10-11-2006, 09:48 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Mumbai mockery </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
'Afzal flu' spreads to 7/11 suspects
<b>Reports from Mumbai that relatives of those accused of carrying out the horrific train blasts on July 11, 2006, have petitioned the Prime Minister's Office and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of Maharashtra, alleging police atrocities, are extremely disquieting. The affidavits sworn by the relatives - and facilitated by Muslim organisations, community lawyers and the usual gaggle of human rights activists - charge the police with extracting forcible confessions, and using relatives of those under interrogation as hostages. To cement the religious connotations the whole episode has acquired, a team of Muslim MPs has met the Chief Minister and expressed its anguish at the supposed "forced" confessions</b>. It is fairly clear than an attempt is being made to browbeat and de-motivate the investigating authorities in Mumbai even before the case comes to the courts. Their case is being sought to be discredited in advance of judicial scrutiny. Earlier this month, after his death sentence was confirmed, the supporters of Mohammed Afzal Guru, mastermind of the Parliament terror strike of December 2001, began a campaign saying "his story had not been heard", and that he had been convicted on the basis of fraudulent confessions. <b>What Afzal's friends sought to do after the judgement, the Mumbai train blast suspects are seeking to do at the initial stage itself; they are attempting to pre-empt the criminal justice system. Backed up by the political class, this clever but alarming move puts the Mumbai police under enormous pressure. The "Afzal flu" has jumped cities.</b>
Two inferences flow from the entire business. First, the potential unravelling of the Mumbai police's diligent detective work on the 7/11 terrorist attack - and this is a very real danger now - under religio-political bullying only strengthens the case for a strong and specific anti-terror law. In hastily removing the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) from the statute book but replacing it with nothing, the UPA Government has seriously handicapped India's terrorism-fighting capacity. Among other things, a POTA-type law immunises the police against terrorists and witnesses who may want to change their testimony as per their convenience. Second, rather than merely play passive postman and "forward petitions" to the Mumbai Police Commissioner, the Maharashtra Chief Minister needs to bolster his force. Of course, credible complaints must be inquired into, but Mr Deshmukh would do well to issue a statement affirming his complete and absolute faith in the integrity of Mumbai Police and its leading officers<b>. In the past week, the Mumbai Police chief has been blamed for many things - for oppressing city Muslims and for, by implicating the ISI in the train bombings, endangering the so-called India-Pakistani anti-terrorism initiative.</b> This inquisition has to stop. The Congress-led Governments at the Centre and in the State cannot throw law enforcement agencies to the wolves. They have to stand by their men.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
'Afzal flu' spreads to 7/11 suspects
<b>Reports from Mumbai that relatives of those accused of carrying out the horrific train blasts on July 11, 2006, have petitioned the Prime Minister's Office and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of Maharashtra, alleging police atrocities, are extremely disquieting. The affidavits sworn by the relatives - and facilitated by Muslim organisations, community lawyers and the usual gaggle of human rights activists - charge the police with extracting forcible confessions, and using relatives of those under interrogation as hostages. To cement the religious connotations the whole episode has acquired, a team of Muslim MPs has met the Chief Minister and expressed its anguish at the supposed "forced" confessions</b>. It is fairly clear than an attempt is being made to browbeat and de-motivate the investigating authorities in Mumbai even before the case comes to the courts. Their case is being sought to be discredited in advance of judicial scrutiny. Earlier this month, after his death sentence was confirmed, the supporters of Mohammed Afzal Guru, mastermind of the Parliament terror strike of December 2001, began a campaign saying "his story had not been heard", and that he had been convicted on the basis of fraudulent confessions. <b>What Afzal's friends sought to do after the judgement, the Mumbai train blast suspects are seeking to do at the initial stage itself; they are attempting to pre-empt the criminal justice system. Backed up by the political class, this clever but alarming move puts the Mumbai police under enormous pressure. The "Afzal flu" has jumped cities.</b>
Two inferences flow from the entire business. First, the potential unravelling of the Mumbai police's diligent detective work on the 7/11 terrorist attack - and this is a very real danger now - under religio-political bullying only strengthens the case for a strong and specific anti-terror law. In hastily removing the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) from the statute book but replacing it with nothing, the UPA Government has seriously handicapped India's terrorism-fighting capacity. Among other things, a POTA-type law immunises the police against terrorists and witnesses who may want to change their testimony as per their convenience. Second, rather than merely play passive postman and "forward petitions" to the Mumbai Police Commissioner, the Maharashtra Chief Minister needs to bolster his force. Of course, credible complaints must be inquired into, but Mr Deshmukh would do well to issue a statement affirming his complete and absolute faith in the integrity of Mumbai Police and its leading officers<b>. In the past week, the Mumbai Police chief has been blamed for many things - for oppressing city Muslims and for, by implicating the ISI in the train bombings, endangering the so-called India-Pakistani anti-terrorism initiative.</b> This inquisition has to stop. The Congress-led Governments at the Centre and in the State cannot throw law enforcement agencies to the wolves. They have to stand by their men.
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