In chamcha country, peanut republic, anything goes including jihadi terror to stay in satta
I suppose Sushma Swaraj’s allegation are meant to shock the nation that conspiring empress’ chamchas can go to any extent, including the use of suitcase votes to stay in sattaa. I wish every success to Sushma’s endeavors to prove the charges and send the chamchas to Luciana together with the empress. Innocent lives to complement suitcase votes? Shocking, beyond compare.
When there is death of outrage in the state, how to shock a nation? Sushma has tried. I hope she will succeed. The state is in total disarray with no rule of law in operation. Constitution and rules of procedures in the houses of Parliament have become laughing stocks, exemplified by the laughter of Somnath Chatterjee as he admonishes the shouting MPs. What to say of Somnath clining to power as MP when he has been expelled from his party? I suppose he is not beyond the law. But then, he may think he makes the law having studied for barrister-at-law and being a bhadralok Somnathda.
The problem is that these politico-s have lost all sense of shame and are immune to anything but suitcases seem to make them salivate.
kalyanaraman
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2462911/Muslim-students-back-killing-in-the-name-of-Islam.html
Muslim students back killing in the name of Islam
By Duncan Gardham,Telegraph.uk
July 27, 2008
A third of Muslim university students believe killing in the name of religion can be justified, a survey has revealed.
A study on the attitudes of students has found that 28 per cent said killing could be justified if the religion was under attack and another four per cent supported killing in order to "promote and preserve" the religion.
Over half of Muslims, 53 per cent, said killing in the name of religion was never justifiable but among non-Muslim students that figure was 94 per cent.
While most students showed a typical generation gap where their parents were more religious than they were – 72 per cent – a significant 18 per cent said they were more strict in their religious observance than their parents.
The importance of sharia law to most Muslim was underlined by the 40 per cent who said they supported its introduction into law for Muslims in Britain, although 37 per cent opposed it.
A third of those surveyed supported the creation of a worldwide Muslim caliphate but 25 per cent opposed it and 42 per cent said they were not sure.
Half of the students said they would not be supportive of a friend who wanted to leave Islam.
Hannah Stuart, from the Centre for Social Cohesion, co-author of the report, said: "These findings are deeply alarming. Students in higher education are the future leaders of their communities yet significant numbers of them appear to hold beliefs which contravene liberal, democratic values.
"In addition there are signs of growing religious segregation on campus. These results are deeply embarrassing for those who have said that there is no extremism in British universities."
There are 90,000 Muslims among Britain's 2.3 million students in high education and the online survey asked 600 Muslims and 800 non-Muslims for their views on the religion.
Radicalisation among students has been a problem since the 1990s, with three of the July 7 bombers having attended university, along with most of the gang which planned a fertilizer bomb attack on the Bluewater shopping centre and the Ministry of Sound night club.
Ahmed Omar Sheikh, convicted of the kidnap and murder of the journalist Daniel Pearl, was a former student at LSE and Waseem Mughal, convicted of running a website for al-Qaeda in Iraq, was a former biochemistry student at Leicester University.
Mughal was a member of the university Islamic society, and the fertilizer bomber Jawad Akbar attended Islamic society meetings at Brunel University, while Yassin Nassari, convicted of smuggling plans for a Qassam rocket into Britain, was president of the University of Westminster's Islamic society at its Harrow campus in Northwest London.
The Government has attempted to encourage lecturers to report students they suspect of radical behaviour but the University and College Union has refused to do so.
A quarter of those surveyed were members of their Islamic society – compared with six per cent for other faiths - but only a third said the societies promoted interfaith activities.
Over a third of students said they used the campus prayer room regularly and 42 per cent said they regularly attended Friday prayers, although only a small proportion attending prayers were female.
None of the students admitted to being gay or lesbian and 25 per cent said they had little or no respect for others who were.
When it came to wearing the hijab or headscarf, 59 per cent said it was important, with more women than men agreeing, but 31 per cent said it was not and 10 per cent said they were not sure, with more men than women being uncertain.
A quarter of students said men and women were not equal in the eyes of Allah and seven per cent were not sure, with more women than men feeling unequal.
By contrast 76 per cent of non-muslim believed that men and women were not equal in Islam.
Nearly half of women and 36 per cent of men believe that the "free mixing" of sexes is not acceptable, while nine per cent of women and 17 per cent of men are unsure.
Despite their adherence to religion it did not stop most Muslim from mixing with other religions – 37 per cent said they had friends at university from all sorts of different backgrounds and 38 per cent said religion was not an issue when choosing friends and only eight per cent said most of their friends at university were Muslim.
More than two thirds of the students said Islam was compatible with the Western notion of democracy, and only 13 per cent said it was not, although 19 per cent were not sure. Half of non-Muslim students thought the two were incompatible.
Three quarters of the students also said that it is possible to be both Muslim and British equally, although only three per cent said being British came first. Nearly half said they were not bothered whether they married a British partner or not.
On the other hand 57 per cent of the students said Muslims serving in the armed forces should have the right to opt out of the army if they are required to fight in Muslim countries and 25 per cent said they were not sure.
The National Union of Students said: "We know there is concern about the serious issue of violent extremism on campus, but there is a wealth of evidence to show that this is not widespread. This report actually undermines cohesion and the joint efforts of students, institutions and government in tackling violent extremism."
Related story:
Vow to raise Holy War Kids @ http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/vow-to-raise-kids-for-holy-war/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/28/turkey2/print
Istanbul rocked by bomb attacks
Robert Tait in Ankara
guardian.co.uk,
Monday July 28 2008
An injured man is taken to hospital following the explosions in Istanbul. Photograph: AFP/Getty images
Turkey's political landscape was plunged further into turmoil last night when two bombs exploded in a packed pedestrian square in Istanbul, killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 150, in what officials called a terrorist attack.
In the deadliest bomb attacks in the country for almost five years, the two explosions, a few metres apart, were detonated within minutes of each other.
They were set off by devices left in rubbish bins in a busy shopping street in Gungoren, a working-class neighbourhood in the west of the city.
The prime minister, Recip Tayyip Erdogan, today cancelled his weekly cabinet meeting in Ankara and travelled to the area hit by the bombs.
The blasts underscored the divisions cutting through the country as a power struggle between secularists and the Islamist-leaning government comes to a head.
The ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) faces possible closure by the constitutional court for alleged anti-secularism in a hearing that begins today. Separately, 86 militant secularists were indicted last week for allegedly plotting to unseat the AKP in a violent coup.
The first bomb went off at about 10pm local time. It exploded near a telephone booth, throwing flying glass and debris into crowds that left several people dead or wounded.
As people gathered to help the injured or to see what had happened, a second device went off near a car, killing and maiming more people.
"We know it is a terrorist attack, but which organisation is responsible - we don't yet have that information," said Hayati Yazici, the deputy prime minister.
Early suspicion fell on Kurdish rebels, who have been responsible for countless bomb attacks over the past 25 years.
Islamist radicals have also bombed targets in Turkey; less than three weeks ago they attacked the US consulate in Istanbul.
TV footage last night showed several people lying in pools of blood around the blast site. "Tens of people were scattered around. People's heads and arms were flying in the air," Reuters quoted one witness as saying.
Police said the casualties from the second explosion were increased by the numbers drawn to the scene of the earlier blast.
Huseyin Senturk, who owns a shoe shop near the scene, said: "The first explosion was not very strong. Several people came to see what was going on. That's when the second explosion occurred and it injured many onlookers."
There was early speculation that the explosions may have been caused by a gas leak but Istanbul's governor, Muammer Guler, labelled them a terror attack. He said the explosions had occurred within 12 minutes of each other and that CCTV cameras had filmed the devices being planted.
"This was a heinous attack aimed against innocent citizens and the security of our people," Guler said.
"It did not discriminate between young and old, men or women. There is no doubt this is a terror attack. The fact that there was a crowd in the area has increased the number of casualties."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Turkish TV quoted police sources as saying they had received intelligence of planned attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been blamed for previous incidents.
The PKK today denied any involvement in the bombing. "The Kurdish freedom movement has nothing to do with this event. This cannot be linked to the PKK," Zubeyir Aydar, a rebel leader, said.
The Turkish army last week stepped up attacks on PKK bases in northern Iraq. More than 40,000 people have died in clashes between the army and the PKK since 1984.
Yesterday's bombings were Turkey's second attack this month and the worst since November 2003, when 60 people were killed in Istanbul in four blasts, blamed on al-Qaida. Gunmen killed three police officers outside the US consulate in Istanbul three weeks ago before they were shot dead.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/28/turkey
Analysis
Tension between secular state and religious faith
Robert Tait
The Guardian,
Monday July 28 2008
Bomb attacks, blamed principally on Kurdish guerrillas but also perpetrated by Islamist extremists, have killed hundreds and brought carnage to Turkish cities, resorts and military targets for a generation.
But the tension between moderate Islam and the state goes back further, to the foundation of the modern secular Turkish state by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk more than 80 years ago.
Islam may have been removed from the offices of state, but it has remained the majority culture, and moderate Islamist parties have proven popular. The AKP's forerunner, the Islamic Welfare party, won power in 1996, only to be driven out a year later on similar charges to those now facing the AKP.
The attempt to close the AKP was triggered in February by a constitutional amendment - since annulled - lifting the universities' ban on the female headscarf, long suspected by the secular establishment as a symbol of political Islam.
But a 161-page indictment compiled by the chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, alleges numerous other anti-secular moves, including attempts to clamp down on alcohol by local authorities.
Proposals to bring in halal food standards were never enacted but have led to many firms feeling obliged to apply them, prosecutors say.
Some teachers point to a surge in religious education. Health professionals have also reported a rise in cases of religious female doctors declining to treat male patients, and husbands refusing to allow their wives to be treated by male doctors.
Alevis, a heterodox sect that shuns many traditional Islamic practices, complain of being subjected to "neighbourhood pressure" - with devout locals checking to see if they are fasting during Ramadan and inviting women to Qur'an-reading sessions at which they must wear headscarves.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/28/turkey.islam
Islam: Secularists raise tension as Turkish court prepares landmark judgment on ruling AKP
· Leading prosecutor wants Islamist party shut down
· EU officials condemn move as anti-democratic
Robert Tait in Ankara
The Guardian,
Monday July 28 2008
A senior Turkish prosecutor has raised tensions on the eve of a landmark court case that could leave Turkey without a government and deeply divided by warning that it is in danger of an "intolerant" Islamic takeover.
In an interview with the Guardian, Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, chairman of the association of judges and prosecutors (Yarsav) and deputy to Turkey's chief prosecutor, said the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) was seeking a system of sharia law that would destroy the country's secular system and transform it into an Islamic state.
He claimed the government had exposed its true agenda in a series of measures, including attempts to establish halal standards in food production, signing bilateral agreements underwritten by "Islamic laws" with fellow Muslim countries, increasing religious education at state schools and trying to allow female students to wear headscarves at university.
The moves were aimed at reviving an Islamic consciousness dormant since the end of the Ottoman Empire, Eminagaoglu warned, leading to a religious society where secular lifestyles were discouraged and women denied equal status.
"The basis of the case against the AKP is intolerance," he said.
"A sharia system is, by its nature, intolerant of other thoughts, beliefs and practices. Just like fascism in Italy or nazism in Germany, sharia is a sensitive issue in Turkey. With a small spark it can turn into a social movement. We had a sharia-based system during Ottoman times and our society still has traces of it. We don't want to go back to that."
The comments came as the constitutional court prepares to open hearings today that could result in the AKP's dissolution. The court's 11 judges will consider an application by the chief prosecutor, Aburrahman Yalcinkaya - Eminagaoglu's immediate boss at the supreme court of appeals - to close the party and ban 71 senior members, including the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the president Abdullah Gul, from party politics for anti-secularism.
A decision is expected this week. If the party is closed and its leaders banned, it could lead to early elections, with the AKP competing under a different banner and figures such as Erdogan running as independents.
Eminagaoglu's remarks appeared timed to counter fears among Turkey's secular establishment that the AKP is winning a PR battle at home and abroad to depict itself as innocent. The party, which has held power since 2002 and was re-elected last July with 47% of the vote, denies the accusations against it and claims it is the victim of a "judicial coup". It has won the backing of senior European officials, who have condemned the attempted closure as anti-democratic and warned that it could damage Turkey's EU membership bid.
