Tragedy Business post 26/11

Tragedies are business for some. With the hyper media jumping over every tragedy the game gets big. Every natural and human created disaster are blow over by the media. Of course it is discharging its primary responsibility. But its limits are crossed. The next big media blow will be 26/11 tragedy. The media will run blitzkrieg for a week starting tomorrow. What is wrong with this? Except perpetuating the bad memories media cannot play anything constructive on this issue. Those who have lost their precious near and dear ones get their sad memories back. There will be music shows, candle light vigils, interviews, floral tribute on the tragic spots and many more events will happen to recollect last year's serial shoot outs. It is better to ignore the past bad ones and concentrate on the future security and social preparations to avert the mega tragedies.

The Times of India writes on 24 November 2009

A year since 26/11 happened we as a nation are faced with the difficult question of how to deal with the terrible events of that day. Do we commemorate it as a day of mourning - as has happened with 9/11 - or do we make peace with the past and move on? Such questions are not easily answered, and the response will vary from person to person. For those who lost someone close in the terror attacks or those who were front-row witnesses to the carnage, 26/11 will remain imprinted in their minds for a long time to come if not a lifetime. But for those who followed the events on television or through newspapers, their relation to the Mumbai terror attacks is likely to be much more distant and detached.

Arguably the Indian perspective on negative events, such as 26/11, is quite different from the rest of the world. The West has a long tradition of observing negative anniversaries. This could be traced to the Jewish philosophy best summed up by the phrase, 'lest we forget'. Thus the Holocaust is such a central part of Jewish identity and being. There are many such negative events, including 9/11, which have a special place in the western calendar. In contrast, Indian philosophy lays a far greater emphasis on the dictum, 'lest we remember'. That is why Indians have a low social memory when it comes to dark deeds and violence. We like to believe that our past has been one of non-violence and peaceful coexistence even though this is palpably untrue. Our histories tend to elide over the violence perpetrated by kings or negative aspects of their character, whereas revisionism is such a rage in the West.

This makes the art of forgetting, and indeed forgiving, easier for us. This attitude has perplexed outsiders, particularly Europeans steeped in traditions of recording events from the mundane to the extraordinary. The British would often complain that Indians had no sense of history and set things right by documenting every aspect of Indian life and society. But it's not that we don't have an idea of history, only that it is liberally infused with mythology.

While forgetting and crowding out negative events is in our DNA, that is of course something not applicable to the government. Instead of commemorating 26/11, it's the government and the security agencies' responsibility to remember and act on the lessons from the Mumbai terror attacks. By better policing and intelligence gathering they must ensure that a 26/11 isn't repeated.

Media in Crisis

Sixty seven 24x7 news channels in India more often create nuisance than feeding information. Its strategies to survive in the business clouds media ethics. Result of the fight for media survival is the loss of credibility. In most of the cases news channels breach their line of control and end up in messing up others lives. The sixty hour coverage of Mumbai shootout proved to be the final warning to the media. The Government of India is ready with a law to rein in the media during the crisis hours. All socially concerned people will welcome this decision but the government will be cautioned not to use its control to crush the required media freedom.

The information & broadcasting ministry has finally put in a draft after securing the green signal from the law ministry. The draft is an amendment of the cable television network rules 1994. After receiving inputs from other ministries and public the draft will be put into final implementation. Instead of allowing news channel to cover crisis situation freely an authorized officer will provide information with footages. This is sensible and should be implemented with adequate sincerity to provide information to the public.

The programme code proposed in rule 6(1)(o) forbids telecast which:
Contains live coverage of war, violent law and order situation or operations where security forces have to overcome terrorists or other hostile groups. However, with the approval of the authorized officer, such delayed carriage of live feed as may be specified may be permitted at its discretion.
Contains details of identity, number and status of hostages or information regarding the number of security personnel involved or the methods employed by them in a hostage situation.
Contains live-contact including live phone-in calls and interviews with victims or security personnel or other technical personnel involved or the perpetrators of crime,arson, violence while the violence or the criminal activity is in progress.
Contains coverage of operational details in respect of war or any other security operations except as disclosed by the authorized officer.

The News Broadcaster Association has the same set of rules to be imposed on its members. Apart from forbidding the live telecast of terrorist operations, interview with terrorists or victims near ones the proposed law prevents channels from repeated telecast of archival footage carrying the world ‘live’.

The draft also prohibits “close-ups and extended images of blood or gore, dismembered or disfigured limbs of bodies or images of the dead or seriously wounded people or violence which may seriously distress or offend substantial number of viewers or cause public panic and incite further violence or compromise the dignity of the dead”.




It is doubt that the media must be prevailed upon to avoid heavy social damages. At the same time the Government should not misuse its media reining in act to fudge in the information. The officer in-charge should be responsible for all the information sharing. If there is any leakage of information to select channels then he should be held responsible and punished immediately. Apart from triggering government control of news flow the act may trigger a large-scale corruption in the news feed. Under these circumstances an independent media regulatory mechanisms should be put in place for the better functioning of the news channels.

Mumbai - A City of Miseries

Havoc caused by rain, violence webbed by mad politics, bomb blasts in trains, gun battles in hotels, terrorist attacks in temples – disasters created by nature and men continue to devastate Mumbaikars. The public sphere which is supposed to put things in proper shape is totally deshaped. Everyone tries to score political points. There is no differentiation of tragedies. Even in the bomb blast spots, politicians and media drive their own agenda rather than addressing the grievances of the victims.

