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How do you defeat terrorism ?
Rahul Gandhi believes he has the answer :
“I am confident that this country can take on terrorism. Defeating it is no problem. If we empower those people in villages, we can sit back, relax and we will destroy terrorism in 15 minutes,” Gandhi told a press conference here.
Has he been with the Left for far too long ?
Do we prefer terrorism to be associated only with cross-border actions as it gives us the comfort of identifying an enemy ?
Is an Islamist (as some of them have been branded) the only face of terror or could it be someone we support too ?
What exactly is even the definition of terrorism ?
Amit Varma makes you think about the above questions and a few more in a piece that chronicles the recent incidents by powers of Sri Rama Sena, Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena :
On the other hand, let’s look at the definition of terrorism according to Merriam-Webster: “The systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.”
Is this not “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion”? And in all these cases, some of the accused might get arrested, but are released in no time and are back in business. As I’d once written, mobs in India have the license to do as they please if they do it under the banner of politics or religion. If you and I go and vandalize a hotel lobby or beat up women in a lounge bar, you can bet we’ll be thrown into jail, and rightfully so. But if we do it under the pretext of defending our culture or our religion, then anything goes. The rule of law, in such situations, is a joke.
Thinking is mandatory, commenting is not.
I am stuck in the middle of assignments but still taking the time to post this, so you can guess that this news is special
Now MNS goes after ‘Pak’ signboards.
The owner of Karachi Sweets in Mulund has received a one-page note, written on MNS letterhead by local activist Rajendra Deshmukh, asking him to change the name of the shop or face the consequences.
Too many emotions .. I can’t possibly write them down in words. Comments anyone ?
The MNS chief would be a happy man today.
Mumbai defeats UP in the Ranji trophy finals.
MNS manages to drive out all Pakistani terrorists out of Mumbai. No .. wait. Just the comedians ?? Yeah but still.
MNS forces all shopkeepers to take books by Pakistani authors off the shelf. Now if only I could name one book by a Pakistani author.
But just when I thought that everyone will truly fear the MNS now, this snap comes around (edit : since this was causing confusion, focus on the pink turban in the snap and not the traditional costume. Not just turban, ‘pink’ turban).
The Lashkar-e-Toiba is banned.
It operates under the name Jamaat-ul-Dawa.
The Jamaat-ul-Dawa is banned.
It operates under the name Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Qibla Awal.
So their strategy to evade authorities is to make the name harder to pronounce.
No humour or sarcasm here. Or maybe there is. There is no generic neighbour bashing here, just an attempt to see things from different perspectives. I would really like some opinions here (and I can assure you it is not a lame attempt at increasing the comment count, as the cynics might think).
The case of Ajmal Kasab and the Mumbai terror attacks is essentially going in a loop. To the point where we almost know what statements are going to be made by Pranab Mukherjee, Asif Ali Zardari, Syed Gilani, Manmohan Singh and the investigating team.
As the latest development, a (photocopy of a) hand-written letter by Kasab has been handed over to Pakistan, which is expected to prove beyond doubt that Kasab is a Pakistani. A letter as evidence ? Seriously ? My school teacher wouldn’t believe that a note of absence was written by my parents !
And assuming that fails Kasab might be telling his tale on television, seriously, to prove the authenticity of our claims.
If you follow the media across the border in Pakistan, the main concern has been no evidence provided yet and a yet-not-accepted offer of joint investigation.
I fail to fathom how any clinching evidence could be provided by India without access to resources in Pakistan thereby implying the necessity of a joint investigation, in case we are serious about punishing the culprits. Cross border terrorism or any acts of crime are difficult enough to prove or gather evidence about. It becomes increasingly important to gather solid proof considering international pressure can only go so far without it. Even if we assume that not involving Pakistan might give us the initial edge with diplomatic allies, we run the risk of losing it in the long run.
The next concern is obviously if we can trust Pakistan for this, but then again we have nothing to lose.
Meanwhile, Pakistan expectedly has gone on the offensive denying the presence of Kasab’s name in their National Database of Names. And a word about defense analyst Zaid Hamid whose videos are becoming a rage in Pakistan and replacing the Laughter Challenge videos in India. Mr. Hamid being a conspiracy theorist, at worst his views are juvenile and at best amateurish. He reminds me of the mathematician Pierre de Fermat, who gave out theorems and left the proof to be figured out by poor mathematicians suceeding him.
The BALeful veteran has finally spoken :
“If they (Hindu terrorists) are (behind the September 29 Malegaon blast), I would be glad. Terrorists should be born among Hindus, I have begun to feel. What was their fault? Something might have been done to take on fanatic Muslims…” (Link)
Blind targetting works well in Unreal, not so much in real.
Referring to the presence of Anil Kakodkar, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission during talks in the South Block, the editorial said India needs to overcome the “fear complex” on account of Pakistan’s nuclear capability and should put full faith in the competence of the three wings of defence forces. (Link)
And I agree. I would have sung this tune too, but only if I was playing Age of Empires and had to deal with trebuchets.