However, Eminagaoglu insisted the case heeded EU regulations and said European critics understood neither Turkey nor Islam. "Islam is not like Christianity. It doesn't just aim to be practised in the realm of belief but also to regulate and rule the state," he said.
"If you look at Islamic countries, the headscarf isn't an expression of religious belief but the symbol of an Islamic regime. Turkey isn't an Islamic country, it's a democratic country. For Europe to be correctly informed, its officials should talk not just to the governing party, which is engaged in anti-secular activity, but to other institutions in Turkey."
The blunt remarks contrasted with the conciliatory tone struck by Erdogan, who called at the weekend for national unity. He told the pro-secularist newspaper, Hurriyet, that the impasse had been created by an "elitist group" who wanted to govern in their own interests.
However, senior AKP figures privately admit that the party needlessly alarmed opponents by reforming the law banning headscarves at universities and by pushing Gul's presidential candidacy last year, despite the military's opposition because of his Islamist past.
"There are ordinary men and women on the street who do not want to change their lifestyles and are opposed to our party," said Yasar Yakis, an AKP MP and former foreign minister. "We should have done something to dissipate the worries of those who believe we will bring in sharia law."
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, July 28, 2008
First Published: 18:49 IST(28/7/2008)
Last Updated: 20:28 IST(28/7/2008)
Blasts in B'lore, Ahmedabad a conspiracy: BJP
BJP on Monday made a surprise allegation that the weekend blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were a conspiracy to divert attention from the 'cash-for-votes' scandal.
The party also claimed that the blasts in two states ruled by it also made it believe that there was something more than meets the eye.
"The blasts are a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal," party leader Sushma Swaraj said in a press conference in New Delhi claiming that the incidents took place just a few days after the government won the trust vote.
"These are not off-the-cuff remarks. I mean what I say," she added.
When asked if she was pointing towards the Centre and alleging that the Congress-led UPA government had a role in the blasts, she said, "I have said what I wanted, it is for you all to interpret the rest."
The senior BJP leader also alleged that the blasts were an "attempt to win-over the Muslim votes which got divided after the pro-American deal pursued by the government."
Swaraj claimed that the blasts and its locations had enough "circumstantial evidence" to support her charge.
"Attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA government winning the confidence vote has some meaning and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence," she said.
She said absence of an anti-terror law like that of the POTA was the prime reason for the increased terrorist activity in the country.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=cc5386c6-fb16-46c8-aeba-c12f5e8cf68d
BJP points finger at government for terror blasts
July 28th, 2008 - 9:36 pm ICT by IANS - Email This Post
New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) The terror blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad are a “conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj alleged Monday and claimed the party has “enough circumstantial evidence” to prove it. “The blasts are a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal. It is not a off-the-cuff remark. I mean what I say,” Swaraj told reporters here.
“Attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government winning the trust vote has some meaning, and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence,” Swaraj said.
In the serial bombings in Bangalore Friday, eight bomb blasts ripped through the city, killing one person and injuring seven others. In the Ahmedabad bombings Saturday, 21 blasts tore through the city, killing 50 people and injuring over 200 people. Both Karnataka and Gujarat are BJP-ruled states.
When asked if she was pointing fingers at the Manmohan Singh government as being behind the blasts, she said: “I have said what I wanted, it is for you all to interpret the rest.”
Three BJP MPs - Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora - alleged on the day of the trust vote July 22 that Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel had bribed them to abstain from the crucial floor test.
The three waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha and alleged they had been offered Rs.90 million each to abstain during the trust vote and been paid an advance of Rs.10 million each.
While both Amar Singh and Patel have denied the charges, a seven-member committee has been formed to probe the matter.
Swaraj said the blasts were an “attempt to win-over the Muslim votes after the pro-American deal pursued by the government” - referring to the India-US civil nuclear deal.
She said the absence of an anti-terror law like POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act) was the prime reason for the increased terrorist activity in the country.
“Let them replace the name and not call it POTA, but the country today badly needs an anti-terror law. There is this misconception that POTA is against the Muslims, it is in fact against the mujrims (culprits),” she said.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/bjp-points-finger-at-government-for-terror-blasts_10076988.html
BJP, Congress disunited in war against terror
CNN-IBN (July 28, 2008 20;23)
SCATHING ATTACK: Sushma hints at a conspiracy to the fact that two BJP ruled states were attacked within 24 hours.
New Delhi: The war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over the serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad has intensified.
Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has raised an accusing finger at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government for the blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
"The blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad reek of a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash for vote allegations and also to bring back the Muslim vote which the Government has lost due to the nuclear deal," Sushma alleged.
Sushma also hinting at a conspiracy to the fact that two BJP ruled states came under attack in 24 hours.
"The attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA Government winning the confidence vote has some meaning and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence," she said.
The Congress reacted strongly to Sushma's charge.
Congress Spokesperson Manish Tiwari said the party would be responding legally to BJP's charge.
"How can she make such an irresponsible statement? We will take legal recourse," Tiwari said.
Congress media cell chief M Veerappa Moily, too, reacted angrily to BJP's accusations.
"Sushma Swaraj's words are outrageous and full of venom against the Congress. The BJP has forgotten the tenets of dharma after losing the trust vote. They are linking the terror attacks with the loss in the trust vote. This matter is above politics and above religion. We will take d matter to the court if required," Moily said.
Meanwhile, the UPA is reported to be considering postponing the Monsoon Session of Parliament from August to November.
The ruling alliance is believed to be worried about being hit by criticism from the Opposition over the terror strikes in Bangalore and Ahmedabad and the cash for votes allegations.
The National Democratic Alliance met on Monday and is reportedly planning about bringing a No Confidence Motion against the Central Government. It is upset with reports about a possible postponement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
http://www.ibnlive.com/printpage.php?id=69782§ion_id=3
Monday, July 28, 2008
Jihadi terror and the farce of war on terror in Hindusthan
Jihadi terror and the farce of war on terror in Hindusthan
We get sporadic reports of the type listed below and then life goes back to poverty as usual. Smas’aana vairaagyam. There is no concerted and sincere effort to realize that this is a war on jihadism and this has to be fought relentlessly as a war on jihadism and fought to win.
