Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Terrorist With The Saffron-colored Band


As I research the Mumbai Carnage, more and more interesting information seems to surface. While there is ongoing speculation regarding the terrorists' identity, the abstract below makes an interesting read, particularly in light of what one of the terrorists seemed to be wearing. After going through the text below, do have a look at at the picture to your left. You will notice that the militant has a saffron-colored band around his right wrist. What does this indicate? Was this act orchestrated and executed by extremists other than the often blamed Lashkar-e-Tayaba.


Monday, November 10, 2008 17:51 IST
NEW DELHI: A senior CPI-M MP

Hannan Mollah informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about alleged activities in Bhonsale Military School; Hannan Mollah has again asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take stern action against terror activities of saffron groups.

Hannan Mollah said he had earlier pointed out that "organisations like Bajrang Dal, Sanathan Sanstha, Hindu Jan Jagriti Samiti, Guru Kripa Pratisthan etc., were allegedly involved in 'some' bomb blasts and engaged in making bombs and giving arms training."

Interesting Unanswered questions ...


When the Mumbai Carnage [27th-29th No. 2008] first started, among many of my immediate considerations, I focused on the possible perpetrators; I asked myself, 'Could this be the work of internal agents?' Sure, the media in general has supported the ruling forces in India in their finger-pointing, and one may have the propensity to follow what they say [with whatever preliminary evidence has been provided]. However, with more and more time elapsing since the Mumbai Carnage [27th-29th No. 2008], there are certain facts that must be looked at objectively, regardless of the history of ISI orchestrated pranks.

Since I am following the Mumbai Carnage quite closely, I have made it a point to look into whatever all facets of the media. The alternative media is now becoming a much relied upon source of information, and it is from here that we can obtain important viewpoints. I managed to get a hold of some of these in the form of questions that people [particularly Mubaiites] are now begining to ask. They are below:

  • How come the Colaba Police did not respond to the Leopold massacre on time? The restaurant is just across the road and the sound of the AK-47 gunfire, the screams of the victims, the chaos of motorists escaping the scene... ought to have been audible at least 100 metres away.
  • Why weren’t the casualties sent to elite, private hospitals like Breach Candy and Jaslok nearby, and even Hinduja and Leelavati further away, when the facilities and infrastructure at government-run St. George, GT and JJ Hospitals were clearly incapable of dealing with the vast number of injured, dying and dead?
  • If the terrorists had detailed blueprints of the Taj and Oberoi, why weren’t the NSG commandos provided with them before conducting rescue operations?
  • What purpose did the visits by politicians like Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, L K Advani and Jaswant Singh serve? How dare Narendra Modi offer Hemant Karkare’s family a cash compensation? Hadn’t he criticised the ATS chief and called him anti-national just a short while ago?
  • It took the combined efforts over 60 hours of the Mumbai Police and hundreds of commandos of the Army, Navy and National Security Guard to flush out just 20-odd terrorists armed with sophisticated weapons and explosives... how will we ever fare in a war with hostile, nuclear-armed neighbours?
  • How did the few terrorists manage to carry on their campaign over three days without sleep and food? Whereas each place under siege had to regularly have fresh and new teams of commandos pressed into operation over the 60 hours.
  • How did the terrorists sneak all that sophisticated weaponry and explosives past hotel security which otherwise looks into every woman’s handbag and frisks men entering the premises?
  • Why weren’t the Taj and Oberoi simultaneously stormed by the hundreds of commandos from all entries, with additional forces dropped onto the roof by choppers as at Nariman House, when it was known that there were just few terrorists holed up inside the hotels? Wouldn’t such an operation have taken the terrorists by surprise? After all, they weren’t guarding all the entries...
  • Were attempts made to contact the terrorists and negotiate the release of hostages? Aren’t hostages taken for a purpose such as barter against a safe escape, the release of imprisoned terrorists, huge amounts of cash, etc?
  • Who was in charge of the entire rescue operation? Wouldn’t one competent and deciding authority have handled it faster and smoother and more responsibly? Shouldn’t it have been the state home ministry?
  • What happens to the lone, captured terrorist? Who gets custody of him? Who interrogates him? Did the Indian government really expect Pakistan to send its ISI chief over to help in the probe?
  • Where were the carbine-wielding policemen on CST when the terrorists opened fire? Aren’t the GRP and RPF offices on the station? Why didn’t they prevent the terrorists from walking away calmly after the massacre towards Cama Hospital to kill again?
  • Who is going to tell the politicians where they get off? Who will cast the first stone of a civil revolution, a people’s war, against the corrupt and communal leaders who have brought the nation to this brink of complete destruction? [All credit to http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Fashion_Shows/I_bumped_into_the_terrorists/articleshow/3773098.cms]

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Attack on India's Business Hub! Who's Responsible? Some Mujahideen? Who are Mujahideen? Are Militants Responsible? If not, Who Is?


