Osama's end should end Pakistan's evil designs

Egg on the face of Pakistan. Operation Geronimo had thrown foul egg kept secretly for the past one year. Now the evil state of Pakistan can’t deny that terrorists are staying on its soil. In fact it has been the breeding of terrorism for years. The ISI and political establishments although function divergently but convergences in terror matters. Especially the India matters unites all wings of Pakistan.

Without catching red handedly, USA can do little against Pakistan. At this stage it is wise to use Pakistan with all attractions including a liberal funding and then end the evil designs promoted by the state and non state actors in Pakistan.

Christina Lamb writes in The Deccan Chronicle on 5 May 2011

Even those of us who did not believe that Osama bin Laden was producing his videos from a cave in a remote tribal mountain would never have guessed that he was, in fact, living in a “Come and Get Me” three-storey house surrounded by cabbage fields just down the road from Pakistan’s top military academy.

To many in Washington, here was final proof — if any were needed — that its supposed ally has been playing a double game; that, for the past 10 years, Pakistan has been playing the role of US ally (and taking more than $18 billion of American aid) while all the time sheltering the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

“The game is up”, a senior Pentagon official told me the day after Bin Laden’s killing, admitting he felt “a darned idiot” for being played for so long.

Last year I went for lunch in Abbottabad, Bin Laden’s adopted hometown, which nestles in green hills about 90 minutes’ drive from Islamabad. It is one of those pleasant former British military cantonments that in colonial times were known as hill stations.

I didn’t notice a large compound behind 12ft-high white walls that never threw out its rubbish and had no phone or Internet connection. I did notice, though, that the town was crawling with military. It houses the Pakistan Military Academy, and is a favourite location for retired generals.

Little wonder that John Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, says it was “inconceivable” that Bin Laden did not have a significant “support system” in Abbottabad. He did not need to say that the only organisation in Pakistan that could have supplied such support to Al Qaeda is its military intelligence, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Leon Panetta, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief, told congressmen in a closed-door briefing, “Either they (Pakistan) were involved or incompetent. Neither place is a good place to be”.

So far, Pakistan’s establishment seems to have gone for the latter. An unnamed ISI officer said they were “embarrassed” at having missed Bin Laden. This from an agency that follows every movement of every journalist that comes into the country; that has thousands of agents in taxis and hotel lobbies, tracking every foreigner who arrives.

The problem with this defence is that Bin Laden’s choice of hideaway fits a pattern. Every top Al Qaeda operative arrested in Pakistan has been living in a city, often in military areas. First there was Abu Zubaidah, Bin Laden’s chief recruiter, picked up from a villa in Faisalabad in March 2002.

Then in March 2003, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, was arrested from a house in a military cantonment in Rawalpindi, a mile down the road from Pakistan’s General Headquarters.

Why should any jihadi settle for a cave when Pakistani military neighbourhoods are so accommodating?
The truth, which has now become harder to ignore, is that Pakistan is the destination of choice for would-be terrorists.

It is home to a tangle of jihadi groups, initially formed with the intention of fighting in Kashmir. It is a land of training camps and safe houses, and of madrasas with their pools of potential recruits. A study by terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank of the New America Foundation has found that, of the serious terrorism plots or attacks against the West over the past seven years, 42 per cent had direction from jihadist groups in Pakistan and 52 per cent had training in Pakistan.

From the beginning, Pakistan’s double game has slowed Western progress in Afghanistan. The Taliban would never have recovered from being ousted in 2001 without their safe haven in the Pakistani town of Quetta. Those of us who went there to report on how the Taliban were openly regrouping and training found ourselves picked up by ISI (in my case at 2 am from my hotel room) and unceremoniously kicked out of the country.

After my deportation, the head of consular services at the British foreign office called me to his grand office in Whitehall to apologise at not having done anything to help. But, he said, “You have to understand we need Pakistan”. For a decade, the West has decided it was too much trouble to confront the problem — that it was easier, diplomatically, to turn a blind eye.

After Bin Laden’s capture, this is harder than ever. “We have to either grit our teeth, declare victory and move on — or declare war on Pakistan”, said a US official.

It looks as if the West wishes to grit its teeth yet again. For his part, Mr Brennan is focusing on what progress Pakistan has made. “It has captured and killed more terrorists inside its borders than any other country”, he says. “By a long way.”

Washington’s problem is that it still needs Pakistan’s help. According to Mr Brennan, a dozen of the top 20 Al Qaeda figures are still believed to be in Pakistan. Not to mention co-operation on possible plots being launched on the West.

Without Pakistan’s cooperation it would be hard for the American military to supply 140,000 Nato forces in landlocked Afghanistan. And of course who wants to take on a country that is estimated to have around 200 nuclear warheads? “We have all the leverage”, grinned a Pakistani officer I talked to in Rawalpindi last month.

But as the Bin Laden raid showed, the US does not always need Pakistan to go about its business. The mission was accomplished without informing Pakistani authorities, not even when Pakistan scrambled military jets to go after the intruder. This will encourage the powerful voices in Congress, who are arguing that support for Pakistan should stop.

Dana Rohrbacher, a Republican congressman from California who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, told me, “Pakistan has literally been getting away with murder… We were snookered — for a long time we bought into this vision that Pakistan’s military was a moderate force and we were supporting moderates by supporting the military. In fact the military is in alliance with radical militants. Just because they shave their beards, drink whisky and look Western they fooled a lot of people”.

When Mr Panetta, the CIA chief, was interviewed by Time magazine this week, he said that “it was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission” because “they might alert the targets”. It is difficult to come any closer to accusing Pakistan of being in league with Al Qaeda. Opinion polls in Pakistan have long ranked America as a greater threat than Bin Laden.

Now the world’s most wanted terrorist has been found in Pakistani suburbia, it may indeed be the US that Pakistan has to fear.

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.

Naxal Extortion Industry

In the name of fight for people rights Naxals are extorting money from rich and poor. This extortion industry in the red corriodors of India and Nepal is more than Rs.1500 crores.

The Times of India writes (17 August 2009)


Naxalism, which started off as a people's movement, has now become a nearly Rs 1500 crore organized extortion business in the form of
'levy', police and central security officials said.

CPI (Maoist) and especially its splinter groups, which extort the money hardly pump it back for running the movement but instead use it to maintain luxurious life-styles for their masters, the officials said.

The Naxal literature and documents seized by central security agencies and state police forces during their operations have revealed intricate details of "levy" extorted by groups which run in several hundred crores every year.

The 'levy' is not only paid by the contractors working in the areas dominated by the Naxals but also by the industrial houses including some of the nationally reputed ones, the officials said.

Though, CPI (Maoist) still remains the prominent Naxal group in Jharkhand, there are other splinter groups which too have now started imposing 'levy' besides indulging in kidnapping, looting and narcotics trade, which results in around Rs 300 crore as annual income from the state.

If a conservative estimate is taken of the income generated from 'levy' in the seven most Naxal-infested states -- Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra -- security agencies feel the collection from these areas, which are commonly referred to as 'red corridor', amount to nearly Rs 1,500 crore.

The Naxals have even come out with a card, recovered by forces, which clearly shows the exact amount of 'levy' to be paid by contractors, petrol pump owners and land owners.

