Anand Patwardhan on Bombay
Anand Patwardhan writes about Bombay here.
*This has been written by Anand Patwardan. His article was rejected by the Times of India and has not been published anywhere yet ……..Terror: The Aftermath*
The attack on Mumbai is over. After the numbing sorrow comes the blame game
and the solutions. Loud voices amplified by saturation TV: Why don’t we
amend our Constitution to create new anti-terror laws? Why don’t we arm our
police with AK 47s? Why don’t we do what Israel did after Munich or the USA
did after 9/11 and hot pursue the enemy? Solutions that will lead us
further into the abyss. For terror is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It thrives
on reaction, polarization, militarization and the thirst for revenge.
*The External Terror *
Those who invoke America need only to analyze if its actions after 9/11
increased or decreased global terror. It invaded oil-rich Iraq fully knowing
that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, killing over 200,000 Iraqis citizens
but allowing a cornered Bin Laden to escape from Afghanistan. It recruited
global support for Islamic militancy, which began to be seen as a just
resistance against American mass murder. Which begs the question of who
created Bin Laden in the first place, armed the madarsas of Pakistan and
rejuvenated the concept of Islamic jehad? Israel played its own role in
stoking the fires of jehad. The very creation of Israel in 1948 robbed
Palestinians of their land, an act that Mahatma Gandhi to his credit
deplored at the time as an unjust way to redress the wrongs done to Jews
during the Holocaust. What followed has been a slow and continuing attack on
the Palestinian nation. At first Palestinian resistance was led by secular
forces represented by Yasser Arafat but as these were successfully
undermined, Islamic forces took over the mantle. The first, largely
non-violent Intifada was crushed, a second more violent one replaced it and
when all else failed, human bombs appeared.
Thirty years ago when I first went abroad there were two countries my Indian
passport forbade me to visit. One was racist South Africa. The other was
Israel. We were non-aligned and stood for disarmament and world peace. Today
Israel and America are our biggest military allies. Is it surprising that we
are on the jehadi hit list? Israel, America and other prosperous countries
can to an extent protect themselves against the determined jehadi, but can
India put an impenetrable shield over itself? Remember that when attackers
are on a suicide mission, the strongest shields have crumbled. New York was
laid low not with nuclear weapons but with a pair of box cutters. India is
for many reasons a quintessentially soft target. Our huge population, vast
landmass and coastline are impossible to protect. The rich may build new
barricades. The Taj and the Oberoi can be made safer. So can our airports
and planes. Can our railway stations and trains, bus stops, busses, markets
and lanes do the same?
*The Terror Within*
The threat of terror in India does not come exclusively from the outside.
Apart from being hugely populated by the poor India is also a country
divided, not just between rich and poor, but by religion, caste and
language. This internal divide is as potent a breeding ground for terror as
jehadi camps abroad. Nor is jehad the copyright of one religion alone. It
can be argued that international causes apart, India has jehadis that are
fully home grown. Perhaps the earliest famous one was Nathuram Godse who
acting at the behest of his mentor Vinayak Savarkar (still referred to as
“Veer” or “brave” although he refused to own up to his role in the
conspiracy), murdered Mahatma Gandhi for the crime of championing Muslims.
Jump forward to 6th December, 1992, the day Hindu fanatics demolished the
Babri Mosque setting into motion a chain of events that still wreaks havoc
today. From the Bombay riots of 1992 to the bomb blasts of 1993, the Gujarat
pogroms of 2002 and hundreds of smaller deadly events, the last 16 years
have been the bloodiest since Partition. Action has been followed by
reaction in an endless cycle of escalating retribution. At the core on the
Hindu side of terror are organizations that openly admire Adolph Hitler,
nursing the hate of historic wrongs inflicted by Muslims. Ironically these
votaries of Hitler remain friends and admirers of Israel.
On the Muslim side of terror are scores of disaffected youth, many of whom
have seen their families tortured and killed in more recent pogroms.
Christians too have fallen victim to recent Hindutva terror but as yet not
formed the mechanisms for revenge. Dalits despite centuries of caste
oppression, have not yet retaliated in violence although a small fraction is
being drawn into an armed struggle waged by Naxalites.