Whenever the monsoon strikes Mumbai and the rain puts the people in trouble, there is a sign of helplessness. The city gets paralysed totally. What are the business magnets and Bollywood stars doing? In case the government is not doing enough the bigwigs should come forward to build their city to the comfort of common men and women. Those who have money can fly in helicopter and land their own terrace. But what about those poor people without basic means for survival? They are the good catchments during elections. How many times this monsoon menance is troubling the people? Every time the politicians and business class promise to mend the fences and make the city fit. But that remains as the paper promise. Till the rain strikes again everyone forgets. The option for the common people is to change the bad ones in power. The alternative is worst. The choice is between the devil and the deep sea. In between the people of Mumbai suffer infinitely and undergo nightmare every day of their lives.

Adding fire to the fuel is regional chauvinism spearheaded by a mad man calling himself as politician. His uncle did the same trick four decades ago and captured power. This encourages him to test the same formula again and puts the people of Mumbai to untold misery. No government wants to touch him fearing backlash. Can we call them in spineless power holders? Both the state and central governments play cat and mouse game over the arrest and release of MNS chief. The activists get emboldedened because of the power of the politics which can get them out of jail. This lawlessness and no fear strengthen the regional chauvinists and put the city is trouble forever.

More sadly, Mumbai is the frequent target of terrorists. Its value as the commercial heartbeat of India encourages terrorists to bomb often. They don’t differentiate between children and women, elderly and sick people. Without discriminating people, without seeing their religion, region, caste, creed, terrorists kill innocent lives. In the last twenty years Mumbai lost 20,000 lives to violence created by men. There is another 20,000 killed by the fury of nature.

The city Mayor seems to be dead. The local administration is the puppet in the hands of state and central politics. Without a bit of vision to protect the city and its people, the Mumbai corporation members are sleeping. Whenever there is a tragedy happens in any city, we can find its Mayor talking. In Mumbai, none from the corporation comes forward to console people. There is a decentralization of power despite name sake local administration. The local administrators are engrossed in power politics and waiting to bid their chance for assembly elections.

The multiple wounds created by many players totally destroy the cosmopolitan beauty of Mumbai. Once it was known for the broadminded spirit of its citizens, cool life with hard work as its trademark. Today Mumbai is pitied as the city of miseries. Many irresponsible people are manning the city and bringing down the glory of the golden past city. Till a group of people or an individual comes out to safeguard the charm of Mumbai it will continue to consume bomb blasts, gun battles, monsoon troubles, regional chauvinism and petty politics.

Stateless Actors

Terror and violence are crossing national boundaries. This may be a half fact and a half fiction. Fact because of the power of terrorists to weave a global network to wreck mayhem at any place. Fiction because of the helplessness exhibited by the governments to control such terror groups. After the Mumbai attack, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had washed away his hands by saying that it is the handiwork of stateless actors. Yes, directly President of Pakistan may not have involved in aiding and abetting the terrorists. But the fact of the matter remains that they came from Pakistan. It is the prudent on his part to take stock of the situation and bring all institutions both state and stateless under his control. If stateless actors can destroy people and places at their own sweet will then the purpose of the state is lost. No wonder Pakistan has been branded as the “failed state” by the international experts for not able to control its own institutions and terrorists.

When terrorists strike any innocent life or a place I pray to the Almighty that their power should be curbed and not allowed to grow. I was thinking that the terrorists are using all the possible and impossible means to achieve their target. But the governments and civil society organizations have failed to utilize even bit of their own resources. The increasing number of terrorist attacks are due to the failure of the state and society to instill confidence in the youth. With the growing social problems like unemployment, family crisis, poverty and many other troubles, the problem facing people are prone to the temptations of terrorists.

In the do or die situation very few can think about the national cause. These are very vulnerable people who can fall prey to the terrorist networks. On the other hand, a scientific investigation in to the background of the terrorists say that they come from rich backgrounds. It is true that they all have resources yet they lack adequate socialization through family and educational institutions. Religion here plays the dirty role in recruiting them. Especially with the Islamic terrorists who got hooked to the violent network. The massacres in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan are shown in video and internet to gain sympathy for the terror operations.

Even a medical student who is in the verge of completing his highest degree in the profession can control his religious emotions when the message comes from the highest religious authority. That’s how many have become victim to the terrorist gangs. Even Osama Bin Laden and Al Zawahari possess hi fi professional degrees in engineering and oncology.

The stateless actors are growing in large numbers. For a very long time there was camaraderie among the terrorist groups across the world. Arms trade, drug peddling, human trafficking and other income generating business were the connecting points for terrorists. After 9/11 the cyberspace has become the medium of connection. Not only they webbed contacts across the world, terrorists were able to utilize it to the fullest extent to deliver deathblows to the state. The anti cyber crime bureaus of the state started late. Yet they have not equipped themselves to handle the terrorist games. Despite all these drawbacks the state has not faced heavy intensity terror strikes. It is due to the common people’s help and vigilance. The people must be credited for withstanding these pains and moving forward. It is the politics of pettiness which is blocking the efficient handling of terrorists. When the people in the government are spending most of their working time in safeguarding their job and chair of power, where is the time to think about tackling terrorism?