Mumbai Under Siege

By Yoginder Sikand         29 November 2008                 Muslim India

"O ye who believe! stand out firmly for God, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear God. For God is well-acquainted with all that ye do."- (The Quran, Surah Al-Maida: 8)

Numerous theories are doing the rounds about the dastardly terrorist assault on Mumbai. The dominant view, based on what is being suggested by the media, is that this is the handiwork of the dreaded Pakistan-based self-styled Islamist and terrorist outfit Lashkar-e Tayyeba, which, ever since it was ostensibly proscribed by the Government of Pakistan some years ago, has adopted the name of Jamaat ud-Dawah. This might well be the case, for the Lashkar has been responsible for numerous such terrorist attacks in recent years, particularly in Kashmir.

The Lashkar is the military wing of the Markaz Dawat wal Irshad, an outfit floated by a section of the Pakistani Ahl-e Hadith, a group with close affiliations to the Saudi Wahhabis. It has its headquarters at the town of Muridke in the Gujranwala district in Pakistani Punjab. The Markaz was established in 1986 by two Pakistani university professors, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Zafar Iqbal. They were assisted by Abdullah Azam, a close aide of Osama bin Laden, who was then associated with the International Islamic University in Islamabad. Funds for setting up the organization are said to have come from Pakistan's dreaded official secret services agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). From its inception, it is thus clear, the Lashkar had the support of the Pakistani establishment.

The Lashkar started out as a paramilitary organisation to train warriors to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Soon it spawned dozens of camps across Pakistan and Afghanistan for this purpose. Militants produced at these centres have played a major role in armed struggles, first in Afghanistan, and then in Bosnia, Chechenya, Kosovo, the southern Philippines and Kashmir.

Like other radical Islamist groups, the Lashkar sees Islam as an all-embracing system. It regards Islam as governing all aspects of personal as well as collective life, in the form of the shariah. For the establishing of an Islamic system, it insists, an 'Islamic state' is necessary, which will impose the shariah as the law of the land. If, the official website of the Lashkar announces, such a state were to be set up and all Muslims were to live strictly according to 'the laws that Allah has laid down', then, it is believed, 'they would be able to control the whole world and exercise their supremacy'. And for this, as well as to respond to the oppression that it claims that Muslims in large parts of the world are suffering, it insists that all Muslims must take to armed jihad. Armed jihad must continue, its website announces, 'until Islam, as a way of life, dominates the whole world and until Allah's law is enforced everywhere in the world'.

The subject of armed jihad runs right through the writings and pronouncements of the Lashkar and is, in fact, the most prominent theme in its discourse. Indeed, its understanding of Islam may be seen as determined almost wholly by this preoccupation, so much so that its reading of Islam seems to be a product of its own political project, thus effectively ending up equating Islam with terror. Being born as a result of war in Afghanistan, war has become the very raison d'être of the Lashkar, and its subsequent development has been almost entirely determined by this concern. The contours of its ideological framework are constructed in such a way that the theme of armed jihad appears as the central element of its project. In the writings and speeches of Lashkar spokesmen jihad appears as violent conflict (qital) waged against 'unbelievers' who are said to be responsible for the oppression of the Muslims. Indeed, the Lashkar projects it as the one of the most central tenets of Islam, although it has traditionally not been included as one of the 'five pillars' of the faith. Thus, its website claims that 'There is so much emphasis on this subject that some commentators and scholars of the Quran have remarked that the topic of the Quran is jihad'. Further, a Lashkar statement declares, 'There is consensus of opinion among researchers of the Qur'an that no other action has been explained in such great detail as jihad'.

In Lashkar discourse, jihad against non-Muslims is projected as a religious duty binding on all Muslims today. Thus the Lashkar's website claims that a Muslim who has 'never intended to fight against the disbelievers […] is not without traces of hypocrisy'. Muslims who have the capacity to participate or assist in the jihad but do not do so are said to 'be living a sinful life'. Not surprisingly, therefore, the Lashkar denounces all Muslims who do not agree with its pernicious and grossly distorted version of Islam and its hideous misinterpretation of jihad—Sufis, Shias, Barelvis and so on—as being 'deviants' or outside the pale of Islam or even in league with 'anti-Islamic forces'. The Lashkar promises its activists that they would receive great rewards, both in this world and in the Hereafter, if they were to actively struggle in the path of jihad. Not only would they be guaranteed a place in Heaven, but they would also 'be honoured in this world', for jihad, it claims, is also 'the way that solves financial and political problems'.

Astoundingly bizarre though it is, the Markaz sees itself as engaged in a global jihad against the forces of 'disbelief', stopping at nothing short of aiming at the conquest of the entire world. As Nazir Ahmed, in-charge of the public relations department of the Lashkar, once declared, through the so-called jihad that the Lashkar has launched, 'Islam will be dominant all over the world'. This global war is seen as a solution to all the ills and oppression afflicting all Muslims, and it is claimed that 'if we want to live with honour and dignity, then we have to return back to jihad'. Through jihad, the Lashkar website says, 'Islam will be supreme throughout the world'.

In Lashkar discourse, its self-styled jihad against India is regarded as nothing less than a war between two different and mutually opposed ideologies: Islam, on the one hand, and Hinduism, on the other. It tars all Hindus with the same brush, as supposed 'enemies of Islam'. Thus, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Lashkar chief, declares: 'In fact, the Hindu is a mean enemy and the proper way to deal with him is the one adopted by our forefathers, who crushed them by force. We need to do the same'.

India is a major target for the Lashkar's terrorists. According to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, 'The jihad is not about Kashmir only. It encompasses all of India'. Thus, the Lashkar sees its self-styled jihad as going far beyond the borders of Kashmir and spreading through all of India. Its final goal, it says, is to extend Muslim control over what is seen as having once been Muslim land, and, hence, to be brought back under Muslim domination, creating what the Lashkar terms as 'the Greater Pakistan by dint of jihad'. Thus, at a mammoth congregation of Lashkar supporters in November 1999, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed thundered, 'Today I announce the break-up of India, Inshallah. We will not rest until the whole of India is dissolved into Pakistan'.

The Lashkar, so say media reports, has been trying to drum up support among India's Muslims, and it may well be that it has managed to find a few recruits to its cause among them. If this is the case, it has probably been prompted by the fact of mounting murderous Hindutva-inspired anti-Muslim pogroms across the country, often abetted by agencies of the state, which has taken a toll of several thousand innocent lives. The fact that no semblance of justice has been delivered in these cases and that the state has not taken any measure to reign in Hindutva terrorism adds further to the deep-seated despondency and despair among many Indian Muslims. This might well be used by self-styled Islamist terror groups, such as the Lashkar, to promote their own agenda. Obviously, therefore, in order to counter the grave threat posed by terror groups such as the Lashkar, the Indian state needs to tackle the menace of Hindutva terror as well, which has now assumed the form of full-blown fascism. Both forms of terrorism feed on each other, and one cannot be tackled without taking on the other as well.

Mercifully, and despite the denial of justice to them, the vast majority of the Indian Muslims have refused to fall into the Lashkar's trap. The flurry of anti-terrorism conferences that have recently been organised by important Indian Islamic groups is evidence of the fact that they regard the Lashkar's perverse understanding of Islam as being wholly anti-Islamic and as a perversion of their faith. These voices urgently need to be promoted, for they might well be the most effective antidote to Lashkar propaganda. Numerous Indian Islamic scholars I know and have spoken to insist that the Lashkar's denunciation of all non-Muslims as 'enemies of Islam', its fomenting of hatred towards Hindus and India and its understanding of jihad are a complete misrepresentation of Islamic teachings. They bitterly critique its call for a universal Caliphate as foolish wishful thinking. And they are unanimous that, far from serving the cause of the faith they claim to espouse, groups like the Lashkar have done the most heinous damage to the name of Islam, and are to blame, to a very large extent, for mounting Islamophobia globally.

At the same time as fingers of suspicion are being pointed at the Lashkar for being behind the recent Mumbai blasts, other questions are being raised in some circles. The significant fact that Hemant Karkare, the brave ATS chief who was killed in the terrorist assault, had been investigating the role of Hindutva terrorist groups in blasts in Malegoan and elsewhere and had received threats for this has not gone un-noticed. Nor has the related fact that the assault on Mumbai happened soon after disturbing revelations began pouring in of the role of Hindutva activists in terror attacks in different parts of India. That the attack on Mumbai has led to the issue of Hindutva-inspired terrorism now being totally sidelined is also significant.

And then there is a possible Israeli angle that some are raising. Thus, the widely-read Mumbai-based tabloid Mid-Day, in an article about a building where numerous militants were holed up titled 'Mumbai Attack: Was Nariman House the Terror Hub?', states:

"The role that Nariman House is coming to play in this entire attack drama is puzzling. Last night, residents ordered close to 100 kilograms of meat and other food, enough to feed an army or a bunch of people for twenty days. Shortly thereafter, the ten odd militants moved in, obviously, indicating that the food and meat was ordered, keeping their visit in mind, another cop added.

"One of the militants called up a television news channel and voiced his demands today, but, interestingly, when he was asked where are they all holed him, he said at the Israeli owned Nariman House and they are six of them here", one of the investigating cops said. Since morning, there has been exchange of gun fire has been going on and the militants seem well equipped to counter the cops fire. To top it, they have food and shelter. One wonders [if] they have the support of the residents, a local Ramrao Shanker said."

