The ongoing investigation into Sohrabuddin Shaikh murder by the police of the Gujarat state is throwing up enough hints of the kind of Gujarat its chief minister Narendra Modi has created. It has been fully implicit in mass murders of Muslims in 2002 and since then in fake encounters of targeted Muslims falsely accused as terrorists. Modi has suborned and subverted judiciary system and the police. This has become a day light affair so ingrained that either the people of the state are bought over by him or simply dread to utter a word against him.
Calling himself as “This son of Gujarat” he generalizes his third person singular into first person plural “we Gujaratis are all set to fight the Delhi sultanate single-handedly.” Have the rest of the people of India lost all morality to let him and his Gujaratis only to fight the rot that has entered into the public life? Do the people of India not see that he himself is the master creator of the outlawry in his state? Moreover, how can he appropriate upon himself the right to speak for all the Gujaratis when we have a democracy in which differences of opinion is bound to be there and is a healthy sign? Can he deign (dare?) to represent the feelings of Malika Sarabhai, to give just an instance?
Modi is having a running battle with the CBI when that top investigative agency is busy inquiring into gravest charges leveled against his police and bureaucracy and. what is more, against him. He is still presiding over this kind of dispensation when he should have long back accepted the moral responsibility and resigned.
Part of the explanation lies in the fact that Modi personally supervised much of the goings on in Gujarat through proxy. (Where are the records of fifteen phone calls he made? What did he say to Ehsan Jafri when the old Member of Parliament asked him to save life of the people who sought refuge in his house?) Gordhan Zadaphia and Amit Shah carried out what he wanted. When the CBI asked Geetha Johari about Shah she maintained strict silence. This incommunicado of hers is remarkable in a grilling session of questioning that lasted nine hours! Why is she so much afraid of turning a witness in the Sohrabuddin case? Does she fear that she would risk her life like Narendra Amin who feared the same in the high security Sabarmati jail? Who has created this atmosphere of fear in the state where let alone ordinary citizens but the very highest police officers fear to turn witness? Whose shadow is stalking them that they fear to look at the person himself in the face?
Rumour mongering in the street can lead to riots but rumour mongering in the corridors of power spells doom. "There is not one day when I have not heard rumors that the CBI is about to arrest me. I am here, I am going nowhere." Read carefully all his recent speeches. The constant refrain is terrorism balanced by development in Gujarat as if he is hinting that you condone one if you want the other. Or what else is it?
In the mean time there is the procrastination playing as a thief of time. Geetha Johari is blaming the CBI Additional Director Balwinder Singh who was additional commissioner of police in Hyderabad when she conducted inquiry. Now she is blaming him for shielding Kalimuddin. She says that Kalimuddin was PWG informer of police in Hyderabad. According to her he melted among the Naxalites of the state and so next to impossible to find. Perhaps he never existed but was raised as a ghost to throw a spanner into the investigation process. The third person with Sohrabuddin was after all Tulsiram Prajapati. OP Mathur as chief of CID of the Gujarat state then misdirected her and she says he should now be called to give witness. Mathur blamed her for tampering with the evidence as she was the supervisory officer of the investigation. Both are suggesting that the onus is on the other to prove the facts. Now Mathur has moved into the police academia founded by Modi to mark 60 anniversary of Gujarat state. Perhaps we will have to wait until this chancellor Mathur of the Rakksha Shakti University inducts a PhD course in who misdirected whom in criminal investigation. And, whether there has to be a chain of command at all.
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Modi hits out at Cong during inauguration spree TNN, Aug 30, 2010
Johri returns favour to Mathur during CBI grilling TNN, Aug 28, 2010
Sohrabuddin case: Geetha Johri accuses CBI of pressurising her. TOI August 28, 2010.
Modi shoots at PM to shout down IE August 29, 2010.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
The phenomenon of saffron terror, now it’s official
Home Minister P Chidambrum was not addressing humdrum ‘aam aadmi’ when he talked definitely about the saffron terrorism. He was addressing the director generals of police of all the states of India. Therefore the meeting assumes importance because it will be again the venue where the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would address the following day.
Why had the Home Minister to be so categorical about saffron terrorism? Already Hindu terrorism had created such a furor when Malegaon 2008 exploded on the national psyche. Remember what LK Advani and others of his ilk said and did then. Therefore Chidambrum took a more realistic epithet to define the groups. In the first place those suspected and accused or even arrested in Nanded, Malegaon, Purna, Parbhani, Jalna, Goa, Modasa , Mecca mosque, Ajmer, Samjhauta Express are all from the sangh parivar which is known as saffron group or family. They include members of RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, Abhinav Bharat, Sanatan Sansthan, etc. they belong to one family.
What prompted the Home Minister to make it public does not need much deciphering as it was widely seen now than ever before that there was clear attempt to shield the guilty and throw the blames on the Muslims. Who did this but the police and the investigation agencies and even the National Security Advisor Mr Narayanan. When the public domain is seized of the truth you cannot go on beating the dead horse believing that there was just one and one organization. That SIMI and only SIMI with its many aliases was the whole and sole terrorist organization. Every two years the government went to the Supreme Court to plead for re-imposing ban on it. It got on the nerves of the Judge who told the government to give at least one instance where SIMI was clearly involved. The judge asked the government to lift the ban but then the government again re-imposed the ban not by citing proof but allegations.
In contrast the proof in Malegaon 2008 was just undeniable. Hemant Karkare was a dedicated and professional officer and looked at the matter in a very objective manner. He had told his assistants that if the suspected was a Hindu they should check it not once but thrice and make sure they had enough proof.
We cannot always rush the attorney general of India and the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission to Geneva to plead with the Amnesty International not to visit the affected areas go public about what was happening in India, as PM Vajpayee did when he rushed Soli Sorabji and Justice Verma to hide the shame of Narendra Modi’s Gujarat pogroms of 2002. We have still not accepted that that was also terrorism conducted according to the strategy of the Hindutva laboratory of the state of Gujarat. The world is watching. Due to certain considerations if some have not been so forward in condemnation it should not be taken to mean that such things had not happened, that it was mere Newton’s third law. ( Interestingly the British High Commission in New Delhi did note it and leaked to Hindustan Times on April 15, 2003: “Their [the saffron group] systematic campaign of violence has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing. The attack on the train at Godhra on 27th February provided the pretext. If it had not occurred, another one would have been found.”)
