in the country's history to get a four-year degree from the Punjab University and demanded that seats be reserved for in the institution for religious minorities.
Bilateral relations between India and Pakistan should be strengthened as this would give an opportunity to Pakistani Sikhs to pursue education in India, Singh told the Daily Times newspaper.
Singh, who hails from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas was admitted to the University in 2004 on a seat reserved for students from the tribal belt.
He demanded that the government frame a policy on admitting minorities seeking admission to the university.
The Punjab University has reserved seats for children of army personnel, teachers and varsity employees and those who excel in sports and debate.
"They have also reserved seats for students coming from ATA, Waziristan and Balochistan, but no seat has been reserved for minorities," he said.
Singh said he enjoyed his time at the Punjab University and faced no discrimination throughout his stay.
"No one discriminated against me because of my religion and appearance during my four years at the university," he said.
credit: NDTV
p.s: Sorry for being so cynical about our neighbour Jhootistan
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