Is India going too easy on Terrorists? - Page 7

This is what we should do...

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/13shishir.htm

However, there is nothing inevitable about India's resolve to wipe out terrorism.

But let me come back to the present. A day after the blasts, I boarded the first-class compartment of a Mumbai suburban train. It wasn't bursting at the seams with passengers, like it normally does, but I couldn't discern fear on the faces of my fellow passengers, only a weary cautiousness. Their voices, however, were laced with anger.

The snatches of conversation that I could hear centered on the Indian State's 'impotency' at fighting terrorism and what it should do to destroy terrorists. But the common man does not have the right to influence the State's policy towards matters as important as these, does he? So what if he has the right to vote governments to power.

India, time and again, has failed to wield the hammer against the lowly terrorist, often letting its citizens down. And despite what our leaders would have us believe, we are a soft State: a fact fully understood and exploited by terrorists.

After every such attack, the political establishment makes some threatening noises, hails the spirit of the civilians, holds aloft the pennant of peace, even launches buses to inimical nations, and then sits tight on its backside till the next wave of bombs rips the stuffing out of its citizenry. Then it is back to the same idiotic idiom.

But the common man, who actually bears the brunt of terrorism, has a different view, as that train ride told me. India needs to hit them where it hurts the most: squeeze the breath out of their networks, starve them for funds, take out their leaders (who we claim to know are hiding in this country or that), smash their hideouts, terrorise their associates.

No sooner is such an opinion voiced than human rights groups😡, 'saner' elements in the political firmament, self-styled negotiators and strategists jump into the fray to say: 'No, no, we should engage these 'people' in a dialogue. We are a peace-loving nation and terrorism needs to be resolved through peaceful means, through tolerance, through negotiations, abiding by international laws.'

We are told: 'We need to fight terrorism by understanding what triggers it and then remedying the situation. And by making 'them see reason.' Reason, my foot! The next thing you know' that bloke will be stuffing a dynamite stick down your throat and lighting the fuse.

Many people agree that international terrorism cannot be brought to an end only by the use of bombs and military might, but neither can it be ended with mere talk. What is needed is a heavy dose of ruthless action to go hand in hand with tactical and strategic negotiations.

The nation should be ready to negotiate, with the underlying condition that if there is any terrorist act against its citizens, there will be hell to pay.

This is not some original thought. We hear it all the time. The common man says:

Strengthen the infrastructure and the intelligence network. Educate the society on how to remain alert and control panic. Set up crack commando groups -- comprising snipers, specially trained and equipped assault teams, state-sponsored combatants -- who will engage in unconventional warfare. Dry up the terrorists' sources of funding: drug trafficking, robbery, extortion, playing on international stock markets, donations. Keep a hawk's eye on hostile locations and smash them up. Take out leaders of these organisations, no matter where they take refuge.
• Tighten the nation's borders even more, except maybe for trade.

Not an easy task, but not impossible either. The might of the Indian State is hardly something to scoff at. Disuse of power is worse than its misuse. It is time for Indians to roll up their sleeves, spit on their hands and get to work.

The one-track 'mature, gentile, peaceful' way of unraveling this menace only ends up in making the nation appear impotent. Just because the citizens are brave and spirited doesn't mean they have to keep suffering.

The common man wants a strong message be sent out: if any Indian is harmed in any manner, we will hunt you down and exterminate you, no matter how fast you run or where you hide.

The terrorist has no human rights; he loses them the instant he points his gun at humanity. He is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention and international laws of war should not apply to him. Since he chooses to live by the gun, he deserves to die by it.

Sounds uncivilised? Like out of a trashy thriller? Maybe. But ask the newly-wed girl whose husband was blown to pieces in the blasts, ask the old widow whose only earning son will walk no more...

India needs to be ruthless in its vengeance. The inevitability of punishment could nip many a hostile intent in the bud.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/12sai.htm?zcc=rl

Enough is enough!

July 12, 2006
When the first of the explosives went off at the Bombay Stock Exchange on March 12, 1993, by chance I was in the vicinity.

