After a few heart-rending glimpses at Facebook profiles of those that will never come back, killed at German Bakery and after asking myself useless questions like “Will we ever have justice?”, I have come to the conclusion that we in India should stop spending time, money and lives investigating Jihadis and trying to bring them to justice.
You heard that right.
Let me explain what I am trying to say.
Like any corporation, Terrorism Inc has essentially three kinds of employees.
At the lowest level are the grunts, the peons, the hands-on-people who do the quotidian tasks of “customer service” and “delivering packages” and the other activities described in their intake documents. People like Kasab, Ashfaq, Afzal. People against whom there is a mountain of evidence.
Yet I believe it is useless trying to prosecute them. Why? Well take for example Kasab. Now here is a dude from a foreign country who, helped by people in that said foreign country, comes waltzing in armed to the teeth and shoots dead a number of people in front of video cameras and a gazillion number of witnesses. Now in countries that have half a brain and a quarter of a gonad, such a person would be treated as an enemy combatant , tried in a military court with no press coverage and quickly dispatched off. However since we are in India, we try him in a civil court just like we would try a pickpocket, try to establish his guilt even though there is absolutely no doubt as to his culpability, spend crores on his security (yes HIS security) even after we know there is virtually no additional information he can give us (having been on the lowest rung of the ladder).
Not only that we place him under full media glare and this prompts him to repeatedly spin the most outrageous yarns that would make Kaiser Soze blush, allege mistreatment and of being framed (since that gives him one more spot in a news cycle) and in general command the kind of attention that he, not in his miserable years of existence on this earth, could ever have imagined. And even when he is convicted, he will enter the queue of other convicted terrorists like Afzal who still wait to be executed but who cannot because of political considerations (Ashfaq of the Red Fort attacks has not been executed as far as I know because of a petition accepted by the Supreme Court)
Then we come to the next strata of the terror hierarchy. Middle management. The project-managers who coordinate, plan and budget manpower and resources and sometimes get their hands dirty during design and code reviews. Unlike the coders and testers, these guys are much more difficult to catch since they mostly stay in their cabins and the evidence against them is often circumstantial and not as rock-solid as “The whole city saw you shooting people”. I claim that we should not bother to put them away. And this is why.
First of all, our investigative agencies will mismanage every aspect of the case from forensics to following basic proceedure, which will ultimately lead to the accused being let off on technicalities. Second of all, no matter which way things go, there will be agents (and I am deliberately not taking their names here) who will make sure that at the end, it is India that emerges as the villain. For instance, in the case of SAR Geelani, a known supporter for the “cause” who never made much bones about it, whose behavior during the Parliament attack was anything but “beyond suspicion” having had telephonic contact with the convicted, an interaction he initially denied, is supposed to have been “framed” by the government because finally the Courts exonerated him. However when the same Courts give a clean chit to the police on the Batla House Encounters, where arms are found and where those arrested have made no denials about their involvement in anti-national violent activities, then of course the same body’s judgment is no longer sacrosanct and there is talk of larger conspiracies, like how a policeman was “suspiciously” and “conveniently’ killed even though the Batla House accused says he did shoot at the policeman. And all this kind of duplicity happens without any kind of national outrage which seems to be solely reserved for other matters of greater importance. Given this and given that in the unlikely case that any of these middle managers do actually get sentenced at which point of time they will join the line of “waiting to be executed but never will” why even spend time and energy trying to catch these fellows, when no matter what happens India will end up with muck on its face ?
The “third class” is as always upper management, the big money managers, the Post Graduate Diplomas in Mayhem (PGDM). The good thing is that these people are usually out of the country ensconced in the “best neighbour one can have” or “The Cayman Islands for terrorism” and so they are quite out of our reach. Sometimes they do get caught like Maulana Azhar and Sheikh Omar and a plane gets hijacked in their honor, innocent lives are lost and after everything the government ferries them back to Afghanistan.
There is of course the angel investor in terror, Pakistan. But of course we should be careful not to get them angry as was evidenced not just in Sharm-e-Sheikh (is it not ironic there is almost the word “sharam” there) but the way when Pakistani sentiments are continuously pampered to. I am referring to our Home Minister whose initials are again ironically Politically Correct decided to comment on the IPL auctions thing (which being a decision of a private organization should not have been a topic of official commentary) in order to assuage angry Pakistanis that their Ball-Biter-In-Chief and Hinduyon-ki-Zehniyaat-hi-aise-hai sprouting messengers-of-peace-by-piece have been sinned against.
And that is why I believe we should as a nation stop spending any more resources into things like justice.
It’s just not worth it.
[Any comments on religions, of the hateful kind most specifically, as also what I consider strong personal attacks will be removed. If you have strong opinions and minds to influence, then I suggest you go elsewhere. Please obey the rules of this blog. Thank you ]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
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I completely agree with you on everything you wrote. In my mind, there are two reasons that summarize why we as a country do not do anything serious to combat terrorism
1.) Incompetence/Corruption – When you have as much corruption in our law enforcement agencies, you will generally have people who are more interested in covering their asses rather than trying to solve crime. We also have awesome politicians in all major parties who are great at giving fiery speeches but really only care about “vote bank” politics and would not do anything that might in their own minds seem politically incorrect.