A Mossad/Israeli hand in the affair might seem far-fetched to some, but not so to others, who point to the role of Israeli agents in destabilizing a large number of countries as well as possibly operating within some radical Islamist movements, such as a group in Yemen styling itself 'Islamic Jihad', said to be responsible for the bombing of the American Embassy in Sanaa, and which is said to have close links with the Israeli intelligence. Some have raised the question if the Mossad or even the CIA might not be directly or otherwise instigating some disillusioned Muslim youth in India, Pakistan or elsewhere to take to terror by playing on Muslim grievances, operating through existing Islamist groups or spawning new ones for this purpose.

If this charge is true—although this remains to be conclusively established—the aim might be to further radicalize Muslims so as to provide further pretext for American and Israeli assaults on Islam and Muslim countries. The fact that the CIA had for years been in very close contact with the Pakistani ISI and radical Islamist groups in Pakistan is also being raised in this connection. The possible role of such foreign agencies of being behind some terror attacks that India has witnessed in recent years to further fan anti-Muslim hatred and also to weaken India is also being speculated on in some circles.

Whether all this is indeed true needs to be properly investigated. But the fact remains that it appears to be entirely in the interest of the Israeli establishment and powerful forces in America to create instability in India, fan Hindu-Muslim strife, even to the point of driving India and Pakistan to war with each other, and thereby drag India further into the deadly embrace of Zionists and American imperialists.

In other words, irrespective of who is behind the deadly attacks on Mumbai, it appears to suit the political interests and agendas of multiple and equally pernicious political forces—Islamist and Hindu radicals, fired by a hate-driven Manichaean vision of the world, but also global imperialist powers that seem to be using the attacks as a means to push India even deeper into their suicidal axis.

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Photo:An Indian commando dropped onto the roof of a Jewish center in the Indian commercial capital of Mumbai, where militants were holed up with hostages. The standoffs narrowed to a final running battle between commandos and at least one gunman who was still roaming the charred corridors of a luxury hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the articles and statements published in Muslim India are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editor/publisher of Muslim India.

Eyewitness to terror

By Rahul Singh             November 28 2008                         Muslim India

"... Hard questions are being asked of the Indian security agencies and the military: How were the terrorists able to enter Mumbai harbour, an area crawling with Indian warships? Why did the country's intelligence services fail to detect the threat of an operation involving so many terrorists that must have taken several months to plan?"

Mumbai Hostage in France :: A woman, covered by a shawl, who escaped the attacks in Mumbai, is welcomed by a French Red Cross worker at the Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport, outside Paris. (AFP Photo)

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Some helpline numbers: 

List of Injured and Deceased
JJ Hospital +91 22 23739031
St George’s Hospital - +91 22 22620240
Mumbai Police’s Helpline Numbers
Taj helpline numbers for info about people stuck inside - +91 -22-66574322, +91-22-66574372, local toll free 1-800-111-825
Trident Hotel Helpline : 011-23890606, 011-23890505, 9810956888 | Dir Corp Comm, Oberoi Hotels
For Info on terrorist cars - call DG Control Room - 9122 22023366
Send an sms -type BLOOD and send it to 96000 97000
Info on Terrorist cars - call 9122 24937755/24937747
US helpline 888-407-4747 Brazilian help line 9820686143 (C) CNN IBN FA 1-613-996-8885 from Canada, 1-800-387-3124 E
For UK
Pinstorm Mumbai Help Page
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This was clearly a carefully planned attack aimed at undermining India's economy. Rahul Singh elaborates.

MUMBAI:: I was attending a Parsi wedding on Wednesday night, not very far from the Taj Mahal Hotel, when, just before 10 p.m., cellphones began ringing and the sound of gunfire broke out.

First reports seemed to indicate that a gunman had gone berserk. It was only later that the full extent of the operation - which is continuing even as I write - became evident. Clearly, this was a carefully coordinated and intricately planned terrorist attack carried out by professionals and aimed at hurting tourism and undermining the Indian economy.

Mumbai is no stranger to terrorism. In 1993, in the wake of the destruction of the Babri Mosque by Hindu nationalists in north India and a wave of communal riots, a series of blasts took place all over the city, killing more than 200 people. Then, just two years ago, bombs planted in the city's commuter trains killed more than 150.

India has also witnessed terror attacks in its major cities - Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and New Delhi - which have killed another 500. Indeed, apart from Iraq and Afghanistan, more people have died from terrorist attacks in India in recent years than in any other country in the world.

Nevertheless, the terrorist attack that broke out on Wednesday night in Mumbai, India's financial capital, is unprecedented. Several terrorists (their exact number is still not known), heavily armed with AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and explosives landed in rubber boats near the Gateway of India, a British era building near the southern tip of the city and next to the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of India's most famous and iconic hotels.

Indian intelligence officials said they believe the terrorists came in a larger boat from nearby Karachi in Pakistan and then moved into the smaller rubber boats at the entrance of Mumbai harbor. A hitherto unknown group calling itself "Deccan Mujahedeen" is claiming responsibility for the attack, though accusing fingers are being pointed at the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the largest and most active Islamist militant organizations in South Asia. The Lashkar-e-Taiba has denied responsibility, according to Reuters. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the attack came from "outside India."

From the Gateway, the terrorists fanned out. One group went to the Leopold Café, which is just five minutes walk from their landing place and a popular hangout for foreign tourists. There they opened indiscriminate fire, killing several people. They then moved to the Taj Mahal Hotel, entered the lobby, and began shooting. According to one of the guests who escaped, they asked people with British and American passports to come to one side, taking some hostage.

In all, 10 places were apparently targeted for attack, including another five-star hotel, the Trident, as well as the city's biggest railroad station and a hospital. Over 100 people have died, but with bodies being taken out of the Taj Hotel at the time of this writing and several hundred guests and staff members still holed up in the Trident - at least 30 of them being held hostage - the final toll is bound to be higher. Five of the terrorists have been killed, according to the Mumbai police commissioner, A.N. Roy. He added that at least 14 policemen were also killed, including the highly decorated head of the state's anti-terrorism squad, Heman Karkare. (One of my fellow guests at the Parsi wedding was Julio Ribeiro, one of India's most prominent police officers, who was largely responsible for tackling Punjab terrorism in the 1980s and who has himself survived two assassination attempts by Sikh terrorists.)

In all, at least 300 commandos and 800 Indian troops have been deployed to neutralize the terrorists.

Terrorists were also targeting the Nariman House - which contains the city headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch - which happens to be less than 100 yards from where I reside in the Colaba area of south Mumbai. The terrorists were reported to be holding at least two Israeli hostages - three others had managed to escape. The attackers apparently lobbed a grenade at a Bharat Petroleum gasoline pump just below the building, setting it afire.

When I went there Thursday morning, a mangled motorcycle lay in the road, along with two shattered cars. Across the road, broken glass was scattered all over the pavement. A baby was carried out of the building as commandos were inching their way forward.

The terrorists must have known that Nariman House, where several of the city's Jewish families live, is a popular spot for visiting Israelis and foreign Jewish tourists.

Last night, I also heard a loud explosion coming from the direction of the Taj Mahal Hotel, which is close to my residence. I later learned that the explosion had taken place near the dome of the hotel, setting part of the top floor on fire. That fire is still burning.

This is the first time that south Mumbai, a favorite of foreign tourists and the city's financial center, has been targeted in such a big way. Clearly, the terrorists wanted to hit India where it hurts, scaring off investors and tourists.

Meanwhile, hard questions are being asked of the Indian security agencies and the military: How were the terrorists able to enter Mumbai harbor, an area crawling with Indian warships? Why did the country's intelligence services fail to detect the threat of an operation involving so many terrorists that must have taken several months to plan?

Whatever the answers, there is no question that Mumbai, indeed the entire Indian nation, faces its sternest test.

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Rahul Singh is a former editor of "Reader's Digest" and "Indian Express".

Source: iht.com

Attacks hit a symbol of India's global ties

By Anand Giridharadas           November 28, 2008           Muslim India

"In hotel attack, terrorists target India's growing global class, top hotel drew elites from city and world", Anand Giridharadas elaborates.

On an evening not long ago at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in Mumbai, a Bollywood star named Preity Zinta rushed up the stairs and into Wasabi, a Japanese restaurant. She joined long-waiting friends at their table and apologized for being late.

But before long, she had risen again. She had seen at a nearby table Adi and Parmeshwar Godrej, billionaires, socialites and fellow jet-setters. A good amount of air-kissing ensued. Then she was introduced to Imran Khan, the Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician, who just happened to be in town.

Before long, a bottle of imported red wine arrived and was poured into a silver-tipped glass decanter, as platters of miso-encrusted sea bass and rock-shrimp tempura floated through the restaurant on upraised hands.

When violent attackers besieged the Taj, as it is universally known, and embarked on a murderous rampage Wednesday night, they targeted one of the city's best known landmarks. But they also went after something larger: a hulking, physical embodiment of India's deepening involvement with the world.

The Taj is where privileged Indians come when they want a world-class meal. It is where pinstriped foreign executives come when deciding whether to invest in India or outsource jobs here. It is where Mick Jagger, Liz Hurley, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stay when they are in town.

And it is owned by a conglomerate, the Tata Group, that appears to buy another foreign company every few months in its quest to be a multinational: hotels in Sydney, New York and London; a truck producer in South Korea; the British steel maker Corus; the storied automotive brands Jaguar and Land Rover.