Empress’ chamchas provide periodic sound bytes and go back to their corruption chores. Empress is secure in 10 Janpath and this seems to be the be-all and end-all of ensuring national security, ensuring security for the helpless child in a marketplace who is targeted by the jihadi terrorists. Columnists and security analysts keep guessing what the message of jihadi terrorists is. It is simple, straightforward: it is ok to kill non-believers to achieve jihad. Read the texts which the jihadis believe in to realize this truth.
Kalyanaraman
Two suspected terrorists held in Chennai
28 Jul 2008, 1311 hrs IST,IANS
CHENNAI: The Chennai police on Monday arrested two suspected terrorists believed to be involved in serial bombings in Bangalore and Ahmedabad during the weekend.
The suspects, Qazi Rahim, 31, and K Abdul Kader, 27, were named by Sheikh Abdul Ghaffoor, who was arrested on Sunday in Tirunelveli, 600 km from Chennai.
Ghafoor was planning blasts in Tamil Nadu and other parts of India on Independence Day, police officials said.
According to the officials, on initial interrogation Ghafoor revealed that he was an operative of a terrorist ring that calls itself "believers in one god", whose kingpin is said to be Pakistan-trained P Ali Abdullah, arrested in 2003 and lodged in high security Puzhal prison, 20 km from here.
Police officials reckon this ring had worked out logistics of the serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The back-to-back synchronised bomb blasts hit the cities Friday and Saturday. The attacks claimed the lives of 46 people and left over 150 injured.
While Rahim is from Tirunelveli, Kader is from Chennai. The two were being taken to Tirunelveli for further questioning, the officials added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/2_suspected_terrorists_held_in_TN/articleshow/3295751.cms
7 kg of explosives recovered in Channapatna
Karnataka Bureau (The Hindu, July 28, 2008)
Several persons detained for questioning in connection with blasts in Bangalore
Samples collected at blast sites sent for tests
Bangalore police alert their Kerala counterparts
BANGALORE: Even as the Bangalore police have detained several persons for questioning in connection with the explosions that rocked the city on Friday, the Channapatna police have recovered 7 kg. of explosive material from a blast site.
Though the explosion took place at Channapatna in Ramanagaram district on Thursday, no alert was sounded in Ramanagaram district or other parts of the State.
Director general and Inspector general of Police R. Sri Kumar, who visited the blast sites in the city on Sunday, said that the police were examining the explosive material recovered in Channapatna.
“Many persons are being questioned and we are in the process of gathering information from them. The investigations are progressing satisfactorily,” Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari told presspersons here on Sunday. Mr. Bidari said samples collected at the blast sites had been sent to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory.
The police have found that the explosives used in Bangalore and Channapatna were similar.
The Bangalore police have alerted their Kerala counterparts after a reporter of a local TV channel received a call from a person speaking Hindi who warned that Kerala was the next target and bombs were likely to explode across the State after 7 p.m. on Sunday.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/28/stories/2008072855460100.htm
Sleeper cells make all the difference to terror strikes
Vicky Nanjappa in Bengaluru | July 28, 2008 | 07:00 IST
Friday's serial blasts in Bengaluru and a day later in Ahmedabad are an indication that terror outfits are able to strike at will. And providing this capability, is a network of sleeper cells, say agencies involved with the probe.
The Intelligence Bureau says all terror strikes are executed through sleeper cells, with the latter either directly involved in the attacks or, two, by providing logistical support to those who carry out the attacks.
The IB provides the example of Afsar Pasha, a terror suspect arrested in Karnataka who disclosed a plan to blast the Vidhan Soudha and other key installations in Karnataka, to explain how the network operates.
Pasha was the member of a sleeper cell in Karwar, coastal Karnataka, and worked as a mechanic. The IB says most sleeper cell operatives hold a regular job for most part of the year. Arrests across the country show that most of the youth who are part of sleeper cells work as mechanics, STD booth operators and, in some cases, insurance agents.
The IB points out that these jobs involve meeting a lot of people which in turn helps them gather data. Of late, there is also an increasing trend to recruit educated youth. However, their role is largely restricted to data collection and improvising techniques during terror strikes, says IB.
Mechanic Afsar Pasha revealed during his interrogation that his initial job was largely confined to gathering data and providing logistical support. However, as he gained more experience, he was directed to take part in field activities, meaning he had to actively take part in terror strikes.
The IB says based on the interrogation of several terrorists they have gathered considerable information regarding the working of sleeper cells. For the most part they remain inactive, apart from collecting data, training cadres and doing recruitments. The data is passed on to their supervisors through e-mail and/or on the telephone.
Once the decision is taken to strike, a couple of members from the sleeper cells are chosen to carry out the attack. The persons undertaking the attack are known as foot soldiers, the IB says.
A set pattern is that members of local sleeper cells are usually not the ones who carry out an attack in their jurisdiction. A person from another sleeper cell is sent in for this, with the local member only providing logistical support.
The IB also says members of sleeper cells work as a close-knit group. Normally, in a serial terror strike, nearly 10 people are involved. While a team of five would plant the bombs, two work as a back-up and the rest would provide data.
The IB says there is a general belief that the sleeper cells are housed away from the main city or town area, and in busy market areas so that the members can blend in with the crowds. An IB document states, 'It is not necessary for visiting terrorists to make a beeline to the... (local rendezvous points). The handlers from their intelligence agencies provide them with a blueprint of hubs or cells.'
The IB further states that the sleeper cells which are patronised by Pakistan are mainly involved in collection of geographical and geo-strategic information. Until a few years back these cells only undertook intelligence-related work, but with the Indianisation of jihad gaining ground, sleeper cells have been directed to carry out the attacks.
The IB says the functioning of sleeper cells could be summed up as:
Evaluation of intelligence input
Selection of target
Selection of volunteers
Preparation of bomb squads, usually three of them
Identification of targets in India
In case outsiders are doing the strike, their transportation
Providing safe houses
Putting together the explosives
Identifying talent within the cell to plant the device
Dispersal and evacuation
http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/jul/28vicky.htm
'Terrorists have sent a message that the claim of security is hollow'
Sheela Bhatt in Ahmedabad | July 28, 2008 | 11:23 IST
"We expected it earlier when other cities like Hyderabad and Jaipur were hit by terrorists," says poet Chinu Modi about the Ahmedabad blasts.