2.) Indifference – What are the chances that the general population in a country like the U.S. will react (in the long term) the way we do if there are regular terrorist attacks. As a country, we are so de-sensitized and selfish (I cannot think of any other word), that we do not really carry any sense of indignation beyond a couple of months. Everytime, we get attacked, there is general outrage and then we forget everything in a couple of months and just wait for the next attack. As long as we and the people we care about are o.k., we are fine.
It is difficult to talk to a society that
a. is split into multiple schizophrenic parts, each acting independent of the other, each claiming to hate the other, each claiming to be an “equal” victim of the other. It is a fine game of passing the parcel along – only that each time the music ends, something’s gonna blow up in your NEIGHBOURING country – not yours.
b. Is even, without the cranial split, saddled with a lifelong inferiority complex about identity that is nurtured from history-text-book-level onwards
Its times like this that I envy countries like Israel and agencies like Mossad. They literally have a Mafia like mentality and precision when it comes to taking out people who have wronged them.
They trample all over the international laws and dont give a damn even if other countries condemn them.
*sigh*, what I wouldn’t give for something like that….
After all the New York, Kurbaan and My name is Kingki, all I can say that the bottom line is that the US has not faced any terror attack since 9/11 even if it should be the no.1 enemy of the Terror Inc. . No matter how much we talk about their atrocities in Iraq or Afghan , they have successfully managed to protect people in their country.
But there is also a thing called human rights which in times like these in my opinion assume even greater significance. Kasab might demand to be treated on par with other criminals with offenses far lesser than him. So, I think that there is a need to have a terrorism oriented law. We used to have one, no two-Tada and Pota, but they have been scrapped for reasons GB will edit.
@Ram: absolutely. For all the hue & cry, the only way we even know Kasab was involved is because his face was caught on camera. Think of how many terrorist attacks there have been in the last couple of years, in marketplaces, train stations, dargahs & mosques, hotels, restaurants…& in how many cases do we have any arrests, any clue as to who the perpetrator is? Incompetence + indifference; couldn’t have said it better.
1 billion people; what’s a few here & there?
Plus almost 2/3rds of the population is rural & a big chunk of those don’t have food, medicines, or electricity. Terrorism is a huge issue if you live in a city but in rural areas it is barely on the radar. To be fair to them, when lakhs of farmers are committing suicide & Maoists & cops are in a pseudo civil war, who cares about a couple hundred killed by bombs/guns? Even among urban areas, only the really big cities have seen terrorist attacks.
If you’re a politician & there is an issue that’s important for less than 1/3rd of the voters but barely registers for the remaining 2/3rds, why give that issue anything more than lip service?
Mind you, I’m explaining, not justifying, before anyone gets on my case.
I think it boils down to how valuable a human life is in India. In the US, life is valued, as it should be, and this is evident at every step. Buses are not overcrowded, trains have doors and there are rules in place everywhere to ensure safety of the populace (for example, one rule that I always love when I see is the notice on the max number of people a building can hold e.g. in restaurants-which is also prominently posted). While a lot of this may be the result of being a developed economy, I think it stems from respect for a life-whether it is that of a restaurant patron, or that of a ticketless subway passenger.
In India, I find that basic value for life to be missing. People hang by their fingers in the mumbai locals, buses are crowded to the point of their Centers of gravity practically shifting to the roof, no norms for safety in public places-e.g. if there’s a fire in a crowded market, the angels of death will beat the fire department hands down in getting there-and all this is with the complicity of the government-with the standard argument – “ab kya karein, yeh to aisa hi hai”.
A lot of the blame here rests with the citizens. They accept this. and move on. till the next attack. With FB, Orkut, and movies like RDB, there are a few candle marches and then they move on.
If the citizens themselves do not value lives, how do they expect the govt to? the govt will simply say-theek hai 10 log aur mar gaye-let’s get on with the business. After all 10 in a billion is too small to even qualify as a rounding error.
But there IS nothing we can do…as you point out in your article.
S***!!!!
The only solution is to engender incouruptible nationalism among all of us..Problem is nobody among us knows how to go about it…But Blog posts like this can only help the cause
Wow.. what a rant..dil se nikal ke seedha blog main likha hai. But Alas! Weak nations have seldom sustained in History. Will ours be any different.
This is one thing, the government should take notice of. Seriously, crores of rupees are spent on the security of Kasab???? We surely deserve better!
PGDM n Cayman Islands – thats more like you 🙂
@Shaswata we can start by small things. Teach yourself and people around you not to indulge into activities which lead to above, not to just accept and get on with things. Everyone’s effort will someday make things better.
You have summed up the sad state of affairs very precisely.
There are few more rants I want to add here.
One, is there any other country where how much you fear contacting police is directly proportional to how law abiding you are?
Second, the bomb in Pune killed nine. But why six people had to die days after reaching hospital, most of them in their twenties. In tragedies elsewhere, young people seldom die after a few hours of reaching hospital. Why does our country not have even basic medical facilities yet?