Overnight Wednesday, the Indian writer Suketu Mehta, who wrote a defining book on Mumbai called "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found," said that an attack on the Taj was "as if terrorists had taken over the Four Seasons and the Waldorf-Astoria and then were running around shooting people in Times Square."

The Four Seasons and the Waldorf-Astoria, however, could never claim the pivotal role in New York life that the Taj could claim in Mumbai. It is not another Hilton or Sheraton in another Asian city. Its cash cow may be foreign guests, but it is equally a fixture of local Mumbai life, the aorta through which anything glamorous, sentimental, confidential or profitable passes in the city.

The hotel stands across from the Gateway of India, in the historic Colaba quarter. Those who would not dream of paying $3 - a good daily wage here - for one of its fresh-lime sodas sit outside the hotel, leaning against the stone wall above the Arabian Sea. They take in the scene, admire the finely dressed people breezing in and out.

It may not be their time for the Taj right now; but should a fortune ever bless them, into the Taj they will saunter. The Taj, like many productive endeavors, was born out of spite. Legend has it that Jamsetji Tata, a 19th-century Indian industrialist of Persian descent, was turned away from a hotel in British-era Mumbai. His crime was being Indian. He decided, in an inventive vision of revenge, to build the best hotel in the country, outfitted with German elevators, French bathtubs and other refinements from around the world.

Those refinements come with a price: at least $300 a night for one of the hotel's simplest rooms, or much more for better accommodation or in times of peak demand. And yet to pay that price and stay in that room is to enter a world that in India is hard to match.

The honking, scorching chaos of Mumbai fades away. A certain quiet comes. You can breathe again. The rooms come with all the latest gadgets. But there are also those indelible aspects of colonial life that refuse to wash away: The turbaned bodyguards, the grown men in the restrooms who refuse to let you twist the tap or squeeze the soap yourself, insisting on doing it for you.

For wealthy visitors, as well as many of the city's elite, the hotel had become so etched into their routine that it was like a second home, taken almost for granted - until its placid calm was broken when terrorism entered its halls.
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Photo: A foreign tourist broke down after being rescued safely from the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel following an attack on Wednesday night.

International Herald Tribune

As the Taj burned

Shaili Chopra       Thursday, November 27, 2008                  Muslim India

Mumbai:: The mascot of India's growing wealth and prosperity and the landmark that set Mumbai's skyline apart - the Taj Mahal hotel at the Gateway of India- burned in front of our eyes.

Flames engulfed its imposing dome, that's been the background of many a tourists' pictures and stories on India. In what's set to be one of the worst terrorist attacks on Indian soil, the night of 26th November, proved to be like a 9/11 for the nation.

The fire spread quickly across the heritage corridor of the Taj Mahal hotel, traditionally large and wide, with a long winding staircase. The center of the dome crumbled as we saw smoke clouds rise about the dome. Suddenly the glow of the flames gave way to dust clouds, splinters and pieces of concrete that blew, every few minutes from the dome's top. The orange of the fire soon turned into grey clouds against a pitch dark sky.

We watched, we helped, we reached out and we reported as people climbed down in tears. As the ladders went up, there was hope but there was fear about what was really going on inside. We as journalists watched from behind the media vans, zooming in hard, to reach out to every detail.

In the glow of the fire, people in rooms were clinging on to curtains, some on the phones with family, some screaming for help but many were heard by the firemen.

The engines doused the fire, but the flames continued to fan toward the inside of the building, collapsing the structure on the top floors.

The Taj Mahal hotel was burning. Terrorists had taken over the building, holding many hostage. As they moved from corridor to corridor, they turned the heritage tower into a fragile shell.

The Taj Mahal Palace hotel resort was commissioned by Jamsetji Tata and first opened its doors to guests on December 16, 1903. In this 105 years, Taj became the symbol of the city, first as a tourist attraction and then as the epicenter of the commercial capital.

It's prestigious and exclusive club, The Chambers, promised corporates and bureaucrats, privacy and privilege. Taj Mahal, was where anyone in business, was meant to be.

It boasts of a distinguished list of guests including Mick Jagger, Jacques Chirac, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent & Katharine, Duchess of Kent, Harald V of Norway & Queen Sonja of Norway, Marianne Faithfull, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles, Prince of Wales, The Beatles, Bill Clinton, Jacqueline Onassis and Elvis Presley.

On Wednesday night, it all changed for Mumbai. It all changed for Taj. What the modern structures of the World Trade Towers meant to New York, the heritage Taj Mahal means to Mumbai. We don't know yet if the skyline will change shape too. So far the dome is standing, but will it tomorrow?
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Photo: Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai.

Watch Sanjana Kapoor on Mumbai attacks

Terror attacks in Mumbai; six foreigners among 101 dead

Times News Network & Agencies       27 /11 2008         Muslim India

Some hostages have been freed but blasts continue to be heard at three sites, including two luxury hotels. So far over 100 people have been killed in the violence.

New Delhi/Mumbai:: At least 101 people have been killed in attacks by gunmen in Mumbai, police said on Thursday. (Watch).

"At least six foreigners have been killed and the death figure has gone up to 101 now," Ramesh Tayde, a senior police officer told from Mumbai's control room.

In one of the most violent terror attacks on Indian soil, Mumbai came under an unprecedented night attack as terrorists used heavy machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high-profile targets -- the hyper-busy CST (formerly VT) rail terminus; the landmark Taj Hotel at the Gateway and the luxury Oberoi Trident at Nariman Point; the domestic airport at Santa Cruz; the Cama and GT hospitals near CST; the Metro Adlabs multiplex and Mazgaon Dockyard -- killing at least 101 and sending hundreds of injured to hospital, according to latest reports. ( Watch )

The attacks have taken a tragic toll on the city's top police brass: The high-profile chief of the anti-terror squad Hemant Karkare was killed; Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte was gunned down outside the Metro; and celebrated encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar was also killed. ( Watch )

The attacks appeared to be aimed at getting international attention as the terrorists took upto 40 British nationals and other foreigners hostage. The chairman of Hindustan Unilever Harish Manwani and CEO of the company Nitin Paranjpe were among the guests trapped at the Oberoi. All the internal board members of the multinational giant were reported to be holed up in the Oberoi hotel.

Two terrorists were reported holed up inside the Oberoi Hotel. Fresh firing has been reported at Oberoi and Army has entered the hotel to flush out the terrorists. An unknown outfit, Deccan Mujahideen, has sent an email to news organizations claiming that it carried out the Mumbai attacks. ( Watch )

The Army and Navy in Mumbai were put on alert. 65 Army commandos and 200 NSG commandos were being rushed to Mumbai, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said. The Navy commandos too have been asked to assist the police. Special secretary M L Kumawat is in constant touch with the state police.

Some media reports attributed the attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba. There were also unconfirmed reports that some of the terrorists came in by sea. A boat laden with explosives was recovered later at night off the Gateway of India.

Well after midnight, sources said two of the terrorists were shot and wounded at Girgaum in south Mumbai. The two were driving in a commandeered silver-coloured Skoda car. Earlier, these men had sprayed bullets from a police Bolero, outside the Metro Adlabs multiplex.

The attacks occurred at the busiest places. Besides hotels and hospitals, terrorists struck at railway stations, Crawford Market, Wadi Bunder and on the Western Express Highway near the airport. Several of these places are within a one-km radius of the commissioner of police's office.

"This is definitely a terrorist strike. Seven places have been attacked with automatic weapons and grenades. Terrorists are still holed up in three locations Taj and Oberoi hotels and GT Hospital. Encounters are on at all three places," said Maharashtra DGP A N Roy.

St George's Hospital and G T Hospital were said to have received 75 bodies and more than 250 injured people, additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev said. Bombay Hospital got two bodies and 30 injured people were admitted there; Cooper Hospital, Vile Parle, got three dismembered bodies.

Three of the deaths occurred inside the Taj and one G T Hospital attendant died in a shootout inside the hospital. There were reports of people cowering under tables and chairs at both the Taj as well as G T Hospital.

Metro Junction resident Manoj Goel said: "My brother, Manish, died in the firing at Colaba's Hamaal Galli." Cops fired back at the men -- probably from one of the Lashkar groups, dressed in black and with backpacks and SRPF, Crime Branch, ATS and teams of military commandos were summoned to the spot. Train services at CST were suspended and all roads leading to and from south Mumbai were blockaded.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh cut short his Kerala visit and was returning to Mumbai. He described the situation in Mumbai as "very serious". (Watch)

Deshmukh promised "stringent action" against the assailants but the mood across Mumbai was not so optimistic.

There were reports of firing around several landmark buildings in the Colaba-Nariman Point area, including the Taj hotel, Oberoi and other tourist attractions and pubs like Leopold's. The top floor of Oberoi was said to be on fire amid reports of blasts in the area and blood-smeared bodies were being brought out of the Taj lobby.

Terrorists were said to be holed up at the Taj as well as G T Hospital and cops scampered to cordon off these places. A white flag was seen fluttering from an Oberoi Hotel window around 11.20 pm, where a blast was said to have occurred.

The blast on the Western Express Highway -- near Centaur Hotel outside the airport -- occurred in a taxi, deputy commissioner of police Nissar Tamboli said.

The firing and bombing started close to the Gateway of India. The gunbattle then moved on towards CST and raged on for over an hour from 10 pm, sending commuters running out of the station.