It is clear that no amount of spending on defense, no amount of patrolling
the high seas, no amount of increasing the military and police and equipping
them with the latest weaponry can end the cycle of violence or place India
under a bubble of safety. Just as nuclear India did not lead to more safety,
but only to a nuclear Pakistan, no amount of homeland security can save us.
And inviting Israel’s Mossad and America’s CIA/FBI to the security table is
like giving the anti-virus contract to those who spread the virus in the
first place. It can only make us more of a target for the next determined
jehadi attack.
*Policing, Justice and the Media*
As for draconian anti-terror laws, they too only breed terror as for the
most part they are implemented by a State machinery that has imbibed
majoritarian values. So in Modi’s Gujarat after the ethnic cleansing of
Muslims in 2002, despite scores of confessions to rape and murder captured
on hidden camera, virtually no Hindu extremists were punished while
thousands of Muslims rotted in jail under draconian laws. The same happened
in Bombay despite the Shiv Sena being found guilty by the Justice
Shrikrishna Commission. Under pressure a few cases were finally brought to
trial but all escaped with the lightest of knuckle raps. In stark contrast
many Muslims accused in the 1993 bomb blasts were given death sentences.
The bulk of our media, policing and judicial systems swallows the canard
that Muslims are by nature violent. Removing democratic safeguards
guaranteed by the Constitution can only make this worse. Every act of
wrongful imprisonment and torture that then follows is likely to turn
innocents into material for future terrorists to draw upon. Already the
double standards are visible. While the Students Islamic Movement of India
is banned, Hindutva outfits like the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, and the
Shiv Sena remain legal entities. The leader of the MNS, Raj Thackeray
recently openly spread such hatred that several north Indians were killed by
lynch mobs. Amongst these were the Dube brothers, doctors from Kalyan who
treated the poor for a grand fee of Rs.10 per patient. Raj Thackeray like
his uncle Bal before him, remains free after issuing public threats that
Bombay would burn if anyone had the guts to arrest him. Modi remains free
despite the pogroms of Gujarat. Congress party murderers of Sikhs in 1984
remain free. Justice in India is clearly not there for all. Increasing the
powers of the police cannot solve this problem. Only honest and unbiased
implementation of laws that exist, can.
It is a tragedy of the highest proportions that one such honest policeman,
Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who had begun to unravel the
thread of Hindutva terror was himself gunned down, perhaps by Muslim terror.
It is reported that Col. Purohit and fellow Hindutva conspirators now in
judicial custody, celebrated the news of Karkare’s death. Until Karkare took
charge, the Malegaon bomb blasts in which Muslims were killed and the
Samjhauta Express blasts in which Pakistani visitors to India were killed
were being blamed on Muslims. Karkare exposed a hitherto unknown Hindutva
outfit as masterminding a series of killer blasts across the country. For
his pains Karkare came under vicious attack not just from militant Hindutva
but from the mainstream BJP. He was under tremendous pressure to prove his
patriotism. Was it this that led this senior officer to don helmet and
ill-fitting bullet proof vest and rush into battle with a pistol? Or was it
just his natural instinct, the same courage that had led him against all
odds, to expose Hindutva terror?
Whatever it was, it only underlines the fact that jehadis of all kinds are
actually allies of each other. So Bin Laden served George Bush and
vice-versa. So Islamic and Hindutva jehadis have served each other for
years. Do they care who dies? Of the 200 people killed in the last few days
by Islamic jehadis, a high number were Muslims. Many were waiting to board
trains to celebrate Eid in their hometowns in UP and Bihar, when their
co-religionists gunned them down. Shockingly the media has not commented on
this, nor focused on the tragedy at the railway station, choosing to
concentrate on tragedies that befell the well-to-do. And it is the media
that is leading the charge to turn us into a war-mongering police state
where we may lead lives with an illusion of safety, but with the certainty
of joylessness.
I am not arguing that we do not need efficient security at public places and
at vulnerable sites. But real security will only come when it is accompanied
by real justice, when the principles of democracy are implemented in every
part of the country, when the legitimate grievances of people are not
crushed, when the arms race is replaced by a race for decency and humanity,
when our children grow up in an atmosphere where religious faith is put to
the test of reason. Until such time we will remain at the mercy of
“patriots” and zealots.
