09-07-2007, 02:28 AM
Terrorism feeds on UPA policies
The Congress is playing a numbers game to justify sops to a particular community. The flawed Sachar Committee report has been subverted by another conundrum: The count of people who have died in all jihadi terror attacks in the country published by different newspapers. In the last decade, India has suffered the largest number of deaths due to terrorist attacks anywhere in the world save Iraq. The number is as high as 53,000 -- a toll higher than all the deaths in the wars that India has fought.
The UPA Government last May projected its 'achievements' in the three years of its rule. What was deliberately left out was the death toll on account of extremism. The Mumbai train blasts of July 11, 2006 killed 187 people. Despite this large casualty and the several hundred families that have been left without their sole bread-earners, the Prime Minister did not remember the event on its anniversary this year. This is the same person who went sleepless when an Indian doctor was held in Australia on suspicion of his involvement in terrorist activities. That the accused was subsequently released after being cleared is a different story altogether.
In New York, on every anniversary of the killing of over 3,000 people by jihadis on September 11, 2001, the US commemorates the event and keeps the nation on the alert against any subsequent onslaught. In India, the Congress and its allies do not even mention any terrorist by name, nor do they hold any commemorative ceremony to remember the innocents the jihadis have killed.
The ruling class talks of peace as if terror is just a passing phase. This sends wrong signals to the citizens whose cooperation is needed to suppress terror. The ruling coalition has turned a Nelson's eye on the scourge of terror, making it look as a mere act of some 'misguided youth'. Thus, it has deliberately avoided declaring an all-out war against terror as its main policy focus. How can the people be inspired to unite against all jihadi elements hiding in society?
The result is a depressingly familiar but ineffective drill once any terrorist attack takes place. The place where the event occurs is not even cordoned off and the VIPs and lesser fries romp around to be seen on television. In the process, they destroy vital evidence. Soon it is back to business -- they sympathise with 'misguided youth' and refuse to see them as people who preach terror, are determined to destroy the Indian state in the name of upholding a particular religion globally.
The Government remains in perpetual denial and, along with the 'secularists', plays down the acts of terror as isolated events, not as evidence of a vital link in the global war that extremists have unleashed on all others. The denial also serves the purpose of masking the international dimensions of the threat. Thus, the ruling establishment and its Marxist allies together are the best allies that the jihadis could have prayed for.
This approach of the ruling establishment to the pervasive threat of terror differs radically from the international approach -- be it of the US, Canada, the UK, Spain, France, Australia or any other country. Even Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia recognise the worldwide dimensions of this threat, but not India. The very title of the US Patriot Act differentiates terror mongers from other citizens of the country. This American law's provisions, too, are tough on terrorists, their abetters and financiers.
National Security Adviser MK Narayanan has publicly declared that funds for terrorists are coming into the country though a widely distributed money laundering network in the form of remittances. But what has the Government done so far to stop this funding? Should not the banks be asked to find out the remitter's whereabouts and his/ her capability of sending so much money and what relationship the remitter has with the beneficiary? Almost all countries have taken such steps to stop terror-funding -- but our Government has been lethargic. The horrifying face of jihadis supported by Marxists is lurking behind the UPA Government and the Congress.
How the Congress has allowed itself to be led by a minor party, MIM, on such a sensitive matter as terrorism is seen in the case of the Mecca Masjid bombings. Intelligence agencies had prior information from a person arrested at the Bangladesh border about large-scale landing and distribution of RDX from Pakistan and Bangladesh. According to newspaper reports, they wanted to search and locate the foot soldiers of this operative. But surprise of surprises, the Andhra Pradesh Government refused permission to the authorities concerned on the fear that it would inflame Muslim sentiments. For such ill-founded apprehension, these arrested people had to be released. The latest Hyderabad bombings showed just the predictable result.
If further proof is needed for the velvet glove the UPA Government and its Left supporters are extending to terrorists, look at the dilly-dallying over the execution of Mohammed Afzal, the mastermind behind the attack on Parliament House, ordered by the Supreme Court. A Congress Chief Minister openly says that he wants the Government not to carry out the sentence. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil refuses to reveal what exactly the situation of the convicted man is.
The Left parties and many self-styled socialists are raising the 'larger issue' of how the sensitivity of one community might be affected if the sentence is carried out. This means that there are two laws in this country -- one for non-Muslims and another for Muslims. And the latter are exempt from punishment that the law prescribes for all criminals. Is that the message that the UPA Government wants to send? If so, is it not encouraging terrorists to strike anywhere without fearing any retaliation by the state?
The general reluctance to crack down on the merchants of terror for alleged fear of its impact on the Muslim community is a clear admission by the Government of India that for the vote-bank of this community, it can sell the country down the drain. It also, by implication, justifies the 'angst' of the community and finds a rationale for its demonstrated sympathy for those who take to terrorism as a 'justifiable' outlet of 'grievance'. More than anything else, look at the reaction of the Marxists to the Hyderabad carnage as has been detailed in the People's Democracy. Nowhere does the CPI(M)'s mouthpiece condemn the killings.