The surprise element was missing when Ahmedabad was rocked by 17 bomb explosions because at the back of people's mind many knew that the Gujarat riots of 2002 may lead to such a violent reaction.
Yet, the blasts of July 26 carry something more than the element of surprise. The act is shocking and incomprehensible because of the mastery of the strategic planning, the perfection of the execution and the bloody impact in terms of the political message it has left behind.
Since the blasts, Ahmedabadis are debating three issues:
1. Experts and common people are stumped to see the selection of the locations for planting the bombs.
2. The blasts were executed when a 'red alert' was declared in Ahmedabad after the blasts in Bangalore.
3. The extent of the involvement of local people and the secrecy maintained by the perpetrators of the act has shocked the residents of the city, which is still known as an 'overgrown village.'
"The blasts are part of the pan-Indian phenomenon and it is also aimed at the Bharatiya Janata Party government," believes Ghanshyam Shah, a former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and an authority on communal riots in Gujarat.
He argues that these blasts may not be exclusively connected to the riots of 2002 when more than 1,000 Muslims died in widespread communal riots after the Sabarmati Express was set on fire burning 59 Hindu passengers at the Godhra railway station.
Professor Shah says there was a surprise when after the violence of the majority, the minority community did not show their anger "in natural process."
He attributes it to the fact that the Muslims of Gujarat are diffident. "I see more and more diffidence in them. Muslims in Gujarat have realised that there is no solution of the issue (communal politics)."
However, he is not denying the involvement of Gujarati Muslims in the serial blasts. "The large terrorist group must have taken the support of local people. But I don't see the widespread support of Gujarati Muslims to such violence at all," he says.
To further support his argument that Gujarati Muslims by and large do not support the blasts to avenge the riots of 2002, he says, "In 1992, Surat witnessed communal riots (some Muslims were then burnt alive). Soon after, the plague spread in the city. At that time, Surti Muslims in the city were heard saying, 'Khuda e sajha kari' (God has punished them). But after the 2002 riots, I see an unusually high level of diffidence in them and we don't hear such remarks."
Professor Shah argues that when the Muslim community lives in isolation and in ghettos, it is easier for outsiders to get a handful of people to support their activity.
One of the surprises of Saturday's blasts was that except one blast in Sarkhej, all the blasts were executed in East Ahmedabad, which includes the highly communally sensitive walled city area. The accuracy of the planning suggests that a person with a complete grip on the social-political mindset of the city and its communal geography must be behind the blasts.
No one in this shaken city doubts that these blasts were planned by someone who has a thorough knowledge of the past 25 years history of communally sensitive areas and the Sangh Parivar's role in it.
The terrorists have targeted the constituencies of four veteran leaders belonging to the saffron brigade. Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Ashok Bhatt, one of the oldest faces of the communal friction in the city, and Dr Pravin Togadia, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader.
Four blasts occurred in Modi's constituency -- Maninagar. Sarkhej is in Shah's constituency while the Dhanvantri hospital in Bapunagar has been run by Dr Togadia for many decades. The blast in Raipur was right at the spot where Bhatt has held daily meetings with his supporters for the last 40 years.
"The planners knew where the victims would go for emergency treatment and they hit those hospitals. L G hospital was targeted because victims from the Maninagar blasts would obviously go there because it is close by. They knew the social geography very well," says Achyut Yagnik, the Ahmedabad-based socio-political thinker.
Yagnik is writing a book on Ahmedabad -- which will complete 600 years in 2011 -- along with fellow writer Suchitra Sheth. He points out that blasts were carried out in BJP-dominated areas of the working class and not in posh or middle class areas.
Secondly, the bombs were planted in places where Dalit and Muslims live side by side. Those well-versed with the communal history of Ahmedabad know how the Dalits and Muslims have been at loggerheads in these areas.
Bapunagar, Raipur, Sarangpur are areas that have seen communal tension in 1985, 1990-1992 and also during the 2002 riots.
"There is no doubt that Hindu-Muslim neighbourhoods have been targeted in these serial blasts," says Yagnik.
In Ahmedabad, the political movement to capture Hindu and Muslim minds is carried on by political parties inside these areas where Dalits and Muslims co-exist side by side. It is not difficult to decipher why these areas and hospitals have been hit by the terrorists.
"The terrorists have served twin goals. By hitting BJP-dominated areas, they have sent the message to the chief minister that his claim of security is hollow. In spite of a red alert in the city, they have shown their capacity to strike at places they want. Second, by hitting hospitals in a cruel and dastardly manner they have caused the maximum damage."
http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/jul/28ahd4.htm
Terror's scary face
The Pioneer Edit Desk
India pays for Congress's folly
Saturday's serial bombings in Ahmedabad, within 24 hours of the terrorist attack on Bangalore, serve to highlight the fact that our internal security situation is rapidly deteriorating even as the Union Government, under the Congress's tutelage and headed by a Prime Minister seemingly indifferent to national concerns, refuses to be distracted from the India-US nuclear deal which has become the symptom of the regime's obsessive compulsive disorder. It is obvious that the bombings -- both in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, and before that in Jaipur -- are aimed at creating panic and spreading fear; those behind the blasts have demonstrated that they can strike anywhere at any time. It is equally obvious that those who planned and carried out these acts of terrorism expect a blowback in the form of communal violence. A third factor which merits mention is that BJP-ruled States are being targeted for murder and mayhem; this perception naturally leads to the conclusion that a larger game is being played whose purpose does not require elaboration. Was the effort to instigate communal riots in Indore during the protest against the Sri Amarnath land issue a part of this conspiracy? In retrospect, it would seem so. Seen against this backdrop, the BJP Governments must rise to the occasion and meet the challenge with unwavering determination: Agent provocateurs will no doubt seek to exploit the situation; they must be spotted, exposed and firmly dealt with. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has rightly described the perpetrators of Saturday's outrage as "enemies of humanity". They must be neutralised and their network of evil should be destroyed.