The Samjhauta Express case has exposed how even the highest officers played terror politics to hide terrorism. The Haryana police had almost cracked the case but they were stymied by the Madhya Pardesh police. Now the accused involved in Malegaon and Ajmer cases are the ones who were behind the Samjhauta.
The making official of saffron terrorism in the present context should be seen as a belated hint that it is far too late to go on not calling a spade a spade.
Is it not phenomenon about the new discoveries that the above mentioned groups had even arranged help from Israel, that they had drafted their own constitution, that they had made arrangement for training terrorists with Nepal, that they had used Bhonsla Military School for potential terrorists’ indoctrination and training, that they had even infiltrated the army and the IB.? If these are not remarkable and unusual then what phenomenon is?
Why had the Home Minister to be so categorical about saffron terrorism? Already Hindu terrorism had created such a furor when Malegaon 2008 exploded on the national psyche. Remember what LK Advani and others of his ilk said and did then. Therefore Chidambrum took a more realistic epithet to define the groups. In the first place those suspected and accused or even arrested in Nanded, Malegaon, Purna, Parbhani, Jalna, Goa, Modasa , Mecca mosque, Ajmer, Samjhauta Express are all from the sangh parivar which is known as saffron group or family. They include members of RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, Abhinav Bharat, Sanatan Sansthan, etc. they belong to one family.
What prompted the Home Minister to make it public does not need much deciphering as it was widely seen now than ever before that there was clear attempt to shield the guilty and throw the blames on the Muslims. Who did this but the police and the investigation agencies and even the National Security Advisor Mr Narayanan. When the public domain is seized of the truth you cannot go on beating the dead horse believing that there was just one and one organization. That SIMI and only SIMI with its many aliases was the whole and sole terrorist organization. Every two years the government went to the Supreme Court to plead for re-imposing ban on it. It got on the nerves of the Judge who told the government to give at least one instance where SIMI was clearly involved. The judge asked the government to lift the ban but then the government again re-imposed the ban not by citing proof but allegations.
In contrast the proof in Malegaon 2008 was just undeniable. Hemant Karkare was a dedicated and professional officer and looked at the matter in a very objective manner. He had told his assistants that if the suspected was a Hindu they should check it not once but thrice and make sure they had enough proof.
We cannot always rush the attorney general of India and the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission to Geneva to plead with the Amnesty International not to visit the affected areas go public about what was happening in India, as PM Vajpayee did when he rushed Soli Sorabji and Justice Verma to hide the shame of Narendra Modi’s Gujarat pogroms of 2002. We have still not accepted that that was also terrorism conducted according to the strategy of the Hindutva laboratory of the state of Gujarat. The world is watching. Due to certain considerations if some have not been so forward in condemnation it should not be taken to mean that such things had not happened, that it was mere Newton’s third law. ( Interestingly the British High Commission in New Delhi did note it and leaked to Hindustan Times on April 15, 2003: “Their [the saffron group] systematic campaign of violence has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing. The attack on the train at Godhra on 27th February provided the pretext. If it had not occurred, another one would have been found.”)
The Samjhauta Express case has exposed how even the highest officers played terror politics to hide terrorism. The Haryana police had almost cracked the case but they were stymied by the Madhya Pardesh police. Now the accused involved in Malegaon and Ajmer cases are the ones who were behind the Samjhauta.
The making official of saffron terrorism in the present context should be seen as a belated hint that it is far too late to go on not calling a spade a spade.
Is it not phenomenon about the new discoveries that the above mentioned groups had even arranged help from Israel, that they had drafted their own constitution, that they had made arrangement for training terrorists with Nepal, that they had used Bhonsla Military School for potential terrorists’ indoctrination and training, that they had even infiltrated the army and the IB.? If these are not remarkable and unusual then what phenomenon is?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Kashmir: the dry stone gives no sound of water
The boulder and the stream solution of Kashmir spells out need for patiently bearing the paramilitary and not confronting the forces. If the people of Kashmir accept India and march forward it would bring great benefits to them. This realization or epiphany of a seer is charming to observe in the bucolic sylvan setting of the valley but not in the narrow meandering lanes and by lanes with shop shutters down and streets deserted and stones strewn all over. As a reminder of the previous days’ or earlier days’ engagement with the soldiers it is a heap of images of waste, the valley has become the waste land.
The valley was beautiful and quiet when the soldiers were only guarding the borders and were confined to their barracks. Now the whole valley has turned into a garrison and you have to negotiate every check posts almost like the Palestinians who take days and months to reach their relatives just across a stretch of a few kilometers away. Are we also turning Kashmir into another West Bank and Gaza? Yes, if this is what the valley has become then surely the paramilitary forces have transformed it into an occupied territory and it would remain so for good because it would legitimize what India and Pakistan want: turning line of control into a recognized border. Wither autonomy, then? There would be none.
The boulder and stream tantalizing also belies the fact that the valley was traumatized by the two upheavals of the mainland: the seismic upheavals of the events around 1992 and the Gujarat 2002 pogroms of Muslims. It would be foolhardy of anyone to ask the people to continue living halcyon days of pre 1989 as if nothing has happened.
How much is viable Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s advice that,” The developments over the last decade or so clearly indicate that, in today’s context, Kashmir’s benefit lies not in independence or in joining Pakistan, but, rather in being part of India and in abandoning the path of violence in exchange for peaceful reconstruction and progress.”? The shift in situation on ground in Jammu and the rest of the country is not helpful to the Kashmiris. The ascendency of the right wing Hindu groups does not want to see even the article 370 enacted. In times of trouble the blockade of Kashmiri goods from entering into the rest of India and essential supplies reaching the valley threatens existence of the people. Those who enforce the blockade know that their action economically cripples the valley and has no visible effect on India. What prospect does it hold for the future? Similarly people hesitating to visit Kashmiri shops in Delhi on account of the identity of the shopkeepers is not a result of insurgency in the valley but rather a fall out of the misconceived perception that all Muslims are terrorists. Justin Hardy mentions that even Japanese hastily withdrew from Mohammad Dar’s shop in Delhi.
