Malegaon blasts and the structural flaws in intelligence gathering
Mustafa Khan
A disturbing picture of 2006 blast in Malegaon was the ire of the crowd which manhandled and roughed up a police officer and pushed and pulled him till he decamped. The crowd also burnt a police car. Equally disturbing was the police shooting at the crowd that went berserk on September 29, 2008.
As the poet Iqbal has said that the condition in life of a people depends on the imagination of that people. Taking cue from this we need to look afresh at the two bomb blasts which visited Malegaon. Somewhere there is a clue that we have missed so far.
For more than ten years before the first terrorist attack on September 8, 2006 the city was fermented by the conflicting ideologies of the Sunnis and Deobandis. And at one time it got too tense for the local people. Huge crowds would gather to hear speeches or sermons of the schismatic and scheming clerics. One group was of those who wanted to clear religion of the accretions of time and so a degree of pristine beauty of faith would be there. Directly opposed to this was the feeling that the flotsam and jetsam of time and place add to the beauty of faith.
Therefore, the first bomb blast case was viewed in this context. The Times of India published a report that the blast was the work of SIMI activists who were Wahabis of the Ahle Hadish group and they targeted the practice of those visiting the graves on ShabeBarat and praying to the Maker through the medium of intercession. Many scoffed at the ignorance of the then MLA of Congress party Shaikh Rasheed who blamed the blast as a result of the internal conflict of the followers. He even dilated that Muslims have always been at it!
In the show down between the two sides in those early heady days two dominant clerics who galvanized the populace were Mufti Ismail and Intekhab Hussein. The situation became so volatile that the police banned religious sect meetings in the Muslim dominant areas.
Despite this it would be immature to conclude that the first terror attack was the result of this schism. It rather came as a handy tool to carry out the blast and blame the Muslims, they conspired, they bombed and they died and they were wounded.
There was a reform underway all through the years whereby visiting the grave yard on the night of ShabeBarat as a custom was declining although praying at mosques was gathering momentum. Waning of the tradition of visiting grave was the byproduct of the reform taking place. Even so people of both the sects had been going to the graveyard on ShabeBarat night. Therefore to say that the terrorists targeted Sunnis was illogical.
Someone who scripted the tragic drama of the first attack had choreographed it with a wider horizon. In the October 2001 communal riots in Malegaon the immediate cause was tearing up of a pamphlet calling for boycott of goods of US companies mostly owned by the Jews. What proof is there that the cop who tore the pamphlet was not acting at the behest of the authorities, including the police? The local police, ATS, and CBI blamed the attack on the schism. But then came the second attack in 2008 and the disclosure of the conspiracy of seeking help by Lt Col Shrikant Purohit from Israel. The Israelis had asked him to give two instances of his group Abhinav Bharat’s attempt to establish a Hindu rashtra. Of this the attack in 2006 was definitely one, if the affidavit of Abrar Ahmed (one of the accused and approver) is anything to go by.
It was also in the fitness of the process of ratiocination that the local people who equally respect the sanctity of the ShabeBarat could not have done such an unpardonable evil deed. Therefore, the need to look beyond for the people responsible for the first terrorist attack found groundswell in the opinions of the people.
But the ominous arms seizure in May 2006 and the Nanded bomb explosion of April 2006 not only give credence to the need to probe Hindutva groups but also what role the police really played in Malegaon.
It is an open secret that the police (not all) are actively involved in communal riots down the history of the city. Could then the attack of 2006 be a communal event? The police played a dramatic role if not a direct role. The men in uniform did not plant the bombs. The Nasik police control room received alert of attack on September 1, 2006. The SP of Malegaon Kumbhare informed rural SP Rajwardhan of it. Kumbhare called a meeting of the trustees of the mosque in the graveyard. Rajwardhan reportedly called a meeting at the house of Abrar Ahmed in which there was a discussion of a huge project coming up.. The police had assured that they would be present in the graveyard and watch the situation but when the bomb exploded no cop was at the site! The police blamed Zahid for planting one of the bombs when he was in fact leading Friday prayer in Phoolsangvi in Yawatmal district.
The most astounding event was the seizure of the arms. Under the very nose of the Azadnager police station the cops said there were arms stored there in a shop. They rang up Mufti Ismail and told him. But instead of going there he went to another police station several kilometers away and gave witness to what he had not personally seen at the site. He did not even visit the shop from where the arms were seized. A Kuljamatuttanzim a group representing all the sects was formed to fight the case of the Muslim youths who were arrested. They were and are still believed by the people to be innocent. Mufti Ismail forfeited the membership of this important and crucial body because the other members accused him of betraying them to the police. He was alleged to have tipped off the police with the minutes of their meetings. This charge came in a list of many such misadventures of the maverick mufti. Former MLA Nihal Ahmed dubbed him as the principal police informer.
The case of Nihal Ahmed is in a class by itself. He claimed that he had information that the bomb attack would take place and so had informed the home minister of Maharashtra. But then the explosions took place and what is more his son in law had a mishap. The police framed charges against him because RDX mixed in the soil was found from his farm. Many in the city believe that this was a clever move by the police to stymie what Nihal Ahmed could do. That perhaps silenced him significantly, except making loud noise during the ensuing elections.
The fuzzy investigation into the 2006 blasts created more doubts and raised more questions than the police have been even prepared to answer. There is eerie silence on their part. The ruckus at the cash transaction at the Mamco bank in the centre of the city minutes after the blasts, the involvement of a well known gray yarn merchants, the disappearance of the body of the fake bearded man, the identity of the two sketches issued by the police, the police interrogating twenty Hindus and then suddenly changing the track, and not the least the close proximity of the Mufti and Rajwardhan.
Every country needs intelligence to maintain itself. But as Vice President Ansari Hamid said in the RN Kao lecture, the intelligence agencies should also see that their work is effective in carrying out the work of the government’s policy. There should be a balance between secrecy and openness and efficacy on continuous basis. Looking at Malegaon cases this was not practiced in intelligence gathering. Abrar Ahmed, one of the accused, was already a police informer even before the terrorist incident and then he turned approver in the 2006 case. There was no efficacy on the continuous basis. He flaunted his relation with the police and Rajwardhan and then he turned against them and submitted an affidavit to the trial court judge YD Shinde in which he denounced Rajwardhan. How could then the police build a whole case on the basis of a structure of lies? The local police have said that the 2006 blast was a revengeful attack against the disproportionate number of Muslims killed by the police firing in October 2001 riots. Immediately the question arises why should the Muslims kill more Muslims to avenge the brutality of the police! In serial bomb blasts of 1993 in Mumbai and of Coimbator of 1998 some Muslims reacted by using terrorism to avenge cruelty they suffered at the hands of the police and the Hindu rioters. The retaliation was quick in coming! But in Malegaon nearly five years passed before the first incident of blasts happened. By such a long time whose anger would be so sustained to retaliate?
Police do need informers and Malegaon is teeming with them. What is the basis of recruiting them? Money and weakness are two sources. Some need money perhaps that was true of Abrar. But then there are those who have murky past like being caught in robbery, homosexuality, or having in possession weapons without license and this weakness makes the informers play in the hands of those who need them, including the police.
In the British parliament and cabinet there were homosexuals whom the communists blackmailed to get secret state information. In the cabinet of Tony Blair there were pedophiles, and in the State Department of Truman, Joseph Mccarthy found gays and communists who posed threat to the country. In all these cases what emerges as a tactic is, if you get to know the secrets of the bedroom life of a man you can exploit it for any ulterior reason by blackmailing him. What if similar things also have begun to happen in the case of terrorism that the police have found the secret sex life of people and have built up cases against those who are otherwise unconcerned with terror! As in Europe and America, so in India. So to make someone snoop for you or plant him as a mole, get to know the secret sex life of him and he is helpless and would do what you want him to do!
Unfortunately, according to the Vice-president, there is no operational detail which the much needed oversight body of say parliament can check. Had there been such a body many more discrepancies in the investigation would have come to light.