The best part of Indians is that, terrorism no more terrorizes us! I mean, not only should we stop spending time, money and lives investigating Jihadis and trying to bring them to justice, but so should the Jehadis and the anti-national elements not take the trouble to try ‘Bleed’ India because we are not affected by it anymore! You think we will stop going to Bakeries or stop shopping due to some bomb blast? sorry the answer is no! Another point you could have covered is the 4th level within our country like National Human Rights Commission and Arundhiti Roy who go around protecting these people in garb or social justice, protecting the minoroties etc etc crap…Arundhiti was trying to protect Geelani (she pulled out a leaf of deduction from Sherlock Holmes’ butt before she started out on an investigative journalism to prove him innocent)- http://www.countercurrents.org/hr-roy200205.htm
“we still do not know who planned the attack, or even the names and the real identities of the five militants who were killed outside the Parliament building on that day.”
from the countercurrents.org website: Thats so true. GB may not agree, but i find myself agreeing with Roy on many shoddy investigative ways of delhi police….
GB we never know what happens in those dark, dingy police cells…we are conveniently sitting before our laptops….its a murky world out there…one doesnt know which side to take….
There’s so much wrong here that we don’t know where to begin.
Our law and justice system fails at so many levels that it is no surprise that we are in such a dilemma.
But that’s the way we are. Society is a sum of the attitudes of its people. If our leaders are inept, its because at some level we as a society have failed, through our education and through the values that our elders give us.
Can we trust a person on the street with our money or belongings. Why not? Isn’t he just the so called ‘aam aadmi’?
We cannot change our social condition unless we change what is within ourselves. At an individual level we need Integrity, courage, and sense of responsibility.
How many of us are responsible for lying, cheating, not fulfilling our trusts and more.
Lets address the evil within. Obviously what’s needed is an inside out change.
Justice delayed is justice denied but here in India we are like that explosive expert who would keep on trying diffusing a detonator device till it explodes. Only a smarter and more prompt law enforcement can save us.
@Hardik Mehta
Am not against citizens raising voice against injustice or raising concerns over Human Rights violation, nor am I saying that our Policing and Investigative systems are good, all I am saying is that let people like Arundhati roy (who by the way has absolutely no idea about investigation or no connection with reality – just like all of us who sit behind our laptops and comment)comment on matters that she doesn’t understand. She being a famous personality , her words, could hamper the investigation. The fact of the matter is, as GB pointed out, there are enough and more circumstantial / hardboiled evidence that could nail SAR Geelani, but thanks to the shoddy forensic work and lowIQ police work, that guy is out. and on top of all that Arundhati (who should have been writing ‘Devil of all things’ a sequel to the ‘God of small things’)is spending her time investigating a terrorism case with her peanut sized brain.
Well, not justice. Our Law Enforcement agencies and processes are so rotten that it will be difficult to prove and convict any pickpocket, forget about a terrorist.
The reason why people-who-you-have-not-named find some traction is because the other side is equally murky and non trustworthy. When policemen dance at a gangsters party you don’t know who to trust. Do you for a moment think Dawood – one of our top 5 enemies – is able to operate in Mumbai without police and political support?
I agree with my friend Hardik Mehta on this that Delhi Police is not completely clean on this encounter.
But let this not be a rant against Police or Law enforcement teams. That’s for another day another time.
Covert strike capability is our only hope otherwise we are doomed. As per Vir Sanghvi’s latest article in HT we had limited covert capabilities till the born-in-Pak Gujrl completely dismantled it. Our current born-in-Pak PM shares the view and does not intend to build such capabilities.
I guess, our only covert capability is when Chotta Rajan bumps off people sympathetic to Dawood as happened in Nepal recently. And that is a very very sad state of affairs.
I havent seen a more insensitive, apathetic bunch of people than we. No country in world can take so much humiliation for so long. Not even
What a shame we are letting it happen again & again!
Probably we are destined to get beaten like this.
Weak, hollow we are from inside behind all our boasting of a Great Culture. What does it say… Vasudhaiv Kutumbukam…Universe is my family & blah blah….madeira floods,….haiti earthquakes…tiger woods’ confession speech……i was suprised when i found few colleagues were asking me to donate for Haiti people….i said wow…..mast hai ..chalne do…
And Btw….. T o I abhi bhi Aman ki Asha kar rha hai…ye bhi mast hai chalne do.
Unfortunately, I cant help agreeing…
Our people..media or general public alike…look for sensations…
and they think it is “cool” to do something..be it “Save our Tigers” or light a candle for Riz/Jessica/Nitish Katara..
or..cry for some bomb blast victims…. doing anything more meaningful is of course something that requires active participation…and who would really spend the time?
secondly there is those class of people..who think its perfectly reasonable to think a person would be sympathetic to a terrorist just because they have the same religion.. i mean some one commented about PMs born in Pak and hinted them being weak at protecting India…i guess by that logic, a large proportion of bengalis and punjabis who have roots in the other country are less patriotic..
sometimes to dissosciate myself from the above type of ppl i show a an apathy to the so called media justice…
Bong da,
Human life is not as precious to us as,as it is the west .
That is why going/not going after terrorists is not even worth the effort ..for politicians/leaders/police/Industries
It is a cultural thing,We have too many people and too less value for people’s lives
It wont change until maybe millions start dying…
The indian politics is mainly about struggle for power at any cost. And certain communities are so good at “buy as one” skills. Hence even the religion neutral communists play minority quota card in most shameful way and its sad that its only the Right wing guys opposing them.