It usually ranges from 10% of the project cost for those making unpaved roads to five per cent for small bridges and others.

Besides the fixed levy, the left-wing extremists groups also demand money from industries functioning in the areas "as and when they need" and even issue receipts for the same.

"There are six left-wing extremists groups operating in the state out of which the People's Liberation Front of India, earlier known as Jharkhand Liberation Tigers, is mostly made up of criminals. The groups operate no longer for ideology but purely for extortion," CRPF DIG (Jharkhand) Alok Raj said.

Interestingly, it is not just the Naxals who approach contractors for money but in some cases even the contractors approach the Naxals with money.

"It has come to our notice that in certain incidents, contractors have themselves approached the Naxals to blow up the roads built by them because they had used inferior material at first place. As the roads are blown away, no quality inspection takes place," Director General of Police (Jharkhand) V D Ram said.

Officials say, in most cases, the amount generated in the form of levy usually goes into a "luxurious lifestyle" of Naxal chiefs.

"The chiefs lead a luxurious life with all modern facilities. Though, they forcibly recruit children in their cadre, their own kids study in good public schools," officials said.

The Naxals also encourage local villagers to undertake opium cultivation, just like insurgents in Northeast states.

Of the total 1.07 lakh kg of ganja or marijuana seized in the country in 2007, heavy quantity of it was from Nagaland (15,489 kg), Madhya Pradesh (14,815 kg), Maharashtra (12,551 kg), Chhattisgarh (7,470 kg) and Andhra Pradesh (7,059 kg).

QnA: Why do you think the Naxal menace growing in Central India?

Droning the entire terror clan

The American drone seems to have killed the notorious terror monger - Baitullah Mehsud in south Waziristan. It needs to completely cleanse the entire area with the help of the locals and get rid of the terror menace haunting the region.

G. Parathasarthy writes in The Times of India (13 August 2009)

At around 1 a.m. on August 5, a pilotless US drone hovering across the Durand Line moved in and fired two 'Hellfire' missiles at a house in a
remote village in the tribal area of South Waziristan. The house was owned by the father-in-law of Pakistan's most wanted terrorist, Baitullah Mehsud. Despite his supporters' denials, it seems more than plausible that Baitullah perished in the deadly missile strike. Alluding to the attack, Pakistani strategic analyst Ayesha Siddiqa observed: "He (Baitullah) was originally supported by the military and ISI. But he had begun to bite the hand that fed him. His death was a powerful signal to them all."

Baitullah had, after all, been an ISI "asset". Pakistan's military signed a landmark ceasefire agreement with him in 2005, which gave him control over South Waziristan. Baitullah, however, turned a bitter foe of the military after it stormed the Lal Masjid in Islamabad and killed hundreds of young Pashtun women from the tribal areas, in July 2007. The action ordered by General Pervez Musharraf came after radical clerics took over the masjid and virtually held the capital hostage. Following this, Baitullah united Taliban groups operating across the seven tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, under the Tehriq-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan's (TTP) banner. Apart from launching attacks on army and ISI personnel in cities like Rawalpindi and Lahore, the TTP humiliated the army by forcing the surrender of a convoy of 243 army personnel on November 4, 2007.

The popular belief in Pakistan is that Baitullah masterminded Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Predictably, the ISI built the myth that he was actually an agent of the CIA, KHAD (Afghan Intelligence) and India's R&AW! Now that he has been eliminated by a CIA missile, the Americans would possibly be exonerated of this cardinal sin.

But Baitullah is merely one of dozens of Taliban leaders in Pakistan, where the classification appears to be that if you kill American and Afghan soldiers after crossing the Durand Line into Afghanistan, you are officially 'good Taliban', to be armed, trained and backed by the ISI. But if you combine such activity with attempts to create unrest in Pakistan, you are categorised as 'bad Taliban', and eliminated.

While the army, ISI and a large section of the public in Pakistan are overjoyed at Baitullah's killing by the otherwise much-reviled Americans, it would not be prudent to believe that his removal will signal any change in the ISI's approach of supporting the Taliban leaders it favours. Notable amongst the commanders of the 'good Taliban' are veteran Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin, who executed the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July 2008.

Sections in the Pentagon have, despite strong evidence to the contrary, been giving good conduct certificates to General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and suggesting that only rogue elements in the ISI have been assisting the Taliban. The Americans will soon find that the army establishment has no intention of reining in the Taliban, operating from the tribal areas to attack American, coalition and Afghan troops across the Durand Line in Afghanistan. Would the Americans then be ready to launch drone attacks unilaterally targeting the Taliban political leadership in Balochistan, or Taliban commanders like Haqqani in the tribal areas? Unlike India, the US acts firmly on issues pertaining to the security of its citizens and soldiers.

While the Americans plan to reduce their military presence in Afghanistan only after significantly degrading Taliban capabilities, the ISI appears determined to bolster the Taliban, with the objective of making Afghanistan a Taliban-dominated client state. A hurried American withdrawal, with the Taliban still posing a threat to Afghanistan, will have serious implications for India. An emboldened ISI commenced support for its jihad in Kashmir after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988. It would be similarly emboldened to step up terrorist attacks across India once it is persuaded that its borders along the Durand Line with Afghanistan are secure, with the Taliban providing 'strategic depth' in Afghanistan.

India should work with the US and its NATO allies, and also with Russia, Iran and Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours like Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, to ensure that Afghanistan's elected government is backed diplomatically, financially and militarily to deal with challenges from across the Durand Line, even after presidential elections later this month.

Buoyed by its diplomatic 'triumph' in Sharm el-Sheikh, Pakistan now threatens that there can be no durable peace in the subcontinent till the Kashmir 'dispute' is settled to its satisfaction. Surely, one way to deal with the emerging scenario is for India to make common cause with its Afghan friends and assert that the Durand Line is a disputed frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan, while expressing the hope that this 'dispute' would be resolved in a manner that fulfils the aspirations of Pashtuns on both sides of the border. No genuine Pashtun leader, including Mullah Omar, accepts the legitimacy of the Durand Line as an international border.

Mumbai Attackers Should be Hanged

The attackers of Mumbai got finally the punishment they deserve. Their should not be any mercy or delay in delivery them their due. In case their punishment is delayed the terrorists can hijack a flight and demand the release of the jailed killers. In the best interests of the humanity they must be hanged at the earliest.

The Times of India writes (7 August 2009)

Six years after the bomb attacks in Mumbai killed 54 people and injured over 180, a special court has sentenced three people to death. The
investigators and the jury deserve praise for completing the trial in reasonably quick time and in a transparent manner. Terrorists do not deserve any sympathy and attempts to politicise or communalise terror trials must not be encouraged.

It is important that all terror-related cases are fast-tracked without compromising due process to ensure that justice is delivered quickly. In many cases, avoidable delays in investigation and trial have resulted in innocent people spending years in jail as undertrials. These compromise the credibility of public institutions and provoke a sense of victimhood among people and communities. There are groups that exploit such sentiments. If better infrastructure material and personnel is provided to the police and the legal system, it would be possible to reduce the time taken to conduct terror trials in a fair and transparent manner. Speedy disbursal of justice can limit the spread of complaints and conspiracies.