Vice president Ansari also made it clear that the legislature sanctions funds and the police are accountable like anyone else. If a huge project was there who is there to account for it? How many hands exchanged the cash?
The case of the first bomb blast is riddled with the informers and it would be necessary if the informers come clean out of the muddle.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
In the dubious battle on terror: Advani, Thackeray and Purohit
The dubious battle on terrorism is paralleled by “politics of dementia”. LK Advani’s ire against the Maoists is that they are “irreligious and anti-national.” By this description Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Sadvhi Pragya cannot be terrorists because both are devout Hindus. Perhaps this was why he met the Prime Minister when the sadhvi was imprisoned. Why did he not cry foul when Purohit wanted to establish Hindu Rashtra because that also would involve abrogating the Constitution? If Maoist and Jihadi terrorism are two sides of the same coin, which side was he when Constitutional authority was over thrown and Judicial injunction was trespassed as he hugged his fellow communalists and distributed sweets while watching the demolition of Babri mosque? All this happened after the gory trail of murder and arson when he willfully moved with his rath yatra to build the temple, a task that he and his party men considered beyond the jurisdiction of any court because it was a matter of faith.
The latest news in the world of terrorism from Maharashtra is that no local support is involved in the German bakery attack as per the Pune unit of ATS. ATS chief Rakesh Maria has submitted names of seven suspects, two Pakistanis and four Indians. The name of Yaseen Bhatkal figures as number seven. This inclusion was made only because he was not reportedly seen since the day of the attack, February 13. Only suspicion has motivated the inclusion of Yaseen. But the kind of atmosphere and opinion created in the county is that Yaseen is a terrorist and Indian Mujahidden behind the blast. Why has the media up-fronted the name of Yaseen Bhatkal is simple truth of the hunting game of our agencies. You might not know the names of the Maoist leaders who slaughtered 75 of our jawans from CRPF in Dantewada. But Yaseen would stick in your mind thanks to the conjectural ingenuity of ATS.
Conjectural ingenuity is the sophistry in battle on terrorism. Bal Thackeray in his editorial of Samna April 10, 2010 says “The greatest danger to Hindustan is not from real Muslims, but from those defiled (batgya) Muslims. These are the people who are shouting against Hindutva activists accused in the Malegaon blast (2008).” Thackeray goes beyond: “The Congress and the Nationalist Congress have tranquilized themselves (They are unruffled). It is their problem. But if they (C and NC) expect the Hindu he men to follow their impotent way and die then they are mistaken.” Like the kitchdi eating Babu Bajrangi, Thackeray also is under the cloud of inferiority complex and thereby challenging the masculinity of his fellows to the occasion. In other words he wants to instigate violence against the perceived enemies.
Within a few days of the ‘slaughter of lambs’ at Dantewada, Chattisgarh, and in total disregard to it, Maharashtra became the cynosure of star actors in the drama of terror. RR Patil, Maharashtra home minister, more willing to wound but afraid to strike, made strange disclosures that Prasad Shrikant Purohit did not wish to eliminate Mohan Bhagwat. Bal Thackeray openly came out in support of the lieutenant colonel who had said that ISI wanted to finish off the RSS chief.
Purohit’s abusing senior RSS leaders is of the same piece as his penchant for the Hindu Rashtra with absolute power in the hands of the ruler. To materialize the Hindu Rashtra it was inevitable to use revolutionary tactics. Bhagwat and others like him in the RSS were not cut out for this course, hence his grudge against them. If they were unfit to lead the Hindutva group it was logical deduction that the extremists in Abhinav Bharat and Sanathan Sanstha were ready to take over. In this eventuality they must have some kind of super power support for making the regime change. Israel had promised all kinds of help and in the event of fiasco, a safe haven of refuge for them. The king of Nepal had underwritten to train the revolutionary brigands of Hindutva to take over the reign of government in Delhi.
Purohit had hinted that he took help of SIMI activists to plant the bomb below SIMI office at Bhiku chowk on September 29, 2008. But this contradicts with the narco analysis of Purohit and Chaturvedi who said during the narco tests that they had used non-Wahabi Muslims for the bomb blasts. This is against the government stand that SIMI was made up of Wahabis. No other than the redoubtable predecessor of RR Patil, Chaggan Bhujbal was the architect of this theory. The central government not only bought this theory but used it every two years to re-impose the ban on SIMI.
Thackeray and Purohit are hand in glove in their battle on terror. Purohit’s statement that he had sent message to the Intelligence Bureau that Dawood Ibrahim had visited Malegaon on June 7, 2005. These selective releases to press have a sinister design. There is a method in this madness. RR Patil delinks Purohit with actual conspiracy to kill Bhagwat. Thackeray blames ISI for plotting to kill Bhagwat in order to sow dissension among the Hindu leaders. Therefore a man who could alert the nation against Dawood Ibrahim could not have perpetrated the attack of bombing in Malegaon 2008.
Nationalist Congress leader from Mumbra in Mumbai Jeetendra Avhad holds the opposite view. The Hindu extremists of Abhinav Bharat and Sanathan snsthan wanted to kill Bhagwat and put the blame on ISI. This opposite view is also based on political consideration since Avhad comes from a constituency where there is sizable Muslim population he tries to distance himself from the prejudice of the extreme communalists of Shiv sena and BJP. The discerning eye can sift through and see very well what kind of politics in view of the election in parts of Mumbia such contradictory views were expressed
On April 11th a group of researchers from MaRS Monitoing and Research Systems including NC Patel had visited Malegaon. They travelled from Dhulia and Mumbai and said when people in those cities came to know they were setting out for Malegaon they were agog with apprehension. The researchers wanted to know what is so wrong with the Malegaon that people fear to travel to that place. We took up the incident of Purohit mentioning that Dawood Ibrahim had visited the town on June 7, 2005. I explained that there are virtually no extortion cases in Malegaon. No shopkeeper (and, pointing at Mubashir Mustak, the owner of a huge powerloom industry,)I told them that no body pays protection money in our town. Why would Dawood Ibrahim visit such a place!
The latest news in the world of terrorism from Maharashtra is that no local support is involved in the German bakery attack as per the Pune unit of ATS. ATS chief Rakesh Maria has submitted names of seven suspects, two Pakistanis and four Indians. The name of Yaseen Bhatkal figures as number seven. This inclusion was made only because he was not reportedly seen since the day of the attack, February 13. Only suspicion has motivated the inclusion of Yaseen. But the kind of atmosphere and opinion created in the county is that Yaseen is a terrorist and Indian Mujahidden behind the blast. Why has the media up-fronted the name of Yaseen Bhatkal is simple truth of the hunting game of our agencies. You might not know the names of the Maoist leaders who slaughtered 75 of our jawans from CRPF in Dantewada. But Yaseen would stick in your mind thanks to the conjectural ingenuity of ATS.
Conjectural ingenuity is the sophistry in battle on terrorism. Bal Thackeray in his editorial of Samna April 10, 2010 says “The greatest danger to Hindustan is not from real Muslims, but from those defiled (batgya) Muslims. These are the people who are shouting against Hindutva activists accused in the Malegaon blast (2008).” Thackeray goes beyond: “The Congress and the Nationalist Congress have tranquilized themselves (They are unruffled). It is their problem. But if they (C and NC) expect the Hindu he men to follow their impotent way and die then they are mistaken.” Like the kitchdi eating Babu Bajrangi, Thackeray also is under the cloud of inferiority complex and thereby challenging the masculinity of his fellows to the occasion. In other words he wants to instigate violence against the perceived enemies.
Within a few days of the ‘slaughter of lambs’ at Dantewada, Chattisgarh, and in total disregard to it, Maharashtra became the cynosure of star actors in the drama of terror. RR Patil, Maharashtra home minister, more willing to wound but afraid to strike, made strange disclosures that Prasad Shrikant Purohit did not wish to eliminate Mohan Bhagwat. Bal Thackeray openly came out in support of the lieutenant colonel who had said that ISI wanted to finish off the RSS chief.