Of course, one instance of Afzal Guru was thrown in to make the article gramatically correct.
P.S. : Valid only for the Afzal Guru case, are we ever going to get an explanation about his case ? And if terrorism has no religion, then why does a terrorist seem to protect the Muslim votes ? Or are we caving in the the high pitched demands of Mehbooba Mufti (Mehbooba and high pitched always remind me of Himesh) and Arundhati Roy, who might have taken a liking to Chinese men after writing her Booker winner.
Bret Stephens writes an interesting piece in The Wall Street Journal titled ‘Let’s buy Pakistan’s nukes‘ :
This is the deal I have in mind. The government of Pakistan would verifiably eliminate its entire nuclear stockpile and the industrial base that sustains it. In exchange, the U.S. and other Western donors would agree to a $100 billion economic package, administered by an independent authority and disbursed over 10 years, on condition that Pakistan remain a democratic and secular state (no military rulers; no Sharia law). It would supplement that package with military aid similar to what the U.S. provides Israel: F-35 fighters, M-1 tanks, Apache helicopters. The U.S. would also extend its nuclear umbrella to Pakistan, just as Hillary Clinton now proposes to do for Israel.
Being an Indian, I can safely say that among the countries that need to be on their toes when it comes to terrorists procuring nuclear weapons, India ranks first. But I believe that the terrorists are only as effective during the time they keep us guessing about their association with nuclear weapons.
The above solution might help the US have a sound sleep, again not for long. The root cause here is terrorism ! Pouring money into Pakistan for this reason is an oxymoron; it is like pouring water into a leaking bucket. Of course, I also fail to comprehend why Pakistan would get into the proposed deal.
Prologue : No one can possibly see humour at such a time. This post is obviously black humour.
While everyone was watching the tales of horror unfold on the Indian news channels (not to be confused with news channels that report news), many of us were wondering if this was the same India where bombs referred to the small noisy crackers we lit during Diwali and rarely after cricket matches, school going kids never sure if ‘terrorist’ contained 1 ‘r’ or 2 ‘r’s and glasses shattered only by stray cricket balls accompanied by the yelling of a grumpy old man. But apart from these, we always identified India with small innocent memories like politicians bickering, callousness of the leaders, apathy of the people and that precious feeling of “To hell with India”.
Which is why the recent attacks were doubly disturbing. They not only destoyed the fabric of a city, they annihilated the spirit of an entire nation. I could see leaders uniting (for a day), netizens actually using the word ‘India’ in their status messages, e-mails and petitions not for some lame turtles but for real citizens, people coming up with solutions for their problems and worst still, wasting time discussing about the country despite the fact that Amitabh Bachchan has a severely upset psychological condition at this very moment. How insensitive, no ?
This was not the India I knew, and I could not identify with this India.
But thankfully, we have once again proven that you cannot destroy the great democracy that is India with a single attack. Such is the power of this great country. It has not even taken us a few days to completely get to normal. Take that you @#!@#@@ (random number of alphanumeric characters here, don’t bother applying your excellent ‘explitivory’, which is NOT an English word so don’t come crying, skills) terrorists.
I proudly present the top 10 signs that India has returned back to normal.
10. We are receiving news that Dhoni has skipped his B.Com. exam paper, I presume because he is the skipper.
9. Shiv Sena bans Pakistani players and artists, not realizing that they have already done so 10,23,234 times before.
8. We are reminded that Ram Gopal Varma still exists and is threatening to make another movie (and you thought the terrorists could make you forget about RGV and his Aag).
7. BJP re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-iterates its demand for tougher terror laws. Oxford has offered them a free copy of their dictionary which specially includes the phrase ‘suicide squads’.
6. President Pratibha Patil has arrived in Mumbai hoping her skills with seances (communicating with spirits) can aid investigation.
5. India is awaiting Pakistan’s response on its ’20 Most wanted list’.
4. Maharashtra home minister plays down the incident in Mumbai plagiarizing a line from DDLJ (an untoward incident like this can happen in such a big city like Mumbai), and on severe reactions blames it on his bad Hindi.
3. There is a demand for ‘sacred site’ status to the Ram Setu.
2. Shiv Sena demands President’s rule in Maharashtra, realizing after one whole year that she is in fact a Maharashtrian.
and the topmost fact that gives me the most confidence about the normal state of affairs ..
1. Mahesh Bhatt is back to talking random things about random topics.
But I must admit, the recent terror attacks have left us with one difference; something that I did not expect in my wildest dreams to change, Karan Johar’s orientation. He is now talking about bashing up politicians. Efforts are on to bring him back to consciousness by forceful screenings of Dostana.
Disclaimer : If you still haven’t guessed it, nothing mentioned above is true. I am not even sure if the above mentioned people actually exist. In fact, I am not even sure if I exist.
Credits : Aag review by Greatbong, Top 10 list inspired by the Late Show with David Letterman.