Terrorism is an inhuman act and exemplary punishment must be meted out to terrorists. The legal system in India sanctions death penalty as a punishment in the 'rarest of rare' cases. However, this newspaper has for long argued that death penalty has no place in a liberal society. No crime is deserving of death because the premises for death penalty, such as retribution, deterrence and incapacitation, are flawed. Retribution is a base instinct. The idea of justice must not be driven by the primitive urge to seek revenge. Procedural or juridical sanctions are not sufficient to justify an act that seeks to exterminate a life as punishment however gruesome the crime is. No murder can be condoned and nation states can't claim exemption to the moral logic that human life is precious if not sacred.

One may argue that death is the most powerful deterrent against crime. But the existence of death penalty has not prevented people from plotting and conducting massacres in the name of religion and ideology. Crime must be punished and punished in an exemplary manner, of course. And punishment in cases of terrorism must be severe enough to deter prospective terrorists and sufficient to incapacitate a convict. Life imprisonment, in the true sense of the term, could satisfy these considerations. It is time our lawmakers revisit the legal provisions for death penalty and make changes to the law in accordance with enlightened liberal practices elsewhere. That only 58 countries follow death penalty in law and practice as against 94 that have abolished it should serve as a wake-up call for us.

Reinventing Islam

No doubt that the Islamic civilization was vibrant,meaningful and constructive in the past. It contributed for the high growth of trade, architecture and culture around the world. In these testing times where it is under attack,the broadminded Islamic people should join hands and assert the positive side of the religion. Otherwise the negative Islamic people will continue to damage the image of the age-old good civilization. They undo the devastation contributed by the rich oil merchants in the Gulf in aiding and abetting the merchants of terror.

Raza Elahi writes in The Times of India (1 August 2009)

US president Barack Obama's historic speech in Cairo, which called for a new beginning between the United States and Muslims, had references to
Islam's contribution to civilisation. It is a befitting reply to Islam bashers, who have boxed Islamic culture, particularly Arab culture, into crude stereotypes. Post-9/11 Islam-bashing has almost become fashionable among western scholars. A whole bunch of intellectuals has sprung up in the West, linking Arab culture to violence, hate and fanaticism. Any violence committed by any group, or any unrest in Palestine or Iraq, is a specific response to a specific pathological, political circumstance, not an endemic variable of Arab culture as Samuel Huntingdon's ''clash of civilisations'' and other western theories describe such face-offs.

Since time immemorial the essence of Arab culture has been trade, not war or suicide bombings. The region gave birth to civilisations such as the Assyrian and Babylonian in Iraq, Phoenician and Canaan in Syria and the Pharaonic in Egypt. After the advent of Islam, each of these cities was a major capital of huge empires through various stages of history that presented the world with sciences, art, culture, philosophical thought and civilisations that form the basis of study in all major modern universities.

Islam was an extraordinary gift to the world of business with its pragmatic, tolerant, humane, logical and international ethos at a time when other cultures were busy burning witches and widows in other parts of the so-called civilised world. The evolution of market hubs such as Baghdad and Cairo, the emergence of Arabic as the business lingua franca from Spain to Sindh, the missionary activities of Arab merchants in South East Asia were all legacies of the advent of Islam.

Seven centuries ago, Baghdad and Damascus were world financial hubs. The Arab world, under the Abbasid caliphs, had trade relations with all major nations from China to Italy. The Assyrians mapped out a road network to enable them to transport African ivory, Caspian furs and Indian spices across their empire. Two millennia before the advent of the dollar and pound sterling, the gold coin, Persian daric, introduced by Darius the Great, was the currency of choice from Greece to the kingdoms of India. The financiers of Mecca and Damascus set up letters of credit, bills of exchange, foreign agencies, primitive contract laws and custom duties centuries before the bankers of Renaissance Florence and Tudor London.

Empires came and went, kingdoms were established and fell, but trade remains one of the institutions that truly defines Arab culture. The earliest civilisations of the Middle East evolved on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Their trading links with Mohenjadaro on the Indus, Dilmun in the Arabian Gulf and the Hellenic ports of the Aegean islands demonstrate that international markets existed centuries before Christ.

The Silk Road to China, the Amber Route to the Baltic, the evolution of trade-linked cities such as Petra, Baghdad, Mecca, Sidon and Damascus were the centres of Arab power politics for centuries. From ancient times till modern days trade activities have always flourished in the region.

The modern example is the rapid progress of the ancient trading and pearling settlement of Dubai, which was on the trade route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilisation. In 1830, it was taken over by a sect of the Bani Yas clan led by the Maktoum family that still rules Dubai. The elders of this family decided to build on the expertise of the inhabitants of Dubai and concentrate on trade. This policy powers the economic miracle of Dubai.

The ruling family recognised the value of international trade as an engine for wealth creation decades before the petrodollar era. When oil was discovered in 1960, the bulk of its revenue was invested in creating the world's biggest man-made harbour in Dubai's Jebal Ali. Today, some estimates peg Dubai's non-oil revenues at over 90 per cent of its GDP, and the average per capita income in excess of $19,000.

Excellent infrastructure coupled with business acumen has helped the nationals to expand their trading horizons. Dubai encouraged Indian, Yemeni, Lebanese and Persian traders to settle. At a time when socialism and command economies were prevalent in other parts of the world, Dubai was unique in its preference for an open economy and regional trade. At no time, however, has the Dubai government forgotten its Islamic roots. It is the government's endeavour to ensure that no Muslim will need to travel more than 500 metres to pray in a mosque. Dubai is certainly a winning mix of trade and religion.

Commentators who have concluded the Islamic world is a 'failed and violent' society are wrong as religion and trade walk hand in hand in Islamic culture. Obama's approach to the Islamic world is a positive shift in official US policy, and some compensation for the hostile environment created by Islam bashers.

Relaxed Security Concerns

The national security has become a big mockery in the power corridors.
Without a sustained action plan executive and bureacracy are working. One cannot be relaxed if there is no Mumbai type attacks in the past six months. But there are mini Mumbais everyday. Look at Jharkhand, Orissa and other Naxal affected states. What is needed urgently is the coordinated action between the centre and state.

Prakash Singh writes in The Times of India (12 June 2009)

The president's address to Parliament unveiled an ambitious agenda for reforms in which internal security has been given high priority, and rightly
so. The country has been reassured that the government would follow a policy of ''zero tolerance'' towards terrorism and that ''stern measures'' would be taken to deal with insurgency and left-wing extremism.

Unfortunately, there is a sense of complacency that has set in here because there has been no major incident since 26/11. We must remember that the reason there has been no major terror strike since the Mumbai attacks has been more due to the international pressure on Pakistan and the action taken by that country against terrorists operating within its boundaries rather than any strengthening of the security apparatus by our government.

As soon as Pakistan is able to get the economic assistance it desperately needs, it would revert to its old game of sponsoring terrorism. The manner in which Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and founder of the outlawed Lashkar-a-Taiba (LeT), has been let off the hook is evidence, if needed at all, of Pakistan's ambivalence. It is absolutely essential, therefore, that the government improves our security architecture comprehensively. Else, all our efforts in other areas would come to a naught. Economic development can take place only in a secure environment.