Strangely, the Union Government has shown little or no interest in last weekend's terrorist strikes, apart from issuing proforma statements condeming the violence and appealing for peace. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who has contributed the most to dismantling the anti-terrorism mechanism put together by the NDA Government, partly on account of the fact that he is unequal to his job and largely to implement the Congress's perverse agenda of appeasing Muslims by pandering to Islamic fanatics who define terrorism as jihad and are at ease with innocent people being slaughtered, has tried to pass the buck to the Governments of Karnataka and Gujarat. According to him, the terrible loss of lives and the resultant disquiet bear testimony to the 'abilities' of local authorities and the police; had he said anything different, there would have been occasion for surprise. The truth is that the chickens of the UPA Government's chicanery are coming home to roost. The Prime Minister and his aides -- among them Mr Patil and a National Security Adviser who, along with intelligence agencies, is busy helping the Congress achieve its political objectives -- have allowed the situation to come to such a sorry pass. They must be held accountable for the consequences; their pious declarations should not distract us from their monumental folly in allowing terrorists to spread their tentacles across the country. Having got rid of POTA and instituted a system that takes a libertine view of terrorism, the UPA Government is now bent upon hobbling the Governments of BJP-ruled States with the intent of preventing them from waging war on terror. Had this not been the case, the UPA Government would not have sat on the laws enacted by the State Assemblies of Rajasthan and Gujarat to combat terrorism and organised crime. Such cynical abuse of power is both a shame and a pity.
http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit1.txt&counter_img=1
Time to question
The Indian Express
Posted online: Monday, July 28, 2008 at 0048 hrs IST
Terror is pathology. But so it seems, in India, is the government’s response to terror. The one score and some serial bombs in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were met with cringe-inducing official harrumphs from Delhi that warnings had been given. It is time to ask what the Union government means when it says warnings were available. Is it the case that the Centre’s, or specifically the home ministry’s, radars are always buzzing efficiently with actionable information that is not acted upon by inefficient state governments? If so, why doesn’t the Centre say it straight? They have a duty to the nation to say it. And if that is not the case, as one strongly suspects is not the case, why take this, to put it bluntly, awful way to pass the parcel? It has to be said, in the context of this trait, that the UPA’s whole approach to terror has been scarily confusing.
The present home minister will demit office as having made a spectacular non-impression as far as his leadership of national security efforts go. It took the prime minister, that too after more than half of the UPA’s term in office was over, to say Naxalites were a high-priority threat to the idea of India. Can you recall the home minister taking political leadership of this national security issue? Can you recall him owning up to his remit as home minister vis-a-vis terror? And let’s remember that while strong and clear political positions are no guarantees against stopping terror, their absence severely weakens the government’s fight against it.
More than four years after the UPA took over, not a single terror attack has been brought to closure in terms of catching the perpetrators and putting them through the mills of justice. There’s investigative failure of a scale that would have in normal circumstances consumed the career of several ministers — but in the UPA the home ministry seems to have acquired immunity from even the most obvious of questions. It’s long been known that security agencies are in part handicapped by a certain absurd notion of political correctness — a notion that implicates the very people it professes to protect. The convenient political assumption in India is that voters don’t punish governments who appear to be ineffective against terror. This government really has pushed that assumption to its limit.
http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/341208.html
We get sporadic reports of the type listed below and then life goes back to poverty as usual. Smas’aana vairaagyam. There is no concerted and sincere effort to realize that this is a war on jihadism and this has to be fought relentlessly as a war on jihadism and fought to win.
Empress’ chamchas provide periodic sound bytes and go back to their corruption chores. Empress is secure in 10 Janpath and this seems to be the be-all and end-all of ensuring national security, ensuring security for the helpless child in a marketplace who is targeted by the jihadi terrorists. Columnists and security analysts keep guessing what the message of jihadi terrorists is. It is simple, straightforward: it is ok to kill non-believers to achieve jihad. Read the texts which the jihadis believe in to realize this truth.
Kalyanaraman
Two suspected terrorists held in Chennai
28 Jul 2008, 1311 hrs IST,IANS
CHENNAI: The Chennai police on Monday arrested two suspected terrorists believed to be involved in serial bombings in Bangalore and Ahmedabad during the weekend.
The suspects, Qazi Rahim, 31, and K Abdul Kader, 27, were named by Sheikh Abdul Ghaffoor, who was arrested on Sunday in Tirunelveli, 600 km from Chennai.
Ghafoor was planning blasts in Tamil Nadu and other parts of India on Independence Day, police officials said.
According to the officials, on initial interrogation Ghafoor revealed that he was an operative of a terrorist ring that calls itself "believers in one god", whose kingpin is said to be Pakistan-trained P Ali Abdullah, arrested in 2003 and lodged in high security Puzhal prison, 20 km from here.
Police officials reckon this ring had worked out logistics of the serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The back-to-back synchronised bomb blasts hit the cities Friday and Saturday. The attacks claimed the lives of 46 people and left over 150 injured.
While Rahim is from Tirunelveli, Kader is from Chennai. The two were being taken to Tirunelveli for further questioning, the officials added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/2_suspected_terrorists_held_in_TN/articleshow/3295751.cms
7 kg of explosives recovered in Channapatna
Karnataka Bureau (The Hindu, July 28, 2008)
Several persons detained for questioning in connection with blasts in Bangalore
Samples collected at blast sites sent for tests
Bangalore police alert their Kerala counterparts
BANGALORE: Even as the Bangalore police have detained several persons for questioning in connection with the explosions that rocked the city on Friday, the Channapatna police have recovered 7 kg. of explosive material from a blast site.
Though the explosion took place at Channapatna in Ramanagaram district on Thursday, no alert was sounded in Ramanagaram district or other parts of the State.
Director general and Inspector general of Police R. Sri Kumar, who visited the blast sites in the city on Sunday, said that the police were examining the explosive material recovered in Channapatna.
“Many persons are being questioned and we are in the process of gathering information from them. The investigations are progressing satisfactorily,” Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari told presspersons here on Sunday. Mr. Bidari said samples collected at the blast sites had been sent to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory.
The police have found that the explosives used in Bangalore and Channapatna were similar.
The Bangalore police have alerted their Kerala counterparts after a reporter of a local TV channel received a call from a person speaking Hindi who warned that Kerala was the next target and bombs were likely to explode across the State after 7 p.m. on Sunday.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/28/stories/2008072855460100.htm
Sleeper cells make all the difference to terror strikes
Vicky Nanjappa in Bengaluru | July 28, 2008 | 07:00 IST
Friday's serial blasts in Bengaluru and a day later in Ahmedabad are an indication that terror outfits are able to strike at will. And providing this capability, is a network of sleeper cells, say agencies involved with the probe.
