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| India-Pakistan |
| Let us shed tears for ourselves |
| 2007-07-12 |
| by B. Raman Large sections of the nation shed tears on July 11, 2007, in memory of the 190 innocent Indians belonging to different religions who were killed a year ago in a series of explosions in suburban trains of Mumbai by jihadi terrorists inspired by the ideology of Al Qaeda. Their tears were also an expression of solidarity with the surviving relatives of these victims. Just as millions of Americans and their leaders belonging to both sides of the political spectrum shed tears on September 11 every year in memory of the over 2,500 innocent civilians belonging to different nations who were killed by Al Qaeda in the US homeland on September 11, 2001, and in solidarity with their relatives. Just as millions of Indonesians and Australians and their political leaders shed years every year on the anniversary of the Bali bombing of October, 2002, in which nearly 200 innocent civilians---Indonesians, Australians and others--- were blown to pieces by jihadi terrorists. Just as millions of Spanish people, their royal family and their political leaders shed tears every year on the anniversary of the Madrid bombing of March, 2004, in which the jihadi terrorists targeted suburban trains, killing nearly 200 innocent civilians. Just as millions of British, their royal family and their political leaders shed tears every year on the anniversary of the London bombings of July, 2005, in which jihadi suicide terrorists targeted the public transportation system killing over 50 innocent civilians. There was a significant difference between the observance of the anniversaries of these great human tragedies inflicted on humanity by the jihadi terrorists in other countries and in India. In other countries, the head of the State or Government participated in the observance of the anniversaries. On July 7, 2007, we saw on the TV touching scenes of Mr. Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, and his wife visiting the tube stations where the terrorists struck and placing flowers at the scene of the tragedy. In India, our so-called secular political class and elite kept away from the observance of the anniversary of the Mumbai tragedy of July 11, 2006. Forget about flowers. Not a drop of tear. Not a word of sorrow. Not a sign of grief. Not a single expression of solidarity with the relatives of the victims. I did not write this article yesterday because I waited to see whether our Prime Minister would fly to Mumbai and lead the people of the nation in remembering the innocent Indians----men, women and children--- who were blown to pieces by the jihadi terrorists last year. I was convinced in my mind that he would not. Still, I was hoping that he would prove me wrong by participating in the observance of the anniversary. He didn't. Why he didn't? Busy dealing with grave crises confronting the nation? No. Lack of time? No. Bad weather? No. He did not attend because he was worried the Muslims might misunderstand. He did not attend because he was worried that any public expression of sorrow for those blown up by the jihadi terrorists might be misinterpreted by the Muslims as stigmatising their community. A few weeks after the Mumbai blasts of July 11, 2006, I had been to Kolkata to attend a conference. One of the eminent participants told me that a few days after the blasts there was a meeting in the Raj Bhawan chaired by the Governor of West Bengal to discuss some other subject. One of the participants proposed that they observe a two-minutes' silence in memory of those killed in Mumbai. The Governor ruled his suggestion out of order. Why? Lest the Muslims misinterpret it as stigmatising their community. Jihadi terrorists can go on indulging in one act of mass casualty terrorism after another. But, according to our so-called secular political class and elite, we should not talk about it or even cry about it. Our anger, our tears, our exasperation at the failure of the Government to deal with them might be seen by the Muslims as stigmatising their community. How many acts of jihadi terrorism we have had in India since the present Government came to power in Delhi in 2004? Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai, Malegaon, Bangalore, Samjota Express, Hyderabad. Shri Shekhar Gupta, the Editor-in-Chief of the "Indian Express", in a recent article drew attention to a fact to which I have been drawing attention in my writings for over a year. There has been no satisfactory progress in any of these investigations. In the past, our Police might have been criticised in some instances for its inability to prevent acts of terrorism, but it had generally received very high praise for its successful investigation. We all felt proud of the Mumbai Police of the 1990s recently when the case relating to the Mumbai blasts of March, 1993, in which about 250 innocent civilians were blown up by jihadi terrorists, ended in conviction. There were many other cases in which too the Mumbai Police of the 1990s had covered itself with credit. So too the Delhi Police. So too the Police of other cities. Why there is a perception now that they are not as good as they were in the 1990s? Has there been a deterioration in their competence? No. In the 1990s, they received the full backing of the political leadership of those years, which took active interest in the investigation. The political leadership of those years did not give sermons to the police not to do anything which might be viewed by the Muslims as stigmatising or targeting their community. It refrained from inhibiting a thorough investigation through such sermons. The political leadership of the past provided leadership and guidance. It took active interest in the investigation. It was determined that the guilty will be brought to book, even if they be Muslims. The political leadership of today gives sermons and no leadership. It avoids active monitoring and supervision of the investigation lest the Muslims misunderstand. I was in service at the height of terrorism in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir under leaders like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao. They never gave sermons. I had never heard expressions like "stigmatising a community" or "targeting a community" etc coming out of their mouth. In the past, we used to accuse Western countries of following double standards in counter-terrorism because of their reluctance to co-operate with us. We accused them of adopting an over-legalistic approach in order to avoid co-operating with us. Since the botched-up London and Glasgow terrorist strikes by a joint Arab-Indian jihadi cell, we have been guilty of the same sins of commission and omission which we attributed to the West in the past. Much of the initial leads about the Indian participants and their jihadi background before they migrated to the UK came from the Karnataka Police. It is