It may be recalled that the Rand Corporation, a US think tank, had, in the aftermath of the 26/11 incidents in Mumbai, clearly warned that ''India will continue to face a serious jihadi terrorist threat from Pakistan-based terrorist groups for the foreseeable future''. In fact, it even said ''the threat will continue to grow''. Another US think tank, Stratfor, also said that in the context of ''jihadi insurgency along India's western frontier and Pakistan seemingly losing control of its militant proxies, another major Islamist attack in India is inevitable''.

Meanwhile, the US state department, while ranking India ''among the world's most terrorism affected countries'' deplored that ''the Indian government's counterterrorism efforts remained hampered by its outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems''. Government no doubt took some positive measures in the wake of 26/11. However, our overall preparedness leaves much to be desired.

The police and intelligence organisations in the states continue to be in poor shape. The majority of states have been lackadaisical in implementing the Supreme Court's directions on police reforms. The Centre has been dragging its feet over introducing the Model Police Bill for Delhi and the Union territories. The police force is woefully short of manpower, apart from the fact that a sizeable chunk of the force is diverted to protect so-called VIPs. There is misplaced emphasis on open-ended expansion of the paramilitary forces. What we need to actually augment is the civil police force.

The 'thana' does not inspire any confidence either by its appearance or by its resources and equipment. Beat constables, the crucial link in internal security, exist on paper alone. Modernisation of the police has been slow, as has been highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Recruitment procedures are tainted and training continues to be neglected. The executive has, in some states, devastated the chain of command with deleterious effects on discipline in the ranks. If the morale of the police is low today, it's thanks to the politicians and the bureaucracy.

The Congress party, in its manifesto, recognised the ''imperative of police reforms''. It stated, ''A clear distinction between the political executive and police administration will be made''. The manifesto also assured that the police force ''will be better provisioned especially in the matter of housing and educational facilities''. The president has also reiterated the government's commitment to police reforms. It is high time that these promises are acted upon.

At the national level, our anti-terror policy must be defined in explicit terms. The National Investigating Agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation need to be merged. Having two parallel central investigating agencies makes no sense. The performance of the Research & Analysis Wing remains a matter of concern. It must develop offensive capabilities. The Intelligence Bureau needs to be depoliticised. The National Security Council is almost dysfunctional and the National Security Advisory Board has become a parking spot for retired officers who are in the good books of the establishment.

The problem of Bangladeshi immigration was dusted under the carpet by all previous governments. That cannot continue. To start with, fencing our borders with Bangladesh should be completed expeditiously overruling all political objections at the local level. The scheme to give multi-purpose identity cards to all Indian citizens should be implemented post-haste. In due course, government must prevail upon Bangladesh to accept the fact of illegal immigration and take back at least some of its nationals on the basis of a mutually agreed cut-off date.

It was unfortunate that in the wake of 26/11, the government did not appoint a national commission to examine the lapses in security and suggest comprehensive measures to overhaul the security matrix. Perhaps those in power scuttled the proposal lest they were exposed and held accountable. Though belated, the new government may still consider appointing such a commission to investigate systemic failures and recommend appropriate remedial measures.

Will the centre and smart Home minister P. Chidambaram act strigently to solve the security problems?

Textbook Terrorism

Education is meant to inculcate better values and attitudes among the children. Unfortunately the same has been used by the political masters to train the future generation into a destructive path. No wonder all the dangerous politicians aim for education ministry.

Nirupama Subramanian writes in The Hindu 9 June 2009)

On a recent weekday afternoon, a small group of youngsters gathered at a meeting hall in Islamabad to discuss how to combat extremism, militancy and terrorism in Pakistan. Listed were top-notch speakers, including two members of Parliament and the well-known physicist, Pervez Hoodbhoy.

Dr. Hoodbhoy, who teaches at the Quaid-e-Azam University in the Pakistan capital, spoke passionately and at length, on a theme that he has worked to highlight for years: the education imparted to Pakistani children is flawed and encourages extremism, intolerance and ignorance. He showed the group, mostly undergraduate students, slides from an illustrated primer for the Urdu alphabet he picked from a shop in Rawalpindi: alif for Allah; bay for bandook (gun); tay for takrao (collision, shown by a plane crashing into the Twin Towers); jeem for jihad; kay for khanjar (dagger); and hay for hijab.

This was not a prescribed textbook, but another set of slides he showed had excerpts from a 1995 government-approved curriculum for Social Studies, which stated that at the end of Class V, the child should be able to acknowledge and identify forces that may be working against Pakistan; demonstrate by actions a belief in the fear of Allah; make speeches on jehad and shahadat (martyrdom); understand Hindu-Muslim differences and the resultant need for Pakistan; India’s evil designs against Pakistan; be safe from rumour-mongers who spread false news; visit police stations; collect pictures of policemen, soldiers, and National Guards; and demonstrate respect for the leaders of Pakistan.

“Instead of teaching our children about the nice things in this world like the colours of flowers, about the wonders of the universe, we are teaching them to hate,” he said. The school curriculum was one reason, he said, why Pakistanis were in denial that the militants and extremists now terrorising the entire country were home-grown products, and why many tended to externalise the problem with conspiracy theories about an “external” hand.

At the end of the discussion, which included a question-and-answer session, the group was asked how many thought Pakistan’s present problems were the consequence of an “Indian hand.” A quarter of the group put up its hands. Next, the students were asked how many thought the problems were the result of an American conspiracy to destabilise Pakistan and deprive it of its nuclear weapons: more than three-fourths of the group sent their hands up without a moment’s hesitation.

The irony was that this was the “youth group” of a non-governmental organisation, the Liberal Forum of Pakistan. The students had reserved their maximum applause for a speaker who projected the widespread line that Pakistan’s problems began only after 2001, and are the fallout of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

“Was there a single incident of terrorism before that? A single suicide bombing? No.” he said. The speaker was an official of the Ministry of Youth Affairs.

In the search for solutions to the crisis sweeping Pakistan and threatening to tear it apart, the international community has tended to focus on madrasas as “terrorist factories.” But for Dr. Hoodbhoy and others who have been fighting a long battle for urgent changes in Pakistan’s national school curriculum and the prescribed school textbooks, children getting a government-approved education in the public school system are at equal risk.

“Madrasas are not the only institutions breeding hate, intolerance, a distorted world view. The educational material in government-run schools do much more than madrasas. The textbooks tell lies, create hatred, inculcate militancy…” This was the damning conclusion of a landmark research project by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

For three years, 30 scholars commissioned by SDPI pored over textbooks in four subjects taught for Classes 1 to 12: Social Studies/Pakistan Studies, Urdu, English and Civics. The startling findings of their labour came out in a 2004 publication, “The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan.”

The much-written about research unleashed a huge debate on what was being taught in Pakistan’s schools, and became the basis for a major revision of the national curriculum undertaken by the Musharraf regime in 2006. The new curriculum has made several big changes. There is a conscious move to teach tolerance and respect for diversity, and the open vilification of India is absent. It also does not insist on imposing Islamic religious teaching on non-Muslim students. Religion is to be taught in focussed courses, rather than being infused in Social Studies, Civics, Urdu and English.

Unfortunately, so far, no move has been made to introduce new textbooks that reflect the changes.

“The revised curriculum is a huge departure from the earlier one. But whether the changes it prescribes will be implemented at all is not clear to us. The more it is delayed, the less and less we are sure it is going to come,” said A.H. Nayyar, research fellow at SDPI and one of the initiators of the project.