Purohit’s abusing senior RSS leaders is of the same piece as his penchant for the Hindu Rashtra with absolute power in the hands of the ruler. To materialize the Hindu Rashtra it was inevitable to use revolutionary tactics. Bhagwat and others like him in the RSS were not cut out for this course, hence his grudge against them. If they were unfit to lead the Hindutva group it was logical deduction that the extremists in Abhinav Bharat and Sanathan Sanstha were ready to take over. In this eventuality they must have some kind of super power support for making the regime change. Israel had promised all kinds of help and in the event of fiasco, a safe haven of refuge for them. The king of Nepal had underwritten to train the revolutionary brigands of Hindutva to take over the reign of government in Delhi.
Purohit had hinted that he took help of SIMI activists to plant the bomb below SIMI office at Bhiku chowk on September 29, 2008. But this contradicts with the narco analysis of Purohit and Chaturvedi who said during the narco tests that they had used non-Wahabi Muslims for the bomb blasts. This is against the government stand that SIMI was made up of Wahabis. No other than the redoubtable predecessor of RR Patil, Chaggan Bhujbal was the architect of this theory. The central government not only bought this theory but used it every two years to re-impose the ban on SIMI.
Thackeray and Purohit are hand in glove in their battle on terror. Purohit’s statement that he had sent message to the Intelligence Bureau that Dawood Ibrahim had visited Malegaon on June 7, 2005. These selective releases to press have a sinister design. There is a method in this madness. RR Patil delinks Purohit with actual conspiracy to kill Bhagwat. Thackeray blames ISI for plotting to kill Bhagwat in order to sow dissension among the Hindu leaders. Therefore a man who could alert the nation against Dawood Ibrahim could not have perpetrated the attack of bombing in Malegaon 2008.
Nationalist Congress leader from Mumbra in Mumbai Jeetendra Avhad holds the opposite view. The Hindu extremists of Abhinav Bharat and Sanathan snsthan wanted to kill Bhagwat and put the blame on ISI. This opposite view is also based on political consideration since Avhad comes from a constituency where there is sizable Muslim population he tries to distance himself from the prejudice of the extreme communalists of Shiv sena and BJP. The discerning eye can sift through and see very well what kind of politics in view of the election in parts of Mumbia such contradictory views were expressed
On April 11th a group of researchers from MaRS Monitoing and Research Systems including NC Patel had visited Malegaon. They travelled from Dhulia and Mumbai and said when people in those cities came to know they were setting out for Malegaon they were agog with apprehension. The researchers wanted to know what is so wrong with the Malegaon that people fear to travel to that place. We took up the incident of Purohit mentioning that Dawood Ibrahim had visited the town on June 7, 2005. I explained that there are virtually no extortion cases in Malegaon. No shopkeeper (and, pointing at Mubashir Mustak, the owner of a huge powerloom industry,)I told them that no body pays protection money in our town. Why would Dawood Ibrahim visit such a place!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
What is the killer powder?
More than one and a half years after the arrest of Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya, Sudhakar Dweidi as well as the recovery of the laptops of Purohit and Dweidi the Maharashtra government has announced that it was in the process of obtaining some knowledge about the killer powder. If the contents of the laptops were made public the people aware of the flow of information in the public domain would have given technical and scientific help to RR Patil and others.
For example, it is surely Israel which has such dangerous powders which are so cruel in killing victims. Just a year ago Israel used it in Gaza. The Hindutva marauders also used such a white powder in killing the Muslims in the pogroms of 2002. Neither the Gujarat government nor the central government did anything to find out about the deadly white powder that produced intense heat and burnt the Muslim victims so terribly.
Many years ago Mossad had sprayed nerve toxin into the ears of Palestinian leader Khalid Mishal. Had they done it in Gaza or the West Bank the matter would not have disturbed the civilized world. The sure death of Mishal would have gone into the annals of history as so many other such targeted assassinations carried out by the Israeli. But that attempt on the life of Mishal was made in Amman and the Jordanian King had very cordial relations with the Israeli government, the only Arab country at that time to have such relation. As a result of the toxin Mishal passed out. No one, not even the great doctors, could say what the ailment was. The Jordanian king suspected Israeli involvement and thundered at the Israelis who alone were capable of this advanced knowledge of poison. The Israelis feared diplomatic loss and rushed their scientists to Amman with the antidote. Mishal recovered. Not only that, the Israelis also released the Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin!
The death of Palestinian leader Mohammad Al Mabhouh in Dubai hotel is more recent as it happened a couple of moths ago.
The Israelis brazenly use white phosphorous and other disastrous chemicals with impunity.
Of the thousands of Indians who make beeline to Israel to learn their so called “anti terror tactics”, the most distinguished should be considered to be Lt Col Shrikant Purohit. If in his scheme of things he thought of dispatching Mohan Bhagwat in a way that could not be detected in the forensic laboratory he would have definitely got the killer powder. A pinch of it dropped in the shoes of Bhagwat by way of doing obeisance to him would not have drawn any ones attention. On the other hand our cultural tradition would have applauded this kind of supplication, to not other than a chief of the RSS. Dhanu also touched the feet of Rajiv Gandhi. A Congress leader also held the shows of Rahul Gandhi.
What is the full quantum of material, financial and diplomatic help that Israel had promised Purohit is for the government to ascertain.
But the secrecy that surrounds the RSS would have matched the would-be sure mysterious death produced by the killer powder. Since it has not taken place the government would do well to share more of the mystery of the laptops of the holy man and the army man so that the people of India would ward off future such dangers.
For example, it is surely Israel which has such dangerous powders which are so cruel in killing victims. Just a year ago Israel used it in Gaza. The Hindutva marauders also used such a white powder in killing the Muslims in the pogroms of 2002. Neither the Gujarat government nor the central government did anything to find out about the deadly white powder that produced intense heat and burnt the Muslim victims so terribly.
Many years ago Mossad had sprayed nerve toxin into the ears of Palestinian leader Khalid Mishal. Had they done it in Gaza or the West Bank the matter would not have disturbed the civilized world. The sure death of Mishal would have gone into the annals of history as so many other such targeted assassinations carried out by the Israeli. But that attempt on the life of Mishal was made in Amman and the Jordanian King had very cordial relations with the Israeli government, the only Arab country at that time to have such relation. As a result of the toxin Mishal passed out. No one, not even the great doctors, could say what the ailment was. The Jordanian king suspected Israeli involvement and thundered at the Israelis who alone were capable of this advanced knowledge of poison. The Israelis feared diplomatic loss and rushed their scientists to Amman with the antidote. Mishal recovered. Not only that, the Israelis also released the Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin!
The death of Palestinian leader Mohammad Al Mabhouh in Dubai hotel is more recent as it happened a couple of moths ago.
The Israelis brazenly use white phosphorous and other disastrous chemicals with impunity.
Of the thousands of Indians who make beeline to Israel to learn their so called “anti terror tactics”, the most distinguished should be considered to be Lt Col Shrikant Purohit. If in his scheme of things he thought of dispatching Mohan Bhagwat in a way that could not be detected in the forensic laboratory he would have definitely got the killer powder. A pinch of it dropped in the shoes of Bhagwat by way of doing obeisance to him would not have drawn any ones attention. On the other hand our cultural tradition would have applauded this kind of supplication, to not other than a chief of the RSS. Dhanu also touched the feet of Rajiv Gandhi. A Congress leader also held the shows of Rahul Gandhi.
What is the full quantum of material, financial and diplomatic help that Israel had promised Purohit is for the government to ascertain.
But the secrecy that surrounds the RSS would have matched the would-be sure mysterious death produced by the killer powder. Since it has not taken place the government would do well to share more of the mystery of the laptops of the holy man and the army man so that the people of India would ward off future such dangers.
Friday, April 9, 2010
How far is Modi involved in the conspiracy?
The Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi and his government did not make any effort to prevent the massacre of Muslim in 2002 and since then they have not helped in the investigation or registration of the crimes. On the other hand they have brazenly created obstructions in the search for justice to the victims.