Media is full of wrong people for whom profit decides the agendas.
And i wonder why this generation of students are so ignorant and stupid!!
May they spend a lot of time translating things from english to regional languages in their minds…(and they put more effort in doing things eg.reading and then analyzing etc… which youth do so easily in UK /US as they have everything in their regional language.)
I think we should start outsourcing our counter-terrorist operations to Mossad. They know exactly how to deal with terrorists. Hope PC starts thinking along these lines….dont think he will, though. There’s no Jewish votebank in India. And for those who want to talk about Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine, I have just one thing to say – Apni bachle baap er naam.
@Swayambhu
I agree Mossad is very deft at tackling terrorism..although I have to admit my knoweledge of Mossad is rather limited to Novels.
But I have to ask..do you think Israel is free of terrorism? yes, it is true that they show a zero tolerance to hijack/hostage etc.. but have they been able to really cure or prevent the problem?
“[Any comments on religions, of the hateful kind most specifically, as also what I consider strong personal attacks will be removed. If you have strong opinions and minds to influence, then I suggest you go elsewhere.]” – This epitomises your entire post GB. Otherwise, when you write on topics like these,people take it upon themselves to vent their personal anger on a particular community in this forum. Terrorism is a much wider thing….should not be confused with a communal riot. It is sometimes more a “Frankenstein” than a ” War of the Worlds “, it is more ” India – Pakistan ” sometimes than Hindu v/s Musulmaan.
It all stems from the rot inside.
There are too many sympathisers in our country – helped by people powerful enough to let them run scot free.
Intelligence is a farce – don’t think the CBI or the RAW has been used to serve anything more than throwing muck at each other’s faces by the politicians for the last two decades – and a neighbour who’s only too obliging to embrace one such opportunity.
Sad state of affairs really.
A hauntingly beautiful piece by you.
Though I vociferously agree with almost all of what you have said, I’d like to offer an alternate perspective on the Kasab trial, as was offerred to me by a well-connected criminal lawyer friend recently-
He posited that by conducting a civilian trial under the full glare of the media, by hearing every defense no matter how trivial/absurd, by examining 300 witnesses where 30 would do and by submitting to judicial scrutiny Kasab’s entire bloody trail from Karachi to Mumbai, when his trail from Nariman point to Girgaum chowpatty might suffice, the State is doing the very thing that it should do in EVERY trial- building a rock-solid prosecution case under the rule of law.
Now before you scoff, consider this-
1. any defense denied or procedure scuttled comes at the risk of an appellate court ordering a retrial on that ground. The appellate courts are where the “rockstar” lawyers typically get in on the action to claim their piece of history. Trust me, you do not want those legal wizards to find the smallest misstep in the proceedings else they will exploit it to the hilt, as indeed they must
2. India is aggressively negotiating an extradition treaty with european, american and asian countries. When Abu Salem was extradited from Portugal, the main hurdle was convincing Portugal that our courts don’t function like a banana republic and providing them an assurance that Salem would not be executed. As we negotiate such treaties, the eyes of the world are on the Kasab trial. We owe it to ourselves to suppress our blood lust for larger strategic motives
3. Lastly, and most importantly, you may consider who is really on trial here. It is not Kasab. It is the Pakistani military-jehadi complex. And the prosecution is crafting a case where Kasab’s actions are not seen as innumerable individual murders but a collective act of war with internaional actors set in a political backdrop. The true pot at the end of the rainbow will appear when the case findings are published in the judgment and as they filter upwards to the Supreme Court of India. We will then have (hopefully) a comprehensive chargesheet of crimes against India committed by agencies operating from Pakistan. When these findings are judicially confirmed by the Supreme Cort of India, it will lend a great deal of formal legitimacy to India’s accusations and offer a host of new options to the State
In light of this, I think your attack on Kasab’s trial may have been somewhat unfair
best,
sushrut
Patience, Great Bong, Patience.
The wheels of justice grind slowly but grind fine.
Justice will not be gained by court-marshalling the foot soldiers. Justice will be gained by striking at the heart of the monster. Justice will be gained when the ISI and the pakistani army get a taste of their own terror medicine. Justice will be gained when India and Afghanistan act together against their common enemy.
The process has been set in motion. Bhagwan ke yahan der hai, andher nahin hai.
GB, you said ‘I have come to the conclusion that we in India should stop spending time, money and lives investigating Jihadis and trying to bring them to justice.’
You mean we are actually doing that? Surprising. I thought the only strategy we had was to fight fire with ire. (Shameless plug: http://bit.ly/aIOmc9)
Good analogy with a corporation though, very apt.
@Sushrut,
liked your points.
It might sound very prompt if a whirlwind trial is held and the guilty is executed within 30 days of capture. But then, I think we have the risk of turning ourselves into the very kind of nation we detest. Where justice is merely a mockery and a means of legalizing elimination of people who oppose your view point.
I share the disappointment that GB has while writing this piece. I think its futile for anyone to think about the issues that India is facing currently. General and abject poverty in rural India, Maoist killing people mercilessly, terrorist attacks, general apathy in social life.