The assailants also fired into the crowd at CST and people on the trains and then ran out of the station themselves and into neighbouring buildings, including Cama Hospital, after being challenged by cops.

SRPF personnel then entered the iconic BMC building -- just opposite CST -- to take aim at the assailants, BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak said. "We fear some of the assailants are still inside the station and we want to catch them if they come out,'' a police official said.

Vikhroli police station senior inspector Habib Ansari was on his way to work from his Colaba home when he saw two armed men, with sophisticated weaponry, trying to run into bylanes near the Gateway of India."I rushed back to Colaba and all policemen, including GRP and RPF personnel, were called up," he added.

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Photo: A rescued hostage coming out of Nariman House in Mumbai. (AFP Photo)

Hindus in power have little personal engagement with Muslims: Kavita Srivastava

By Yoginder Sikand,    TwoCircles.net         26/11/2008      Muslim India

Based in Jaipur, Kavita Srivastava is the President of the Rajasthan chapter of the Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). She and her comrades have been consistently working in Rajasthan for the cause of human rights, particularly for the state's Muslims, Christians, Adivasis and Dalits, and have taken up the issue of targeting of Muslims by agencies of the state and the media in a major way. She discusses this and more in this interview with Yoginder Sikand.

Q: How do you see the way in which the state in Rajasthan is responding to acts of terror that have rocked the state in recent years, most particularly in the aftermath of the deadly blasts that shook Jaipur earlier this year?

Kavita Srivastava
A: The situation is indeed grim. Muslims are being readily branded as terrorists, and this is how many government officials view them. So, soon after the blasts large numbers of innocent Muslims were wrongly suspected or branded as terrorists. They were arrested and interrogated by the police, and many of them were subjected to cruel torture. The police somehow automatically assumed that Muslims were responsible for the blasts, without having any proof. Almost a fourth of those who died in the Jaipur blasts were Muslims, although Muslims account for just about a tenth of the city's population. But still the dominant view was that Muslims had killed Hindus in the blasts, without, as I said, this being proved at all.

Anti-Muslim bias in agencies of the state is mounting today. Just one instance of this is how some of the Muslims picked up by the police were treated. They were asked if they believe in the Quran or in the Indian Constitution, this ridiculous question reflecting the entirely erroneous notion that a religious and observant Muslim somehow is a traitor or a potential traitor to India. Then, of course, were the large numbers of Muslims who were picked up and thrown out of their homes in Jaipur, accused of being Bangladeshis, their miserable hutments being bulldozed over. All this suggests that there are powerful forces at work that seek to push Muslims to the wall.

And then there is the media. They simply parrot the police version of any Muslim whom it picks up as a terrorist, and when it is found that this person is innocent and is subsequently let off, the media chooses not to say anything about it. So, in this way, the image of large numbers of Muslims is being deliberately tarnished. Many of them have lost their jobs because of this, and are tainted in society for the rest of their lives although they have nothing to do with terrorism. I could cite several instances of this, people whose cases we have taken up. This is really a very worrying development.

Q: Why is it that the media, the police and the investigating agencies often jump to the conclusion that blasts must be the handiwork of Muslims soon after these occur even before any investigation has been conducted?

A: Unfortunately, that seems to be the case in large parts of country, including Rajasthan. Obviously, it is possible that some terror attacks might have been done by some Muslim elements, just as it is possible that they might be the handiwork of, say, Hindu extremists. But surely the agencies of the state and the media should not rush into concluding anything before a detailed investigation. Sadly, that does not seem to happen in most cases. So, they generally begin with the premise that any blast must be the handiwork of Muslims, and that obviously influences or determines the conclusions that they reach. They start with this premise probably, or at least in part, because there seems to be this widely-held, though erroneous, image in society of Muslims as somehow inherently and congenitally programmed to be prone to violence and terror. And so Muslims and their behavior come to be seen in an essentially criminalized way, not just by the police or media but also in the wider public domain.

Q: And why do you think this sort of image of Muslims is so deeply-rooted?

A: One major reason is that most Hindus, especially those in positions of power, have little, if any, personal engagement with Muslims. So, being unable to relate to them as real, flesh-and-blood people, they tend to see them in the form of sinister stereotypes and cruel caricatures. The only source of information about Muslims they might get is from the media, large sections of which, of course, are communalized and are getting increasingly more so.

Take television, for instance. You won't find a single programme set in a Muslim household. It's almost always set in an 'upper' caste, upper or middle-class Hindu family. Hindi cinema—or Hindustani cinema actually—once had considerable space for Muslims, although they were generally presented in stereotypical terms, as decadent feudal lords luxuriating in comfort, or as burkha-clad women or singing, paan-chewing qawwals or whatever, not as 'normal' human beings. But even that space has vanished, and now numerous Bollywood films clearly and explicitly demonise Muslims in a very carefully planned manner. In addition to all this is the poisonous anti-Muslim propaganda of the Hindutva forces. So, all this combines to colour the public domain and the public perception of Muslims in an increasingly negative light. As members of the wider society, it is not surprising that many people in the police, the courts and the media are also influenced by this way of thinking.

That said, let me also say here that the Rajasthan police must be distinguished from its Gujarati counterpart, which is far more anti-Muslim. At the same time, the Rajasthan police seem to be acting on the same premise as the Gujarat police does when it comes to Muslims, often regarding them as behind each and every terror attack and ignoring the possibility that some non-Muslim elements—say radical Hindutva groups—might be behind terror acts.

Q: There are now demands being voiced to make anti-terror laws even stricter as a means to counter terrorism. How do you see this demand?

A: What some people, such as the Hindutva right-wing, some police officers and pro-establishment media persons, are so forcefully advocating today is for a change in the law or a new law so that statements given by the arrested before the police can be counted as evidence against them. Now, we all know that this would lead to the further hounding of innocent people picked up by the police, who might torture them to make false 'confessions', which would be used as 'evidence' to falsely implicate them in cases for which they were not involved in, and which would let the real culprits go free. This would be a major assault on democracy.

Under the proposed draconian 'anti-terror' laws that some right-wing hawks are proposing, even human rights groups taking up the case of people wrongly accused of being terrorists could be arrested. Anyone who criticizes the wrong role of the police, the judiciary or any other branch of the state could then be easily branded as a criminal or terrorist sympathizer or abettor.

In other words, if such a draconian law comes into place, if you even think differently from the state you could be booked. Anyone who even talks of state terrorism could be labeled as a 'terrorist' or 'anti-national'. If you take up the rights of oppressed people who are being suppressed by the state, as is happening with human rights activists working with Adivasis in Chhatisgarh, for instance, you could be branded as an enemy of the state and thrown into jail. Or, as is happening in Orissa, activists protesting against multi-nationals grabbing Adivasi lands, backed by the state, can be arrested, but no action will be taken against the Hindu mobs, backed by Hindutva fascist outfits, which have left tens of thousands of Christians in the state homeless.

And now there is talk of the need for a new 'anti-terror' law according to which any person can be arrested if he or she even simply intends to support any banned group. In that case, how would the government presume that it can judge anyone's intentions? Obviously, this would make a complete mockery of any claims to democracy.

In other words, with these sorts of new laws that are being put into place or are being so vociferously advocated day in and day out, I fear India may be moving in the direction of a 'police state' run by intelligence agencies so that the state and the ruling classes can do whatever they want without any opposition whatsoever. These represent the sinister agenda of forces that are bent on destroying whatever little democracy we already enjoy.

Q: What, then, do you see as the way ahead?

A: This is a political issue, and for this we need a political struggle. It concerns not just Muslims, who might be among the worst targeted by such draconian laws, but all oppressed and marginalized social groups, communities and classes. It is a major threat to democracy, and so all democratic forces need to come together to stiffly oppose these draconian laws.
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Photo: Kavita Srivastava

Kavita Srivastava can be contacted on kavisriv@gmail.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the articles and statements published in Muslim India are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editor/publisher of Muslim India.

UN Bans "Defamation of Religion"

Press Release: UN Watch                     Tuesday, 25 November 2008              Muslim India

SCOOP
Geneva, November 24, 2008 - By a vote of 85 to 50, with 42 abstaining, the UN General Assembly today adopted a draft resolution calling on all countries to alter their legal and constitutional systems to prevent "defamation of religions," asserting that "Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism." Click here for GA draft resolution.

The decision, sponsored by Islamic states with the support of Venezuela and Belarus, drew immediate protests from human rights activists and legal experts.

"This is just the latest shot in an intensifying campaign of UN resolutions that dangerously seek to import Islamic anti-blasphemy prohibitions into the discourse of international human rights law," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an indpendent human rights monitoring group in Geneva.

"Human rights were designed to protect individuals -- to guarantee every person free speech and free exercise of religion -- but most certainly not to shield any set of beliefs, religion included."

"These resolutions legitimize the criminalization of free speech in countries like Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia," said Neuer. "Muslim moderates, bloggers, women seeking basic freedoms -- all of these will be the first to suffer from the worsening climate of state repression in the name of state-supported Islamic orthodoxy."

"No less is today's enactment aimed at the Western world, to intimidate anyone from criticizing radical Islam and those who commit violence in its name," said Neuer.

Proponents of free speech celebrated one small victory, however.

Successful campaigning by an international human rights coalition, including the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and UN Watch, led to a decline in support for the resolution compared to last year's vote, which had garnered 108 in support, 51 against, and 25 abstentions.