As far as development is concerned if 600,000 Kashmiri youths are unemployed Omar Abdullah’s now asking the centre to create 50,000 thousand jobs is not that enviable offer. But more pertinent is to ask why so far the jobs were not created? If economic plight of the ordinary people fuels protest on the street it is supplemented by sometimes 27 days in a month closure of shops due to inordinate curfew and the consequences of continuing death toll of the young people. Sometimes it is not the boulder that obstructs but the man made policy of commission and omission. Is there any sign of change?
Despite, the ten percent growth!
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The figure of unemployed is given in TIME August 21, 2010 under the heading “Kashmir’s new warriors”.
The Waste Land
The valley was beautiful and quiet when the soldiers were only guarding the borders and were confined to their barracks. Now the whole valley has turned into a garrison and you have to negotiate every check posts almost like the Palestinians who take days and months to reach their relatives just across a stretch of a few kilometers away. Are we also turning Kashmir into another West Bank and Gaza? Yes, if this is what the valley has become then surely the paramilitary forces have transformed it into an occupied territory and it would remain so for good because it would legitimize what India and Pakistan want: turning line of control into a recognized border. Wither autonomy, then? There would be none.
The boulder and stream tantalizing also belies the fact that the valley was traumatized by the two upheavals of the mainland: the seismic upheavals of the events around 1992 and the Gujarat 2002 pogroms of Muslims. It would be foolhardy of anyone to ask the people to continue living halcyon days of pre 1989 as if nothing has happened.
How much is viable Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s advice that,” The developments over the last decade or so clearly indicate that, in today’s context, Kashmir’s benefit lies not in independence or in joining Pakistan, but, rather in being part of India and in abandoning the path of violence in exchange for peaceful reconstruction and progress.”? The shift in situation on ground in Jammu and the rest of the country is not helpful to the Kashmiris. The ascendency of the right wing Hindu groups does not want to see even the article 370 enacted. In times of trouble the blockade of Kashmiri goods from entering into the rest of India and essential supplies reaching the valley threatens existence of the people. Those who enforce the blockade know that their action economically cripples the valley and has no visible effect on India. What prospect does it hold for the future? Similarly people hesitating to visit Kashmiri shops in Delhi on account of the identity of the shopkeepers is not a result of insurgency in the valley but rather a fall out of the misconceived perception that all Muslims are terrorists. Justin Hardy mentions that even Japanese hastily withdrew from Mohammad Dar’s shop in Delhi.
As far as development is concerned if 600,000 Kashmiri youths are unemployed Omar Abdullah’s now asking the centre to create 50,000 thousand jobs is not that enviable offer. But more pertinent is to ask why so far the jobs were not created? If economic plight of the ordinary people fuels protest on the street it is supplemented by sometimes 27 days in a month closure of shops due to inordinate curfew and the consequences of continuing death toll of the young people. Sometimes it is not the boulder that obstructs but the man made policy of commission and omission. Is there any sign of change?
Despite, the ten percent growth!
-----
The figure of unemployed is given in TIME August 21, 2010 under the heading “Kashmir’s new warriors”.
The Waste Land
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Why be so selective in using CBI
When the parliament meets tomorrow it must use its time and forum to discuss not just the nuclear liability bill and the enormity of the situation in the Kashmir valley in view of Prakash Karat’s view that the protest is spontaneous and solution within the constitution should not stand in the way of negotiation but also government’s pro quid quo deal with the BJP over the bill and also how far the government would go to let CBI arrest Gordhan Zadaphia in the end of September when enough proof exits with the agency and the private domain ? The private domain is replete with information on what Narendra Modi said about the 2002 pogroms which the Supreme Court still calls “riots”. Why did CBI selectively deal with Malegaon vis-à-vis Gujarat?
CBI‘s most glaring fault is not that the officers are any less diligent than people like Hemant Karkare. It is how we put to use the top intelligence agency to work and what we do not do in the words of Vice President Hamid Ansari : have an oversight committee to monitor intelligence gathering. The oversight committee of parliamentarians comprising of the ruling and other party members would have surely told that:
1) In the case of Malegaon blasts of 2006 the CBI told the Supreme Court that it did not find any significant new facts and thereby it accepted and submitted what the Malegaon police and ATS under KP Raghuvanshi had included in their chargesheets. It did not investigate the matter as Karkare had done for the 2008 blast. New facts have emerged that the 2006 was also the handiwork of those behind the 2008 blast. Why did the CBI sleep for such a long time and not notice the relevance?
2) A convincing proof: the ATS under Raghuvanshi had made accused Abrar Ahmed as an approver. The CBI did not bother to look into the matter. It attached the consumer application form of his mobile phone and presented as proof. The form has not been signed by Abrar at three stipulated spaces for the applicant. How could this happen? The agency was already groaning and complaining that it was overburdened and clearly showed its unwillingness to take up the matter! Was the lack of will power on the part of the government or the agency? A committed government would have taken the agency to task over the matter. It is the government that failed the agency.
3) On September 1st 2006 itself the Nasik control room received actionable intelligence that terrorist attack would take place within a short period. The ASP of Malegaon Mr. Kumbhare had informed the SP (Rural) Mr. Rajwardhan that there was imminent threat. The ASP had gone to the trustees of Hamidiya mosque at the grave yard a day before the bomb blasts and apprised them of the danger. He mentioned that police would be deployed within and outside the graveyard and beggars would not be allowed within the vicinity of the mosque and the graveyard. Even then there were no police men in sight when the blasts occurred and many beggars were injured and killed within the premises of the mosque. Why were there no police men at the mosque? The CBI did not bother to into this matter despite the fact that many representations by Individuals and groups were made to it during its officers visited the town, Malegaon. Why did the Congress government at the centre and in the state of Maharashtra not take note of these, at least the Home department?