they who were the first to identify the man who drove the car, which crashed into the Glasgow airport, as Kafeel Ahmed, an Indian national. They were also the first to identify him as an aeronautical engineer and not a doctor. They were also the first to establish that he became Wahabised in Bangalore and not in London, Belfast, Cambridge or Glasgow. He was not infected in the UK. He carried the jihadi infection to the UK from India. Leaders of the Indian Muslim community are worried that digging out the truth might lead to a stigmatisation of the Indian Muslims abroad. They express their concern to the so-called secular political leadership. What does it do? Till recently, our Prime Minister was giving sermons to our police and intelligence agencies not to do anything, which might be viewed by the Muslims as stigmatising their community. Now, he gives a ring to Mr.Gordon Brown and gives him a sermon about the importance of not doing anything which might stigmatise the Muslim community. The Australian Police want some quick check-up about the antecedents of an Indian Muslim doctor from Bangalore under interrogation by them. He is related to one of the Indian perpetrators of the London and Glasgow attempts and had lived with them in the UK before migrating to Australia. What do we do? The Central Bureau of Investigation gives them a sermon about the importance of making their request through proper channel. Just as the Western Police and intelligence agencies used to tell us in the past when we asked for a quick check-up of a terrorism-related information. New Delhi is afraid that any over-enthusiasm by our police and investigative and intelligence agencies in co-operating with the British and Australian investigators making preliminary enquiries about the suspected Indian Muslims might be viewed by the Indian Muslim community as stigmatising them. So, the message is: Drag your feet in co-operating with the British and Australians. The sensitivities and feelings of the Muslims are more important than saving innocent civilians----whether in India, the UK or Australia---by exposing the jihadi iceberg and neutralising it before it is too late. We shed tears for the victims of last year's Mumbai explosions yesterday. Let us shed tears for ourselves today for having the misfortune of having a Government for which the feelings of the Muslims are more important than saving the lives of innocent civilians from the continued depredations of the jihadi terrorists. (The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. |
| Posted by:John Frum |
| #11 photo The Indian President Abdul Kalam, developer of India's first satellite launchers and ballistic missiles. The guy behind him is Professor Chidabaram, the nuclear physicist in charge of the Indian hydrogen bomb design team |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-07-12 19:30 |
| #10 . He is not head of state Actually Professor Kalam is the Head of State. He is commander in chief of the armed forces of India as well. He is NOT head of government. That is the portfolio of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-07-12 19:24 |
| #9 How about we commemorate 911 by bombing an islamic monument every year? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-07-12 17:27 |
| #8 The president of India, Dr A.J.P. Abdul Kalam, is a Muslim. Note that the president of India is not like the president of the United States. He is not head of state. The Prime Minister is Dr. Manmohan Singh, a Sikh. |
| Posted by: Rambler 2007-07-12 17:18 |
| #7 TRhe reason we, not only trhe Indians but also us, western,eers, fear of offending Muslims by talking about terrorists is preceiselyn because the Muslims have never rejecvted nthem as alien. After every terrorist bombing there has been 10 seconds of mild blame of the terrorists followed by five minutes of "America have had it coming" or "Poor Muslims are living under suspicion". What we have not seen ios Muslims ashamed of terrorits, spitting at them, fathers denying them their houses, fatwas banishing them from the Umah. What we have seen is Muslims dancing in the streets after 9/11, carrying Bin Laden tee-shirts, fathers proud of their terrorist sons and imams calling to extermination of infidels. The mere fact that we think we could offend them by commemorating teh bombings is proof that they don't deserve this kind of attentions. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-07-12 15:33 |
| #6 Even the Scots have dhimmied up after the Petrol-Jihad failure. The catchword is: inclusivism. Make the Muslims feel at home. Or create conditions for eventual Dar-Islam (home of Islam). Muslims can't be suspects because they subscribe to a religion of peace. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2007-07-12 14:30 |
| #5 The muslim population is about 15%. With a billion plus population, that is 150 million. In the Indian subcontinent as a whole, muslims may total 450 million |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-07-12 12:09 |
| #4 Thanks for the post John. I recall you have said before that nearly half the populace is Muslim in India. I guess most people of the world were ignorant of this. You have a tremendous problem there. Makes France look like very small problem indeed. So, all officials there are scared to death, literally, of "offending" Muslims. I wandered why there was little backlash from Hindus, but now understand it takes a terrible offence to get the required response. Everything hushed up otherwise, hoping the Muzzie bogeyman attacks anyone but me. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-07-12 11:44 |
| #3 He did not attend because he was worried that any public expression of sorrow for those blown up by the jihadi terrorists might be misinterpreted by the Muslims as stigmatising their community. What's there to worry about? Muslims stigmatize themselves perfectly well without any outside help at all. The entire preceding article is by itself enough to permanently discredit Politically Correct thinking. (Isn't Politically Correct thinking an oxymoron?) Must we forever tiptoe about because Islam insists upon having an eggshell ego? Must we remove all sharp edges and corners from our world because Islam bleeds so profusely at even the least pinprick to its bloated self-importance? Must we laboriously smooth over every last rough patch on this entire planet because Islam is a skinless people of endless sensitivity? How much longer do we delude ourselves that endlessly appeasing these hideous barbarians does anything except embolden them to make even more unfair demands upon those that they already treat with utter contempt? Oh yeah, and what Broadhead6 said. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-12 11:19 |
| #2 The author's last paragraph could be applied to any western nation & our own as well. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2007-07-12 10:19 |
| #1 He gets it. |
| Posted by: Bunyip 2007-07-12 09:45 |