The changes in the curriculum are up on the Internet site of the Ministry of Education. For Grades 4 and 5 Social Studies, the curriculum has dropped the learning outcomes prescribed by the 1995 and 2002 curricula, focussing instead on providing an “unbiased” education that aims to build informed citizens equipped with analytical skills and “values such as equality, social justice, fairness, diversity, and respect for self and diverse opinions of others.”

The SDPI recommendation that history be taught as a separate subject instead of being lumped into Pakistan Studies was accepted by the framers of the revised curriculum. So, for the first time, a curriculum has been framed for history as a separate subject from Grades 6 to 8.

In contrast to the earlier approach in the Pakistan Studies curriculum, in which the history of Pakistan begins with the day the first Muslim set foot in India, the revised curriculum includes a study of the Indus valley civilisation, of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and of the ancient Maurya and Gupta dynasties.

The curriculum appears keen to emphasise a composite South Asian history from which Pakistan took birth including the “joint Hindu-Muslim” efforts in the struggle for independence. The Pakistan Studies curriculum for Grades 9 and 10 wants children to learn about the multicultural heritage of Pakistan and “get used to the idea of unity in diversity,” a big no-no earlier.

The revised curriculum also has a component on “peace studies” and conflict resolution.

One reason new textbooks based on the revised curriculum have not come out yet, Dr. Nayyar speculated, may be that the 1998 national educational policy introduced by the shortlived Nawaz Sharif government, remains in force till 2010. The Pakistan People’s Party-led government could be waiting to introduce its own education policy, and usher in the changes to the curriculum and the textbooks along with this, he said.

Even the draft new education policy is ready, based on a two-year-old White Paper. It too reflects a major shift from the 1998 policy, which laid down that education should enable the citizens to lead their lives as true practising Muslims according to the teachings of Islam as prescribed in the Quran and Sunnah. It also made the teaching of Nazra Quran a compulsory subject from Grades 1 to 8, and the learning of selected verses from the Quran thereafter, in clear violation of the Constitution that Islam will not be imposed on non-Muslims.

By contrast, the draft new policy makes it clear that only Muslim children will be provided instruction in Islamiyat, while minorities will be provided an education in their own religion. The new policy will provide the framework for the implementing the new curriculum and introducing new textbooks.

The bad news is that in April, the federal Cabinet put off approving the draft indefinitely. Only after the Cabinet approves the policy can it be placed before Parliament. A report in Dawn newspaper said the Cabinet wanted the Education Ministry to make the policy “more comprehensive, covering every aspect of education sector which needs improvement along with an implementable work plan.” But no urgency is visible in the Ministry to get cracking on this task. Another concern is that the Education Minister is not known for his progressive views, especially on gender issues.

“My fear,” said Dr. Nayyar, a soft-spoken physicist who retired from teaching at the Quaid-e-Azam University some years ago, “is that the government may not have the political strength to bring in a progressive education policy. They may succumb to pressures of various kinds and end up bringing in a hopelessly muddled policy.”

Yet the need for reforms in education has never been as urgent and necessary as now. As Dr. Hoodbhoy has pointed out in several recent articles, while a physical takeover of Pakistan by the Taliban may be a far cry, extremist ideology has taken root in young minds across the country, thanks to a flawed education system.

Compared to the 1.5 million who study in madrasas, an estimated 20 million children are enrolled in government schools. Dr. Nayyar laments that in the five years since the publication of the SDPI report, children who were 11 years old at the time have completed their matriculation. They read the old textbooks, and learnt a way of thinking about themselves and the world that will prove hard to change.

“Another generation has been lost because the process has taken too long,” he said. And until the new textbooks are introduced, millions of children will continue to learn in their Urdu lessons in schools about the differences between Hindus and Muslims in a hatred-generating way, about “India’s evil designs against Pakistan” in their Social Studies, and that Bangladesh was a result of a conspiracy by India with assistance from “Hindus living in East Pakistan.”

It is crucial to save education from the divisive mindsets and put the children in the path of peace and progress. A little delay can devastate the future.

Neglected Northeast

Northeast – India’s rising sun is less known to the outside world for its natural wealth and charming beauty. More people know seven sister states of the region for its violence. One fifth of the 50 million population of the northeast live below poverty line. Governance is missing in most parts of the region. The local tribal leaders enjoy their seats without doing much for the people. On the other hand the leaders of northeast complain about the neglect of the region by the centre. In fact both are responsible for the worst socio-economic stagnation in the region. Till the beginning of the nineties the government of India gave step-motherly treatment to the region.

The coalition politics, neo-liberal economy and the increasing relevance of tourism economy brought a new focus on the region. With 35 parliamentary seats and 8 states, northeast gave a political handle to the emerging BJP. It almost clinched deals with the existing leaders of the region who are frustrated with the Congress politics. In Arunachal Pradesh BJP shrewdly converted a long time congressman Gegong Apong into a BJP man. It also succeeded in capturing two parliamentary seats there and infused a hope to capture the seat in few years time. BJP’s fast growth in the region alerted Congress party. When it came to power in 2004 it started the Ministry of NorthEast.

The new liberal economy connected the region with the rest of the India. Mobile phones, satellite television, internet and increase in the number of flights to the region gave a new life to northeast. There is a large-scale migration of the people to other parts of the country. Delhi boasts a huge northeastern population. The attitude of rest of India towards the regions people also alienates them. In college hostels, theatres, railways stations, airports, a northeasterner is always asked “which country are you from?” Despite these problems, most of the people of the region to proud to be Indians. The government should capitalize this sentiments. Before that it should deliver what it promised to the region. In the first step it should talk to all the 12 active and 20 inactive terrorist groups and find a lasting solution to their separatist demands. All of them should be given autonomy package and brought into the political mainstream.

Without finding a solution to the violence northeast is going towards a worst phase in its life. In 2008 alone insurgency has claimed 1,057 lives. This is nearly twice the number of people who were killed in Kashmir violence in the year (539). According to the Anthropological Survey of India report, out 635 tribes in India 213 reside in the region. It is no doubt that the region is highly sensitive and needs full time concentration of the central government.


NorthEast: The Forgotten War

Civilians Security Personnel Terrorists Total

1994-2005 7,056 1,886 4,613 13,555
2006 231 92 317 640
2007 453 65 501 1019
2008 405 40 612 1057

2006 2007 2008
Arunachal 0 12 0
Assam 174 437 372
Manipur 290 408 496
Mizoram 0 0 5
Meghalaya 24 18 12
Nagaland 92 108 145
Tripura 60 36 27
Total 640 1019 1057

Sources: TOI, 5.1.2009, p.2
South Asian terrorist portal

There is no time available for the Central government to relax regarding the development of northeast. It must act on a war footing way and ensure overall progress of the region. More IITs, IIMS, central universities, vocational training centers, super-specialty hospitals, business ventures, industrials units should come up in the region. These measures will bridge the gap between the region and the rest of the region.