Hearing a muffled boom and following the citizenry that was running towards the sound -- and not away from it as instinct would tell one to -- I soon came across sights of blood and gore that will not go away easily. March 12, 1993 can never be forgotten by a Mumbaikar. Or forgiven.

Chance once again kept me in New York on September 11, 2001, when twisted, horrific minds flew passenger jets into the Twin Towers. As a believer in and defender of the free world, I can never forget that day either. Or forgive those who wrought upon such terror on the rest of us.

I cannot but notice that the United States of America, which then declared its biggest offensive since Pearl Harbour and which action brought it tonnes and tonnes of international criticism -- not to mention unveiled threats of attack from Osama bin Laden, abduction of US nationals and their murder -- has not faced any terrorist attack since 9/11.

Whereas we in India have come to accept terrorist attacks on our soil as just another karmic fact of life -- no doubt with the same stoic acceptance that we took in invader after invader over centuries. Since 1993 Mumbai alone has faced at least 6 more terrorist strikes.

So what has the United States done that India did not?

For one, Uncle Sam displayed the majesty of the American State.

On the evening of September 11, 2001, as I sat glued to the television, US President George Bush addressed his nation in a measured and calm manner. Through the solace he offered his shell-shocked countrymen, he said: 'We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them.'

With these words America went to war.

I had waited in 1993 for the majesty of the Indian State to similarly display itself, as I waited many more times for it to happen. I waited for it last night as well, and finally I saw the display.

On the streets of Mahim, close to where we work, the majesty of the Indian State was on full display as Congress president Sonia Gandhi accompanied by Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Railway Minister Lalu Yadav drove past, en route to the blast site. My colleague counted 38+ cars in the motorcade that swept past, as other traffic on the road was kept frozen in place by the security phalanx. It was truly an impressive sight -– only, I couldn't help thinking, it was put on for someone who doesn't hold an office of authority🤢. While the man who does, simply reviewed the security situation in the face of the Srinagar and Mumbai blasts, and directed that New Delhi's security be beefed up.

This was the majesty of the Indian State on display yesterday. I could have wept.

When somebody directs terror at you, nation-States are expected to hit back with maximum force, carry the fight into the enemy camp. It is not enough to possess unrelenting, unremitting muscle power -- it also becomes necessary, once in a while, to display that power. And not merely through caparisoned missiles parading down Janpath once a year, but by responding forcefully to challenges to the State's very existence.

All your nuclear weapons, your missiles, your tanks, come to nought when you don't have the steel in your soul to defend yourself and your subjects -- at any cost.

Has the Indian State done this? Ever?

The first serial blasts in Mumbai happened 13 years ago. Enough water has flowed into the Arabian Sea since then for the guilty to have spent part of their sentence in jail. But 13 years later even a fly has not been sentenced for the worst-ever terrorist attack in India. If you were a terrorist oiling your Kalashnikov and checking your grenades somewhere in the western sector, what exactly will you think of India?

What he does think is evident from the fact that in the last 13 years, Mumbai has faced six more terror attacks -- an average of one every two years.

India believes, too, that the prime accused in the Mumbai blasts, Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, is a guest of the Pakistani establishment. Not only him, official lists of others accused of waging a war against India and hiding in Pakistan have periodically been handed over to that country. Ordinarily, you would think, if Pakistan is harbouring India's enemies, providing succour and sustenance to them, it needs to be treated as an inimical nation.

Yet, India has been engaged in a peace process with the very neighbour it knows is out to dismember it through any and every means available to it.

Is it any surprise that terrorists continue to attack India with impunity?

Contrast this with the way America has gone about its business since September 11, 2001, and you will see why that nation has not faced any attack in the last five years. Osama may fume and fret from his mountain hole, but there's little more than that he and his terrorist hordes have been able to achieve against the only remaining superpower.

That is because America understands that war can only be won through war, it cannot be won through peace, a belief India has been labouring under for so long. When the very articles of your liberty become your enemy's hand tools to destroy you, it is time to revise notions of liberty and freedom.