Even so, slowly but surely the wheel of justice is moving. The Apex court’s order dropping Geetha Johary and Shivnand Jha from the SIT is a welcome sign of the judiciary trying to be resilient. These two along with Ashish Bhatia were acting in a way that was detrimental to getting to the root of the massacre of Muslims and establishing truth about it. In the coming days the focus would be Gujarat 2002. Chief Minister Modi had abruptly walked out of the interview with Karan Thapar because he could not confront the ghost of 2002. The more he tries to leave 2002 behind the more it is haunting him. On April 19 SC will pass appropriate order regarding the proceeding after hearing the argument of the state as well as others like Shivnand Jha whom many blame to be acting against the victims of the pogrom. On April 28 SC will decide whether to continue the investigation under SIT or close it.
The most crucial moment of Gujarat 2002 was when Narendra Modi went public with his characterizing the burning of Sabarmati express compartments as an act of communalism. Till then the collector of Godhra had maintained that it was an accident and he did not like the bodies of the burnt to be paraded. Modi chose words which reveal evil intent. “The abominable event that has occurred at Godhra does not befit any civilized society. This is not a mere communal event but a one-sided terrorist attack by one community.” The ascribing of “terrorist attack by one community” to Muslims is pillorying all the Muslims as terrorists. Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat and AB Vajpayee as Prime Minister of India shared a warped ideology that is based on hatred for Muslims. Soon after the pogroms of Muslims Vajpayee in the Goa conclave not only forbore criticizing Modi for the carnage of Muslims but went ahead with the tirade against the Muslims who he believed did not know how to live with their neighbours. They always have had troubles with their neighbours! Men with this mindset at the helm of affairs have also been in cabal meetings as in the night of February 27, 2002 cannot be free from involvement in conspiracy. Such a mindset is defined by Arvind Pandya, the government counsel of the state of Gujarat: “Were Modi not a minister (when Sabarmati train was burnt), he would have burst bombs.”
That meeting was attended by all the police and administrative officers of the state government as well as ministers and leaders. The Chief Minister had told the police and the administrators to let Hindus vent their anger at the Muslims and not come in the way. The very next day police officer at Naroda Patia K K Mysorewalla told Muslim women and children begging him to save them from the marauding Hindu crowds that there was order from above that the police would not save them that day. He left them to the bloodthirsty crowd. If chain of command can make the CM complicit he is very much neck deep in it.
In that meeting Modi allegedly gave the Hindu leaders three days to wreak havoc on the Muslims in revenge, just three days and not more than that! Most of the violence was unleashed by the specially trained in mob terrorism, Bajrang Dal. Its leader Haresh Bhat told on tape: “He (Modi) had given us three days ..to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that.. He said this openly.. After three days ..he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt..We had three days… and did what we had to in those three days..” Tehelka asked Haresh Bhatt: Did he (Modi) say that? Bhatt: Yes.. That is why I am saying he did what no chief minister can do..” (This surely is indicative of how Gujarat was made the laboratory of the sangh parivar)Another member of the coterie was VHP boss of Ahemdabad, Rajinder Vyas who said that Modi’s first reaction to Godhra was: “He first said that we could take revenge.” Babu Bajrangi averred that Modi had visited Patia in the evening of February 28; he saw the carnage of Muslims. According to Bajrangi, Modi had “told people they’d done well and should do more.”
The laboratory experiment of Hindutva was so well organized that even before the massacre started panels of advocates were constituted to defend would be Hindus murderers, rapists, and arsonists. As the chief minister was finishing his meeting the panels were meeting to chalk out their plan of defense of the would-be offenders. Could such a massive preparation go on without the knowledge of the Chief Minister? In one such meeting held at Vadodra the participants were Dhimant Bhatt (chief accountant of MS University), Deepak Shah, Rajendra Trivedi, Neeraj Jain, Tushar Vyas, etc.
To fully gauge the complicity of Modi it would be far more important to examine those with IAS and IPS qualifications to find out the full truth and tell the nation of what transpired in the meeting of the night of February 27, 2002. Some of them present in the meeting were: Smt.Swarnakanta Varma IAS, the then Acting Chief Secretary, Mr.Ashok Narayan, IAS, the then Home Secretary, Dr.P.K.Mishra, IAS, the then Principal Secretary to the CM, Mr.Anil mukim, IAS & Mr.A.K.Sharma, IAS Secretaries to CM, Mr.P.C.Pande IPS, then Commissioner of Police Ahmedabad, Shri K.Chakravarty, IPS, the then DG of Police, Gujarat, Shri G.C.Raiger, IPS, the then Addl. DGP of Gujarat, Shri Nityanand, IPS, Secretary in the Home Department. It is very necessary because the finance minister of Modi, Hiren Pandya, was killed in mysterious circumstances. Many including his father believe that he was bumped off for telling a part of the truth of what transpired in the meeting.
Modi was in charge of the Punjab state during election when he came in contact of the RSS tainted Rajendrakumar, the then Jt.Director, Central Intelligence Bureau (CBI) in charge of Gujarat. He it was who had insisted on the state DGP to deem the burning of the train at Godhra as a terrorist act mounted by the ISI. This has serious ramification for India.
Most of these high ranking officers of the central and state governments chose to remain tactfully taciturn to shield Modi and the activists of the Sangh parivar. Some of them also took active part in the carnage as the commissioner PC Pande who got the 700 to 800 dead bodies at Naroda Patiya scattered all over Ahemdabad in order to lessen the severity of the massacre of Naroda Patiya.
To frame Muslims in crimes which they had not committed and then blame them for terrorism was a sure recipe of promotion and awards. No less than the ADGP (Intelligence) had sent a report that arms were manufacture at the Wadgam iron foundry of a VHP worker. DG Vanzara of the notoriety of fake encounters was sent in a raid party to Wadgam. Vanzara reported that the arms were recovered from the Muslim area. For this dishonesty he was given award on August 15, 2002. It must be borne in mind that Vanzara was very close to Modi and later on he would kill Sohrabuddin, his wife Kauser, Ishrat Jehan and others because he would make out that the life the Chief Minister was in danger on account of the Jihadis. Now it is well established that Vanzara and his men had picked up innocent Muslims and bumped the off in the name of ‘deshbhakti”
These gory incidents happened because Modi was directly connected with these. His home minister Gordhan Zadaphia had told Babu Bajrangi to abscond, after more than four months Modi told him to surrender. Modi changed judges until he had the most pliant Akshay Mehta who set Bajrangi free. For this Modi got him posted on Nanavati commission when justice KG Shah had died.
The police commissioner of Surat Shivnand Jha created a flutter in the Apex court this week. He and Geetha Johary wanted their opinions to be heard. If what the NGOs have said about these two is true then fresh FIRs should be filed against them. Their move in the court is nothing else but stalling the proceedings which also helps Modi. Jha was very much complicit in the murder and mayhem of 2002 and yet the state of Gujarat chose him to be on SIT. To undo the evils, filing FIR against Modi and his cohorts is the crying need of the hour.
Even so, slowly but surely the wheel of justice is moving. The Apex court’s order dropping Geetha Johary and Shivnand Jha from the SIT is a welcome sign of the judiciary trying to be resilient. These two along with Ashish Bhatia were acting in a way that was detrimental to getting to the root of the massacre of Muslims and establishing truth about it. In the coming days the focus would be Gujarat 2002. Chief Minister Modi had abruptly walked out of the interview with Karan Thapar because he could not confront the ghost of 2002. The more he tries to leave 2002 behind the more it is haunting him. On April 19 SC will pass appropriate order regarding the proceeding after hearing the argument of the state as well as others like Shivnand Jha whom many blame to be acting against the victims of the pogrom. On April 28 SC will decide whether to continue the investigation under SIT or close it.