The proposed draft declaration for the UN's April 2009 "Durban II" conference on racism includes numerous provisions on the "defamation" of Islam. Denmark has threatened to walk out if they are included.

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Photo: UN Building, Geneva, Switzerland

Closing Guantánamo is not enough

Muslim India topics: Prisioner's Human Rights

By Laurel E. Fletcher and Eric Stover    25/11/ 2008              Muslim India

We Americans cannot sweep this ugly chapter in our nation's history under the rug by simply closing the Guantánamo prison camp. The new administration should create an independent, nonpartisan commission comprised of distinguished military, legal and medical experts to investigate U.S. detention and interrogation practices in the "war on terror."

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close the notorious Guantánamo prison camp. This will be a first step toward restoring America's reputation abroad, but it must not end there. To ensure that our fight against terrorism is consistent with U.S. laws and values, the new Administration must launch a full investigation into the treatment of detainees held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba and other U.S. detention centers since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

We recently published the findings of our study of 62 released Guantánamo detainees from nine different countries. What we found was alarming. Most of the men we interviewed had been arrested or kidnapped and sold to the United States for bounties as small as $5,000 - simply because their captors said that they were members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Our research found that U.S. authorities failed to verify whether these men were really "enemy combatants" and a serious threat to the security of the United States.

Guantánamo is nothing more than an interrogation center where guards and interrogators work together to "break" detainees. Half of the respondents in our study (31 of the 55) willing to discuss their interrogation sessions called them abusive. They described being subjected to short shackling, stress positions, solitary confinement and exposure to extreme temperatures, loud music and strobe lights-often simultaneously and over long periods of time.

The cumulative effect of these methods constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that, in some cases, could amount to torture as defined by the UN Convention Against Torture, which the U.S. ratified in 1994.

Several detainees were driven to despair and tried to kill themselves at Guantánamo, despite the strict prohibition against suicide in Islam. Twelve of the 18 attorneys we interviewed during the two-year study said that their clients' mental states had deteriorated dramatically as a result of their detention.

Of these, nine explicitly stated that prolonged periods of solitary confinement were particularly damaging to the detainees' psyches. While some prisoners received treatment for their psychological problems, others refused to seek help because medical personnel shared their information with interrogators who used it to coerce prisoners. This practice alone is a flagrant violation of medical ethics.

Over 500 prisoners have been released from Guantánamo since it opened in January 2002, yet not one of them has been convicted of a crime. In the past two months, two detainees still held in Guantánamo have been found guilty by military commissions. A third, David Hicks, pleaded guilty in 2007 and was released after serving the remainder of his sentence in Australia. Government officials have acknowledged to reporters that many - if not the vast majority - of detainees held at Guantánamo should never have been locked up in the first place.

Of those who have been released, many bear a lasting "Guantánamo stigma." Almost two-thirds of the men we interviewed reported deep psychological and emotional scars. Most have been shunned by their communities and families. Only six of the released detainees we interviewed had jobs. Former businessmen are now bankrupt; their families sold everything and borrowed money to make ends meet. Jobless and penniless, these men can't pay back the loans, and some can't afford to send their children to school.

"Years of my life were wasted over there," one released detainee told us. "I lost the chance of living as a human being; my family lost the chance of being with their father and husband. I lost the chance of being with my children and my wife; a person's life passing by, you never can get that back."

We Americans cannot sweep this ugly chapter in our nation's history under the rug by simply closing the Guantánamo prison camp. The new administration should create an independent, nonpartisan commission comprised of distinguished military, legal and medical experts to investigate U.S. detention and interrogation practices in the "war on terror."

The commission should determine what went wrong and who should be held accountable, and recommend ways to help those falsely imprisoned clear their names and recover from the abuses they have suffered. Commission members should be armed with subpoena power, given full access to classified material and be able to conduct their work unhindered by presidential pardons or amnesties designed to shield the culpable from accountability.

We must get at the truth that the Bush administration has tried for so many years to hide. Only then will we restore America's commitment to humane treatment and rule of law.
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Laurel E. Fletcher is director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Eric Stover is faculty director of the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley. They are coauthors of "Guantánamo and Its Aftermath."
Article Courtesy: iht.com, http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=18036162/ dt.21 November, 2008

Time for some meditation

By Jyotirmaya Sharma                       November 23, 2008 23:35 IST                              Muslim India

The mess that is Hindutva is a legacy of ideological confusion and intellectual lazines. Jyotirmaya Sharma elaborates.

An amusing spectacle is unfolding on most news channels these days: the top leadership of the BJP strenuously arguing that it is wrong to speak about ‘Hindu’ terrorism. These are the same people who demolished the Babri mosque, coining the slogan Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain (Say it with pride that we are Hindus). They are the same people who encourage and incite lumpens to attack M.F. Husain’s exhibitions in the name of preserving ‘Hindu’ culture. The same who glorified and justified the wilful killing of thousands of Muslims in a premeditated, planned and systematic fashion after the Godhra tragedy in the name of ‘Hindu’ pratishodh (reaction, retaliation). Among them are also people who have invented the most hateful, diabolical and misleading formulation in recent times, arguing that ‘all Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims’. Among these very people are individuals who have flouted every norm and tenet, every single article of faith of the Indian Constitution in the name of preserving Hindu asmita (sense of self). Among them are also people who certify Jinnah’s secular credentials, but brand anyone talking about coexistence, civility and debate as pseudo-secularists.

Having said this, I agree with them that there is no ‘Hindu terrorism’, just as there is no ‘Islamic/Muslim terrorism’. But there is something called Sangh parivar terrorism, just as there is al-Qaeda terrorism. Neither Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur nor Osama bin Laden represent their respective faiths, nor do their organisations represent the people who they claim to represent. To push aside misplaced legalism, just as the charges against the sadhvi are yet to be proved in a court of law, even Osama bin Laden has not yet been indicted by a court of law anywhere in the world. The only difference between Osama and Pragya is that the former is unlikely to contest an election in the future and become a member of an elected body. In the case of Pragya Thakur, given the way in which criminal investigations are conducted, there is a strong possibility of her becoming a people’s representative, as she would only be following a ‘great’ tradition. Just as Osama hides in the impregnable mountains of Afghanistan, the likes of Pragya will hide behind the fig leaf of the democratic ‘will of the people’. This is why very few people in the country speak about political, electoral and administrative reforms, and the Indian polity has been penetrated by criminal elements of both communal and secular hues. If a hundred people tell a lie and another hundred believe in it, it does not become the truth — this classical formulation has been conclusively reversed in our country.

The predicament of the Sangh parivar is akin to having a tub bath, where one only floats in one’s own dirt and filth. From the 19th century onwards, apologists of Hindu nationalism have sought to portray Hinduism as a unified, seamless and monochromatic faith. The mess that is Hindutva is a result of this ideological confusion and intellectual laziness. While it argued, on the one hand, that Hinduism was a tolerant, peaceful, inward-looking, all-embracing faith; on the other hand, there was a call to all Hindus to regain their Kshatriyahood and resort to the virtues of biceps and the Bhagvad Gita.

Every proponent of Hindu nationalism encouraged and promoted the idea of retaliatory violence, be it Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo or V. Savarkar, in the name of preserving righteousness and a fictional unbroken, centuries-old Hindu tradition. All of them were ensnared by 19th century definitions of religion and attempted to mould their own faith, as they understood it, in ways that were alien to the diverse strands of ‘Hinduism’.

Without exception, all Hindu nationalists from the 19th century onwards argued that religion was the core of Hindu nationalism, and moreover, that it was the only core of nationalism. They further argued that if the former was true, then, nationalism was the only religion. It is this formulation that allows the likes of Vajpayee and Advani to argue, to this day, that Hindutva stands for idealism whereas nationalism is their ideology. They say so in the belief that this linguistic and rhetorical contortion will go unnoticed, and it often does. It also manifests in contemporary times as Indian middle-class aspirations of envisioning India as an economic and military superpower. Very little time and energy are expended in discussing the constellation of values that will constitute the heart of this putative superpower. Like their 19th century predecessors, the Hindutva votaries are satisfied as long as they can vanquish their real and imagined enemies, at home and abroad, and impose their national socialist understanding of the idea of will to power.