Saturday, November 29, 2008
Attack on India's Business Hub! Who's Responsible? Some Mujahideen? Who are Mujahideen? Are Militants Responsible? If not, Who Is?

After more than 55 hrs of the Carnage in Mumbai [which commenced late 27th Nov. 2008], I had a conversation online with a friend; we often engage in discussing issues of this kind. During the course of our conversation, he [Tudor] implied that some 'mujaheddin group is claiming responsibility'. My reply was: '...one wonders who is telling any tiny percentage of the truth.'
Then he asked who the 'mujaheddin' were. 'were they Islamic extremists?' he asked. The following entails what I had to say:

If u r really interested in knowing what 'mujahideen' means, u need to first of all take this concept out of your head that there is a term called 'holy war' written in the Quran or Hadees. Words like mujahideen, mujahid, jihad, jidd o jehad, etc. have nothing to do with any war! What they all do allude to is 'struggle'. Now, 'struggle' refers to struggle against social or even political ills in society. For example, you could be a jehadi or mujahideen in ur community when u want to eradicate your community of drug use or spousal abuse.
These terms like mujahideen etc. have been used to label the radicals who claim to be preachers or followers of Islam. There is no such word as 'holy war' in the Quran or Hadees!
It's quite easy to label people, groups or other things, and it really helps in the media and politics when you have an agenda to achieve. The first label put out when there is an issue at hand tends to have an immediate impact. As an example, that's why when the so-called war on terror commenced, Bush had a very hard time distancing himself from a term he used for his war: 'crusade' ...
Coming back to these terms [mujahideen, etc.] the world at large, including Muslims themselves have automatically radicalized many more Muslims than they would have liked to. While Pakistan or Malaysia-based militants may be at the center of these attacks, it is not preposterous to think that Muslims from India or Britain may be responsibleIndia has an enormous number of Muslims across their demography. Also, the MI5 in the past has used militants to knock of certain people....of course for a sizable reward. Yes, just like Omar Saeed Sheikh was used to kill Usama Bin Laden.
One final thought is worth adding here; since i doubt the credibility of these attackers Deccan Mujahideen], and since other militant groups have denied doing it and have even condemned it, it might be a reasonable guess to consider the Hindu fundamentalists [Thackeray's group]. This group killed Christians over many years.
To focus more on the Mumbai attacks, there are others besides Jews and Christians that were killed in Mumbai. Chinese, Japanese, Germans, etc. were among the dead too. Additionally, the gunmen had opened fire indiscriminately. They killed Muslims, Jews, Christians, and anything remotely human in their judgment.
In summation, I can say that when considering who is responsible for this carnage, the possibilities are enormous; almost any group could be responsible for it: RAW [Indian spy network with a hidden agenda], some radicalized militant group, Thackeray or other Hindu fundamentalists, or our own ISI. It is possible that the ISI has done it. I am not sure how [it's just a thought] . Maybe to create a situation in which they expose the incapability of Zardari's government, and then have the military step in once again. At the same time, it could be a government initiated move by the Indians themselves to create an issue just before the elections. This might give them an opportunity to get into some action in order to prove to the prospective voters that they have done something heroic and, therefore, should be elected again. An even further consideration in this regard is also that competing forces may be keen on exposing the ruling party's incapacity and incapability to deter a crisis of this sort.
Only time MIGHT reveal the truth. And, whoever the perpetrators are, they can hardly claim they belong to any religion!

A Final Thought:

This might be another one of Noam Chomsky's concepts in action: 'manufacturing consensus'.
Like sure, Usma's guys attacked the WTC. But they [the US] knew since 1999 that it was going to happen, and they let it happen, and they exacerbated it. They magnified the carnage, and then had an excuse for following it with their agenda to get into Afghanistan and Iraq.