Civil liberties are for those who believe in civility and practice liberty, not inhuman monsters who think nothing of inflicting untold horror on innocents. It is only this week, almost five years later, that the US agreed to extend the Geneva Convention to its Guantanamo Bay detainees -- contrast that with how India treats those waging a war against it.

The tragedy with India is that successive governments have ignored one fact of life --India has been at war for many decades now. This is not an enemy who will come at you over the Khyber Pass; this is an invisible enemy who uses your own resources, your own freedoms, your own laxities, to hit at you. If you don't stop him first, he will stop you.

It is futile to blame Congress administrations alone for this sorry pass India has come to -- the National Democratic Alliance, which came to power with so much of machismo, proved no better before threats of terror.

Till we turn around, realise that those who fight India in the name of religion do not represent the millions who practice that faith, and fighting the terrorists is not fighting the practitioners, we are condemned to suffer terrorist attacks.

Originally posted by: SolidSnake

I cannot but notice that the United States of America, which then declared its biggest offensive since Pearl Harbour and which action brought it tonnes and tonnes of international criticism -- not to mention unveiled threats of attack from Osama bin Laden, abduction of US nationals and their murder -- has not faced any terrorist attack since 9/11.

Whereas we in India have come to accept terrorist attacks on our soil as just another karmic fact of life -- no doubt with the same stoic acceptance that we took in invader after invader over centuries. Since 1993 Mumbai alone has faced at least 6 more terrorist strikes.

So what has the United States done that India did not?

For one, Uncle Sam displayed the majesty of the American State.

On the evening of September 11, 2001, as I sat glued to the television, US President George Bush addressed his nation in a measured and calm manner. Through the solace he offered his shell-shocked countrymen, he said: 'We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them.'

With these words America went to war.

I had waited in 1993 for the majesty of the Indian State to similarly display itself, as I waited many more times for it to happen. I waited for it last night as well, and finally I saw the display.

I was thinking in the same lines...after 9/11,the us has faced no attack,but here its a bi monthly routine🤢😡/...and all those who are arraigned on charges of aiding and abetting terrorists get acquitted🤢🤢🤢...Its sad🤢

Originally posted by: Solidsnake

😡...THOSE sum up my emotions

Originally posted by: Solidsnake

Has the Indian State done this? Ever?

The first serial blasts in Mumbai happened 13 years ago. Enough water has flowed into the Arabian Sea since then for the guilty to have spent part of their sentence in jail. But 13 years later even a fly has not been sentenced for the worst-ever terrorist attack in India. If you were a terrorist oiling your Kalashnikov and checking your grenades somewhere in the western sector, what exactly will you think of India?

What he does think is evident from the fact that in the last 13 years, Mumbai has faced six more terror attacks -- an average of one every two years.

India believes, too, that the prime accused in the Mumbai blasts, Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, is a guest of the Pakistani establishment. Not only him, official lists of others accused of waging a war against India and hiding in Pakistan have periodically been handed over to that country. Ordinarily, you would think, if Pakistan is harbouring India's enemies, providing succour and sustenance to them, it needs to be treated as an inimical nation.

Yet, India has been engaged in a peace process with the very neighbour it knows is out to dismember it through any and every means available to it.

Is it any surprise that terrorists continue to attack India with impunity?

👏...how will these words reach the neta's ears...afterall,they are the people who rule the roost🤢..The politicians wield power,but they are sitting idle...

Originally posted by: solidsnake

Contrast this with the way America has gone about its business since September 11, 2001, and you will see why that nation has not faced any attack in the last five years. Osama may fume and fret from his mountain hole, but there's little more than that he and his terrorist hordes have been able to achieve against the only remaining superpower.

That is because America understands that war can only be won through war, it cannot be won through peace, a belief India has been labouring under for so long. When the very articles of your liberty become your enemy's hand tools to destroy you, it is time to revise notions of liberty and freedom.

👏...We have been patient for enough days..Its high time that we take measures to completely uproot terrorism from indian soil

Originally posted by: Solidsnake

Civil liberties are for those who believe in civility and practice liberty, not inhuman monsters who think nothing of inflicting untold horror on innocents. It is only this week, almost five years later, that the US agreed to extend the Geneva Convention to its Guantanamo Bay detainees -- contrast that with how India treats those waging a war against it.