4) Coming in the year of the Nanded blast, the Malegaon Hamidiya mosque blasts of 2006 fall into a pattern. The bomb blasts at Purna mosque, Parbhani mosque, Jalna mosque, Mecca mosque Hyderabad, Jama Masjid Delhi and Malegaon have all occurred between 1.35 PM and 1.45 PM on Friday midday prayer when the crowd of Muslims is fullest. Even the Nanded bomb was scheduled to explode at the railway station mosque in Aurangabad on April 4 2006 at 1.35 PM but because of the mistake in setting instead of 1.35 PM it exploded at 1.35 AM in the house of the Bajrang Dal activist Naresh before he and his accomplice could travel to Aurangabad. In most cases Hindutva extremists were involved. But without rhyme and reason the police booked Muslims in Malegaon blasts!
This is very bizarre because none of the accused in Malegaon 2006 blasts resemble the police sketches of the suspects even remotely. Most of the accused are bearded wearing tunic and pyjama and have round skull caps while the sketches are of country youths of rather Hindu origin as they are clean shaved. The police in fact believed one to be a Bajrang Dal activist, Dashrath Pawar. One of the most poignantly left out aspects is the abandoning of police search for the prototypes of the sketches. One of them had tried to keep a black bag with a tea vendor who recognized him when the sketches were telecast. He volunteered to go to the police and help them. Nothing came out of this. The CBI did not even feel necessary to look into all these? In contrast to this Hemant Karkare had spoken out that he had not found any SIMI involvement in the 2006 (ab tak SIMI ke role ka pata nahin chal saka). This is what Karkare told to Urdu Times on August 16, 2008. Full two years after this the CBI draws a blank over this when it submitted its periodic report to the SC. Why is the agency treating Malegaon 2006 case carelessly? Has not the government put any pressure on it?
5) In the case of Amit Shah the agency collected mountains of documents and was zeroing in on Narendra Modi but then came the nuclear liability bill. For the sake of getting it through the parliament the government made a quid pro quo deal with BJP. We are in for another Rip Van Winkle sleep!
CBI‘s most glaring fault is not that the officers are any less diligent than people like Hemant Karkare. It is how we put to use the top intelligence agency to work and what we do not do in the words of Vice President Hamid Ansari : have an oversight committee to monitor intelligence gathering. The oversight committee of parliamentarians comprising of the ruling and other party members would have surely told that:
1) In the case of Malegaon blasts of 2006 the CBI told the Supreme Court that it did not find any significant new facts and thereby it accepted and submitted what the Malegaon police and ATS under KP Raghuvanshi had included in their chargesheets. It did not investigate the matter as Karkare had done for the 2008 blast. New facts have emerged that the 2006 was also the handiwork of those behind the 2008 blast. Why did the CBI sleep for such a long time and not notice the relevance?
2) A convincing proof: the ATS under Raghuvanshi had made accused Abrar Ahmed as an approver. The CBI did not bother to look into the matter. It attached the consumer application form of his mobile phone and presented as proof. The form has not been signed by Abrar at three stipulated spaces for the applicant. How could this happen? The agency was already groaning and complaining that it was overburdened and clearly showed its unwillingness to take up the matter! Was the lack of will power on the part of the government or the agency? A committed government would have taken the agency to task over the matter. It is the government that failed the agency.
3) On September 1st 2006 itself the Nasik control room received actionable intelligence that terrorist attack would take place within a short period. The ASP of Malegaon Mr. Kumbhare had informed the SP (Rural) Mr. Rajwardhan that there was imminent threat. The ASP had gone to the trustees of Hamidiya mosque at the grave yard a day before the bomb blasts and apprised them of the danger. He mentioned that police would be deployed within and outside the graveyard and beggars would not be allowed within the vicinity of the mosque and the graveyard. Even then there were no police men in sight when the blasts occurred and many beggars were injured and killed within the premises of the mosque. Why were there no police men at the mosque? The CBI did not bother to into this matter despite the fact that many representations by Individuals and groups were made to it during its officers visited the town, Malegaon. Why did the Congress government at the centre and in the state of Maharashtra not take note of these, at least the Home department?
4) Coming in the year of the Nanded blast, the Malegaon Hamidiya mosque blasts of 2006 fall into a pattern. The bomb blasts at Purna mosque, Parbhani mosque, Jalna mosque, Mecca mosque Hyderabad, Jama Masjid Delhi and Malegaon have all occurred between 1.35 PM and 1.45 PM on Friday midday prayer when the crowd of Muslims is fullest. Even the Nanded bomb was scheduled to explode at the railway station mosque in Aurangabad on April 4 2006 at 1.35 PM but because of the mistake in setting instead of 1.35 PM it exploded at 1.35 AM in the house of the Bajrang Dal activist Naresh before he and his accomplice could travel to Aurangabad. In most cases Hindutva extremists were involved. But without rhyme and reason the police booked Muslims in Malegaon blasts!
This is very bizarre because none of the accused in Malegaon 2006 blasts resemble the police sketches of the suspects even remotely. Most of the accused are bearded wearing tunic and pyjama and have round skull caps while the sketches are of country youths of rather Hindu origin as they are clean shaved. The police in fact believed one to be a Bajrang Dal activist, Dashrath Pawar. One of the most poignantly left out aspects is the abandoning of police search for the prototypes of the sketches. One of them had tried to keep a black bag with a tea vendor who recognized him when the sketches were telecast. He volunteered to go to the police and help them. Nothing came out of this. The CBI did not even feel necessary to look into all these? In contrast to this Hemant Karkare had spoken out that he had not found any SIMI involvement in the 2006 (ab tak SIMI ke role ka pata nahin chal saka). This is what Karkare told to Urdu Times on August 16, 2008. Full two years after this the CBI draws a blank over this when it submitted its periodic report to the SC. Why is the agency treating Malegaon 2006 case carelessly? Has not the government put any pressure on it?