Anand Patwardhan
November 2008
thanks to mad momma for the link.
*This has been written by Anand Patwardan. His article was rejected by the Times of India and has not been published anywhere yet ……..Terror: The Aftermath*
The attack on Mumbai is over. After the numbing sorrow comes the blame game
and the solutions. Loud voices amplified by saturation TV: Why don’t we
amend our Constitution to create new anti-terror laws? Why don’t we arm our
police with AK 47s? Why don’t we do what Israel did after Munich or the USA
did after 9/11 and hot pursue the enemy? Solutions that will lead us
further into the abyss. For terror is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It thrives
on reaction, polarization, militarization and the thirst for revenge.
*The External Terror *
Those who invoke America need only to analyze if its actions after 9/11
increased or decreased global terror. It invaded oil-rich Iraq fully knowing
that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, killing over 200,000 Iraqis citizens
but allowing a cornered Bin Laden to escape from Afghanistan. It recruited
global support for Islamic militancy, which began to be seen as a just
resistance against American mass murder. Which begs the question of who
created Bin Laden in the first place, armed the madarsas of Pakistan and
rejuvenated the concept of Islamic jehad? Israel played its own role in
stoking the fires of jehad. The very creation of Israel in 1948 robbed
Palestinians of their land, an act that Mahatma Gandhi to his credit
deplored at the time as an unjust way to redress the wrongs done to Jews
during the Holocaust. What followed has been a slow and continuing attack on
the Palestinian nation. At first Palestinian resistance was led by secular
forces represented by Yasser Arafat but as these were successfully
undermined, Islamic forces took over the mantle. The first, largely
non-violent Intifada was crushed, a second more violent one replaced it and
when all else failed, human bombs appeared.
Thirty years ago when I first went abroad there were two countries my Indian
passport forbade me to visit. One was racist South Africa. The other was
Israel. We were non-aligned and stood for disarmament and world peace. Today
Israel and America are our biggest military allies. Is it surprising that we
are on the jehadi hit list? Israel, America and other prosperous countries
can to an extent protect themselves against the determined jehadi, but can
India put an impenetrable shield over itself? Remember that when attackers
are on a suicide mission, the strongest shields have crumbled. New York was
laid low not with nuclear weapons but with a pair of box cutters. India is
for many reasons a quintessentially soft target. Our huge population, vast
landmass and coastline are impossible to protect. The rich may build new
barricades. The Taj and the Oberoi can be made safer. So can our airports
and planes. Can our railway stations and trains, bus stops, busses, markets
and lanes do the same?
*The Terror Within*
The threat of terror in India does not come exclusively from the outside.
Apart from being hugely populated by the poor India is also a country
divided, not just between rich and poor, but by religion, caste and
language. This internal divide is as potent a breeding ground for terror as
jehadi camps abroad. Nor is jehad the copyright of one religion alone. It
can be argued that international causes apart, India has jehadis that are
fully home grown. Perhaps the earliest famous one was Nathuram Godse who
acting at the behest of his mentor Vinayak Savarkar (still referred to as
“Veer” or “brave” although he refused to own up to his role in the
conspiracy), murdered Mahatma Gandhi for the crime of championing Muslims.
Jump forward to 6th December, 1992, the day Hindu fanatics demolished the
Babri Mosque setting into motion a chain of events that still wreaks havoc
today. From the Bombay riots of 1992 to the bomb blasts of 1993, the Gujarat
pogroms of 2002 and hundreds of smaller deadly events, the last 16 years
have been the bloodiest since Partition. Action has been followed by
reaction in an endless cycle of escalating retribution. At the core on the
Hindu side of terror are organizations that openly admire Adolph Hitler,
nursing the hate of historic wrongs inflicted by Muslims. Ironically these
votaries of Hitler remain friends and admirers of Israel.
On the Muslim side of terror are scores of disaffected youth, many of whom
have seen their families tortured and killed in more recent pogroms.
Christians too have fallen victim to recent Hindutva terror but as yet not
formed the mechanisms for revenge. Dalits despite centuries of caste
oppression, have not yet retaliated in violence although a small fraction is
being drawn into an armed struggle waged by Naxalites.