We all can rant and rant but i do not see any real solution to this. Only a gradual economic growth of India follwed by a natural improvement in our resources (human) and subsequent improvement of civic sense will root out basic issues like corruption and vote bank politics. Only then our society will stop thinking about oneself and put the issues of common good before personal gains. Till that happens there will always be corruption in the society, low regard for social responsibilities.
Till that economic development happens, only a cricket match or a war with Pakistan can unite India (or at least parts of India).
Rant all you want, but there wont be any earth shattering improvement in our daily lives which is gonna happen…
They are even changing design of a flyover because og Kasab.(He is in arther road jail)
We lack unity among us and that’s the root cause of everyting…and until we can unite ourselves, we’ll be be tortured by others. Our history shows it all – from Mogul/Persian attacks, our internal conflicts and divisism among staes (in ancient times and now), traitors like Mirjaffar…etc.
@Sushrut:
My point was not to have show-trial for Kasab but to have a military tribunal for him. What he did was not just a criminal act but an act of War against the Indian state. It was not a legal act of war since he targetted civilians and was not part of an official Army and also because technically Pakistan and India are not at war with each other. He is an illegal enemy combatant. I dont think any country in the world would have had issues with Kasab being tried as one, more so since the US has set many precedents in circumstances less cut and dried than Kasab.
Secondly with respect to Portugal and extraditing to India. Do you honestly think that this trial has anything to do with that? The reason India gets clubbed with the other “dark Asian countries” is because of, for what the want of a better word, racism and because India does not have the soft power in the world to “get things done.”
And finally Pakistani state on trial. For whose benefit? I dont think a case against Pakistan needs to be made in front of the world community. Everyone knows about Pakistan’s complicity in acts of terror. That they stay silent and wink at Pakistan is driven by pragmatics since Pakistan is committed to work against the Jihadi elements working against the West on its soil so that they may be diverted to India. I dont think a Nuremberg-like case against Kasab will accomplish anything except to give this miserable apology of a human being a place in the sun and to waste Indian taxpayer’s money safeguarding a Pakistani war criminal.
Sarabjit
Hey we Assamese have given up long ago.. When over 5 bomb blasts happen in Guwahati nobody cares, when one blast happens and 15 guys die in Pune we make a little noise for a week. When rich Mumbaiites get killed in 26/11 we make noises for approximately one month.. it depends on who all have been the victims of these attacks.
Justice??? We have the media that runs campaigns that we have “Aman” with Pakistan while it runs another campaign that we break off ties with a friendly country like Australia( who are helping us get into the Asia-Pac) Go figure!!!
What i hate are the middle class who sit on television shows ( hired or invited) who clap like idiots when our great “newsreaders” make programmes on ‘aman’ makes my blood curl
I have not gone through all the comments here but after reading this post a thought resurfaced in my mind. There is a friend of mind who works in a multinational insurance company. In the course of their work they forge a lot of documents like bank statement and income tax return using ms office on their computers. This is done to make the case acceptable to the organisation as the money is usually black and the known sources of income do not support such an investment. The insurance agents have to clear an exam by IRDA which they are not capable of clearing because of lack of education. But they have the ability to get business so they are essential to the insurance companies. Also people make their wives. Siblings etc insurance agents because they are not allowed to become themselves due to their existing profession or jobs. Such exams are cleared by proxies who charge a certain sum which is paid by people like my friend who need the business. At the exam the identity documents are required. My friend pays a certain individual for preparing voter id cards and pan cards. The charges are 200 to 500 rupees. My friend learnt all this after he joined the company from people who were already working there. His bosses are aware of the same as they themselves have helped in institutelizing these practices. This is what organised companies do. Well educated people employ these practices well aware of the monster they are building. They express pressure of stiff targets as excuse. The organisation itself condones this though not on paper. Since there is a demand people will ply their services and once they do it does not matter who is demanding the service as long as they get paid. This is true for banking, mutual funds and similar industries. It is the us armchair critics who help terrorists to do their job easily. They express their shock and dismay at such attacks and go on to do the same stuff next day. This helps in money laundering as well which is an important facet of terrorism. I am sure there are similar instances in other sections of the society and economy.
Unilateral and unconditional treatment for terrorism. Is that a tall order to ask? I am not sure the political/intellectual diaspora feel the pain. They should sign on to the purpose. Its time. That’s the basic minimum.
I used to have a lot of respect for PC, his “political correctness” has waned it down for me.
I just went through my comment above and i want to apologise for lack of punctuation and spelling mistakes. I typed it on my cellphone.
To all the people above who crib and rant and hope we were like Israel etc. We can surely hope for ‘economic progress’ comes around and solves all this. But a lot of these problems are due to the nature of lawlessness we have built into our daily lives which no economic progress will solve.
Think about the following:
Do I/my family/my friends watch pirated movies or listen to pirated songs?
Do I/my family/my friends break traffic rules?
Do I/my family/my friends bribe people in order to get work done / to avoid delays?
Do I/my family/my friends vote?
Do I/my family/my friends give a rats a$$ everytime a soldier loses his life?
Honestly answer these and you will realise that even in the most economically developed of our cities, none of this has changed. So unless each of us changes our mindset and has the guts to make our family and friends do the same, all our cribbing comes to nought.
SRK cancels his deal with Todis
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2010/02/22/13797/index.html
some sense driven eh….