No nation is either entirely tolerant or wholly wedded to violence. Any civilisation is a composite of the pure and the tainted, and from the struggle between the two emerge values that are sublime, civilised and truly human. This struggle is neither a given, nor is it a zero-sum game, and it impels human beings to make choices. Choosing peace, tolerance, civility and truth is not a sign of weakness as the apologists of violence and retribution will make people believe, but a way of sublimating the beast within us. Buddha, Mahavir and Gandhi were not weak men. Why, then, are their spiritual children afraid to take this crucial leap? I posed this question to a Japanese writer, who also writes on questions of identity and nationalism. He paused for a moment and said: ‘They did not have the burden of contesting and winning elections.’
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(Jyotirmaya Sharma is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Hyderabad)

Article Courtesy: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=1a9975a3-6c03-4f3e-8deb-ba0d2134b149

The Issue of Terrorism and Human Rights in India

By Dwarika Nath Rath                                                22, November 2008                                    Muslim India  

"A true religious person can never support terrorism on behalf of his / her religion. The self proclaimed appointee of these terrorist organisations operating in the name of religion must be combated and isolated not only by a political will of the govt. but by creating a strong socio political cultural movement involving the broadest section of the people infusing the spirit of religious tolerance and secularism. More the secularism is strengthened in the society the religious fundamentalism and terrorism is defeated. Terrorism should be dealt firmly involving the whole society, by de-communalisation and de-criminalisation of police and the administration."- D.N.Rath

THE SILENCE AND OUTRAGE

Suddenly there is ambiguous silence on GUJCOC after the of arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh. The euphoria that was on wheel has come to a sudden halt, where one after another related to Ahmedabad serial bomb blast and Surat are arrested. The ambiguous silence is very meaningful. The fate of the euphoria depends on the so called ATS's finding of the involvement of so called terror trio, Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt. Colonel Srikant Purohit, self styled Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey and others in series of bomb blasts in different parts of the country which has been castigated as UPA's vilification campaign" to "malign" Hindutva and vowed to counter "attacks on Hindu seers and Indian soldiers" Panipat Conclave with a -"inspired by political motives".which was attended by BJP President Mr. Rajnath Singh, RSS chief Mr.K C Sudarshan, VHP International President Mr.Ashok Singhal, VHP general secretary Mr. Praveen Togadia, Shankaracharya of Nirmal Peeth, chief ministers of BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, among others. In Rajnath Singh's opinion, "It looks like part of a larger conspiracy. It is sending a wrong message to our brave Army, which is in the forefront of fighting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast." There by a ploy to politicise by claiming to speak on behalf of Army. The Sangh Parivar has raised the issue that the Saints and the Sadhvis with the saffron clothes cannot be terrorist.

Is it the so called plank on terror for election has been lost ? And are they again trying to seize the opportunity to communalise the whole issue as an attack on Hindutva and create a communal divide?

THE GUJARAT CONNECTION-THE MILITARY CAMP IN GUJARAT

Gujarat is not free from the terror link. The military training in Bhat in Gandhinagar on the bank of Sabarmati which resembles Chambal by the controversial Lt. Colonel Srikant Purohit to 500 youths has come to light. The camp took place in an ashram between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. which belongs to the controversial Dayanand Pandey, who has five ashrams in Ahmedabad.

The close proximity of the trio, Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt. Colonel Srikant Purohit and Dayanand Pandey has become an open truth. It has also come out during the bomb blast that Sadhvi Pragya Singh as well as Dayanand Pandey were present in Surat, where 29 unexploded bombs recovered with the stamp of ordinance factory of Madhya Pradesh. Again Sadhvi Pragya Singh's association with Swami Asimanand of Dang from 1998 and the arrest of Sunil Dahade close associate of Swami Asimanand from Vapi has raised questions about the Malegaon link to Gujarat. Swami Asimanand the main architect of Dang's anti Christian drive in 1998 and reconversion resulting waves of attacks on Christians through out the country, gruesome killing of Fr. Graham Stein with his sons in Orissa, is now hiding and skipped to attend the much publicised Ram Katha in South Gujarat. Earlier there were instances of encounter deaths including Sohrabuddin in the state.

The Gujarat Police gave a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh but as the Gujarat links are revealed, now they want to question all the accused which the Nasik court denied and directed the Gujarat Police to follow official procedure

LEGACY OF NATHURAM GODSE

Himani Savarkar who said " If we can have bullet for bullet why not blast for blast." She gave a clean chit to Lt. Colonel Srikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh and collecting funds for trial, and held meeting in Pune praising the martyrdom of Nathuram Godse and praising Lt. Colonel Srikant Purohit as Mangal Pandey of 1857 and advocated for Hindu Rashtra and declared second class citizens those are against it.

The sudden visit of Ms. Himani Savarkar of Abhinav Bharat, the niece of Nathuram Godse to Baroda and the sudden appearance of poster pasted on the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Baroda, saluting the martyrdom of Nathuram Godse to commemorate his martyrdom year. The gist of the poster is, "If dedication to the country is a sin I owe that sin, if it is holy, I have a right to claim it." Nathuram Godse is dead but his legacy of hatred still thrives on. He is the martyr! But not a terrorist!

On the other hand Mr.Pravin Togadia is very active in defending those accused, "A Hindu by definition cannot be a terrorist." "describing a sadhvi as a terrorist is sin" Mr. Narendra Modi too said, that the Army officer were doing their duty for the sake of motherland and he charged the UPA Govt. deliberately attempting to demoralise the security forces, suspecting them to be behind terrorist activities.

On one hand VHP, BJP and RSS are sharing one platform, rousing patriotic frenzy and on the other hand Narendra Modi's Govt. is dissociating from VHP for obvious reason known to himself. A phony war between Modi and VHP is going on where Mr. Ashok Singhal has come to take charge against Modi's Govt. It is a manoeuvre trick by Modi to camouflage his relations with VHP and remain insulated from any eventualities. Of course RSS repeatedly reiterate that it would not campaign for BJP.

The link of terrorism is spreading the span from Malegaon to Nanded, Kanpur, Jammu, Samjhauta express and so on. More over there are series of accidental bomb blasts here and there in different parts of the country with the recovery of unexploded bombs. Are these incidents isolated ones as was told about the blast in Kanpur in last August where two activists of Bajrang Dal died while making bombs?

The elections are going on in six states. These issues may have some impact on vote bank for both Congress and BJP. Sadhvi Pragya Singh has already become the Poster girl for BJP in the election. The BJP never lost any opportunity to clamour for stringent POTA like law, whenever there was any bomb blast.

EUPHORIA FOR GUJCOC AND ZERO TOLERANCE

Gujarat has been demanding for GUJCOC which is denied by Congress led UPA Govt. at Centre . The GUJCOC was passed in Gujarat Assembly in April-2003. It was returned by the NDA Govt. The GUJCOC was again sent back for approval on June 19, 2004 . The Gujarat government again passed resolution to give consent to GUJCOC in last September, 2008. The similar kind of law MOCOCA is operating in Maharashtra led by UPA, But MOCAO was introduced in Maharashtra when NDA was in power. A euphoria had been created centering round GUJCOC and Modi appeals the people, NRIs, to write postcards, send e-mails to P.M. He appealed to make it a peoples' movement. Modi said "those who are less for terror and more for terrorists are the one who opposes GUJCOC and POTO". A war hysteria like atmosphere was created against the UPA Govt. As if there is a warring situation between Centre and State.

In absence of GUJCOC or POTA the accused can be booked under Indian evidence act as now many are arrested as terrorist in Gujarat. But Modi wanted MOCOC and POTA like act. Mr. L.K.Advani goes to the extent "This is a war against Nation and not against any particular party" . He called for zero tolerance towards terrorism. Of course during the regime of NDA, when POTA was very much operative, there were attacks on Parliament, Akshardham and incident of going to Kandahar to negotiate with the terrorists and so on. As soon as POTA was scraped, by the UPA Govt. just before one month of its lapse UPA was promulgated with provisions of POTA except the clause on confession before police.

A case was filed in Gujarat High Court against UPA Govt. on consent to GUJCOC. The UPA government in its reply in Gujarat High Court said since GUJCOC is similar to POTA the Indian government is bound by its electoral promises, so it can not allow it. Where as Modi says "Without a tough law like GUJCOC I feel helpless in dealing with terrorism".

Narendra Modi spoken to the Prime Minister in person in Ahmedabad: 'I am anguished to note that the government of India has not given any serious thought to any of my suggestions. Let not another city be added in the list of terrorist attacks. Let not more people lose their lives and limbs.' At one point it appeared that UPA Govt may concede to GUJCOC.

In the National Integration Council held on 13th October, the issue of terrorism was forced by the BJP leaders side tracking the issue of communalism in Kandhamal and Karnataka. Advani had declared BJP's poll agenda, NDA will enforce POTA if elected at centre.

Whereas Congress advocates for Federal Investigating Agency which will contain terrorism more stringently. It is clear that "More draconian anti terrorist law" are in card whether it is a UPA or NDA led Govt. in coming days.

MODERN TERRORISM GIFT OF AMERICA

The modern terrorism is associated with liberalisation, globalisation and is a gift of American Imperialism. The U.S. Patriotic Act followed by the United Nations Security Council's resolution 1373 against terrorism after 9/11 catastrophic incident in America, resulted endless bombing and devastating the whole Afghanistan to end the centre of terrorism and flush out Osama Bin Laden in the name of War on Terrorism. As the junior partner of the U.S. Imperialism, the then NDA government held the joint session of Lok Sabha-Rajya Sabha which was only the third time in the history of the Indian Parliament that the extraordinary measure of calling a Joint Session was taken. POTA became law with 425 votes for the Act and 296 against, after a 10-hours debate.

Ironically the then Jansangh and later BJP opposed D.I.R., MISA during emergency by Indira Gandhi. Advani pleaded to enact it as a 'duty to International community." Ram Jethmalani, who was Union Law Minister at the time POTA was passed, told the media later that he deeply regretted it afterwards. "I supported it only because it was done in obedience to United Nations Security Council resolutions," he said.

And the present Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India Mr.Balakrishnan says a draconian law is likely to be misused. But all the ruling parties in this capitalist society are fond of draconian acts in the name of ensuring rule of law.

DRACONIAN ACTS IN INDA

Though India attained freedom in 1947 , number of draconian colonial laws are still operative in our country. Soon after the Indian constitution was accepted in 1950, the Indian government Promulgated PD (Prevention-Detention) Act: which lapsed finally in 1969 and paving path for MISA. About 1, 11,000 people were detained under MISA during emergency by Ms. Indira Gandhi.

