Do not let Ajmal Kasab Win !

I swore to myself after the 13/7 bomb blasts in Mumbai, I would not write a post on this topic. People including myself experienced the deja vu feelings after 26/11 and I went on a rant on whats going wrong , there has been little progress but not good enough to prevent such an unfortunate incident.

People are enraged and even more cynical than ever, that is understandable. We want our government and police to do much more, we have all the rights to demand action. 

But instead of addressing the key issues of better policing, improving intelligence networks and how to isolate Pakistan in the international community and people are taking increasingly alarmist positions. 

Subramanium Swamy's Xenophobic views

Dr. Subramanium Swamy who claims to be the one who exposed the 2G scam and speaks of several credentials and a known Sonia Gandhi hater wrote on a piece in DNA  and suggested steps like declaring India as Hindu Rashtra and demolishing mosques as possible solutions to solving the problem.

This bigoted appoarch will create further cracks in our society and push India towards a horrific future.

Kasab and Madani enjoying in Jail

Another mischievous track which began in news papers and blogs is how Indians ( particularly Hindus) are suffering while elements like Kasab, Madani and Afzal Guru are having a great time in jail. Another carnard, sure there has been some delays some justified and some unjustified but instead of seeing Muslims in India as part of our own nation, isolating them is so unfair.

Migrants are the problem

Raj Thackeray playing to the gallery and trying to isolate Mumbai from the rest of the country, also the limited point that we need more policing and focus, there are enough criminal elements who have been born and bred in Maharashtra itself, there is no need to point fingers at northern states.

All Indians who attended Ghulam Nabi Fai's conferences are traitors

It has emerged recented that Mr. Ghulam Nabi Fai a lobbyist in Washington DC who organized conferences on Kashmir issue was on the pay roll of ISI to propogate Pakistan's agenda. Many number of Indian journalists and illuminaries attended such conferences, now an attempt is being made all of them colluded and hence guilty by association they are all traitors.

Shocking indeed, people are ready to buy into the Islamphobia and start dividing the country on religious lines again. No country which is ready to buy into an xenophobic theory cannot be going on the right path, as tommorrow people will even condole rights and ethitic cleansing/geocides.

I dont know when Ajmal Kasab will be even hanged, but I know the terrorists will win if we get divided and fall into the spiral of hate and fear. 

Dont let Ajmal Kasab win and dont let the multi cultural plurality of India get destroyed by the lunatic fringe elements. 

P.S: I recently read that the AIMPLB ( Muslim Body) is planning to protest the Indian Govt. proposal to make right to education a compulsory right and several Madrassas could get de-recognized as they dont have minimum facilities. I hope the government of India does not give into the pressure of vote bank politics. The standards how we judge religious intolerance must be the same for all. 

Thank God …. Why God ?

As much I try to move away from the Mumbai Terror attack of 26/11 from making it the topic of discussion on my blog, I am unable to think further. Let me be honest, I feel the jitters in a crowded places like in the malls or when I venture out of my work place, the company which is one of the symbols of Indian economy of an terror strike. One consistent comment, I got about my last post about the five vultures, was that I was only commenting on the problems but did not actually address the issue.

My answer to that is I am really not yet come to the frame of mind to arrive at the definitive solution. If I have to surmise what I feel is possible, is to continue to apply diplomatic pressure on our neighboring nation and increase the vigilance of the borders. It will be a long drawn out struggle to root out this menace of terror. Maybe more of the my thoughts to address this issue in the next post perhaps.

In the continuing coverage on the television channels, most of the victims said Thank God, we made it out alive from the ordeal. There are many people who just escaped the massacre because of serendipity. All these people have a God to thank, but to think of the unfortunate ones who lost their lives, further more their families and friends in this tragedy. These lives are left with life long emotional scars. Why God ?

Why God allows innocents die in such mindless conflicts? Why do women feel so unsafe in the world and have to face rape, dowry deaths and domestic violence? Why is there poverty and hunger for so many in this world. I can ask countless such questions and fill up reams of virtual paper.