5) In the case of Amit Shah the agency collected mountains of documents and was zeroing in on Narendra Modi but then came the nuclear liability bill. For the sake of getting it through the parliament the government made a quid pro quo deal with BJP. We are in for another Rip Van Winkle sleep!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Kashmir: a view from the plain
The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that if there is consensus the government would consider autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir. Still there is no sign of mentioning it a second time let alone moving a resolution in the parliament. In the meantime Bal Thackeray threatened on the eve of the Independence Day: “Autonomy to Kashmir? It is the limit!” (Kashmir la swyatta? Hud jhali! ). His words show he has reached the flash point and would not take it anymore. “Why this autonomy! And for whom?! (kasli swayatta! Aandi kuna sathi?) Parsing the exclamatory and the interrogative would reveal that how could a region of India have autonomy that is not already there in India itself. But the question mark on the identity of the people seeking identity is to him more horrifying to say the least. “Unfortunately if it is at all given the country will be flung into an abyss, just imagine.” (jar durdevane dilich tar saara desh kontya kahdit lotla jaeel teyachi kalpana kra.)
Bal Thackeray lives far from Kashmir but has the potential to raise the temperature to boiling point elsewhere especially in Maharashtra. His musclemen have the freedom to physically assault Syed Ali Gilani, the Hurriyat leader in Jammu thanks to the police. They could dig up cricket pitch, ditto! Given this kind of law and order situation it would not be surprising that this time around it would be hell let loosed. In 2008 agitation against the revocation of grant of land for the pilgrimage to Amarnath Jammu and Indore and other parts of the country saw sheer terror. In contrast the people of the valley fed and housed the stranded pilgrims and showed no hatred for them for being Hindus. While at the same time the Muslim drivers passing through Jammu were assaulted brutally and even killed and trucks looted. Not only there but also in Punjab!
This kind of inhuman reprisal in Jammu and the selected parts of the rest of the country shows how the Hindu right is ready to coerce the government. Shiv Sena and BJP cannot brook any concession to either the Kashmiris or the Muslim minority in the country. On the provisions made for the poor and backward Muslims in Sachchar Committee recommendations Thackeray wrote to the PM that it would lead to civil war.
Such is the communally charged situation in the country and the nefarious politics being played over it that the oil slick off the shores of Mumbai by the collision of ships and the overturning of a tanker on road the ecological danger is not viewed as serious as the autonomy in the far off region of the country. Instead of clearing the sea of the oil the supporters of Thackeray and his nephew are engaged in competitive politics of having more Marathi films screened in multiplexes. What else is this if not the communal consideration of the agitation in valley and the carrot of autonomy dangled by the PM?
Like much else things are viewed from a communal angle in the plains of India. There is no doubt the situation and the mindset of the Kashmiris are affected by the barbarity often seen in communal riots and pogroms against the Muslims in particular following Babri demolition and the Godhra incident. That has exacerbated the situation and hardened the minds but the present stone pelting protest is a different matter altogether. There is nothing communal and the stone pelters are not aiming to kill any police even when they get hold of any one once in a blue moon. However on the other hand the genocidal tendency in the police is widespread. A policeman chased a five year old Athar and shouted at him while the kid ran into his house: “Hum mar dalenge. (We will kill you).” It is another incident that even in treating the incidents of street protest as a matter of breaking law of strict curfew order the anger and reply of the paramilitary shows what is latent is becoming manifest. The rest of the country is as much in the dark of the truth of the events as is the chief minister Omer Abdullah himself who taunted that: “If his life had been so important, why didn’t the other two boys pull him out.” He is talking of a boy who was mauled with rifle butts and when he was having seizures the CRPF jawans threw him into the water so that his death would be passed off as drowning. But the boy recovered and struggled in the water and at that point the soldiers fired tear gas canister at him. The post mortem report shows that he received injuries on head and died.
Truth is the first casualty of the ongoing operation against the protests. It is evident in the case of the Chief Minister himself. The police officer supervising the scene and the diver who went into the bottom to fish out the body of Faizan came up and raised his thumb but dived again with a small rope and tied the body to something in the water so that it would not emerge in the day light. But it came to the surface and that is how the world came to know about the truth of the boy!
With such startling disclosures it is quite possible that there would be change in the perception of truth in the plains of India. Indian civilization is much older than Kashmir and the moorings of civilization cannot be washed away by a few years of insurgency or counterinsurgency.
Nor can the temporary turbulence of rabble rousers like Thackeray or Pramod Muthalik or the brief “frozen turbulence” of a governor of the region. The Amarnath pilgrimage is still on for which Muthalik has called for the cancellation of the tax of two thousand rupees per pilgrim. In this age of corporate business even communal violence is also a commodity. You can order a riot by paying seventy lakh rupees to Muthalik and his Sri Ram Sene and you can have it anywhere you like.
But the shell is broken and truth is peeping out!
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Saamna August 14, 2010.
Mother Speaks. Danish Nabi, Kashmir Times, July 28, 2010
He flays Kashmir govt’s move to impose tax on Amarnath pilgrims. Deccan Herald. August 1, 2010.
August 21 Am A Pacifist. But Here’s Why I Want To Be A Stone-Pelter Zahid Rafiq,Tehelka. August 21, 2010.
Bal Thackeray lives far from Kashmir but has the potential to raise the temperature to boiling point elsewhere especially in Maharashtra. His musclemen have the freedom to physically assault Syed Ali Gilani, the Hurriyat leader in Jammu thanks to the police. They could dig up cricket pitch, ditto! Given this kind of law and order situation it would not be surprising that this time around it would be hell let loosed. In 2008 agitation against the revocation of grant of land for the pilgrimage to Amarnath Jammu and Indore and other parts of the country saw sheer terror. In contrast the people of the valley fed and housed the stranded pilgrims and showed no hatred for them for being Hindus. While at the same time the Muslim drivers passing through Jammu were assaulted brutally and even killed and trucks looted. Not only there but also in Punjab!
This kind of inhuman reprisal in Jammu and the selected parts of the rest of the country shows how the Hindu right is ready to coerce the government. Shiv Sena and BJP cannot brook any concession to either the Kashmiris or the Muslim minority in the country. On the provisions made for the poor and backward Muslims in Sachchar Committee recommendations Thackeray wrote to the PM that it would lead to civil war.