The Intelligence Bureau says all terror strikes are executed through sleeper cells, with the latter either directly involved in the attacks or, two, by providing logistical support to those who carry out the attacks.
The IB provides the example of Afsar Pasha, a terror suspect arrested in Karnataka who disclosed a plan to blast the Vidhan Soudha and other key installations in Karnataka, to explain how the network operates.
Pasha was the member of a sleeper cell in Karwar, coastal Karnataka, and worked as a mechanic. The IB says most sleeper cell operatives hold a regular job for most part of the year. Arrests across the country show that most of the youth who are part of sleeper cells work as mechanics, STD booth operators and, in some cases, insurance agents.
The IB points out that these jobs involve meeting a lot of people which in turn helps them gather data. Of late, there is also an increasing trend to recruit educated youth. However, their role is largely restricted to data collection and improvising techniques during terror strikes, says IB.
Mechanic Afsar Pasha revealed during his interrogation that his initial job was largely confined to gathering data and providing logistical support. However, as he gained more experience, he was directed to take part in field activities, meaning he had to actively take part in terror strikes.
The IB says based on the interrogation of several terrorists they have gathered considerable information regarding the working of sleeper cells. For the most part they remain inactive, apart from collecting data, training cadres and doing recruitments. The data is passed on to their supervisors through e-mail and/or on the telephone.
Once the decision is taken to strike, a couple of members from the sleeper cells are chosen to carry out the attack. The persons undertaking the attack are known as foot soldiers, the IB says.
A set pattern is that members of local sleeper cells are usually not the ones who carry out an attack in their jurisdiction. A person from another sleeper cell is sent in for this, with the local member only providing logistical support.
The IB also says members of sleeper cells work as a close-knit group. Normally, in a serial terror strike, nearly 10 people are involved. While a team of five would plant the bombs, two work as a back-up and the rest would provide data.
The IB says there is a general belief that the sleeper cells are housed away from the main city or town area, and in busy market areas so that the members can blend in with the crowds. An IB document states, 'It is not necessary for visiting terrorists to make a beeline to the... (local rendezvous points). The handlers from their intelligence agencies provide them with a blueprint of hubs or cells.'
The IB further states that the sleeper cells which are patronised by Pakistan are mainly involved in collection of geographical and geo-strategic information. Until a few years back these cells only undertook intelligence-related work, but with the Indianisation of jihad gaining ground, sleeper cells have been directed to carry out the attacks.
The IB says the functioning of sleeper cells could be summed up as:
Evaluation of intelligence input
Selection of target
Selection of volunteers
Preparation of bomb squads, usually three of them
Identification of targets in India
In case outsiders are doing the strike, their transportation
Providing safe houses
Putting together the explosives
Identifying talent within the cell to plant the device
Dispersal and evacuation
http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/jul/28vicky.htm
'Terrorists have sent a message that the claim of security is hollow'
Sheela Bhatt in Ahmedabad | July 28, 2008 | 11:23 IST
"We expected it earlier when other cities like Hyderabad and Jaipur were hit by terrorists," says poet Chinu Modi about the Ahmedabad blasts.
The surprise element was missing when Ahmedabad was rocked by 17 bomb explosions because at the back of people's mind many knew that the Gujarat riots of 2002 may lead to such a violent reaction.
Yet, the blasts of July 26 carry something more than the element of surprise. The act is shocking and incomprehensible because of the mastery of the strategic planning, the perfection of the execution and the bloody impact in terms of the political message it has left behind.
Since the blasts, Ahmedabadis are debating three issues:
1. Experts and common people are stumped to see the selection of the locations for planting the bombs.
2. The blasts were executed when a 'red alert' was declared in Ahmedabad after the blasts in Bangalore.
3. The extent of the involvement of local people and the secrecy maintained by the perpetrators of the act has shocked the residents of the city, which is still known as an 'overgrown village.'
"The blasts are part of the pan-Indian phenomenon and it is also aimed at the Bharatiya Janata Party government," believes Ghanshyam Shah, a former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and an authority on communal riots in Gujarat.
He argues that these blasts may not be exclusively connected to the riots of 2002 when more than 1,000 Muslims died in widespread communal riots after the Sabarmati Express was set on fire burning 59 Hindu passengers at the Godhra railway station.
Professor Shah says there was a surprise when after the violence of the majority, the minority community did not show their anger "in natural process."
He attributes it to the fact that the Muslims of Gujarat are diffident. "I see more and more diffidence in them. Muslims in Gujarat have realised that there is no solution of the issue (communal politics)."
However, he is not denying the involvement of Gujarati Muslims in the serial blasts. "The large terrorist group must have taken the support of local people. But I don't see the widespread support of Gujarati Muslims to such violence at all," he says.
To further support his argument that Gujarati Muslims by and large do not support the blasts to avenge the riots of 2002, he says, "In 1992, Surat witnessed communal riots (some Muslims were then burnt alive). Soon after, the plague spread in the city. At that time, Surti Muslims in the city were heard saying, 'Khuda e sajha kari' (God has punished them). But after the 2002 riots, I see an unusually high level of diffidence in them and we don't hear such remarks."
Professor Shah argues that when the Muslim community lives in isolation and in ghettos, it is easier for outsiders to get a handful of people to support their activity.
One of the surprises of Saturday's blasts was that except one blast in Sarkhej, all the blasts were executed in East Ahmedabad, which includes the highly communally sensitive walled city area. The accuracy of the planning suggests that a person with a complete grip on the social-political mindset of the city and its communal geography must be behind the blasts.
No one in this shaken city doubts that these blasts were planned by someone who has a thorough knowledge of the past 25 years history of communally sensitive areas and the Sangh Parivar's role in it.
The terrorists have targeted the constituencies of four veteran leaders belonging to the saffron brigade. Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Ashok Bhatt, one of the oldest faces of the communal friction in the city, and Dr Pravin Togadia, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader.