The tragedy with India is that successive governments have ignored one fact of life --India has been at war for many decades now. This is not an enemy who will come at you over the Khyber Pass; this is an invisible enemy who uses your own resources, your own freedoms, your own laxities, to hit at you. If you don't stop him first, he will stop you.

It is futile to blame Congress administrations alone for this sorry pass India has come to -- the National Democratic Alliance, which came to power with so much of machismo, proved no better before threats of terror.

Till we turn around, realise that those who fight India in the name of religion do not represent the millions who practice that faith, and fighting the terrorists is not fighting the practitioners, we are condemned to suffer terrorist attacks.

A well written article..totally second that👏👏..Hope such an article is published in the front page of all the leading national dailies...

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=terrorstr ikes&slug=Mumbai+tragedy+separates+Delhi+couple&id=9 0142&callid=1&category=National

Poonam Agarwal

Thursday, July 13, 2006 (New Delhi):

The tearing apart of families is the permanent impact of the serial blasts.

In one such incident, a couple from Delhi, who were on a different trains, were separated forever when serial blasts rocked Mumbai on Tuesday.

While Bhavna survived the serial blasts that shook Mumbai, her husband Chetan died.

On Tuesday evening, Bhavna was thrilled that Chetan was leaving his office an hour early.

She told him she'd wait for him at the Borivali station near their home. While she boarded one train, he got onto another.

Hand of fate

In a horrific coincidence, both Bhavna and her husband's trains were hit by separate blasts. She survived, he didn't.

"Bhavna was saved because she was travelling in ladies compartment. I could speak to her but Chetan's cellphone was not reachable. Gradually I could feel that either he is severally injured or something is wrong," said Pankaj Sharma, Chetan's Uncle.

The couple moved to Mumbai two years ago when he accepted a job as a trader. He was the only son and he had left his parents behind in Delhi. He lived for the sudden trips he'd make to Delhi to see them.

"Chetan never wanted to go to Mumbai but he had to because he was transferred. That day he left a bit early from office because job was more or less done for the day. It's all fate," said Kalyani, Chetan's colleague.

All that remains of Chetan now is the ring and the chain that he was wearing the evening he died. 😭

Originally posted by: SolidSnake

Poonam Agarwal

Thursday, July 13, 2006 (New Delhi):

The tearing apart of families is the permanent impact of the serial blasts.

In one such incident, a couple from Delhi, who were on a different trains, were separated forever when serial blasts rocked Mumbai on Tuesday.

While Bhavna survived the serial blasts that shook Mumbai, her husband Chetan died.

On Tuesday evening, Bhavna was thrilled that Chetan was leaving his office an hour early.

She told him she'd wait for him at the Borivali station near their home. While she boarded one train, he got onto another.

Hand of fate

In a horrific coincidence, both Bhavna and her husband's trains were hit by separate blasts. She survived, he didn't.

"Bhavna was saved because she was travelling in ladies compartment. I could speak to her but Chetan's cellphone was not reachable. Gradually I could feel that either he is severally injured or something is wrong," said Pankaj Sharma, Chetan's Uncle.

The couple moved to Mumbai two years ago when he accepted a job as a trader. He was the only son and he had left his parents behind in Delhi. He lived for the sudden trips he'd make to Delhi to see them.

"Chetan never wanted to go to Mumbai but he had to because he was transferred. That day he left a bit early from office because job was more or less done for the day. It's all fate," said Kalyani, Chetan's colleague.

All that remains of Chetan now is the ring and the chain that he was wearing the evening he died. 😭

😭

all Netas look at this😡. specially samajwadi party who is saying that SIMI is not a terrorist group.😡.kabhi logon ki pain samajh kar dekho😭.

You know i think this is where our goverment could use extreme means like tapping into the phones of people they suspect. Certainly after 9/11 U.S has fortunatly or smartly avoided getting hit by another attack. And Bush's administration did acheive this,it seems there phone surveliance didn't go to a waste.