Such is the communally charged situation in the country and the nefarious politics being played over it that the oil slick off the shores of Mumbai by the collision of ships and the overturning of a tanker on road the ecological danger is not viewed as serious as the autonomy in the far off region of the country. Instead of clearing the sea of the oil the supporters of Thackeray and his nephew are engaged in competitive politics of having more Marathi films screened in multiplexes. What else is this if not the communal consideration of the agitation in valley and the carrot of autonomy dangled by the PM?
Like much else things are viewed from a communal angle in the plains of India. There is no doubt the situation and the mindset of the Kashmiris are affected by the barbarity often seen in communal riots and pogroms against the Muslims in particular following Babri demolition and the Godhra incident. That has exacerbated the situation and hardened the minds but the present stone pelting protest is a different matter altogether. There is nothing communal and the stone pelters are not aiming to kill any police even when they get hold of any one once in a blue moon. However on the other hand the genocidal tendency in the police is widespread. A policeman chased a five year old Athar and shouted at him while the kid ran into his house: “Hum mar dalenge. (We will kill you).” It is another incident that even in treating the incidents of street protest as a matter of breaking law of strict curfew order the anger and reply of the paramilitary shows what is latent is becoming manifest. The rest of the country is as much in the dark of the truth of the events as is the chief minister Omer Abdullah himself who taunted that: “If his life had been so important, why didn’t the other two boys pull him out.” He is talking of a boy who was mauled with rifle butts and when he was having seizures the CRPF jawans threw him into the water so that his death would be passed off as drowning. But the boy recovered and struggled in the water and at that point the soldiers fired tear gas canister at him. The post mortem report shows that he received injuries on head and died.
Truth is the first casualty of the ongoing operation against the protests. It is evident in the case of the Chief Minister himself. The police officer supervising the scene and the diver who went into the bottom to fish out the body of Faizan came up and raised his thumb but dived again with a small rope and tied the body to something in the water so that it would not emerge in the day light. But it came to the surface and that is how the world came to know about the truth of the boy!
With such startling disclosures it is quite possible that there would be change in the perception of truth in the plains of India. Indian civilization is much older than Kashmir and the moorings of civilization cannot be washed away by a few years of insurgency or counterinsurgency.
Nor can the temporary turbulence of rabble rousers like Thackeray or Pramod Muthalik or the brief “frozen turbulence” of a governor of the region. The Amarnath pilgrimage is still on for which Muthalik has called for the cancellation of the tax of two thousand rupees per pilgrim. In this age of corporate business even communal violence is also a commodity. You can order a riot by paying seventy lakh rupees to Muthalik and his Sri Ram Sene and you can have it anywhere you like.
But the shell is broken and truth is peeping out!
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Saamna August 14, 2010.
Mother Speaks. Danish Nabi, Kashmir Times, July 28, 2010
He flays Kashmir govt’s move to impose tax on Amarnath pilgrims. Deccan Herald. August 1, 2010.
August 21 Am A Pacifist. But Here’s Why I Want To Be A Stone-Pelter Zahid Rafiq,Tehelka. August 21, 2010.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Quid pro quo in Sohrabuddin case and nuclear liability bill deal with BJP
When the news came on August 18, 2010 that the CBI has given clean chit to Narendra Modi in Sohrabuddin case many of us were filled with a degree of dismay. How could the CBI officer claim under the cloak of anonymity that as home minister Modi had the constitutional power to transfer police officers! The whole case revolves round not his constitutional right but the context of the ongoing official inquiry going on for more than three years in the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin. His role in the transfer of the police officers is tied to precisely the revealing findings of the case involving his top police officers and his own MoS (Home)Amit Shah! His transfer orders and noting on the files make him culpable.
The most glaring example in the context is that when Geetha Johari was conducting inquiry she found out that Tulsiram Prajapati was with Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser as they travelled from Hyderabad to Sangli. Therefore she felt necessary to question Prajapati. A day before the scheduled inquiry Prajapati was killed in fake encounter. That was in 2005. Was the fact of the killing of Prajapati lost on the Home Minister of Gujarat when the Gujarat government had already admitted in court that Sohrabuddin was killed in fake encounter and Johari was going to interrogate Sohabudden’s friend and eye witness, Prajapati? Nay, even after five years the Home Minister was getting high ranking officers transferred so quickly to save his MoS(Home). The frequency of transfer is in tandem with the developmental stages in the inquiry of the fake encounters. It was not cat’s cradle that Modi was playing nor was he fiddling a la Nero.
But Modi is such a demagogue that he would still like to play politics here as his BJP is wont to do. The behind-the-curtain deal into the BJP support for Nuclear liability bill stinks like a festering wound on the body politics caused by hunting with the hound and playing with the hare maneuvers! It is the night mare of politics that there is alteration between Congress and the Hindu BJP. Hence Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and others like them to come in to confront the “rooster” who is acting as cock-of-the-walk in national politics while his “chick” is ensconced in judicial custody.
Most noteworthy is the fact that in 2007 Modi had used Sohrabuddin case and canvassed for his party fighting election. He was dubbed as maut ka saudager precisely because of his involvement of the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin . Huge amount of cash had exchanged hands over the deal to finish Sohrabuddin. Therefore he was called a merchant who arranged fake encounters. He has smarted under the accusation since then. Can the CBI let him off now?
Indian democracy has a switch-back. If it is Congress government in power it walks a tight rope. If it is BJP it is unabashedly a Hindu party with plethora of sophistry. But for the sake of number it needs other parties and goes to the extent of placating in its own way partners like Nitish Kumar. The other parties have to side with the issues affecting the minorities for their own survival. Therefore it is difficult if the ordinary citizens of the country have much choice in judging such matters as what is happening in Gujarat. How much ice does it cut in Gujarat itself that Modi’s defense lawyer KTS Tulsi had refused to defend him because he was justifying the murder of Sohrabuddin and had told the Chief Minister so: “Modi’s statement has created an awkward situation. It is not proper for me to argue for the state in the case, unless the Chief Minister takes his statement back. I can’t defend the state government, whose Chief Minister justifies one of the most heinous crimes and its policemen go on killing citizens in cold blood.” That was December 2007. Two and half years later Modi is the same brazen and cocksure. Where is the enlightened citizenry of Gujarat? In the birth place of Gandhiji why is the dearth of morality so much severe? If Jethmalani says that CBI is trying to dislodge Modi, with Tulsi now arguing for CBI what can one say?