The guy Ankik…I knew him (indirectly) and seeing him in the papers and in such a way was least expected…THis brings me to a truth…U realise how much it hurts when it finally hurts somewhere close…I felt so helpless and life seemed so futile after the event and this brings me to shed all hypocritical mannerisms of tolerance and be straight about certain issues
1)Lot of logic and counterlogic has been supplied against the military trial n rapid execution of a know killer but all I want to draw your attention to is how rapidly a Head of State (read Iraq) was tried and executed beofre the rest of the world cud spell S-A-D-D… This is justice my friends and not a farcical act put forward in the name of fair trial
2) That brings in forth logic by Sushrut about extradition policies and India banking on goodwill through tis acts of leniency. My friend, No strategic move in this world or no MoU is based on goodwill or image but mere exchange….The Bangladesh India treaty and exchange of ULFA leaders wasnt based on whether they’ll be kept in a 5star following the handover but issues like Investment and Padma river water. Theres a saying in bangla “FElo kori makho tel” (For Non Bongs,its “pay in coins if you want a massage”)
3) And speaking of reputations… a country suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks on 9/11. Resonse…Afghanistan ridded of a prejudiced sect which was accepted even my some national governments….A leading Terrorist organisation fleeing for its life….A tyrannical dictator beheaded….No further attacks in over 8 years….Final Outcome:- The whole world knows who not to mess wit
The other side of the coin….26/11….Several candles and debates….Numerous blasts…numerous dead after that….people discussing in a blog abput the fairness of trials and various methods available…Final outcome:- A vulnerable nation where all are welcome be it to play cricket or practise bombing targets
MERA BHARAT MAHAAN ….JAI HIND 😦
Sumit, The sense was driven evidently after the second most powerful Imam in Kolkata personally wrote to SRK.
I am looking forward to comments by Rishi Khujur and Hujur. Their analysis and perspectives are usally spot on scarily border on premonition.
Not seen those guys here in a while. Greatbong, did you hire them to sell books or what?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness
Good rant but you don’t really have any suggestions that would lead to a better outcome. Would executing/punishing Kasab with a secret trial have prevented further attacks? You know the truth, it wouldn’t have made a bit of a difference. If you think it would have, you’re deluded. Remember, nine of his accomplices were killed and that didn’t make any difference. So why are you complaining about his trial? Secondly, stop comparing India to US. The reasons US has not had a significant terrorist attack since 9/11 are simple: 1) With the heightened scrutiny, it’s really difficult to get terrorists to US and 2) There’s only a miniscule population in US who could provide safe harbor to such terrorists, or produce any indigenously. If US was bordered by large Muslim country and/or if there was a very large Muslim population in the US, the comparisons would make more sense.
There is no point, the bodies will keep on piling up. We are living with inhumans, monsters or devil incarnates. These people while wearing a thin veil of patriotism, harbour strong anti-indian sentiments while the govt (or the dynasty i must say) has done everything to appease them. It hurts me to be a part of majority and treated with such preferential treatment in my own country.
One blast in Malegaon( I think you should be aware of the demographics of this place) and we have alleged claims of complicity of sangh pariwar and indian army officers. On contrary, uncountable offences on the majority and no name pops up. You must realize now that govt is capable of executing these merchants of death but no action will ever be taken because it is more important to preserve/gain vote banks.
With BJP in shambles, third front and fouth front under ineffectual leadership, there is no way this dynasty rule would end.
No to mention we have a good share of arundhatis in our country. Maybe their passport should be canceled and they should be deported to the neighbours soon, to whom they are so sympathetic. it would be interesting to see for how long they continue to preserve their religious status or may be in fact it would be apt to predict the times when we get their heads parceled back.
Anyways I loved your analogies of peons. middlemen and upper management. Their characteristics are similar everywhere just their actions are different.
Hell Yeah this post has serious discriminatory undertones but unfortunately this is what I and (I believe) most of us feel.
May be slightly irrelevant, but since the topic was raised..
The MD of Lux Cozi is Snehasish Ganguly. so the contact between KKR and Lux need not be SRK in particular.
I say we give up on this little experiment of a multicultural South Asian democracy. It clearly has failed miserably. Incompetence and corruption reached insurmountable levels a decade ago and has been climbing exponentially ever since.
Let loose our nuke stockpile on our “peaceful” neighbour, the entire Middle East (except Israel), China and Somalia. Let the Scandinavians rule the world with an iron fist. They’re the only ones who’ve cultivated civilization.
@pensive: forgot your meds again?
@sumit
The most powerful imam recently brought the whole city to standstill over Taslima issue..newpapers were full of terrified pictures of young children from schools around park circus .. caught in crossfire between mindless communal crowd and mute policemen.
can’t we hire the mossad for a few supari , ahem ahem… , eliminations?
i very much agree with what you’ve written. in our country, death of a citizen in such attacks isn’t really taken that seriously, each death is perhaps merely considered as casualties of some bomb gone boom. it’s only the family and friends who suffer. here people are more interested in which party’s top boss comes to visit the dead body first. it all translates to vote bank politics anyway.
one might argue that contrary to USA’s position, India is surrounded by states that have instable government and are the breeding grounds of terrorist activities. but then, India is a fertile ground too, with all the corruption and mismanagement and the mindless wastage of time that ultimately leads to the denial of justice. and anyway, once the person is dead in the blast, where is justice for his or her? the person has already lost the life. justice to the people is also prevention of terrorist attacks. and the country isn’t really doing anything greatly productive in this field as far as i can recall.
anyway, people needs to be bothered about prevention of further attacks though how i have no clue. the people who had to die are dead. the siblings and their friends went to the school right opposite to my house. though i didn’t know them personally it has still affected me for it seems that it could have happened to me and my friends. though this is the truth it takes time to realise.
