Bomb Blasts: Indians - Half truths, Full lies and lots of rumours

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

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

President Eisenhower's Farewell Speech to the American People - 1961

Farewell Radio and Television Address to the American People by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961.

My fellow Americans:

Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.

This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.

Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.

Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.

My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years.

In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together.

II

We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

III

Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.

Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology-global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle-with liberty at stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.

Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small,there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research-these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.

But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs-balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage-balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between action of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.

The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.

IV

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peace time, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

V

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we-you and I, and our government-must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

VI

Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war-as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years-I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.

Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.

VII

So-in this my last good night to you as your President-I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find something's worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future.

You and I-my fellow citizens-need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals.

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration:

We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.