There are a number of oppressive laws passed in the name of curtailing "terrorist" activities. At the Central level, there is,
1. The Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act 1911,
2. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958,
3. The Disturbed Areas Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967,
4. The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act 1974,
5. The Disturbed Areas Special Courts Act 1976,
6. The National Security Act 1980,
7. The Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act 1980,
8. The Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982,
9. The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act 1982,
10. Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA) [Because of pressure of people's movement it was scrapped , but remained in force till May 1995]
11. The Religious Institution (Prevention of Misuse) Ordinance 1988,
12. The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1988,
13. The Indian Telegraph Act,
14. The Information Technology Act 2000,
15. The Prevention of Terrorism Act, (POTA) 2002 [The government was forced to repeal the law on September 21, 2004] and so on.

LIST OF STATE -SPECIFIC LEGISLATION INCLUDES

1. The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978, the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1988
2. The Assam Preventive Detention Act 1980,
3. The Maharashtra Prevention of Communal, Anti-Social and other Dangerous Activities Act 1980,
4. The Bihar Control of Crimes Act 1981,
5. The Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers and Drug Offenders Act 1981,
6. The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum Grabbers Act 1982 and others like this.
7. The Gujarat Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act 1985,
8. The Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-Grabbers Act 1985,
9. The Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Land Grabbers Act 1986.

Inspite of all this, not only central government , many state governments want more and more stringent law. The Rajasthan Control of Organised Crime Bill, 2006 . A draft of the Madhya Pradesh Control of Terrorism, Unlawful Activities and Organised Crime Bill: A draft of the Andhra Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Bill are awaiting the clearance of the Central Government since 2006. There is Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act 2002 in Karnataka. As a matter of fact MCOCA, KCOCA all these were came in effect during NDA rule and states were also ruled by BJP led NDA.

VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA

The misuse of the draconian acts and violation of human rights in India in past has remain a major concern for all democratic loving citizens.. The Terrorist And Disruptive Activities (TADA) – Act in 1987 was one of the most draconian acts in India. TADA remained in force for 10 years (up to 1995) Due to country wide protest it was dropped in 1995.During this period. 77,500 people were arrested. Only 19,000 people were arrested in Gujarat alone, where there was no militant activities. Out of this only 8000 cases were tried and 725 persons were convicted with the percentage of 0.81%.

On POTA Justice A.S. Anand the chairperson of NHRC said, "It did have some provisions to safeguard against its misuse though those provisions may not be enough. Care has to be taken to see that the provisions of POTA are not abused. There are apprehensions that POTA can be misused. Any law can be misused. What we have to see is whether there is an inbuilt mechanism to safeguard the Act from being misused. But more safeguards are required to be provided against its abuse. The rights of a person in uniform are equally important as those who belong to civil society and a balanced approach to both was necessary. No civilized country could allow terrorism to flourish, but one has to differentiate between a criminal and a terrorist. While all terrorists are criminals, it does not necessarily mean that all criminals are terrorists."

The NHRC warned that " if enacted, would have the ill-effect of providing unintentionally a strong weapon capable of gross misuse and violation of human rights which must be avoided particularly in view of the experience of the misuse in the recent past of TADA and earlier of MISA of the emergency days.-" and stressed for proper investigation of crimes, efficient prosecution of criminal trial". It again said it was not for any lack of laws but for lack of the proper utilisation of this laws, lack of proper investigation, prosecution and lack of adequate number of courts for trial of offense .

As mentioned above the TADA was grossly misused in Gujarat and so also POTA which was targeted particularly against the Muslim community. It was first used in Godhra riot case and the confession was derived by the police by applying usual inhumanly torture. The blind, disabled, youths & minors were not spared from being arrested under POTA. Despite the recommendations by the POTA Review Committee headed by Justice Jain they were not released. On Godhra train Tragedy , the Jain Commission found that, "there was no evidence to suggest that the so-called conspiracy was allegedly hatched with an intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India or to strike terror in the people or any section of the people to qualify as a terrorist act, as defined under Sub-section 1(a) of Section 3 of POTA." Though the Supreme Court has asked to drop the cases as per the recommendation of POTA Review Committee, they are yet to be released.

The figures of POTA detainees in Gujarat and all over the country will speak itself how it has been misused and how many are still in prison under TADA and POTA though these acts are lapsed. Justice Rajendra Sachar criticised the UPA Govt. for it's failure to repeal POTA retrospectively. In June 2005 the POTA Review Committee reported that there were 11,384 persons wrongfully charged under POTA who should have been charged under regular law. According to Ministry of Home affairs , the NHRC recorded 6923 cases against the police, 35 against armed forces, and 39 against Paramilitary Force for violence against human rights in 2006 & NHRC has received 82,000 complaints of human rights violations during 2007.

VIOLATION OF RIGHTS IN GUJARAT

According to Government of Gujarat figures, 223 persons remained "missing" after the 2002 violence, a majority of whom were Muslims. As per the version of family members and NGOs many were killed and their bones were found in mass graves. In December 2005 and August 2006, two such mass graves came to light in Kidiad town and in the Panam river bed near Lunawada town.

The Gujarat Government claimed that police initially arrested 5,384 persons in the city of Ahmedabad and 24,683 persons in the state as a whole and a very few number of these investigations actually led to convictions.. There was continued concern about the failure of the Gujarat government to arrest and convict those responsible for the 2002 violence. Convictions of Hindu perpetrators of the violence were minimal, while acquittals were common. According to an October 2006 report submitted by the federal government to an UN agency, six cases resulted in convictions, whereas 182 cases were aquittals. After agreeing to re examine the closure of 1,600 complaints as per instruction of the Supreme Court, Gujarat police concluded that a majority of cases could not be reinvestigated due to lack of witnesses. Empowered with POTA, there was ghettoisation of Justice in Gujarat .

Prevention of Anti Social Activity (PASA) is very much operative in Gujarat to control anti social activities. 40% cases lack evidence. In last two years , out of 3085 cases of PASA , the Review board has released 1175 due to lack evidence. In Ahmedabad alone out of 956 held under PASA, 236 released and similarly 246 out of 659 in Surat, 112 out of 429 in Baroda , 6 out of 6 in Gandhinagar. The use of PASA is more political than criminal or to enhance the figure of arrest for the sake of police record.

NECESSARY SAFE GUARDS

In the wake of violation of Human Rights related to terrorism the Amnesty International, UN Special Rappoprteur for Terrorism and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and many others have always expressed concern that the human rights should be protected while combating terrorism. They have said laws against terrorism are ineffective and creating counter terrorists. They emphasised that the rule of law should be the bedrock of global fight against terrorism. The Amnesty International asked the Government of India to enact legislation to protect the Human Rights as per International Covevant on Civil and Political Rights and reform all Penal Code.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned compromising human rights while fighting terrorism.

Even Supreme Court of India said in 1996, "Experience shows that worst violations of human rights take place during the course of investigation, when the police with a view to secure evidence or confession often resorts to third degree methods including torture and adopts techniques of screening arrest by either no recording the arrest or describing the deprivation of liberty merely as a prolonged interrogation"

Supreme Court also said terrorism thrives when human rights are violated. Justice Rajendra Gadkar expressed anxiety about the extra ordinary powers and warned the detrimental effect long back. He said, "freedom of the citizens cannot be taken away". Justice Jain said every terrorist may be criminal but every criminal cannot be labelled as a terrorist to set the motion the more stringent provisions of anti- terrorist law.

THE TRUE COLOURS OF UPA GOVERNMENT

But Mr. M. Verrapa Moily, the Chairperson of Administrative Reform Committee too favours stringent laws like POTA or TADA and says UAPA has no teeth in comparison of TADA and POTA where there are provision for designated courts and special courts. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has, however, have no provision for special courts. Moily says,"There is ample evidence to indicate that terrorists have been able to escape the law either by exploiting the loopholes or by intimidating witnesses to subvert justice,". This reflects the attitude of Congress led UPA Govt. on Anti Terror Act.

RELIGION & TERRORISM

Is there any link between Terrorism & religion ? Though this question surfaced in 2006 blast in Nanded it has come out again centering round the arrests of Pragya Singh, so called Shankaracharya - Dayanand Pandey. So long there was no problem when terrorism was associated with Muslims but as soon as Hindu terrorism is used, it has become difficult to digest.

The type of terrorism are different from place to place. The terrorism in Assam or the terrorism in Kashmir or in North East or previously in Punjab are different in nature and objective. The terrorism of PLO or the Irish freedom fighters are also different. There are 100 types of terrorism as per the definition of U.S. A. The Supreme Court of India also tried to define terrorism in a limited sense but there is no single definition on terrorism.

FACELESS TERRORISM

The terrorism is faceless and has no religion but the face was given to Islam after the 9/11 creating a Islamophobia through out the globe . The war on Terrorism was targeted towards Muslim. Of course the American society has tried to unmask the design of Bush of his War on Terror. The Oscar awarded film Farrenhit 9/11 by Michael Moore has raised the question on the so called War on Terror. A section in U.S. A. also believes that the attack on WTC was self implicated injury by Bush.

Prior to giving a name to the terrorism a conducive mind was prepared through world wide debate on the book 'Clash of Civilisations & the Remaking of World Order ' written by Huntington funded by C.I.A. and the opinion was created all over the world that Islamic world is barbaric .The fingering on Islam was so deep that one after another films were produced on Islamic terrorism and media was in sway. Film "Wednesday" is just an example in India.