In every phase of life in India we can feel how less we value human life here … may be we have too many of them … may be we dont bother … or may be the inequalities in the society are so much that people dont have time for all this … still we dont stop talking … and need a topic for “aadda” .. These bomb-blasts jus provide a medium of entertainment to that section of the common-man who has not lost nebody in the blast and jus another story for our media .. thats all .. sick of all this shit … the ones who are behind all this .. would switch on TV and laugh at our apathy… and tomorrow we bow to them for peace talks .. Our leaders are always ready to take off their dhotis and lift up in the air announcing our surrender to the world …
In every phase of life in India we can feel how less we value human life here … may be we have too many of them … may be we dont bother … or may be the inequalities in the society are so much that people dont have time for all this … still we dont stop talking … and need a topic for “aadda” .. These bomb-blasts jus provide a medium of entertainment to that section of the common-man who has not lost nebody in the blast and jus another story for our media .. thats all .. sick of all this shit … the ones who are behind all this .. would switch on TV and laugh at our apathy… and tomorrow we bow to them for peace talks .. Our leaders are always ready to take off their dhotis and lift up in the air announcing our surrender to the world …
@GB
You removed the “Ahem Ahem” in your “after the second most powerful Imam in Kolkata personally wrote to SRK” comment.
Why?
As it is I have received a shitload of comments I had to remove because they were vile and directed at me (from both sides). The last thing I want to do is to have the SRK hounds adding their two bits on the wrong post.
whole is political funda. that’s it…..
on a different note, Rs.199 for ur book seems reasonable. will it be priced same off the shelf?
SSK, Yes. That is the MRP. Online will be cheaper.
The piece is excellent but a little short. It says what should not be done – but what needs to be done, where is the solution?
Look, nothing happens without incentive. It’s time we hired some mercenaries. If Kasab’s show trail ( interestingly this time the phrase refers to the opposite extreme) is irking so many, let’s pledge Rs. 50 each for whoever gets into prison and finishes him off. I would donate Rs.75, if the person tries something innovative and more inhuman, say like drawing and quartering him.
If so many of us are pissed off by the wastage of taxpayer’s money, the money pledged should be high enough.
If this works, we can pledge Rs 100 next time for Dawood, Azhar and other people from the managerial cadre.
Arnab,
First post in your blog that I found to be truly disappointing. You have researched a lot of stuff (as you usually do), but all your research has been to provide proof of what you’re saying, rather than trying to find out all the facts.
I remember a saying- “if you search truly hard, you will find order in chaos, peace in war, love in hate, and vice-versa”. Do try to write with a more balanced, rather than a reactionary view.
Som
The number of morons trotting out the old tired rejoinder “but what is the solushaan?” scares me. Even Internet-chugging NRIs can be so moronic! Dudes, GB is saying: “no matter what you do, you won’t stop these bastards — so STOP WASTING MONAAY” — what part of that do you not understand as a solution? Doesn’t it at least achieve one goal, viz., saving money and potentially directing it to IPL or Haaj subsidies?
Maybe there are good reasons for keeping Kasab alive. One reason that I can think of is that 26/11 will not be easily forgotten from our memories. I think a living kasab is better than a dead kasab. Moreover his desire for the 7 virgins at jannat should not be easily provided so that he may die later due to “a kind of whale” blast.
@Sushrut & JR: I agree with your points. It does us no credit as a nation to constitute a kangaroo court and hang Kasab as soon as possible just to mollify out thirst for revenge. We shouldn’t forget that the 10 of them had come to die anyway and it was by chance that Kasab lived. His death will solve nothing.
However his fairly transparent trial has shown the world that a) India will follow its constitution, and due process, and b) Pakistan is involved beyond reasonable doubt – they don’t even have plausible deniability here. Has this exposure changed Pakistan? No, admittedly. However, 26/11 and the subsequent investigations have removed all traces of doubt in the minds of world – forcing the Pak govt. to float a new tack – the “non-state actors” defence.
Lest we think that also does not change anything, consider this – after this the US senate has scaled back plenty of aid, forced them to repudiate and arrest some of these people, and most importantly put them on notice by keeping a close watch on Pak’s nuclear stockpile! The situation now is that the US has already implemented strategic “games” where they take over Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile in the event of another coup or danger of insurgents taking over. Most tellingly, they have leaked reports these strategic games so that Pakistan is now shitting bricks. They have also forced Pak to allow drone strikes pretty deep in their territory.
All this has happened with remarkable alacrity after 26/11.
If we suddenly took Kasab to an alley and summarily shot him, like the Chinese do, what would be our credibility in the eyes of the world? Do we rally want to have the same credibility as a Chinese or Guantanamo court, where the entire world thinks, and frequently knows, that the trials are a farce – and the outcome predetermined?