Insurgency claimed 1,057 lives in northeast in 2008, almost twice the number of people killed in Kashmir 539
Manipur alone accounted for almost 500 deaths; Assam had a body count of 372
Sharp rise in casualities among both civilians and terrorists while there’s a drop in fatalities among security personnel
Northeast is no stranger to insurgences with all its seven states having witnessed some form of armed separatism over the last six decades. In the 15 years since 1994, an estimated 16,271 persons have been killed in this volatile region.

A combination of persistent economic backwardness and the presence of several dozen ethnic groups has made this region a crucible of identity politics. Nearly 20% of the 50 million people of the region are below the poverty line. Of the 635 tribal groups identified by the Anthropological Survey of India, 213 reside in the northeast.

Some states have a very low or passive level of separatist activity like Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. In Mizoram, the insurgency ended in 1986 after the accord between the Union government and the Mizo National Front led by Ladenga, Meghalaya too has a relatively lower and declining level of terrorist actvitiy through a number of separatist groups are active in extortion and other criminal activities. Tripura, which till a decade back was a hotbed of terrorist actions, appears to have overcome the menace through a determined political effort.

But in three states – Assam, Manipur and Nagaland –separatist violence continues with an incendiary mix of ethnic strife. While terrorist actions in Assam still get attention. Manipur, with the second highest number of terrorist related deaths after Kashmir, has remained below the national radar. All 59 police stations in the state have reported terrorist activities and 32 of them have been placed in the high violence category.


ATP estimates that there are at least 15 major militant groups with approximately 10,000 cadre active in the state. The desperate situation is highlighted by the fact that Manipur continues to remain classified as a disturbed area since the 1970s.

It has a higher police-to-population ration than the national average and yet here is no end to violence.

Assam, the biggest state in the northeast, has been the hunting ground of ULFA despite several army operations against it, including the 2005 sweep in sanctuaries in the Bhutanese foothills.

Decades of Ulfa violence has spawned rival outfits from amongst plains tribals and Muslims, leading to an ever escalating spiral of violence on innocent civilians of every community. Current estimates put active terrorist groups at 12, while inactive groups number over 20. Recent reports suggest that Ulfa has also tied up with some factions of Naga separatist groups, operating in Nagaland and Manipur.

Silly to speak of war

Once again the war clouds are gathering around Indo-Pak border. 2002 situation seems to be back again. After the attack on Parliament in December 2001, Indian troops were massively mobilized and parked in the border areas with Pakistan. Although there were no major firing and killing, mere mobilization of troops sent shivers across several spines. Forgetting the dark episodes of Kargil war, Parliament attack and several other explicit Pakistan sent terrorist acts, Indian government exercised patience. Without wasting much time, peace process was put in place. But for the past 6 years after the threat of war a lot of progress has happened in the peace building between the two countries. The increasing attacks in India by Pakistan grown terrorists bring the whisper of war again.

There is frustration in the power corridors of India over the inaction by the Pakistani government against the list of terrorists it handed over. Over 120 countries envoys of India were called to New Delhi by the external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjhee for possible international intervention. In this hour of helplessness it is natural for India to speak of war against Pakistan. According to the popular opinion, least Indian government can do is to perform surgical strikes in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) which is the breeding ground of anti-Indian forces. Most of the Indians are not against full-scale war but for surgical strikes. This is nothing but short-sightedness.

Not just PoK is nurturing anti Indian attackers but the global terror network aided by the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan government has penetrated deep into several parts of the country. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari there is a wide network of Pakistan abetted sleeper cells. Silently they have established fast operating bomb makers and gun firing squads. The latest discovery of anti-India operation is a tunnel from Pakistan to India in the desert region of Rajasthan. This tunnel in Baramer is used to smuggle drugs and counterfeit currencies. The plot to disable India is not the handiwork of one country or one group. I sincerely suspect the involvement of multi nations and many groups in this grave design against India.

After failing in the four direct wars with India, Pakistan operates clandestinely against its neighbor. By sending heroin, virus infected animals and fake currencies, by defacing important websites, by instigating insider trading, by organizing speculations for the Indian economy downfall and many other non terrorist damages. All these indirect external threats can be countered by a country which has given responsibility to uproot it. But many people involved in this anti-India battle are bought over cheap bargain and bribes. Combining with the internal weakness is the collaboration of external enemies.

The international politics work in a different way. It is subtle and strong. When the Indian government sends strong war message, the Pakistani rulers smilingly say that “We have China with us for anytime support”. This statement coming from none other than the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousaf R Gilani should alert the Indian government that it is not a straight battle between the two.

I am opposed to even the talk of war for many reasons. It is a well-known fact that Pakistan is involved in anti-India activities. This history is the history of two countries since independence. Sixty years old animosities cannot be eliminated with few peace measures or some bombardments. The onus squarely lies on India. Firstly it should strengthen its calmness and peace of mind. The battle is against many hidden enemies. It can unplug the enemy power-points only with a long-term vision and strategies. Second, local and global intelligence should be gathered and acted upon. Three, sensible people in the governance should build a strong coalition against indirect warriors silently. Four, sanitizing the armed forces, intelligence, power corridors from corruption. Fifth, putting the Civil Defence Force (CDF) on the ground action rather than paper presence.

The friendship between the two countries and its people must continue. Any amount of damage inflicted by Pakistan directly or indirectly should be swallowed bitterly. To answer it India should follow the above mentioned five steps. It is a long and sleepless fight to give good night sleep to the generations to come. This can happen only if the Indian government players and public understand its strength and weakness. The ground situation is that India is surrounded by open stateless terrorists supported by hidden national enemies. Are we ready for this sustained war through strong mind to put an end to killing spree forever?

Multi layered harmony needed

At the moment, there is restlessness, turbulence and agitation in every sphere of the global society. Economic crisis is considered to be the trigger villain of the social shambles. But a careful look at the current crisis will point out the long term accumulation of multiple instigators. From the lack of inner peace in a substantial number of human beings around the world to enveloping trouble in the external environment, there is a visible disconnect. The individuals who make up the society were misguided and hooked to the false fortress of quick growth. They were forced to feel that there is no tomorrow to enjoy and everything must be exhausted at the very moment of life. One of the popular quotes in the global circuit today captures this mood of the masses aptly, “eat the desert first. There may be not time to eat everything”. What is needed urgently at this hour of grave global crisis is the harmony in every layer.

To create a conducive atmosphere for peace in the world first of all we need to sanitize hearts and minds of maximum number of the world people. The universal harmony starts with personal peace. If the efforts to cool down agitated minds were maximized and operated with full force we may not have landed in such a deserted situation. Nevertheless it is not too late to act. The first step to restore the social peace is to calm down individuals. Spiritual gurus, peaceniks and even enlightened politicians can embark on this journey.

The consumer economy has unfortunately seduced every section of the society into greedy consumption process. Beyond the need the consumption level has shoot up to the sky high. Even the traditional social healers like spiritual gurus have unfortunately become the victims of consumer culture. They have also been captured into the hypnotic spell of consumerism. From religious leaders to judicial heads every important person in the society has been tightly tied to the high consumer chain. What they earn legally is not enough to pay for the temptations of hi-fi consumer society. To earn the extra legal money corruption is the only available option. When corruption creeps into the minds of those who matters most and who are suppose to safeguard the society then there is a red signal for the joyride of the entire society. To me this has become the single most factors in creating and sustaining the present problems. It would not be an exaggeration to call ‘Blind consumerism is the mother of all present problems’.