As i was reading the latest NDTV article that says "Pakistan is suspected to have a role in this attack" They did mention several suspicious phone calls that were made which they could have tapped. But if they had , maybe this horrid tragedy could have been avoided. Manmohan Singh extereme situations do mean extreme measures. I will not mind my small civil liberties being compromised as long as they keep me and my family safe. Nor should you Indians as long as you have nothing to hide.

Wow SolidSnake ...those are some really good articles.... 👏 👏 👏

Now lets take a peek at what other nations do when they are attacked..

Beirut airport, air bases bombarded

BEIRUT, July 13:Israel blockaded Lebanese ports and struck Beirut airport and two military airbases on Thursday, expanding reprisals that have killed 53 civilians in Lebanon since Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiersa day earlier.

And of course we all know that Afghanistan and Iraq were almost pounded into extinction by Bush and his cronies after the 9/11 attacks.

What do the successive Indian governments do?? Sit on their butts! Yes the common man does feel rage... 😡 but does our government give a damn? Or are they too busy trying to appear 'holier than thou' at the expense of innocent citizens' lives?

Mumbai blasts, a timeline

July 11, 2006 21:02 IST

This is the chronology of major bomb blasts in Mumbai since 1993:

March 12, 1993: A series of bomb blasts ripped through 13 places in the city, killing 257 people and injuring 713. These were the first blasts in which RDX was used and the explosions were allegedly planned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

December 2, 2002: Two persons were killed and 31 injured when a powerful bomb exploded in a municipal bus outside Ghatkopar suburban railway station in north-central Mumbai.

December 6, 2002: Twenty-five people were injured when a bomb exploded in a food plaza at Bombay Central railway station. The bomb was planted in an air-conditioning duct.

January 27, 2003: Thirty people were injured when a crude bomb planted in a bicycle exploded at a shopping complex outside Vile Parle railway station in north-west Mumbai.

March 13, 2003: Eleven people were killed and 65 injured when a powerful bomb exploded in a ladies special train when it was entering Mulund railway station in the peak hours.

August 25, 2003: Two blasts occurred one after the other at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar, killing 46 people and injuring more than 160. RDX was planted in taxis parked at both these places.



When will our 🤬 netas wake up?

Just came across this blog .....



I have been thinking over the last few days of how to respond to terrorist attacks as a civilian and what should be an ordinary citizen's duties and responsibilites..Left alone a normal citizen would worry about how to improve his/her life without worrying about whether he/she is going to get bombed on his way to work/home.. Now that terrorist attacks have become like gory festivals that repeat frequently, he/she has to take that into account..

A normal citizen has no idea of how terrorists operate / plan and decide the venue and time of attacks or has the power to prevent such attacks. The best he can do is to demand answers from those responsible for his security. The people he needs to take to task are the politicians / bureaucracy and the press.. Yes, I'd include the press too.. I find the "media jargons" about the aftermath of any terrorist attacks "offensive". Just google "spirit" "Mumbai" "Varanasi" "Delhi" etc..and find out the results.. After every bomb blast press would report how the spirit of that city stays alive with people resuming their work. What else the unfortunate folks can do, just drop dead??.. This is counterproductive.. People start believing this story and proudly say how the "spirit of Mumbai" lives.. Ofcourse it is.. But should n't your blood boil to see the "spirit of Mumbai" every once in 6 months (Ok I'm exaggerating.. but you get the drift). Count the number of terrorist attacks in Mumbai over the last 10 years.. So the next time you see a report like that, get the reporter and beat the crap out of him/her..

Papa is dead'
CHITRANGADA CHOUDHURY
Posted online: Sunday, July 16, 2006 at 0000 hrs Print Email
Terrible Tuesday's toll is overwhelmingly male: only four of the 183 killed are women—either by design or coincidence, Mumbai blasts have snatched away sons, husbands, and fathers


MUMBAI, JULY 15:Vijay Jhawar's desperate search through Tuesday night in hospital after hospital for his younger brother Sandeep ended gruesomely at dawn at the Sion Hospital's OPD.