Alternatively I have a thousand reasons to thank god as well. Thank God for giving me a good family and friends. Thank god for providing me with the opportunities for this education and lifestyle. Thank God for creating such a magnificent creation that is nature and the beauty which surrounds all of us.

I admit for a long time, ideologically I was getting driven towards atheism and recently I read this book 'The God Delusion' which makes the case for atheism and denounces religion in all forms. I agree on one point in this book that the concept of personal God is based on irrational belief and is just based on the random continent and community into which a person is born into actually. I could have been Hindu or Muslim depending on the family into which I was born into and would on to advocate either religion with equal ferocity depending on the conditioning I would have received from childbirth.

But still, there are some mysteries like the origin of the universe and why humans are the only dominant species in this planet that has such an evolved mind and a sense of free will. When I see arguments on both sides, I am forced to admit I find myself gravitating towards the middle and I say I do not know if God exists or not.

Both sides operate on assumptions made on a certain premise which seems so obvious to one side and not so to the other side. As long as arguments are based on some assumptions, the debate can never find a logical end with one side coming up triumphs. I have to state my final words on this issue, as long any man follows his heart and does no evil to other and spends his energies to better himself and society that is a good enough philosophy for me.

The best gift man has received is his intellect and the freedom to make his own choice. Off course you also won't have your way always. When 6 billion humans in the world are exercising their free will in the same time ( that includes politcians, jehadis and also the girl whom you really care about :P as well). In my view the many possiblities and interaction of so many variables is Destiny, not that a God in heaven is writing our fates in a celestial book but just the thoughts and actions of His creations on this earth. In a way this world is a self governing system.

So as long as happiness and sorrows co-exist in this world, so will the questions Thank God, Why God ? persist. I would like to conclude with a quote I really like “It is not about how the cards are dealt, it is how you play them”

I see four maybe five vultures ....

It has been so many days after the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Strike and life is NOT business as usual. The tightened security at work place and malls. The security personnel frisking the general public with a nervousness which is palpable, almost like a prayer to the Almighty no terrorists on my duty shift please. The common people are venting their frustration in discussions at home and workplaces alike. There is a outpour of emotions in blogs, email forwards and sms campaigns. But behind all the anger and furore against the system, there is a quiet feeling of desperation and resignation when will this menace of terrorism strike us again.

The protest rallies across the countries, the outburst against the political class and a surprisingly persistent sense of outrage of what happened to the innocent citizens in the heart of the most elite urban community in the country with such brazen brutality. It seems finally the veil of cynicism and callousness has been lifted from the usually cynical middle class India but at what price is the question before us.

If I had to imagine the carnage of the 26/11 terror strike, I can imagine a pack of vultures circling in the sky above seeing the destruction and the dead. I term them vultures all of them have an agenda in this senseless devastation. I saw four maybe five vultures in the sky and they were:-

Media

The TV channels vitually competed in 59 hours terror courage with exclusive shots, giving out tactical information and zooming on the commando locations. Thursting mikes into harrowed rescued hostages, asking a man who lost 6 members of his family with complete sympathy with most gycerine tears "Kaisa lag raha hai aapko". It was the most voyeuristic reality TV scenario come true for the journalist brigade. The deaths at Cama Hospital and CST train station was sidelined in order to focus on the more elite Taj and Oberoi Hotel victims.

Bureaucrats

Before going to the favourite and obvious punching bags the politicans, there is a huge, inefficient, corrupt, bourgeois class of bureaucrats who are complict with the politcian class who undercut the quality of bullet proof jackets, arms and ammunition. The intelligence failures are as much the responsibility of the national security advisor and the home secretary as much as the ruling ministers. But the bureaucrats have perfected the art of stealth and the public doesnt hold them as accountable as they should be.