The most crucial moment of Gujarat 2002 was when Narendra Modi went public with his characterizing the burning of Sabarmati express compartments as an act of communalism. Till then the collector of Godhra had maintained that it was an accident and he did not like the bodies of the burnt to be paraded. Modi chose words which reveal evil intent. “The abominable event that has occurred at Godhra does not befit any civilized society. This is not a mere communal event but a one-sided terrorist attack by one community.” The ascribing of “terrorist attack by one community” to Muslims is pillorying all the Muslims as terrorists. Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat and AB Vajpayee as Prime Minister of India shared a warped ideology that is based on hatred for Muslims. Soon after the pogroms of Muslims Vajpayee in the Goa conclave not only forbore criticizing Modi for the carnage of Muslims but went ahead with the tirade against the Muslims who he believed did not know how to live with their neighbours. They always have had troubles with their neighbours! Men with this mindset at the helm of affairs have also been in cabal meetings as in the night of February 27, 2002 cannot be free from involvement in conspiracy. Such a mindset is defined by Arvind Pandya, the government counsel of the state of Gujarat: “Were Modi not a minister (when Sabarmati train was burnt), he would have burst bombs.”
That meeting was attended by all the police and administrative officers of the state government as well as ministers and leaders. The Chief Minister had told the police and the administrators to let Hindus vent their anger at the Muslims and not come in the way. The very next day police officer at Naroda Patia K K Mysorewalla told Muslim women and children begging him to save them from the marauding Hindu crowds that there was order from above that the police would not save them that day. He left them to the bloodthirsty crowd. If chain of command can make the CM complicit he is very much neck deep in it.
In that meeting Modi allegedly gave the Hindu leaders three days to wreak havoc on the Muslims in revenge, just three days and not more than that! Most of the violence was unleashed by the specially trained in mob terrorism, Bajrang Dal. Its leader Haresh Bhat told on tape: “He (Modi) had given us three days ..to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that.. He said this openly.. After three days ..he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt..We had three days… and did what we had to in those three days..” Tehelka asked Haresh Bhatt: Did he (Modi) say that? Bhatt: Yes.. That is why I am saying he did what no chief minister can do..” (This surely is indicative of how Gujarat was made the laboratory of the sangh parivar)Another member of the coterie was VHP boss of Ahemdabad, Rajinder Vyas who said that Modi’s first reaction to Godhra was: “He first said that we could take revenge.” Babu Bajrangi averred that Modi had visited Patia in the evening of February 28; he saw the carnage of Muslims. According to Bajrangi, Modi had “told people they’d done well and should do more.”
The laboratory experiment of Hindutva was so well organized that even before the massacre started panels of advocates were constituted to defend would be Hindus murderers, rapists, and arsonists. As the chief minister was finishing his meeting the panels were meeting to chalk out their plan of defense of the would-be offenders. Could such a massive preparation go on without the knowledge of the Chief Minister? In one such meeting held at Vadodra the participants were Dhimant Bhatt (chief accountant of MS University), Deepak Shah, Rajendra Trivedi, Neeraj Jain, Tushar Vyas, etc.
To fully gauge the complicity of Modi it would be far more important to examine those with IAS and IPS qualifications to find out the full truth and tell the nation of what transpired in the meeting of the night of February 27, 2002. Some of them present in the meeting were: Smt.Swarnakanta Varma IAS, the then Acting Chief Secretary, Mr.Ashok Narayan, IAS, the then Home Secretary, Dr.P.K.Mishra, IAS, the then Principal Secretary to the CM, Mr.Anil mukim, IAS & Mr.A.K.Sharma, IAS Secretaries to CM, Mr.P.C.Pande IPS, then Commissioner of Police Ahmedabad, Shri K.Chakravarty, IPS, the then DG of Police, Gujarat, Shri G.C.Raiger, IPS, the then Addl. DGP of Gujarat, Shri Nityanand, IPS, Secretary in the Home Department. It is very necessary because the finance minister of Modi, Hiren Pandya, was killed in mysterious circumstances. Many including his father believe that he was bumped off for telling a part of the truth of what transpired in the meeting.
Modi was in charge of the Punjab state during election when he came in contact of the RSS tainted Rajendrakumar, the then Jt.Director, Central Intelligence Bureau (CBI) in charge of Gujarat. He it was who had insisted on the state DGP to deem the burning of the train at Godhra as a terrorist act mounted by the ISI. This has serious ramification for India.
Most of these high ranking officers of the central and state governments chose to remain tactfully taciturn to shield Modi and the activists of the Sangh parivar. Some of them also took active part in the carnage as the commissioner PC Pande who got the 700 to 800 dead bodies at Naroda Patiya scattered all over Ahemdabad in order to lessen the severity of the massacre of Naroda Patiya.
To frame Muslims in crimes which they had not committed and then blame them for terrorism was a sure recipe of promotion and awards. No less than the ADGP (Intelligence) had sent a report that arms were manufacture at the Wadgam iron foundry of a VHP worker. DG Vanzara of the notoriety of fake encounters was sent in a raid party to Wadgam. Vanzara reported that the arms were recovered from the Muslim area. For this dishonesty he was given award on August 15, 2002. It must be borne in mind that Vanzara was very close to Modi and later on he would kill Sohrabuddin, his wife Kauser, Ishrat Jehan and others because he would make out that the life the Chief Minister was in danger on account of the Jihadis. Now it is well established that Vanzara and his men had picked up innocent Muslims and bumped the off in the name of ‘deshbhakti”
These gory incidents happened because Modi was directly connected with these. His home minister Gordhan Zadaphia had told Babu Bajrangi to abscond, after more than four months Modi told him to surrender. Modi changed judges until he had the most pliant Akshay Mehta who set Bajrangi free. For this Modi got him posted on Nanavati commission when justice KG Shah had died.
The police commissioner of Surat Shivnand Jha created a flutter in the Apex court this week. He and Geetha Johary wanted their opinions to be heard. If what the NGOs have said about these two is true then fresh FIRs should be filed against them. Their move in the court is nothing else but stalling the proceedings which also helps Modi. Jha was very much complicit in the murder and mayhem of 2002 and yet the state of Gujarat chose him to be on SIT. To undo the evils, filing FIR against Modi and his cohorts is the crying need of the hour.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Jalgaon on the itinerary of David Headley!!!
How come Jalgaon did not figure in the schedule of David Headley! News emanating from Jalgaon but quoting government intelligence agencies indicate otherwise. They would place Jalgaon as the hotspot of terrorism.
A Marathi paper Punya Nagri in its Jalgaon edition of Tuesday March 30, 2010 carries banner headline: “Jalgaon as the target of Indian Mujahideen.” The report says that the Indian Mujahideen is busy (magan) training suicide squads which care a tuppence (befikar) for spewing deaths. The terrorists of IM are immersed (gark) in the training. The squad is named “Bullet 313”. The intelligence agency that has prepared the report for the government says that “Bullet 313” has first preference for Jalgaon as the target of attack. IM is recruiting students of mechanical and chemical engineering, students of computer science, as well as the usual collegians. The students of higher education are grouped in modules which would create terror in all the parts of the country. Thus, Jalgaon is the University of Terrorism in India. Delhi and Vangni near Badlapur are other such places. In the last named place the training is going on in a housing colony. The first batch has admitted 200 students and 113 will join soon. That would make it 313. The expense is covered by the fund generated in the Middle East and sent through hawala from Indonesia. It is spent on buying arms. Even if one ‘bullet’ succeeds in destroying its target the country would be in a turmoil, the report adds.
The same news report is carried in the inner pages of the same newspaper of Nasik edition dated the same day. There is nowhere else we get the news either in Marathi or in any other paper.
Well, if it is true we must act fast and arrest and punish everyone involved in the so called “Bullet 313”. There can be no two opinions on this across linguistic or religious or regional lines.
But, what if this is not true?
Then, the first question is who planted it in the news paper? What is the aim of it? Which group stands to gain most from this? Which groups is directly and immediately to lose much from this?
Or, is it some government originated story in the juggernaut of war on terrorism, what Noam Chomsky means by quoting President Ronald Reagan, “the evil scourge of terrorism”. By that Chomsky means state directed international terrorism. The first suspect state is, of course, Pakistan. But unless we have joint investigation with our neighbouring country we have to be content with misgivings.