Between 2004 and 2008, India has witnessed at least 25 major bomb blasts , in which 717 people were killed and hundreds injured. In all 8 Mosques and 2 temple were attacked. But all the time it was painted as the act of Muslim Terrorism. But why the Muslim would attack their own place of prayers - the Masjid ? The answer was that the Muslims are doing so to provoke the Muslims against the Hindus and all believed it because the propaganda machinery as well as the administration were hammering the mind of people continuously.

Undoubtedly both the BJP and the Congress are trying to garner votes in the present state assembly election and ensuing Lok Sabha poll centering round terrorism. When BJP term it as a political conspiracy and Congress accuses in the words of Abhishek Sanghvi as an attempt to "infiltrate, influence and convert" our institutions including the Army. Truly , the issue of Terrorism is lost in this electoral battle.

INFILTRATION OF MILITANT MAJORITISM IN ADMINISTRATION

It can be brushed aside that the Militant majoritism is being practiced for last twenty years and entrenched into the govt. administrations. The film "Shaurya' has tried to just give a hint of the attempt of safronisation of Army. Are the retired Military officers giving training to the Hindu militants in Bhosle Military academy in Nasik, which was founded by Munje in 1930s? The link of Military personnel, Sadhus, Sadhvi, Abhinav Bharat, Bajarang Dal, Durga Vahini and so on is an alarming signal. The involvement of captain Purohit is now an open truth.

THE GENUINENESS OF COMBATING TERRORISM

The Nanded Bomb blast which took place in 2006 was dropped in a hush hush way but why and under whose hidden instruction. And now on the eve of the election the UPA appears to be over enthusiastic to pursue the cases of bomb blasts one after another creating a shadow of doubts. Can it be ruled out that after so much exercise of the ATS and shadowing it's web of enquiry length and breath of the country, creating so much hype with shocking news everyday would again be dropped out because of lack of evidence? In India many cases were dropped because of lack of evidence. Even the Muslims are suspicious about the time chosen by Congress led UPA Govt.to create such hype. Jain Hawala is just one to mention among many where from Advani was implicated

THE DOUBLE STANDARD OF ADVANI

On one hand there is a demand for stringent law against the terror and on the other hand the high profiled leaders like L.K. Advani , Rajnath Singh are vocal fuelling Hindu anger with a threat of civil war by Rajnath Singh which clearly exposed the narrow sectarian attitude of Sangh Parivar combating the terrorism. Tackling terrorism should be uniform and there should not be any discrimination between the religion. But unfortunately the whole Sangh Parivar has come out nakedly opposing the investigation of the Terror Trio and others by ATS. The judicial enquiry should be applicable to all the accused irrespective of caste, creed, position, religion, region where human rights be the core of concern for not only the human right activist but all ruling parties and Citizens . But it is absolutely missing from the so called aggressive protagonist of POTA, GUJCOC Mr. L.K.Advani, is very partisan. His utterances may give wrong signal to the investing agencies of the Govt. The leading News Papers of the country have cautioned BJP and Advani for the irresponsible outrage and to mind his words.

EXTRA -CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS TO DEFAME TERROR PROBES

Advani who tried to remain aloof from the whole issue and was in dilemma to own or disown Sadhvi Pragya Singh, now he has opened his mouth, when Pragya Singh alleged in her affidavit that she was , "physically and psychologically tortured and abused in obscene language "in custody. At this the heart of Advani melted and outrageously said, "barbaric treatment" meted out to a "spiritual person". Advani who had so far taken the "terror is terror" line, maintaining that the BJP has nothing to do with Pragya Singh and, if found guilty, she should be punished. The Prime Minister of India Mr. Manmohan Singh called Mr. L.K. Advani to allay the fear on investigation by ATS and sending the National Security Advisor Mr.M K Naryanan to meet the BJP leader on Friday to discuss the ongoing ATS probe where Intelligence Bureau ChiefMr. P C Haldar will also be present.To this Advani reportedly told the Prime Minister, "They are welcome. But no one can restrain me from reacting to such barbaric treatment to a sadhvi, sanaysin." It is yet to be seen what is going to happen after the 26th. November Religious meet in Delhi which was decided in Panipath Conclave.

All the accused under POTA in Godhra cases like Maulavi Umarji were similarly treated. Blind and boys of minor age were not spared.Their affivavites were not admitted or read.The tearsof the family members never moved the heart. Of course there is "No Remoarse". Though POTA review Panel recommended to drop the cases due to lack of evidences. The Supreme Court has also asked to drop the cases but the Godhra accused are still languishing in prison and never Advani or his comrades in arms expressed any concern for them. Now the MCOCA has been invoked on all ten accused as a part of an organised crime syndicate where the confession before the police is considered valid.. This MCOCA was made applicable in Delhi through a Home Ministry order of February 1, 200 by N.D.A. Govt.

What MCOCA can be? Death sentence or life term and a penalty of Rs 10 lakh,Special courts to try terrorism cases in time-bound manner,Bail provisions tougher than those in CrPC, Attachment of property bought by terror funds,Cops can intercept, record electronic & oral communication, Statements given to police admissible as evidence in court.

The ATS finding can be questioned. Even the Narco test is a human right violation. But, Justice Manmohan of Delhi High Court has upheld the validity of Narco analysis in view of "growing terrorism and heinous crime" and emphasising the Constitutional rights remain infringed and thorough and proper investigation be under taken.

Compensation are declared for the alleged accused arrested in Hyderabad bomb blast by Andhra Pradesh Govt. Will the same will be followed in Gujarat and other states?

What Mr. Advani and his colleagues should learn from this Malegaon Sadhvi episode that draconian laws, like POTA. MCOCA or GUJCOC can back fire. There should be a general consensus for judicial enquiry and criminal Justice and respect for human rights and democratic rights. The emergence of extra constitutional power based religious fundamentalism has to be contained to safeguard the multiculturalism tradition of our country. But Kandhmal is still on boiling pot. As per the Chief Minister of Orissa the normalcy is yet to be restored. All Orissa Bandh call has been given again this year on 25th. December. The tribal organisation headed by Kui Samaj has given a fresh call demanding the with drawl of Military force from Kandhmal. More over sordid tale of the gang rape of the nun which shocked the Nation is facing now public rape in the name of defaming Hinduism.

A FATWA AGAINST TERRORISM

All the human rights organisations of our country and the world have expressed concern for the detainees and the accused and raised voice against the abuse of power which must be honoured. Here the Sangh Parivar has absolutely failed to rise above their narrowness. How far it is advisable to use extra-constitutional means to defame terror probes. The core of the all religion is peace. Recently the Muslim clerics gathered in Hyderabad and condemned terrorism and are out to spread the message of peace throughout the country. They have declared Fatwa against Terrorism. In contrast the Hindutva forces are spreading the hatred without having a scant respect for Multi Culturalism, endorsing the Golwalkar's dictum who said, that Hindus could profit from the Nazis who raised race pride by purging the Jews. He said the foreign raiders of Hindustan , the Muslim and the Christians must accept Hindu Culture or subordinate to Hindu Nation claiming nothing, deserving no privilege.

CUSTODIAL DEATHS-ALARMING

Once one is in police custody, the hell fall on the accused. There are many custodial deaths in the country, and the third degree method is applied to derive confession with utter disregard to the warning from Supreme Court, NHRC and other human rights organisations. The statistics of NHRC shows that in the last five years 7,468 persons at an average of 1,494 persons per year or four person in a day died in police and prison custody in India from 2002 to 2007. However, these figures represent only a fraction of the actual cases of torture. Cases of torture not resulting in death are not recorded. But once one is accused as a terrorist, there is absolute rationalisation of violation of all kinds of human rights. This is case in Guantanamo or the Iraqi prisoners treated by the U.S troops.

Under these circumstances can we distinguish between their terrorist and our terrorist? Let the law take its course. Let the investigation on terrorism be meticulous, impartial and transparent.

RESIST FASCIST ONSLAUGHT

The fundamental rights of the citizens are inscribed in our Constitution. But it takes no time to trample them in the name of country's security. Due to bad governance there are communalism, casteism, parochialism, regionalism, terrorism and to control them draconian laws are enacted. The power has been concentrated in the hand of bureaucracy. The rule of law replaced by rule through draconian laws.

There is a competition between the ruling parties who can provide stable govt. to keep growth rate of the economy in the name of globalisation and liberalisation unchecked so there is a peculiar combination of development with the violation of human rights in the name of war on terrorism. In the present neo liberal economy and the issue of terrorism is taking centre stage and the mind of the people is diverted towards communalism and ethnic conflict.

There is a competition between main ruling parties Congress and BJP who can be more effective, soft or hard towards terrorism. In this conflict the core issue of terrorism is lost and the human right is crucified. Under this circumstance when there is Kandahmal and the serial bomb blasts across the country, the implication of draconian acts of POTA or GUJCOC has to be grasped.

A true religious person can never support terrorism on behalf of his / her religion. The self proclaimed appointee of these terrorist organisations operating in the name of religion must be combated and isolated not only by a political will of the govt. but by creating a strong socio political cultural movement involving the broadest section of the people infusing the spirit of religious tolerance and secularism. More the secularism is strengthened in the society the religious fundamentalism and terrorism is defeated. Terrorism should be dealt firmly involving the whole society, by de-communalisation and de-criminalisation of police and the administration.