It is clear that no amount of spending on defense, no amount of patrolling
the high seas, no amount of increasing the military and police and equipping
them with the latest weaponry can end the cycle of violence or place India
under a bubble of safety. Just as nuclear India did not lead to more safety,
but only to a nuclear Pakistan, no amount of homeland security can save us.
And inviting Israel’s Mossad and America’s CIA/FBI to the security table is
like giving the anti-virus contract to those who spread the virus in the
first place. It can only make us more of a target for the next determined
jehadi attack.
*Policing, Justice and the Media*
As for draconian anti-terror laws, they too only breed terror as for the
most part they are implemented by a State machinery that has imbibed
majoritarian values. So in Modi’s Gujarat after the ethnic cleansing of
Muslims in 2002, despite scores of confessions to rape and murder captured
on hidden camera, virtually no Hindu extremists were punished while
thousands of Muslims rotted in jail under draconian laws. The same happened
in Bombay despite the Shiv Sena being found guilty by the Justice
Shrikrishna Commission. Under pressure a few cases were finally brought to
trial but all escaped with the lightest of knuckle raps. In stark contrast
many Muslims accused in the 1993 bomb blasts were given death sentences.
The bulk of our media, policing and judicial systems swallows the canard
that Muslims are by nature violent. Removing democratic safeguards
guaranteed by the Constitution can only make this worse. Every act of
wrongful imprisonment and torture that then follows is likely to turn
innocents into material for future terrorists to draw upon. Already the
double standards are visible. While the Students Islamic Movement of India
is banned, Hindutva outfits like the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, and the
Shiv Sena remain legal entities. The leader of the MNS, Raj Thackeray
recently openly spread such hatred that several north Indians were killed by
lynch mobs. Amongst these were the Dube brothers, doctors from Kalyan who
treated the poor for a grand fee of Rs.10 per patient. Raj Thackeray like
his uncle Bal before him, remains free after issuing public threats that
Bombay would burn if anyone had the guts to arrest him. Modi remains free
despite the pogroms of Gujarat. Congress party murderers of Sikhs in 1984
remain free. Justice in India is clearly not there for all. Increasing the
powers of the police cannot solve this problem. Only honest and unbiased
implementation of laws that exist, can.
It is a tragedy of the highest proportions that one such honest policeman,
Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who had begun to unravel the
thread of Hindutva terror was himself gunned down, perhaps by Muslim terror.
It is reported that Col. Purohit and fellow Hindutva conspirators now in
judicial custody, celebrated the news of Karkare’s death. Until Karkare took
charge, the Malegaon bomb blasts in which Muslims were killed and the
Samjhauta Express blasts in which Pakistani visitors to India were killed
were being blamed on Muslims. Karkare exposed a hitherto unknown Hindutva
outfit as masterminding a series of killer blasts across the country. For
his pains Karkare came under vicious attack not just from militant Hindutva
but from the mainstream BJP. He was under tremendous pressure to prove his
patriotism. Was it this that led this senior officer to don helmet and
ill-fitting bullet proof vest and rush into battle with a pistol? Or was it
just his natural instinct, the same courage that had led him against all
odds, to expose Hindutva terror?
Whatever it was, it only underlines the fact that jehadis of all kinds are
actually allies of each other. So Bin Laden served George Bush and
vice-versa. So Islamic and Hindutva jehadis have served each other for
years. Do they care who dies? Of the 200 people killed in the last few days
by Islamic jehadis, a high number were Muslims. Many were waiting to board
trains to celebrate Eid in their hometowns in UP and Bihar, when their
co-religionists gunned them down. Shockingly the media has not commented on
this, nor focused on the tragedy at the railway station, choosing to
concentrate on tragedies that befell the well-to-do. And it is the media
that is leading the charge to turn us into a war-mongering police state
where we may lead lives with an illusion of safety, but with the certainty
of joylessness.
I am not arguing that we do not need efficient security at public places and
at vulnerable sites. But real security will only come when it is accompanied
by real justice, when the principles of democracy are implemented in every
part of the country, when the legitimate grievances of people are not
crushed, when the arms race is replaced by a race for decency and humanity,
when our children grow up in an atmosphere where religious faith is put to
the test of reason. Until such time we will remain at the mercy of
“patriots” and zealots.
Anand Patwardhan
November 2008
thanks to mad momma for the link.
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