He was number 8 on the hospital's notice board of dead,'' said Jhawar, in tears outside the morgue. ''How can I break this news to his wife Pooja and young son, Ansh. We have told them he is still missing.''

Sandeep, a 33-year-old company secretary on his way back home to Bhayander from work in Colaba, was among the 41 bodies brought from the blasted compartments at Mahim and Matunga stations.

Each of the 41 is a man, as are the 40-odd patients in the hospital being treated for injuries caused by the explosions.

Tuesday's Terror, either by design or because male compartments made simpler targets, has overwhelmingly attacked men. At last count, there were 183 dead among whom only four were women.

A senior city cop who has probed terror attacks on Mumbai in the past argues: ''Men might not have been attacked by design but simply because it was the easier thing to do. Targeting women compartments would mean the modules having women operatives who will place at least 3 kg RDX in a compartment and slip out.''

But while women and children aren't Tuesday's overt targets, the blasts have left scores of wives widowed, children fatherless, and in several cases the sole breadwinner gone.

Like Ajaz Khan (41), travel firm employee, survived by a wife, an 11-year-old daughter, and a 10 month-old son; Tushit Shah (44), a broker who's left behind his wife and 15-year-old daughter; businessman Lalit Kachalia (42) survived by his wife and son; former hockey player Sanford Desales (44), survived by his wife and daughter who is 10; tour operator Salaeeh Shaikh (42), survived by wife and three children; chemical engineer Parag Karambalekar (mid-40s), survived by a college-going daughter and wife; Anuj Kilawala (47), an insurance agent, survived by his wife, a daughter and a son; police constable Shashikant Bedekar (32), survived by a wife and two young children; bank manager Vinod A T (45) survived by a wife and a school-going son and daughter; Paresh Thakar (37), an insurance seller, survived by wife and school-going daughter.

These men's deaths aren't just untimely but also very brutal, ensuring that outside hospital morgues across the city's suburbs, it was colleagues and male relatives of victims who got together to shield as far as possible from wives the violence of the loss.

So Jhawar and a group of friends were faced with the problem of timing the transfer of dismembered remains for its last rites with Sandeep's parents arrival in Mumbai on a afternoon flight from Jaipur.

''The head and a hand is missing so we can't take his body to his wife. We identified him by a ring on his right hand,'' shuddered friends.

Said inspector A Deshpande who was at the hospital's police chowky preparing pachnamas for the relatives to reclaim their dead: ''A wife or blood relative is needed for the paperwork as per our procedure. That is posing a problem since most of the dead are men.''

As specialists point out, the pain of the bereaved is severe, and will play out in less tangible ways far from the spotlight, in private.

Bombay Psychiatric Society President V Matcheswallah says: ''While partners will have to deal with a gamut of emotions from shock and disbelief to anger, children depending on their age will be affected differently at this break of the family structure. Younger children risk developing depressive and introverted personalities because of the absence of a male role model at home.''

Matcheswallah is talking to peers to formulate an aid programme that can counsel Tuesday's bereaved, in facing life without a partner and parent.

Meanwhile, there are those who are being stoic. Insurance agent Paresh Thakkar heading home to his wife and daughter on Tuesday evening was killed on the spot by the 6.25 Jogeshwari station blast.

Says his boss V Rao: ''When I finally got through to Paresh's family at night, his 10-year-old daughter Mansi answered the phone, and calmly told me: 'Uncle, Papa is dead'." Rao says Thakar's wife Mansi is preparing to fill in her husband's shoes, intending to learn how to sell insurance.

She told Rao: ''My husband was passionate about his work. I know I must carry it on.''

Among victims, four women

The death toll in the Tuesday blasts in Mumbai is now 183. Among the victims were four women. Three of them were:

• Hemlata Yadav: A 19-year-old volunteer for the Home Guard since just over a year, she was on duty at Platform No 3, Borivali station, when a bomb blew up a train compartment at 6.24 pm killing her.

• Nandini Naik: A Santacruz resident and ICICI bank employee, Naik, 28, was also killed by the blast at Borivali.

• Kumud Shah: A Borivali resident, she was killed by the 6.25 blast at Jogeshwari station