The next is the non state actors. The Indian Mujahideens were reportedly based in Pune in large number. Muslims have their educational institutes like the Adam complex. But the last time terrorism turned up the name of Pune was when Wadia College’s two professors had been associated with bomb making training organized by lieutenant colonel Purohit and his Abhinav Bharat. Both Purohit and AB are based in Pune.
Moreover, the police have not been successful in tracing the Pune blast to IM. What could then be the motive in releasing this news item? One, it could be diverting attention from the failure in investigation since no one has been arrested even after a month and more than half of the German Bakery blast. All the same, the focus on the IM remains unchanged. That serves the purpose.
Two, the Muslims in Jalgaon are breaking new grounds in the field of education. Their pioneering work does not go down well with those who are paranoid and eye them with suspicion. The Iqra society has a sprawling complex on the way to compete with Adam complex of Pune. The self confidence of the fledging community as far as education is concerned is likely to create unhealthy emotions in Hindutva groups. Their chauvinism cannot brook the self assured stride of their fellow countrymen.
It has also become self apparent that those who speak stridently against Muslims are also boisterously supporting Sadhvi Pragya and her ilks.
Therefore, the government should either scotch the rumour and nip the evil intent in the bud or make thorough inquiry in the affair. It must also educate the people that so much is at stake in the fight against terrorism that truth must prevail so that the nation can survive with honour.
A Marathi paper Punya Nagri in its Jalgaon edition of Tuesday March 30, 2010 carries banner headline: “Jalgaon as the target of Indian Mujahideen.” The report says that the Indian Mujahideen is busy (magan) training suicide squads which care a tuppence (befikar) for spewing deaths. The terrorists of IM are immersed (gark) in the training. The squad is named “Bullet 313”. The intelligence agency that has prepared the report for the government says that “Bullet 313” has first preference for Jalgaon as the target of attack. IM is recruiting students of mechanical and chemical engineering, students of computer science, as well as the usual collegians. The students of higher education are grouped in modules which would create terror in all the parts of the country. Thus, Jalgaon is the University of Terrorism in India. Delhi and Vangni near Badlapur are other such places. In the last named place the training is going on in a housing colony. The first batch has admitted 200 students and 113 will join soon. That would make it 313. The expense is covered by the fund generated in the Middle East and sent through hawala from Indonesia. It is spent on buying arms. Even if one ‘bullet’ succeeds in destroying its target the country would be in a turmoil, the report adds.
The same news report is carried in the inner pages of the same newspaper of Nasik edition dated the same day. There is nowhere else we get the news either in Marathi or in any other paper.
Well, if it is true we must act fast and arrest and punish everyone involved in the so called “Bullet 313”. There can be no two opinions on this across linguistic or religious or regional lines.
But, what if this is not true?
Then, the first question is who planted it in the news paper? What is the aim of it? Which group stands to gain most from this? Which groups is directly and immediately to lose much from this?
Or, is it some government originated story in the juggernaut of war on terrorism, what Noam Chomsky means by quoting President Ronald Reagan, “the evil scourge of terrorism”. By that Chomsky means state directed international terrorism. The first suspect state is, of course, Pakistan. But unless we have joint investigation with our neighbouring country we have to be content with misgivings.
The next is the non state actors. The Indian Mujahideens were reportedly based in Pune in large number. Muslims have their educational institutes like the Adam complex. But the last time terrorism turned up the name of Pune was when Wadia College’s two professors had been associated with bomb making training organized by lieutenant colonel Purohit and his Abhinav Bharat. Both Purohit and AB are based in Pune.
Moreover, the police have not been successful in tracing the Pune blast to IM. What could then be the motive in releasing this news item? One, it could be diverting attention from the failure in investigation since no one has been arrested even after a month and more than half of the German Bakery blast. All the same, the focus on the IM remains unchanged. That serves the purpose.
Two, the Muslims in Jalgaon are breaking new grounds in the field of education. Their pioneering work does not go down well with those who are paranoid and eye them with suspicion. The Iqra society has a sprawling complex on the way to compete with Adam complex of Pune. The self confidence of the fledging community as far as education is concerned is likely to create unhealthy emotions in Hindutva groups. Their chauvinism cannot brook the self assured stride of their fellow countrymen.
It has also become self apparent that those who speak stridently against Muslims are also boisterously supporting Sadhvi Pragya and her ilks.
Therefore, the government should either scotch the rumour and nip the evil intent in the bud or make thorough inquiry in the affair. It must also educate the people that so much is at stake in the fight against terrorism that truth must prevail so that the nation can survive with honour.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Narendra Modi: the second coming
Do Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitly think that there is a certain amount of immaturity in the democratic set up which they conveniently address through their maneuverings? Has Modi a sleight of hand ready for any occasion and all the times? He made out March 21st trysts with SIT to turn it upon the head of SIT figuratively and literally. These gimmicks of Modi made 21st as the ides of March. What kind of Macbeth (or, Caesar) is he that he fears for life at the old secretariat housing SIT office in old Gandhinager while in his house in the new Gandhinager he feels safe? Perhaps he sees menacing ghosts of Banquo in some of those who deposed before him: DGP K Chakravarthi, RB Sreekumar, additional DGPs Kuldip Sharma and Shivanand Jha, deputy inspector generals of police Rahul Sharma and Vivek Srivastava.
How Modi took the people for a ride is plainly discernible despite the chicanery and sophistry of his ‘ace’ lawyer mentor, Jaitley. The SIT had sent him notice on March 11 to join in the investigation which is based on Widow Zakiya Jafri’s petition that 69 people including her husband were killed because Modi had used state apparatus in favour of predetermined (conspired?) leniency to the Hindus who were incited to perform pogroms on the pretext of protest against Godhra incident. He had told the police and administrators to let the Hindus vent their anger despite the fact that the collector of Godhra had called the burning of the train an accident. The SIT had asked him through the notice to find a suitable date after 21st March and communicate it to them. They specified “after 21st ” which would be Sunday and their offices would be closed. In a Machiavellian move Modi deliberately ignored the notice and did not communicate his choice of date. This conspiratorial silence of eleven days was calculated to build suspense which they thought would end in a melodramatic way when the duo would make the crafted open letter to “my beloved countrymen” public.
The letter released on March 22nd would be the last ditch battle to brow beat the SIT using the familiar tactic of what Dr Samuel Johnson said three hundred years ago, “patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
The letter turns around the “purveyors of untruth” and “purveyors of lies” and the “vested interest.”Modi views them unpatriotic and hostile to Gujarat. Whatever they have done and said according to the letter is “canard.”It is essential to deconstruct this web that Modi has woven and see it in the light of what RK Raghvan said that the questioning is a step forward in removing some mystery regarding the carnage. As a democratically elected chief executive of the state he was duty bound to protect the lives of all the citizens of the state. When Ahsan Jafri made his last call to Modi, the chief minister abused him “sale, tu abhi zinda hai!” The people standing close to Jafri heard what was spoken on the phone. If the SIT finds out the transcript by any miracle you can easily nail the lie. Given the kind of dispensation Gujarat has had under Modi that is impossible. If he blared out through loudspeakers abuses at Muslims and the SC or NHRC wanted a tape recorded cassette, the police and intelligence never obliged.
However, Modi’s ministers were in the police control rooms across the state. Phone call details are available. But even this record is fudged. There is no hope of retrieving such vital proofs as long as Modi and his party are in power. Haren Pandey, his finance minister, had dared to reveal what transpired in the house of the CM on February 27th 2002, and you know his end.
The police commissioner PC Pande had visited Ahsan Jafri at 10 in the morning of February 28th and offered safe exit to the former MP. Jafri did not accept it because more than sixty people had taken refuge under his roof and he was morally bound to protect them. After the last phone call to Modi, Jafri surrendered himself to the blood thirsty mob appealing them to spare the refugees in his house. They enacted their gory plan of cutting his hands, feet, torso, head, etc. They played cricket with his skull till the darkness settled on the house. Few of the marauders had the temerity to tell this to reporters!