Four blasts occurred in Modi's constituency -- Maninagar. Sarkhej is in Shah's constituency while the Dhanvantri hospital in Bapunagar has been run by Dr Togadia for many decades. The blast in Raipur was right at the spot where Bhatt has held daily meetings with his supporters for the last 40 years.
"The planners knew where the victims would go for emergency treatment and they hit those hospitals. L G hospital was targeted because victims from the Maninagar blasts would obviously go there because it is close by. They knew the social geography very well," says Achyut Yagnik, the Ahmedabad-based socio-political thinker.
Yagnik is writing a book on Ahmedabad -- which will complete 600 years in 2011 -- along with fellow writer Suchitra Sheth. He points out that blasts were carried out in BJP-dominated areas of the working class and not in posh or middle class areas.
Secondly, the bombs were planted in places where Dalit and Muslims live side by side. Those well-versed with the communal history of Ahmedabad know how the Dalits and Muslims have been at loggerheads in these areas.
Bapunagar, Raipur, Sarangpur are areas that have seen communal tension in 1985, 1990-1992 and also during the 2002 riots.
"There is no doubt that Hindu-Muslim neighbourhoods have been targeted in these serial blasts," says Yagnik.
In Ahmedabad, the political movement to capture Hindu and Muslim minds is carried on by political parties inside these areas where Dalits and Muslims co-exist side by side. It is not difficult to decipher why these areas and hospitals have been hit by the terrorists.
"The terrorists have served twin goals. By hitting BJP-dominated areas, they have sent the message to the chief minister that his claim of security is hollow. In spite of a red alert in the city, they have shown their capacity to strike at places they want. Second, by hitting hospitals in a cruel and dastardly manner they have caused the maximum damage."
http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/jul/28ahd4.htm
Terror's scary face
The Pioneer Edit Desk
India pays for Congress's folly
Saturday's serial bombings in Ahmedabad, within 24 hours of the terrorist attack on Bangalore, serve to highlight the fact that our internal security situation is rapidly deteriorating even as the Union Government, under the Congress's tutelage and headed by a Prime Minister seemingly indifferent to national concerns, refuses to be distracted from the India-US nuclear deal which has become the symptom of the regime's obsessive compulsive disorder. It is obvious that the bombings -- both in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, and before that in Jaipur -- are aimed at creating panic and spreading fear; those behind the blasts have demonstrated that they can strike anywhere at any time. It is equally obvious that those who planned and carried out these acts of terrorism expect a blowback in the form of communal violence. A third factor which merits mention is that BJP-ruled States are being targeted for murder and mayhem; this perception naturally leads to the conclusion that a larger game is being played whose purpose does not require elaboration. Was the effort to instigate communal riots in Indore during the protest against the Sri Amarnath land issue a part of this conspiracy? In retrospect, it would seem so. Seen against this backdrop, the BJP Governments must rise to the occasion and meet the challenge with unwavering determination: Agent provocateurs will no doubt seek to exploit the situation; they must be spotted, exposed and firmly dealt with. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has rightly described the perpetrators of Saturday's outrage as "enemies of humanity". They must be neutralised and their network of evil should be destroyed.
Strangely, the Union Government has shown little or no interest in last weekend's terrorist strikes, apart from issuing proforma statements condeming the violence and appealing for peace. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who has contributed the most to dismantling the anti-terrorism mechanism put together by the NDA Government, partly on account of the fact that he is unequal to his job and largely to implement the Congress's perverse agenda of appeasing Muslims by pandering to Islamic fanatics who define terrorism as jihad and are at ease with innocent people being slaughtered, has tried to pass the buck to the Governments of Karnataka and Gujarat. According to him, the terrible loss of lives and the resultant disquiet bear testimony to the 'abilities' of local authorities and the police; had he said anything different, there would have been occasion for surprise. The truth is that the chickens of the UPA Government's chicanery are coming home to roost. The Prime Minister and his aides -- among them Mr Patil and a National Security Adviser who, along with intelligence agencies, is busy helping the Congress achieve its political objectives -- have allowed the situation to come to such a sorry pass. They must be held accountable for the consequences; their pious declarations should not distract us from their monumental folly in allowing terrorists to spread their tentacles across the country. Having got rid of POTA and instituted a system that takes a libertine view of terrorism, the UPA Government is now bent upon hobbling the Governments of BJP-ruled States with the intent of preventing them from waging war on terror. Had this not been the case, the UPA Government would not have sat on the laws enacted by the State Assemblies of Rajasthan and Gujarat to combat terrorism and organised crime. Such cynical abuse of power is both a shame and a pity.
http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit1.txt&counter_img=1
Time to question
The Indian Express
Posted online: Monday, July 28, 2008 at 0048 hrs IST
Terror is pathology. But so it seems, in India, is the government’s response to terror. The one score and some serial bombs in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were met with cringe-inducing official harrumphs from Delhi that warnings had been given. It is time to ask what the Union government means when it says warnings were available. Is it the case that the Centre’s, or specifically the home ministry’s, radars are always buzzing efficiently with actionable information that is not acted upon by inefficient state governments? If so, why doesn’t the Centre say it straight? They have a duty to the nation to say it. And if that is not the case, as one strongly suspects is not the case, why take this, to put it bluntly, awful way to pass the parcel? It has to be said, in the context of this trait, that the UPA’s whole approach to terror has been scarily confusing.
The present home minister will demit office as having made a spectacular non-impression as far as his leadership of national security efforts go. It took the prime minister, that too after more than half of the UPA’s term in office was over, to say Naxalites were a high-priority threat to the idea of India. Can you recall the home minister taking political leadership of this national security issue? Can you recall him owning up to his remit as home minister vis-a-vis terror? And let’s remember that while strong and clear political positions are no guarantees against stopping terror, their absence severely weakens the government’s fight against it.
More than four years after the UPA took over, not a single terror attack has been brought to closure in terms of catching the perpetrators and putting them through the mills of justice. There’s investigative failure of a scale that would have in normal circumstances consumed the career of several ministers — but in the UPA the home ministry seems to have acquired immunity from even the most obvious of questions. It’s long been known that security agencies are in part handicapped by a certain absurd notion of political correctness — a notion that implicates the very people it professes to protect. The convenient political assumption in India is that voters don’t punish governments who appear to be ineffective against terror. This government really has pushed that assumption to its limit.
http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/341208.html
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