There is none to listen to the grievances of common people. Everywhere money speaks, truth and justice gets silenced. A poor young boy who was swindled by his college management despite securing very high marks without losing hope goes to the police for assistance. They demand heavy bribe from him. He refuses to pay and goes to the court for justice. The judge takes bribe from the accused and collaborates with the police to foist drug smuggling case against the applicant. A sincere youth who had full faith in the law and justice of the modern systems lost his hope forever after he was thrown behind the cruel bars. He comes out of the jail as a criminal. Instead of correcting the criminals as good citizens, our system converts good citizens into criminals.

In another case, a young girl goes to the law enforcing authorities about unsolicited sexual advances harassment by her boss at work. Tragically she got gang raped by the policemen in the station where she had gone to complaint. If the fence itself eats the grass whom to be blamed? Who can trust? Who can believe in the law and order mentioned in the paper? It is high time to sanitize the whole society.

To me redeeming the world citizens from the high speed consumer culture will be the precursor to universal harmony. With money, money everywhere syndrome, ethics is lost, humanity is killed and future direction is blinded. Human beings by themselves would not walk in the right direction. They need sign boards. It should not be one sign board in wilderness. There needs to be regular direction guidance in the lonely journey. When the bold and bright signboards are present there is less difficulty for the life travelers to reach the destination. It is time to install signboards for the smooth movement of the society.

Who will start? Many of those who are shouting singly should come together leaving petty personal egos for the sake of humanity. From the east, from the west, from the north and from the south, everyone who is fighting for generating the right social order should join hands to create the harmony in every layer of the society. It can be a grand federation. If that is not possible, there can be local level co ordinations. Those who take up this mission ought to be devoid of cutthroat desires. The present situation pushes people to follow hook or crook method. Those who can withstand and finally thwart the seductive consumerism can be part of this social sanitizing mission. Those who talk harmony and peace needs to be stronger than those who roam with guns and bombs.

Any amount of provocation should not allow the peaceniks to drop their mission and take guns in response. The terrorist elements and vested interests cleverly provoke friendly atmosphere to collapse and hatred to take the centre stage. This is evident from the Indo-Pak relations. Whenever there is a terrorist attack the first victim is the peace process. It is understandable from the Indian government points of view that double play of Pakistan agonizes it limitlessly. To answer, India wants to fire missiles across the border. Will this be the terror arresting solution? There will be once again freezing of commercial and cultural contacts. People to people relations, government to government relations will be pushed backwards. The painfully built process should be not sacrificed by the provocative attacks of terrorists emanated across the border.

It may be true that the terrorists who attacked hotels and railway stations in Mumbai in the month of November 2008 came from Pakistan. But reacting with arms and ammunitions will damage the two nations peace for one more decade. The fragile peace process should be sustained at any cost. The onus lies squarely on the Indian government which is known for high democratic credentials. The land of Buddha, Ashoka and Gandhi need to rise again and withstand the terror slaps again and again given by the terrorists. Instead of airing hurt sentiments, it should engage with Pakistan more vigorous manner and take all those in the power corridors of the neighbhour on board. There is no other way to create long-term peace in the subcontinent.

If the immediate concern is south Asian peace the rest of the world is not insulated from violence. Every corner is affected by one crisis or the other. Along with terrorism, economic crisis is threatening to shatter the fabric of the global society. Loss of any human life to any problem is equally dangerous. According to the recent statistics provided by the National Crime Bureau, “India loses 34 lives per hundred victims to suicide deaths. Only 7 people per hundred are killed in terrorist violence”. One needs to plug the loopholes in every corner of the society. This is common to every country. In the United States 24 lakh people have lost their employment last year alone. There is total restlessness in their minds. After 1930s the churches in America are witnessing record attendance. In Chicago there is 50% rise in the church attendance. Religious managers are finding difficult to cope up with the crisis.

In summary I present the modus operandi for creating multi layered harmony in the global society.

Catch hold of young and old, men and women who have steel strong mentality
All those who come under this global harmony creation mission should have duty, discipline and devotion as their basic traits
They have universal harmony in mind without petty consumer desires
The group is a collection of individuals which is keen about their duties rather than agitating for their rights without performing the former.
They spread out to all corners with a message to sooth the rough edges of people’s lives
Be a listener rather than a speaker all the time
Fuse modern technology in spreading the message of universal harmony
Right knowledge of religion to counter the false propaganda by few extremism who spread wrong message to recruit terrorists
Dance and music can be smoothies for the violence infected minds
Sports and creative engagements can divert the agitated people towards the right track
Narrow national interests and any form of parochialism ought to be abandoned
Starting with the message of harmony the group will go on to solve the problems of people. Long time talk with no help to mitigate the sufferers lives will not bear any good fruits in the long run
It is a long, consistent and persistent battle. Those who get in should not expect instant results and fame.
Crucial to protect the messengers of harmony from any form of stimulation, temptation and instigation. Purity of mind is essential for the success of mission
Those who crave for power, position and penny should be filtered out in the induction stage


This is not the world’s first and last attempt to create global harmony. Millions of people and thousands of movements have cropped in the past. They have sacrificed everything for world peace. The above mentioned duty charter is a leaf out of those who struggled in the past and it is the straight lesson learnt from the previous mistakes. If this charter of points is implemented there is less scope for the derailing of dream to create a clam world order where there is a win-win situation rather than the present zero-sum game.

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?

Secular Communal Terror

Violence has a unique branding in India. Different people see killings of innocent lives differently. According to their political nature interpretations differ. One group can defend dreaded terrorists who maimed many people by blasting bombs. The other group can justify their attack against fellow Indians in the name of region and religion. Even a police enquiry creates uproar. 48 bomb blasts and 180 incidents of communal clashes in the last six months. Can we separate these two?

Violent activities carried out by Hindu groups are fancifully termed as “Communal” whereas by Muslims are protected as innocent minorities which I refer here as “Secular violence”. The minority syndrome started during the partition days to reassure the Muslims for an equal treatment is misused by political leaders to play vote bank politics. This segregated politics is the true divider between communities and destroy the secular ethos of the nation. India will lose its secular sheen if the law breakers are allowed to have field days. From the day of Babri Masjid demolition this divided politics of communal vs secular is getting louder.

Law is not allowed to function as per the written script. Police are handicapped. A senior IPS officer told me that everyday his official life is getting complicated. Trial by political figures, media, court and common people are disturbing his peace of mind and normal working ability. Despite their powerful positions, power breathing people are feeling helpless. This is amply clear from the statement of Shivraj Patill, Union Home Minister in the Times of India on 19 October 2008 (p.1), “If I am distracted by unfounded criticism, I’d not be able to discharge my duties. The terrorists are to terrify people, demoralize and defame the police and the government. If we succumb they’d succeed. That’s true of not just me but of my predecessors and those who might follow”. According to Patil, the number of violent incidents (communal, J& K terror strikes, Naxal killings) has come down from 36,000 to 24,000 during the tenure of UPA in comparison to NDA record. He puts the decrease in casualities from 11,000 to 6,000.

