Sunday, January 13, 2013

Aman Ki Tamasha


Yes.. I should be writing about rape since nothing concrete has been done and even our Supreme Court recently noted that women are not safe in the capital city. 

“There is no safety in Delhi. We are concerned about providing a safe environment for women to live with dignity,” the top court said while expressing concern on the issue as it issued notices to the central government, the National Commission for Women and the Delhi government’s State Transport Authority.

Maybe it is time to shift the capital? But to where? In which part of India is women really safe? If the capital with a constant presence of security personnel is not safe then where else. And to top it all a few idiots continue to cite ridiculous reasons for rape. Even our Judges have fared no better. Anyway let me get back to the topic that I intended to write.

A few in Pakistan has yet again showed us how brutal they can be! Their brutality during the Mumbai carnage is still fresh in our minds and at least a few found some peace when Kazab was hanged. Yet our government went ahead with peace talks and our cricket crazy junta enjoyed cricket as usual. It was last year that an updated list of wanted men were handed over to Pakistan but yet nothing has been done. 

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Haafiz Saeed tops the list which was given to Pakistan during the Home Secretary level talks between the two countries in March. Saeed was followed by Major Iqbal, a suspected serving ISI officer who also figures in the FBI indictment in a Chicago court in connection with the Mumbai attack.

These men continue to spew hatred against India and also against those in Pakistan. They even accuse India for the recent bombing of the Shias in Quetta!

Since the year 2000, over 2000 Shia Hazara community members including many women and children have been killed or wounded in attacks perpetrated by Sunni Muslim terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaedaand Taliban in southwestern town of Quetta.


A fact recognised by all in Pakistan is that the people of the country are not sectarian-minded. Before jihad took hold of Pakistan and extremist clerics became threatening, there was considerable harmony between the sects. Muharram was not the season of sectarian violence and mayhem. Today, the world understands that the intensification of the sectarian feeling among the clerics is actually a result of a war relocated from Pakistan’s neighbourhood in the Gulf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarian_violence_in_Pakistan
Terrorism in Pakistan has become a major and highly destructive phenomenon in recent years. The annual death toll from terrorist attacks has risen from 164 in 2003 to 3318 in 2009, with a total of 35,000 Pakistanis killed as of 2010.[citation needed] According to the government of Pakistan, the direct and indirect economic costs of terrorism from 2000-2010 total $68 billion.[1] President Asif Ali Zardari, along with former President ex-Pakistan Army head Pervez Musharraf, have admitted that terrorist outfits were "deliberately created and nurtured" by past governments "as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives".[2][3]


And yet there are people in India who have total memory loss when it comes to Pakistan. They call themselves “Peaceniks” (A political activist who publicly opposes war, a particular war, or the proliferation of weapons; a pacifist) and keep talking of peace with no solution for the same. I am a peacenik too since I oppose war. But war is not the only solution. Since the international community is well aware of the militant training camps and the number of wanted terrorists hiding in Pakistan, it can very well exert pressure and ensure that they discontinue their business of hatred. India can afford a complete stop in public discourse with Pakistan but can Pakistan afford the same? It will be further alienated and will have more terrorists attacks in it’s own soil. So it is time to put more pressure on Pakistan once and for all. India should not continue to tolerate a Pakistan who refuses to acknowledge it's weakness. A Pakistan whose government has no control over it's army. Whose people has a false sense of pride over their army.


When will the people of Pakistan rise up and dislodge those who are tearing up their country?


When will they stop listening to those who know only to spew hatred in the name of religion?

When will they recognize those who urge them to kill in the name of a compassionate and merciful God?

When will they rise en mass to protect the minorities among them? 


Until then let India remain mum. No more peace talks and cricket. Let us remember that we have our own to protect.


MJ Akbar has brilliantly described our government's failure to reign in Pakistan and in his own words:

Pakistan’s Army concluded that if it could get away with Mumbai, it could get away with anything. It has.

Nevertheless I cannot help but copy this cry for peace that is coming from the Civil society of Poonch. The signatures are few but let those who are spewing hatred remember that they shall be cursed throughout history for their role.

 Also cannot help copy this from Ajit Ninan.