The most glaring example in the context is that when Geetha Johari was conducting inquiry she found out that Tulsiram Prajapati was with Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser as they travelled from Hyderabad to Sangli. Therefore she felt necessary to question Prajapati. A day before the scheduled inquiry Prajapati was killed in fake encounter. That was in 2005. Was the fact of the killing of Prajapati lost on the Home Minister of Gujarat when the Gujarat government had already admitted in court that Sohrabuddin was killed in fake encounter and Johari was going to interrogate Sohabudden’s friend and eye witness, Prajapati? Nay, even after five years the Home Minister was getting high ranking officers transferred so quickly to save his MoS(Home). The frequency of transfer is in tandem with the developmental stages in the inquiry of the fake encounters. It was not cat’s cradle that Modi was playing nor was he fiddling a la Nero.
But Modi is such a demagogue that he would still like to play politics here as his BJP is wont to do. The behind-the-curtain deal into the BJP support for Nuclear liability bill stinks like a festering wound on the body politics caused by hunting with the hound and playing with the hare maneuvers! It is the night mare of politics that there is alteration between Congress and the Hindu BJP. Hence Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and others like them to come in to confront the “rooster” who is acting as cock-of-the-walk in national politics while his “chick” is ensconced in judicial custody.
Most noteworthy is the fact that in 2007 Modi had used Sohrabuddin case and canvassed for his party fighting election. He was dubbed as maut ka saudager precisely because of his involvement of the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin . Huge amount of cash had exchanged hands over the deal to finish Sohrabuddin. Therefore he was called a merchant who arranged fake encounters. He has smarted under the accusation since then. Can the CBI let him off now?
Indian democracy has a switch-back. If it is Congress government in power it walks a tight rope. If it is BJP it is unabashedly a Hindu party with plethora of sophistry. But for the sake of number it needs other parties and goes to the extent of placating in its own way partners like Nitish Kumar. The other parties have to side with the issues affecting the minorities for their own survival. Therefore it is difficult if the ordinary citizens of the country have much choice in judging such matters as what is happening in Gujarat. How much ice does it cut in Gujarat itself that Modi’s defense lawyer KTS Tulsi had refused to defend him because he was justifying the murder of Sohrabuddin and had told the Chief Minister so: “Modi’s statement has created an awkward situation. It is not proper for me to argue for the state in the case, unless the Chief Minister takes his statement back. I can’t defend the state government, whose Chief Minister justifies one of the most heinous crimes and its policemen go on killing citizens in cold blood.” That was December 2007. Two and half years later Modi is the same brazen and cocksure. Where is the enlightened citizenry of Gujarat? In the birth place of Gandhiji why is the dearth of morality so much severe? If Jethmalani says that CBI is trying to dislodge Modi, with Tulsi now arguing for CBI what can one say?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Is Abinav Bharat behind Karkare’s assassination?
The ghosts of Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar refuse to rest in the grave. They have come to haunt the governments and the courts now with a petition in the Bombay High Court on August 17, 2010 alleging that Abhinav Bharat got Karkare killed and not Ajmal Kasab or Ismail and hence the need to make inquiry through a commission. The Government in Delhi may dismiss the idea but the recent times have seen disturbing revelations since what happened on 26/11. Were there two parallel operations then?
In the light of all the new evidence of blasts in Ajmer, Samjhauta express, Mecca mosque, Modasa, Goa, etc it is clear that Abhinav Bharat is definitely involved in all these. It is also true that both the blast incidents of 2006 and 2008 at Malegaon were carried out by one terrorist group. Even those blasts that took place in Nanded, Parbhani, Purna and Jalna were the handiwork of the same. All these have similar modus operandi and motivation. The ingredients used in the bombs were also same. Moreover they have similarity of target, Muslims. Bajrang Dal and Abhinav Bharat share these objectives and mode of executing blasts. They have no internal differences and are alike. Besides, the sources of RDX in all these cases point a finger of suspicion at Lt Col Shrikant Purohit. He must have used Bajrang Dal where it suited him.
ATS chief Hemant Karkare was no-nonsense man and professionally carried investigation and found the involvement of Abhinav Bharat. This certainly incensed not only Bal Thackeray, LK Advani, the RSS and other right wing Hindu groups but it surely angered the Abhinav Bharat activists the most. Himani Savarkar’s reaction of bomb for bomb retaliation shows how deep runs the stagnant water of Hindutva extremism and how much “schizophrenic invalids” the activists of Abhinav Bharat are. Her uncle Nathuram Godse had made six attempts to kill Gandhiji and never showed any sign of repentance and even asserted that he would do it again if the mahatma were alive. Could this kind of strong reaction and feeling be suppressed by her organization merely because some of its members are behind the bars? What of the more than five hundred known trainees they have prepared to carry out attacks? What about the guns illegally procured by Purohit?
There is also a strong trend of killing off those Hindus who oppose Hindutwa forces. Destroying dissent within the Hindu community is a fascist tendency and the record of the Hindutva forces proves this from pogroms in Gujarat and events in Madhya Pradesh, like the murder of Sunil Joshi. This could have been true even in the case of Indresh Kumar and Mohan Bhagwat if Purohit and Ramesh Upadhya had their way or opportunity and really wanted to do it. Or it could have been waiting to happen but for Karkare. There was also the case of Samir Kulkarni alleging plot regarding the use of the killer white powder that would not be detected by any forensic laboratory.