Zakiya Jafri knew that the Government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had shot down the motion in parliament of mourning the death of her husband. Vajpayee had not even bothered to heed what President KR Narayanan had written to him about the disturbing developments in Gujarat 2002. Zakiya was overwhelmed by widespread murder and mayhem but in 2006 she went to DGP to lodge a complaint against Modi and 62 others. He refused to register her FIR. On April 27, 2009 the Supreme Court asked SIT to probe her complaint.
During all this time Modi and now his buddy Amitacb Bachan had turned a deaf ear to the weeping and wailing of the orphans and widows of the pogroms. Modi closed down the refugee camps, pre-poned the elections and turned out the refugees on the road to fend for themselves while facing boycott everywhere in the state. Muslims arrested by police were booked under TADA and they are still languishing in jails while Hindus were set free because of the flimsy ground in the registration of crimes they had committed on their fellow countrymen. One of the most enduring mascot of shame of Gujarat and indeed India is Babu Bajangee (Babubhai Patel) and police officer KK Mysorewala. Modi had personally housed Bajrangee in the posh government guesthouse at Mount Abu so that he could abscond from the laws the Chief Minister had sworn to uphold when he took office and now he boasts of respecting.
Mysorewala is the notorious cop whose sentence denying shelter to Muslim women and children became title of reports by Human Rights organizations. He had told the hapless and the hounded that there was order from above that the police should not protect them that day. He has enjoyed state patronage and got promotions despite the charges leveled against him.
This is the tip of the iceberg of genocide in Gujarat 2002. After having Rip Van Winkle’s slumber of eight years, the Chief Minister and Amitabh Bachan have resorted to politicking. Modi and Bachan are using the material prosperity as the eyewash that would wipe out the stigma of the genocide while the men of sanity look at 2002 events as eyesore. Bachan thunders “I want to see who is going to stop me from glorifying them! (achievements of Gujaat)” Modi castigate the concerned citizens of conscience as “the Talibans of the public life.”
Rising above the hubbub is the woebegone face of Zakia, weeping and yet smiling. The rainbow of hope in her face. “The laws are not so blind that it will not provide me justice. Definitely, I will get justice.”
How Modi took the people for a ride is plainly discernible despite the chicanery and sophistry of his ‘ace’ lawyer mentor, Jaitley. The SIT had sent him notice on March 11 to join in the investigation which is based on Widow Zakiya Jafri’s petition that 69 people including her husband were killed because Modi had used state apparatus in favour of predetermined (conspired?) leniency to the Hindus who were incited to perform pogroms on the pretext of protest against Godhra incident. He had told the police and administrators to let the Hindus vent their anger despite the fact that the collector of Godhra had called the burning of the train an accident. The SIT had asked him through the notice to find a suitable date after 21st March and communicate it to them. They specified “after 21st ” which would be Sunday and their offices would be closed. In a Machiavellian move Modi deliberately ignored the notice and did not communicate his choice of date. This conspiratorial silence of eleven days was calculated to build suspense which they thought would end in a melodramatic way when the duo would make the crafted open letter to “my beloved countrymen” public.
The letter released on March 22nd would be the last ditch battle to brow beat the SIT using the familiar tactic of what Dr Samuel Johnson said three hundred years ago, “patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
The letter turns around the “purveyors of untruth” and “purveyors of lies” and the “vested interest.”Modi views them unpatriotic and hostile to Gujarat. Whatever they have done and said according to the letter is “canard.”It is essential to deconstruct this web that Modi has woven and see it in the light of what RK Raghvan said that the questioning is a step forward in removing some mystery regarding the carnage. As a democratically elected chief executive of the state he was duty bound to protect the lives of all the citizens of the state. When Ahsan Jafri made his last call to Modi, the chief minister abused him “sale, tu abhi zinda hai!” The people standing close to Jafri heard what was spoken on the phone. If the SIT finds out the transcript by any miracle you can easily nail the lie. Given the kind of dispensation Gujarat has had under Modi that is impossible. If he blared out through loudspeakers abuses at Muslims and the SC or NHRC wanted a tape recorded cassette, the police and intelligence never obliged.
However, Modi’s ministers were in the police control rooms across the state. Phone call details are available. But even this record is fudged. There is no hope of retrieving such vital proofs as long as Modi and his party are in power. Haren Pandey, his finance minister, had dared to reveal what transpired in the house of the CM on February 27th 2002, and you know his end.
The police commissioner PC Pande had visited Ahsan Jafri at 10 in the morning of February 28th and offered safe exit to the former MP. Jafri did not accept it because more than sixty people had taken refuge under his roof and he was morally bound to protect them. After the last phone call to Modi, Jafri surrendered himself to the blood thirsty mob appealing them to spare the refugees in his house. They enacted their gory plan of cutting his hands, feet, torso, head, etc. They played cricket with his skull till the darkness settled on the house. Few of the marauders had the temerity to tell this to reporters!
Zakiya Jafri knew that the Government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had shot down the motion in parliament of mourning the death of her husband. Vajpayee had not even bothered to heed what President KR Narayanan had written to him about the disturbing developments in Gujarat 2002. Zakiya was overwhelmed by widespread murder and mayhem but in 2006 she went to DGP to lodge a complaint against Modi and 62 others. He refused to register her FIR. On April 27, 2009 the Supreme Court asked SIT to probe her complaint.
During all this time Modi and now his buddy Amitacb Bachan had turned a deaf ear to the weeping and wailing of the orphans and widows of the pogroms. Modi closed down the refugee camps, pre-poned the elections and turned out the refugees on the road to fend for themselves while facing boycott everywhere in the state. Muslims arrested by police were booked under TADA and they are still languishing in jails while Hindus were set free because of the flimsy ground in the registration of crimes they had committed on their fellow countrymen. One of the most enduring mascot of shame of Gujarat and indeed India is Babu Bajangee (Babubhai Patel) and police officer KK Mysorewala. Modi had personally housed Bajrangee in the posh government guesthouse at Mount Abu so that he could abscond from the laws the Chief Minister had sworn to uphold when he took office and now he boasts of respecting.
Mysorewala is the notorious cop whose sentence denying shelter to Muslim women and children became title of reports by Human Rights organizations. He had told the hapless and the hounded that there was order from above that the police should not protect them that day. He has enjoyed state patronage and got promotions despite the charges leveled against him.
This is the tip of the iceberg of genocide in Gujarat 2002. After having Rip Van Winkle’s slumber of eight years, the Chief Minister and Amitabh Bachan have resorted to politicking. Modi and Bachan are using the material prosperity as the eyewash that would wipe out the stigma of the genocide while the men of sanity look at 2002 events as eyesore. Bachan thunders “I want to see who is going to stop me from glorifying them! (achievements of Gujaat)” Modi castigate the concerned citizens of conscience as “the Talibans of the public life.”
Rising above the hubbub is the woebegone face of Zakia, weeping and yet smiling. The rainbow of hope in her face. “The laws are not so blind that it will not provide me justice. Definitely, I will get justice.”
Friday, March 26, 2010
Rakesh Maria/KPRaghuvanshi: change of guard does not change nature of guarding
Rakesh Maria/KPRaghuvanshi: change of guard does not change nature of guarding
Mustafa Khan
Maharashtra government’s dramatic announcement of replacing Raghuvanshi with Maria is an exercise in inanity, to say the least. It can hardly produce any change on the ground. Anyway, both these worthies have been promoted or rewarded for their past performances. It might not be their life time achievement award, but it is a reward that matters them individually and personally. Serendipity in their professional career is matched by abulia.
The circumstances in which the shuffle takes place needs scrutiny. Raghuvanshi is said to have piqued Delhi for having released to press that the duo in Mumbai had telephonic talk with the “uncle”. For how many days? Some reports say twelve days while others say it is three months. We in the public domain have to guess and accept whatever it is. The government does not let us in upon that. For, then surely we would know and tell others well.
Raghuvanshi and his ATS had to mention cause for further police remand of Latif and Riyaz. Did that “uncle” come handy? Why didn’t the central government ask Pakistan to investigate the link across the borders? At least there should have been some give and take rather than the distant stance of holier-than-thou.