Politicians

I would not like to add much, they have been maligned in most cases rightly so. The former CM of Maharashtra taking Bollywood directors for terror tourism trip, to ruling CMs saying dogs would not go to a martyr's house and the reappointment of deputy CM who was discarded from the cabinet for alleged role in the Telgi Stamp paper case. The main opposition party did not leave the opportunity to exploit the terrorist fears for electoral gains. It is heartening to see the people who went in for the state assembly polls gave a fitting reply in Delhi, Rajasthan and Mizoram.

Neighbouring Countries

It is well know that Pakistan, Bangladesh or atleast elements in these nations have a role in the terror strikes in India. The volte face by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan about sending the ISI chief to India and the "stateless actors" statement by President Zardari shows the utter lack of sincerity these countries have towards the so called war against terror. Although a direct miltary strike is not a viable option, a strong economic and diplomatic campaign must be launched by India to keep these nosy neighbours under check.

Earlier in this piece, I said I see four maybe five vultures, so what constitutes the fifth vulture ?

All of Us

The reason, ironically I put the common people who sufferred from the terrorist attacks in the same bracket of conspirators who failed the country is because of the indifference which was seen by the middle class when bombs burst in trains, buses we just acted like ostriches burying the head in the sand. When hundreds die in Kashmir and the North East, we never bothered about those lives or even the riots in Gujarat.

Ending on a Positive note

But it is hearting to see that indifference melt away and there is some channelising of that outrage and politicians have been pushed into a corner and some accountability has emerged. The people should continue to keep pushing the system to take action and make India a safer place. The spirit of Mumbai is not just picking up the pieces and going to work the next day. The Spirit of not just Mumbai but of entire India lies in taking up onus and becoming the change We seek.

Let us reclaim our humanity....

The recent terror strike on Mumbai has affected each one of us in a very deep and personal way unlike the past. The spectacle of seeing terror holding fort of our lives for 59 long excruciating hours was nothing like the country has ever seen before.  I will be honest, I have seen previous reports of bomb blasts and just treated it as a statistic, brushed it aside and thinking it will not happen to me.  

But this time it was very different and I became to really feel the hurt and anger within. To see husbands, sons, mothers massacred senselessly by a group of psychotic youngsters ( I refuse to even call them misguided or brainwashed anymore) was too much to take. 

I even began to contemplate that there should be a strong response to destroy all these people involved, enactment of tougher laws, extreme surveillance and exterminate the root of these evil even at the cost of some collateral damage including a few innocents losing their human rights. To be candid, I felt like a monster with a strong sense of rage bordering on ill-tolerance.

The thing which is very tempting, which a section of right wing politicians who shall choose to exploit the demonization of members of the minority community and paint them all with a single brush. Quite poignantly, I happen to see the movie 'Aamir' yesterday, it is about an educated Muslim middle class gentleman who rejects terrorism and prefers death risking his family's safety. All terrorism and unrest has its roots in class inequalities namely lack of education, poverty and access to a better future.

The nation today is outraged. But How do we achieve something constructive out of this collective rage as a nation is the question before us. The media and the people have gone on to bash the politicians and police.  I hope that this does not fritter into  a frivolous blame game and we get over this trauma over the weekend and start going on with life as usual. If that happens it will be most sad aspect of urban cynicism.

What India needs is that people show a strong sense of solidarity and keep pushing the establishment to take corrective action and ensure change takes place in the system, instead just being arm chair critics.

The focus areas for the government is choking the finances of these terror organizations, countries to collaborate and disassemble the training centres and bring people to justice. The operational aspects involve improving the intelligence networks, arming the forces adequately. Secondly the government must ensure that people have access to education, reduce unemployment and ensure all sections of society in this country succeed in the India growth story.

The title of this post is let us reclaim our humanity …. the reason I say so is that we should neither become too cynical and take inaction or swing to the other extreme and become bigots and set off a vicious cycle of hate and terror.

Seems a fairy tale doesn't it ?? Do you think this will happen over night in a short haul, not likely at all. The answer is NO. The politicians of India will listen to you only if you are part of a vote bank... so let us became a single VOTEBANK which will only vote for politicians who can bring this change in handling terrorism and ensuring security. Let this day not forgotten by all of us.