It was Karkare who came in the way and had to be removed. There was a threat call on his phone which could not be fully traced out for two reasons. One, that he was killed the very next day. Two, that Abhinav Bharat has infiltrated well not just the army but also ATS. If ATS chief and predecessor and successor of Karkare could invite Purohit to train the ATS officers there are others who are more obliging. There is a strong hint that Abhinav Bharat has its moles in ATS in what some of the officers had told approver Abrar Ahmed in prison. On September 1,2008 ATS officers Jaiswal, Sachin Kadam and SP Rajwardhan came to the jail where Abrar told them: you have betrayed me ( tum ne mere sath dhoka kya hai). You have framed me in the case (bila vajah is kais men phansaya gya hai). They assured him “We have a mission which will be accomplished in two and half moths (ham logon ka eik mission hai do dhai mahine me pura ho jayga). Those people who are obstructing us will cease to exist, every one of them (phir beech men jo log tang ada rahen hain koi nahin rahe ga.” Abrar asked them what has that to do with his bail. They replied “in the case of 2006 blasts the charge sheet we had prepared after investigation those people have changed. Therefore it is necessary to remove them from our path (ham logon ne 2006 men jo tahkikat kar ke charge sheet dakhil kit hi use who log babdal dal rahe hain. is liye unhen beech men se hatan jaroori hai.)”
It is worth noting that this conversation took place twenty eight days before the second blast in Malegaon,t hat happened on September 29, 2008. Karkare had assumed office on August 1, 2008. From their talk about 2006 blast case it is clear that the new ATS chief had found out that the accused in 2006 blasts were not the real culprits and he and his team had found out the real men behind those earlier blasts. The three officers clearly indicated that they hated not just Hemant Karkare but also some others who were under him and working with him and who had come upon the truth about the 2006 case.
Abrar has put the above in his affidavit submitted to MCOCA judge YD Shinde. If it is proved to be true in the court then the petition of the former MLA of Bihar Radhakat Yadav has a great significance. Bombay High court judges BH Marlapalle and Anup Mohata have given four weeks to the Central Government to reply.
---------
Zee News August 17, 2010
Trail Of Symbols: Babri Demolition To Gujarat Holocaust! By Anil Pundlik Gokhale Countercurrents.
In the light of all the new evidence of blasts in Ajmer, Samjhauta express, Mecca mosque, Modasa, Goa, etc it is clear that Abhinav Bharat is definitely involved in all these. It is also true that both the blast incidents of 2006 and 2008 at Malegaon were carried out by one terrorist group. Even those blasts that took place in Nanded, Parbhani, Purna and Jalna were the handiwork of the same. All these have similar modus operandi and motivation. The ingredients used in the bombs were also same. Moreover they have similarity of target, Muslims. Bajrang Dal and Abhinav Bharat share these objectives and mode of executing blasts. They have no internal differences and are alike. Besides, the sources of RDX in all these cases point a finger of suspicion at Lt Col Shrikant Purohit. He must have used Bajrang Dal where it suited him.
ATS chief Hemant Karkare was no-nonsense man and professionally carried investigation and found the involvement of Abhinav Bharat. This certainly incensed not only Bal Thackeray, LK Advani, the RSS and other right wing Hindu groups but it surely angered the Abhinav Bharat activists the most. Himani Savarkar’s reaction of bomb for bomb retaliation shows how deep runs the stagnant water of Hindutva extremism and how much “schizophrenic invalids” the activists of Abhinav Bharat are. Her uncle Nathuram Godse had made six attempts to kill Gandhiji and never showed any sign of repentance and even asserted that he would do it again if the mahatma were alive. Could this kind of strong reaction and feeling be suppressed by her organization merely because some of its members are behind the bars? What of the more than five hundred known trainees they have prepared to carry out attacks? What about the guns illegally procured by Purohit?
There is also a strong trend of killing off those Hindus who oppose Hindutwa forces. Destroying dissent within the Hindu community is a fascist tendency and the record of the Hindutva forces proves this from pogroms in Gujarat and events in Madhya Pradesh, like the murder of Sunil Joshi. This could have been true even in the case of Indresh Kumar and Mohan Bhagwat if Purohit and Ramesh Upadhya had their way or opportunity and really wanted to do it. Or it could have been waiting to happen but for Karkare. There was also the case of Samir Kulkarni alleging plot regarding the use of the killer white powder that would not be detected by any forensic laboratory.
It was Karkare who came in the way and had to be removed. There was a threat call on his phone which could not be fully traced out for two reasons. One, that he was killed the very next day. Two, that Abhinav Bharat has infiltrated well not just the army but also ATS. If ATS chief and predecessor and successor of Karkare could invite Purohit to train the ATS officers there are others who are more obliging. There is a strong hint that Abhinav Bharat has its moles in ATS in what some of the officers had told approver Abrar Ahmed in prison. On September 1,2008 ATS officers Jaiswal, Sachin Kadam and SP Rajwardhan came to the jail where Abrar told them: you have betrayed me ( tum ne mere sath dhoka kya hai). You have framed me in the case (bila vajah is kais men phansaya gya hai). They assured him “We have a mission which will be accomplished in two and half moths (ham logon ka eik mission hai do dhai mahine me pura ho jayga). Those people who are obstructing us will cease to exist, every one of them (phir beech men jo log tang ada rahen hain koi nahin rahe ga.” Abrar asked them what has that to do with his bail. They replied “in the case of 2006 blasts the charge sheet we had prepared after investigation those people have changed. Therefore it is necessary to remove them from our path (ham logon ne 2006 men jo tahkikat kar ke charge sheet dakhil kit hi use who log babdal dal rahe hain. is liye unhen beech men se hatan jaroori hai.)”
It is worth noting that this conversation took place twenty eight days before the second blast in Malegaon,t hat happened on September 29, 2008. Karkare had assumed office on August 1, 2008. From their talk about 2006 blast case it is clear that the new ATS chief had found out that the accused in 2006 blasts were not the real culprits and he and his team had found out the real men behind those earlier blasts. The three officers clearly indicated that they hated not just Hemant Karkare but also some others who were under him and working with him and who had come upon the truth about the 2006 case.
Abrar has put the above in his affidavit submitted to MCOCA judge YD Shinde. If it is proved to be true in the court then the petition of the former MLA of Bihar Radhakat Yadav has a great significance. Bombay High court judges BH Marlapalle and Anup Mohata have given four weeks to the Central Government to reply.
---------
Zee News August 17, 2010
Trail Of Symbols: Babri Demolition To Gujarat Holocaust! By Anil Pundlik Gokhale Countercurrents.
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