 Edited to add the following:

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/dec/10mumterror-8-things-india-inc-govt-must-do-against-pakistan.htm
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/dec/11mumterror-12-steps-to-shock-and-awe-pak-economy.htm
http://www.rakeshjhunjhunwala.in/2013/01/how-not-to-do-anything-when-your.html
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9 comments:

  1. anilkurup59January 13, 2013 at 1:42 PM

    The cartoon at the end is amusing and hits the bull’s eye.

    Now, I empathize with your anguish in face of these periodic outrages. Now what do you suggest when you say stop talking to Pak? What do you propose once the interactions are frozen, trade stopped, cross border visits stopped; no cricket no football, nothing? And we go into a deluded state that the State of Pakistan does not exist.
    Then what, how long. The terror operatives across the border do not care a hoot about all the people to people contacts. They want and the will at will strike anywhere in India. So much for the Home minister P. Chidambaram and his police intelligence. (You ask Hafez Saeed he would say that he is a minnow when compared to the terror acts of P. Chidambaram as India’s Home minister).

    Imagine RAW or the CBI were to be given a free hand and they are an independent body (there is a strong case to make the CBI independent though), the Union Govt will have no idea of what they would do. Like for instance the FBI or the CIA. FBI during the Edgar Hoover’s time. Now this is what is happening in Pakistan. The Military and the ISI are divorced from the elected GOVT. The military cannot sit back even after all these years after the mauling of 1965 and 1971 and the breakaway of Pakistan’s eastern arm. They have not forgiven India for that. And prompted by our home grown factors and unrest both the Pak Army and the ISI will meddle dangerously in India. This will happen until strong democratic opinion come up in Pakistan.
    The fact that the present turmoil in that country was feted and fed by the Zia Ul Haq regime is no secret. Both Pak and its neighbours are facing the heat of the Frankenstein called religion and faith as we see.
    Can we go in hot pursuit into Pakistan? Can we do a USA act against Osama? May be yes, may be no- logistically. But that will be the authorization of an all-out conflict. The failure in the matter here is the Indian diplomacy. Since both countries are armed with Nuclear weapons and Pak has not given up the first option of atomic weapon in case of war is a vital side that has to be taken care. So war as it has grown out of conventional warfare is now a cataclysmic option which will see the total obliteration of Pakistan and much of India. The Indian diplomacy on world stage is disaster. How many foreign ministers did we see in the current UPA? Though the whole world and the USA know the terror operatives in Pak India has not been able to make them heed to her needs.

    So the option now is to be alert internally and on the border, engage the authorities in Pakistan for interactions and be deft and artful in garnering other countries to prevail and force Pakistan to subjugate the terror networks.

    A failed Pakistan and a Pak dominated by these unholy men of terror is a threat to the region and the world.

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    Replies
    1. Happy KittenJanuary 14, 2013 at 9:16 AM

      Anil, I agree that a failed Pakistan would be worse for us..but IMO, it is already a failed state. But remember that if the Mumbai carnage was to happen to any other country the reaction would have been different. Instead our PM had to make a blunder at Sharam Sheikh even w/a consulting national security. When Sep 11 happened in Us, their action was swift. This gave a vent to the collective frustration of not only the armed forces but also of the common man. For India so far there has been nothing to give them a relief. Not even a Hafis Saeed or Headley! One must think about the morale of our armed forces as well as the nation as a whole. Do you think our youth is taking this well? Do you want them to take up arms? NO! this charade of talks and coffee sharing needs to stop. It achieves nothing while it is mocks everyone who lost their loved one to the hatred that is being brewed in Pakistan. For a while we heard that Headley may be handed over..where is he? Where are the sleeper cells that we heard in 2009? A single one busted? Yes our entire govt. needs to be send to Pakistan. Let them stay there!

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  2. anilkurup59January 14, 2013 at 10:09 AM

    Now, Asha, your reply is more with emotion than logic and reason that has to be exercised in international relations (Though the Indian diplomacy is a spineless, aimless and an inept charade).