If we have to be extra-judicial – let’s be proactive and send assassination teams into Pak a la Mossad. But if we have someone in custody, we have to follow due process. That’s what our Constitution says. And that’s what we should all believe in.
If we have to be extra-judicial – let’s be proactive and send assassination teams into Pak a la Mossad. But if we have someone in custody, we have to follow due process. That’s what our Constitution says.
Shan, please read the post once again. Kasab is a military detainee. Note the word “military”. He is a foreign national waging war against the state. An illegal war since he is not uniformed and we are not at war against Pakistan. There is no question of the “due process” here. This is exactly what the US has done with 9/11 suspects. And as to your contention that the US has been doing “khel khele hum” with Pakistan, allow me to stay silent. Or rather say two words: Kerry-Lugar. And the close watch on Pak’s nuclear stockpile—thats for Israel’s benefit (so that stuff does not get “lost) and not for ours.
Isn’t it time you let go off the ‘Hinduyon ki zehniyat….’?
It was probably a foolish opinion blurted out in an emotional rant after being fed much fodder by the media in order to get a juicy scoop.
Too pessimistic, though.
the last para of GB’s blog…the one in brackets where he speaks against hateful comments pretty much mirrors the indian govts attitude. The worst is still to come though.
EMC3 – “Moreover his desire for the 7 virgins at jannat should not be easily provided.”
Agreed. But he might be expecting 72 Huris and 28 Gilmans.
Swati, why do you want to “hire the mossad for a few supari , ahem ahem… , eliminations?”
I see your point. Sometimes, a nation has to take hard decisions to survive, and nothing epitomizes that more than the Jews in Israel. But it bugs me that we are depending on others to save our necks. Aren’t you confident India can’t eliminate these $@@#% on her own? Common sis, don’t underestimate our boys ! Have confidence in your nation’s capabilities. We can do it. Yes we can.
I am reminded of what a military officer said in the Tehelka exposure. It went something like this – ‘Hamare desh me ek marta hai to hazaar aur paida ho jaate hai.’That is the attitude of the people who rule us.As long as they have their x y z levels of security they do not care how many of their countrymen die.
On the other hand we have Rumsfeld’s ‘Stuff happens.’They dont care how many people they kill in other countries as long as their own people are safe and their coffers fill up.
A very good piece. By the way I came across a news item recently stating that Maharashtra Govt had spent Rs 31 crore in a year for keeping kasab alive. It works out to nearly Rs 8 lakh a day!!
In your article you could have also highlighted the roles played by ‘Terrorist Bachao Andolan’ activists like Arundhati Roy
There was a time when I would look forward to every post of urs. If I were to be busy during the week, this would be my first blog on my Saturday night surf with a glass of whisky. And I would so often end up with a smile and admire your style and insight.
Unfortunately your recent stuff is increasingly indigestable. U dont loose an oppurtunity for Pakistan-bashing or for that matter “X”-bashing
where X=Typical object of hatred for middle class indians. The pearls that you would discover about MoonSquare or MithunGod and many others is few and far in between. The arguments are more like Bishen Bedi in “Match ka mujrim”
In other words u are transforming into a mainstream media outlet.
Not long before the google ads appear here then ?
One of many things maybe happening
a) With ur new book out and increasing exposure to humans working in the publishing business , u maybe loosing ur voice and adopting the chorus.
b) With ur middle age approaching , you may be reliving the life of of the roadside Shyamal Kaku with his “Bangalir dara kissu holo na” frustrated monologues.
c) You may have an hidden agenda to bring out the woodworks, people who define their life by hatred of the other kind by pretending to be one of them. People who hate the “systum” and look for stroking from each other describing how unfair that “systum” is in loud voices.
But either way , these one-sided analysis and lack of depth is annoying me . How about I come back in 6 months and see where u stand? It will be a shame if u have spent more than u have earned. Given that u had such wealth even a year ago
Bon Voyage.
@ Sourav
How about you explore the reasons behind “X=Typical object of hatred for middle class indians”, and come back in 6 months time to have a public debate.
it is the circumstances that compel others to commit crimes, otherwise no one is a born criminal. By punishing a few petty criminals, no purpose is going to be served, unless the persons abetting them for the crime are punished. I have been accused of cybercrime in the last year. I have not detailed knowledge on computer, but still the police accused me of hacking and circulating certain emails. Secondly, the office of the organization i used to work, was shown as my personal room and the computer was shown under my “exclusive” custody – all just to save the bigshots and the police continued to act on the basis of the false statements of my officers who themselves had the motive behind sending such emails (pertaining to election campaign in favour of a body to which i was not a member even, let alone contesting in that). Now everyone considers me a cyber criminal. The newspapers too published news against me without verifying the matter. This is india, and where you people are “proud of india”, I want to cease to be an indian.
Sourav – well said!
What is both disturbing and funny is the reference to the Outlook article on Gilani’s acquittal. Arnab is so convinced of the guilt of Gilani, Afzal et al that he’s chosen to either ignore or disregard the context of the article, which I would think most unbiased and rational people (let me change that to “people who believe in constitutional processes and the rule of law”) would read to conclude that the only thing Gilani could be possibly established to be guilty of is a sympathy with the “cause”.