The Congress is playing a numbers game to justify sops to a particular community. The flawed Sachar Committee report has been subverted by another conundrum: The count of people who have died in all jihadi terror attacks in the country published by different newspapers. In the last decade, India has suffered the largest number of deaths due to terrorist attacks anywhere in the world save Iraq. The number is as high as 53,000 -- a toll higher than all the deaths in the wars that India has fought.
The UPA Government last May projected its 'achievements' in the three years of its rule. What was deliberately left out was the death toll on account of extremism. The Mumbai train blasts of July 11, 2006 killed 187 people. Despite this large casualty and the several hundred families that have been left without their sole bread-earners, the Prime Minister did not remember the event on its anniversary this year. This is the same person who went sleepless when an Indian doctor was held in Australia on suspicion of his involvement in terrorist activities. That the accused was subsequently released after being cleared is a different story altogether.
In New York, on every anniversary of the killing of over 3,000 people by jihadis on September 11, 2001, the US commemorates the event and keeps the nation on the alert against any subsequent onslaught. In India, the Congress and its allies do not even mention any terrorist by name, nor do they hold any commemorative ceremony to remember the innocents the jihadis have killed.
The ruling class talks of peace as if terror is just a passing phase. This sends wrong signals to the citizens whose cooperation is needed to suppress terror. The ruling coalition has turned a Nelson's eye on the scourge of terror, making it look as a mere act of some 'misguided youth'. Thus, it has deliberately avoided declaring an all-out war against terror as its main policy focus. How can the people be inspired to unite against all jihadi elements hiding in society?
The result is a depressingly familiar but ineffective drill once any terrorist attack takes place. The place where the event occurs is not even cordoned off and the VIPs and lesser fries romp around to be seen on television. In the process, they destroy vital evidence. Soon it is back to business -- they sympathise with 'misguided youth' and refuse to see them as people who preach terror, are determined to destroy the Indian state in the name of upholding a particular religion globally.
The Government remains in perpetual denial and, along with the 'secularists', plays down the acts of terror as isolated events, not as evidence of a vital link in the global war that extremists have unleashed on all others. The denial also serves the purpose of masking the international dimensions of the threat. Thus, the ruling establishment and its Marxist allies together are the best allies that the jihadis could have prayed for.
This approach of the ruling establishment to the pervasive threat of terror differs radically from the international approach -- be it of the US, Canada, the UK, Spain, France, Australia or any other country. Even Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia recognise the worldwide dimensions of this threat, but not India. The very title of the US Patriot Act differentiates terror mongers from other citizens of the country. This American law's provisions, too, are tough on terrorists, their abetters and financiers.
National Security Adviser MK Narayanan has publicly declared that funds for terrorists are coming into the country though a widely distributed money laundering network in the form of remittances. But what has the Government done so far to stop this funding? Should not the banks be asked to find out the remitter's whereabouts and his/ her capability of sending so much money and what relationship the remitter has with the beneficiary? Almost all countries have taken such steps to stop terror-funding -- but our Government has been lethargic. The horrifying face of jihadis supported by Marxists is lurking behind the UPA Government and the Congress.
How the Congress has allowed itself to be led by a minor party, MIM, on such a sensitive matter as terrorism is seen in the case of the Mecca Masjid bombings. Intelligence agencies had prior information from a person arrested at the Bangladesh border about large-scale landing and distribution of RDX from Pakistan and Bangladesh. According to newspaper reports, they wanted to search and locate the foot soldiers of this operative. But surprise of surprises, the Andhra Pradesh Government refused permission to the authorities concerned on the fear that it would inflame Muslim sentiments. For such ill-founded apprehension, these arrested people had to be released. The latest Hyderabad bombings showed just the predictable result.
If further proof is needed for the velvet glove the UPA Government and its Left supporters are extending to terrorists, look at the dilly-dallying over the execution of Mohammed Afzal, the mastermind behind the attack on Parliament House, ordered by the Supreme Court. A Congress Chief Minister openly says that he wants the Government not to carry out the sentence. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil refuses to reveal what exactly the situation of the convicted man is.
The Left parties and many self-styled socialists are raising the 'larger issue' of how the sensitivity of one community might be affected if the sentence is carried out. This means that there are two laws in this country -- one for non-Muslims and another for Muslims. And the latter are exempt from punishment that the law prescribes for all criminals. Is that the message that the UPA Government wants to send? If so, is it not encouraging terrorists to strike anywhere without fearing any retaliation by the state?
The general reluctance to crack down on the merchants of terror for alleged fear of its impact on the Muslim community is a clear admission by the Government of India that for the vote-bank of this community, it can sell the country down the drain. It also, by implication, justifies the 'angst' of the community and finds a rationale for its demonstrated sympathy for those who take to terrorism as a 'justifiable' outlet of 'grievance'. More than anything else, look at the reaction of the Marxists to the Hyderabad carnage as has been detailed in the People's Democracy. Nowhere does the CPI(M)'s mouthpiece condemn the killings.