    First, your comment about the Indian youth taking up arms after being around outraged and restless. Believe me nothing of that kind will happen. India may be moving towards an internal upheaval in another decade or so because of the socio economic conundrum and mess. But nothing across the border .When has foreign relations and defence become a major plank in our general elections?
    The reason for no headway in the Mumbai attack case and Headley case is because of the gumption less tactless government and Indian diplomacy that has no takers around the world, though everybody acknowledges that terrorism is a scourge.
    In the past we had respected giants like Nehru, V.K.Krishna Menon (though he was conceited and egoistic with far too great belief in self-importance) and Indira Gandhi, who could maneuver world opinion to our favour to a good extent. Indira Gandhi (whatever may be her failings) was a farsighted and courageous woman who could wonderfully garner international support before India launched its blitzkrieg against Pakistan in the Eastern and western front. The bottom line is that world leaders heard them and listened to them. That is not the case now.
    Nuclear armed countries make it more difficult. Israel has not had any attacks on its soil from terrorist except for those missiles from the Hamas . The superiority of Israel also stems from the fact its hold over US policies and that the Arab countries do not have a nuclear weapon yet. The equation will change when one of them acquire the weapon. It will then Israel will realize that the only option is co-existence.
    Tell me why does not the US retaliate against North Korea? It is simply because the NK has nuclear weapons. The US will grovel to China not only because of the huge commerce at stake but also because the vast majority of Chinese nuclear arsenals are on its eastern borders facing the USA across the pacific.
    Back here the BJP led Govt was no different. They trumpeted war, flexed muscles by arranging our forces along the western front. But the very same government meekly released the terrorists and had its home minister ( Mr. Advani) shamefully escorting them to Kabul after the Indian Airlines hijack.
    Shooting off the hip is no solution in the present world when countries are armed with weapons that can erase the civilization in toto. But what is necessary is the courage; the will and the temerity to let the perpetrator or the acquiescing country know we do mean business. That is the art of deterrents and détente. We fail here, shamefully and miserably.
    One should understand that the Islamic terror philosophy vis a vis India and Pak is that the countries must not be allowed to engage diplomatically or extinguish their major differences. To that end the terror network will engage in all kinds of deceitful work. Because they rule Pakistan in a way.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy KittenJanuary 16, 2013 at 11:47 AM

      Wish it was easy to believe that more talks with Pakistan will solve everything.. with more talks are we not giving Pakistan a good cover of normalcy in the International front? Pakistan and also the Islamic militants hates it when they are off the grand audience. It wants action in Afganisthan too. Appearing in a bad light is never in their interests. The talks with India is just cover. I do not blame the ordinary Pakistani's who want a change very badly but they need to change their attitude too. And now they may lose the present govt. too and then to whom shall India talk?

      But then as you said, India has much worse problems to solve internally and Pakistan is just a small one.

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  3. ZephyrJanuary 15, 2013 at 3:28 AM

    A passionate appeal from you, HK, one which finds echo in many an Indian's heart. We are a spineless nation since we are spineless to stand up against injustice as a society, as a people. We jump with alarcrity to defend a criminal, a person who perpetrates a heinous act just as we smile and look away when other transgressions take place, brushing them off as being minor or as between individuals, between members of a family, between spouses, between friends and how it is prudent not to get involved.

    As a nation, we hesitate to put Pakistan in its place because we might be marginalised by the Muslim countries for going against one of them. We want our popularity, just as we want to remain popular in society. Why society, even the virtual world is now a large entity and we want to keep our followers by hook or crook.

    But there is a tipping point for everything and it looks like Kalki avatar is not too far.

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    Replies
    1. Happy KittenJanuary 16, 2013 at 11:49 AM

      We are a spineless nation since we are spineless to stand up against injustice as a society, as a people. Rightly spoken Zephyr. Sometimes I think MMS is interested only in earning good will internationally.. he seems much distant from what Indians really want. But yesterday even he was forced to speak in toucgh terms..as tough as he can get. Let us wait and see.

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  4. RenuJanuary 16, 2013 at 9:04 AM

    sometimes I feel that we Indians are like that, those who abuse us, we felicitate them, least we can do is atleast not allow them to work here,or honour them here...

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  5. Happy KittenJanuary 16, 2013 at 11:50 AM

    Renu: It is not as though we want Pakistan to go down but India cannot help them anymore. They need to do their bit too instead of blaming India forever.

    ReplyDelete
  6. smJanuary 16, 2013 at 10:20 PM

    nice article
    balance is required and when to strike and how to strike

    ReplyDelete

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