There was also a furor in the Mahrashtra legislative assembly where the Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Raote accused the ATS of sending police to Hindu organizations and sena shaka for inquiry into the Pune blast. Is this hubris so daunting that the Home Minister pacified him that action would be taken against ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi if he had indicated involvement of Hindu organizations in the Pune German Bakey blast. (Pune blast: ‘Action against SIT chief if he named Hindu groups’ Zee news March 22, 2010) RR Patil can afford to be casual and dismissive about the whole 26/11 and abruptly become so seriously concerned when an accusing finger is pointed at the Hindutva groups in a far smaller incident as the Pune blast vis-à-vis 26/11!
In dealing with terrorism relativity counts more than it counted for atomic physics.
In the night of April 5-6, 2006, a powerful bomb accidentally went off in the house of an engineer in Nanded, his son Naresh Rajkondwar and his accomplice Himanshu Panse died on the spot, Rahul Pande, Moti Wagh were injured. In just over five months bombs went off at the mosque of main graveyard and a nearby chowk in Malegaon on September 8, 2006. What is common between the two is the RDX. Where did the group get it when it is available only with the army or with the so called jihadi terrorists?
In the night of February 9-10, 2007 a powerful bomb accidentally went off in the Amol bakery of the Shiv Sena paramukh of Nanded Pandurang Bhagwan Amilkanthwar. He died and his cousin Dnyaneshwar Manikwar was seriously injured and died a week later. In just over a week there was an attack on the Samjhauta express on February 19, 2007. What is common between the two is “Bhagwan”. This is the middle name of the deceased. Is he the same whom Lt Col Srikant Puohit had given a part of the 60 kg of RDX? He and his cousin were making bomb if all the cracks in the wall and the blown shutter and the strewn nails and blades at the site have any story to tell ( ‘an impact explosion created due to the handling of large stocks of explosive/flammable materials stored (t)here’)(Concerned Citizens Inquiry)
The ATS had turned a Nelson’s eye on all these. Their country cousins in Nanded had even tried to cover up. In order to whittle down the severity of the crime of the Shiv Sena paramukh the neighbouring police station chief had in fact spirited away the evidentiary materials and the political affiliation of the dead was deliberately bushed under the carpet.
A more pertinent turning Nelson’s eye is in the case of the bomb strapped to sadhvi Pragyasingh Thackur’s motorcycle. The owner of the transport company had called the police to the front of his shop and showed the unclaimed motorcycle and told them to remove it. The police shrugged of their shoulders and went back to their chairs across the Bhiku chowk and sat down there. Therefore blaming the German Bakery for not responding to the unclaimed bag under the table is tantamount to finding a scapegoat.
Raghuvanshi has been dealing with most of these but Maria was not far behind. He was in the police control room and had sent Ashok Kamte to Cama hospital although Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor had directed him to the hotel Trident. He could have told Vinita Kamte outright as she was the widow of a colleague. She had to resort to RTI to get this piece of information. Maria’s silence and dilly dallying speaks volumes about him. Then the time and negligence shown to the three slain Hemant Karkare, Kamte, and Salaskar raises another spectre. They were shot and left for more than forty minutes. A police van zoomed past them and did not stop and then came again and went away without stopping! What kind of controlling was this? He is credited with cracking the serial bomb blasts of 1993 and yet registering crimes by the police and mobs against the Muslim was so shabbily done that there has been no conviction so far. What happened to the Kapses and Tyagis in the uniform and others in civilian dress? If the duo was under surveillance and nabbed much before they could buy a liter of kerosene to burn even a shop why was the threesome who went to Shahid Azmi allowed so much time to accomplish their assignment?
Mustafa Khan
Maharashtra government’s dramatic announcement of replacing Raghuvanshi with Maria is an exercise in inanity, to say the least. It can hardly produce any change on the ground. Anyway, both these worthies have been promoted or rewarded for their past performances. It might not be their life time achievement award, but it is a reward that matters them individually and personally. Serendipity in their professional career is matched by abulia.
The circumstances in which the shuffle takes place needs scrutiny. Raghuvanshi is said to have piqued Delhi for having released to press that the duo in Mumbai had telephonic talk with the “uncle”. For how many days? Some reports say twelve days while others say it is three months. We in the public domain have to guess and accept whatever it is. The government does not let us in upon that. For, then surely we would know and tell others well.
Raghuvanshi and his ATS had to mention cause for further police remand of Latif and Riyaz. Did that “uncle” come handy? Why didn’t the central government ask Pakistan to investigate the link across the borders? At least there should have been some give and take rather than the distant stance of holier-than-thou.
There was also a furor in the Mahrashtra legislative assembly where the Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Raote accused the ATS of sending police to Hindu organizations and sena shaka for inquiry into the Pune blast. Is this hubris so daunting that the Home Minister pacified him that action would be taken against ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi if he had indicated involvement of Hindu organizations in the Pune German Bakey blast. (Pune blast: ‘Action against SIT chief if he named Hindu groups’ Zee news March 22, 2010) RR Patil can afford to be casual and dismissive about the whole 26/11 and abruptly become so seriously concerned when an accusing finger is pointed at the Hindutva groups in a far smaller incident as the Pune blast vis-à-vis 26/11!
In dealing with terrorism relativity counts more than it counted for atomic physics.
In the night of April 5-6, 2006, a powerful bomb accidentally went off in the house of an engineer in Nanded, his son Naresh Rajkondwar and his accomplice Himanshu Panse died on the spot, Rahul Pande, Moti Wagh were injured. In just over five months bombs went off at the mosque of main graveyard and a nearby chowk in Malegaon on September 8, 2006. What is common between the two is the RDX. Where did the group get it when it is available only with the army or with the so called jihadi terrorists?
In the night of February 9-10, 2007 a powerful bomb accidentally went off in the Amol bakery of the Shiv Sena paramukh of Nanded Pandurang Bhagwan Amilkanthwar. He died and his cousin Dnyaneshwar Manikwar was seriously injured and died a week later. In just over a week there was an attack on the Samjhauta express on February 19, 2007. What is common between the two is “Bhagwan”. This is the middle name of the deceased. Is he the same whom Lt Col Srikant Puohit had given a part of the 60 kg of RDX? He and his cousin were making bomb if all the cracks in the wall and the blown shutter and the strewn nails and blades at the site have any story to tell ( ‘an impact explosion created due to the handling of large stocks of explosive/flammable materials stored (t)here’)(Concerned Citizens Inquiry)
The ATS had turned a Nelson’s eye on all these. Their country cousins in Nanded had even tried to cover up. In order to whittle down the severity of the crime of the Shiv Sena paramukh the neighbouring police station chief had in fact spirited away the evidentiary materials and the political affiliation of the dead was deliberately bushed under the carpet.
A more pertinent turning Nelson’s eye is in the case of the bomb strapped to sadhvi Pragyasingh Thackur’s motorcycle. The owner of the transport company had called the police to the front of his shop and showed the unclaimed motorcycle and told them to remove it. The police shrugged of their shoulders and went back to their chairs across the Bhiku chowk and sat down there. Therefore blaming the German Bakery for not responding to the unclaimed bag under the table is tantamount to finding a scapegoat.
Raghuvanshi has been dealing with most of these but Maria was not far behind. He was in the police control room and had sent Ashok Kamte to Cama hospital although Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor had directed him to the hotel Trident. He could have told Vinita Kamte outright as she was the widow of a colleague. She had to resort to RTI to get this piece of information. Maria’s silence and dilly dallying speaks volumes about him. Then the time and negligence shown to the three slain Hemant Karkare, Kamte, and Salaskar raises another spectre. They were shot and left for more than forty minutes. A police van zoomed past them and did not stop and then came again and went away without stopping! What kind of controlling was this? He is credited with cracking the serial bomb blasts of 1993 and yet registering crimes by the police and mobs against the Muslim was so shabbily done that there has been no conviction so far. What happened to the Kapses and Tyagis in the uniform and others in civilian dress? If the duo was under surveillance and nabbed much before they could buy a liter of kerosene to burn even a shop why was the threesome who went to Shahid Azmi allowed so much time to accomplish their assignment?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