Politicians invoke “human rights”, “Innocent before final judgment”, “Hindu bias against minority community” and many other forms of rhetoric to protect the accused for petty political dividends. Another group goes on rampaging railway board exam writing students in the name of safeguarding their regional rights. There is a divisive method employed to trigger violent passions in the name of promoting the cause of community, caste, language, religion and region. It is easily understandable all these causes are not the real ones but political motives are the real motivator. Internal troubles by political groups and external terror by anti-national forces are testing the strength of the nation.

A democratic nation which believes in unity in diversity cannot afford to be a mute spectator towards this segregated violence. All forms of violence should be dealt severely and no one should be allowed to rise above the law of the land Whether SIMI or Bajrang Dal or Maharastra Nava Nirman Sena or Bodos all trouble makers should be delivered instant punishments. Any prolongation in punishment sends wrong signals and encourages more challenges to the law enforcing agencies. .

The simple solution advocated to end all these menaces is “ban them”. The past experience shows that a mere banning is not the solution. The groups can resurface under new names. The cross border terrorists have specialized in creating more fanciful names and structures if they are banned. What the nation needs today is a unified command with one vision to put an end to all root causes of violence. This team will not be controlled by any political motives or diktats. Total freedom and time bound action plan are required for such a force which will have only people with fire in their bellies to end violence without any distinction. No more debate or speculation about communal vs secular violence.

Techno Terrorists

Technology is the main catalyst for terrorism. Without using technology terrorists may not have weaved a global network. From bomb making to recruiting to blasting, a heavy dependence on technological support is required. With a click of the mouse, terrorism can be exported and imported. Internet, computers, mobile phone and satellite television are aiding terrorists to achieve their terror goals. On the other hand, intelligence agencies and police forces are lethargic in tapping the technology in arresting terrorism. The main specialty of contemporary technology – death of space and time is fully used by terrorists.

A disrupting trend is that more and more educated youth are involved in terrorist activities. Neither money nor fame is the motive behind these highly qualified terrorists. In the name of God they are brainwashed and pressed into destructive ventures. Osama Bin Laden and Al Zawahari are the leading techno terrorists. Osama a son of a wealthy Saudi construction tycoon graduated in civil engineering before taking guns. Al Zawahari is an oncologist (cancer specialist). The top commanders of Al Qaeda are masters in technology use with professional educational qualifications. They have inspired hundreds of well educated youth to jump into terrorist networks. Today there are local and global terror groups actively operating. No exaggeration to say terrorism and technology are hand-glove.

In the first week of October 2008, Mumbai police busted a techie racket involved in large-scale bomb blasting. They were the software brains of Indian Mujahideen behind sending terror mails. These young educated terrorists were responsible for the chain of bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Surat.

Mohammad Mansoor Ashar Peerbhoy (31) Principal software engineer with global internet giant Yahoo/salary Rs.19 lakh a year

Mubin Kadar Sheikh (alias Salman) (24)/Senior technical support advisor with a corporate firm

Asif Bashir Shaikh (22) Mechanical engineer in Pvt firm

According to a news report of the Times of India, police recovered, “sleep-inducing tables, anesthetic injections, radio and Wi-fi signal detectors, bullet-proof jackets, two country-made 9mm pistols, 5 laptops, 6 CPUs, 3 pen drives, provocative CDS and literature are some of the materials recovered from the arrested terrorists (‘MNC technie sent terror emails”, TOI, 7 October 2008, P.1).

There are various reasons behind the persistence of techno-terrorists. The counter-terror mechanisms of Governments are proceeding in a slow pace. In fact they are not able to cope up with the speed of educated terrorists. Maryann Lawlor writing in The Signal brings out this hard fact thus; “Web surfers use the DNS every day. It provides the mapping from a Web site’s domain name to an IP address. The DNS does not authenticate identification and that vulnerabilities in this system have been documented for the past 10 years. As a result, crackers can hijack traffic by sending e-mail messages that appear to come from companies such as Google or Bank of America, and users do not know the difference”.

The world needs a consolidated force to tackle this techno terrorist menace. From Ahmedabad to London to New York to Baghdad to Kabul they need to be nabbed timely and punished. Allowing educated people to claim fame and lay hands on huge money will be inspiring many more such youth which can prove disastrous to the harmonious world order.

Reference
http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/templates/Signal_Article_Template.asp?articleid=1254&zoneid=201

Mosque terror

The foreign funded terrorists target religious places to divide the Indian society communally. After failing to break India with their bombings and gun battles now they have resorted to attacking soft targets. Supplementing the violence on the ground they are attempting to destroy software and economic power bases of the country. Defacing the government websites, spamming important official email addresses, sending counterfeit currency notes, large investments in the stock market to artificially raise the share prices, brainwashing the unemployed youth into terrorism are some of the sinister designs of the terrorists groups. These gangs are now global in reach out. Mainly the misguided youth from Muslim dominated countries are recruited for exploding the bombs. Ironically it is the rich and famous family’s children who are falling victim to the recruitment drives of the terrorist gangs. The high influence religion is used to wrongly motivate the highly educated and rich youth to get into the terror network. To supplement the religious pills they repeatedly show the atrocities committed against the Muslims in Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, and Afghanistan. In a very short time they have succeeded in collecting thousands of youth from half of the world. Now terrorism is a global industry involving trillions of dollars.

Initially the terrorist network was concentrating in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Iraq. With the Kashmiris strongly opposing the involvement of external terror groups and the strong action taken by the Indian army, they were pushed back. The unprecedented bonhomie between the governments of India and Pakistan were also responsible for the dilution of terrorist activities in Kashmir. Although terrorism is not eliminated completely in the Kashmir valley, the official patronage of the Pakistan government has come down drastically. Now it has gone out of the control of its original patrons like ISI and other official wings of Pakistan. It is another matter that the Pakistan government is yet to crack down the anti-India staunchly and flush out masterminds like Daewood Ibrahim from its soil.

What was started as the promotion of religiosity and protecting the attacked Muslims from the armies of Israel, India and United States has turned out to be the killers of Muslims. This is evident from the mindless killings of innocent Muslim children, women and old age people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kashmir. To keep running their terror industries, the Muslim terrorists do not mind killing their brethren and sisters. An average of 200 people is killed in Iraq alone.

After failing to divide the Indians on religious and narrow social lines, now the terrorists are attacking religious shrines with a firm hope that will create communal violence. Time and again the Hindus have proved them wrong. The attack on Ram temple in Ayodhya, Sangat Mochan in Varnasi and akshardham in Ahmedabad were taken as the terrorist designs rather than a Muslim violence. This broad thinking of the Hindus frustrated the terrorist groups. Result of this dejection is the recent attack on mosques and dargahs.

The last hope for the terrorist organizations is the immediate backlash of the Muslims against the Hindus. But the majority Muslims in India is glued by the nationalistic feelings than religious orientations. The Muslims too maintained calmness after the terrorist attacks in Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad and Ajmer sheriff.

Any amount of attempts to divide the Indian society between the Hindus and Muslims will bound to fail. The Bombay blasts in the post Babri Masjid demolition is a crude reminder to the two communities that the terrorists are sitting on their heads to create communal violence. Further any plans by the violence creating masters across the border are bound to fail. Better they understand the changed psyche of the Indian society and stop triggering their evil designs to kill innocent people. The Indians are ready to lose lives than to surrender to the heartless and mindless terrorists.