Apex court observations on two cases

Case #1:

In an unusual outburst, after passing several orders which were being obeyed by the Naveen Patnaik government and the Centre, a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Markandey Katju and P Sathasivam gave a general ultimatum governments -- sectarian violence and persecution of minorities would not be tolerated.

"If your government is unable to protect minorities, then you quit office," said Justice Katju, who for the first time was part of the Bench headed by CJI which had been hearing a petition by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath. [link]

Case #2:

This could be an alarm for controversial Congress MP Mani Kumar Subba from Assam. The Supreme Court on Monday said the President alone could take a decision whether or not to disqualify him from the Lok Sabha on the basis of a CBI probe report accusing him of forging his date of birth and expressing grave doubts about his Indian citizenship.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Markandey Katju and P Sathasivam dealt extensively on the CBI report and remarked: "Prima facie it appears that the certificate he has produced is not genuine."

When petitioner Bipendra Nath Singh's counsel pressed for Subba's disqualification, the Bench said: "The Supreme Court is not empowered to do it. There is a procedure provided under Article 103 of the Constitution, which vests the discretion with the President. You have the CBI report with you. So why don't you approach the President for appropriate action?" [link]
[previous posts on this issue: The mysterious born again Congress MP, Easy come, easy go]

The apex court's ire at the Orissa situation is understandable. This is a politically volatile issue, successfully internationalized by Cheenath & Co. The alarming part is the highly technical handling of the second case.

The supreme court can not throw out a state government just like it can not throw out legislators. Yet the supreme court made its views clear in one case and in another case pointed out technicalities.

Keep in mind that this legislator participated in the recent confidence vote in the parliament.

CNN-IBN reports further:

Appearing for Subba, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the Nepalese government had written letters to the CBI saying "Limboo" and "Subba" were two different persons and wanted the court's direction to produce the Nepalese government's letters in the court. At this, Sinha contended that the CBI itself had found Subba's nationality suspect and India did not need a certificate from the neighbouring government on whether he was an Indian national. [link]

Good fences make good neighbors but bad fences make the secular party's ranks swell.

India's Military Hardware - Part 1 : All about the Su-30 MKI

I've got big balls / I've got big balls / And they're such big balls /Dirty big balls
And he's got big balls / And she's got big balls / But we've got the biggest balls of them all
- Big Balls, AC/DC, from the album Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.Rear view of IAF Su-30 MKI (source: Air Power Australia)

It is funny how a single piece of marquee hardware comes to symbolize the military power of a country in the minds of its civilians. In the earlier decades, it used to be the MiG-29 or Mirage-2000 for us. For the Americans and the Pakistanis, it would be the F-16.

In the recent years, the Sukhoi-30 MKI has become the mascot of our military.

Does this make sense? Actually it does, in an evolutionary sense. Air dominance has become the singularly most important factor in modern warfare. Obviously countries will vie with one another in gaining supremacy in aerial warfare. They will spend their technological might (if they have any) in leapfrogging other countries. Alternately they will spend the most money in the best military aircraft they can possibly get. So quite possibly, a country's military power will correlate well with the best fighter aircraft it has.

Yet, it is clear that a single piece of military hardware possibly can't win a conventional war. Our objective is not really getting into an endless debate between Su-30 vs. F-16 or why an AIM-9M Sidewinder might be less capable than an R-73.

Our main objective is to explore the political side of India's defenses and military. Having spent hundreds of billions of dollars just in the past decade, what have we really got? Are we spending money wisely? Is there evidence of hera-pheri? Do we have a long term strategy? What are our true technological capabilities? Are we making the right alliances?

The time has come for more civilian awareness of India's military affairs. As a starter, please read this article (For a new civil-military order, Sushant k. Singh and Rohit Pradhan).

In this post, we will merely share with readers some of the interesting things we gleaned from the web in order to get a bit up to date with our military hardware and overall strategic defense scenario.

For a reality check, please read this article (The IAF in the 21st century, by Air Commodore Jasjit Singh). This is really all you need. Seldom does one comes across an article so packed with information, one that covers so much ground. One wishes our mainstream media editorials were this good.

How do we stack up?

The obvious question in light of recent heightened tensions with our neighbor. If one were to search the web, we have a giant leap over the Pakistanis. We have AWACS systems, satellites, squadrons of Su-30 MKIs, superior command and control and network warfare infrastructure. We also have the HAL Tejas, our own high tech fighter which we can produce by the hundreds. Alas, all this is very futuristic. None of this is really happening before 2015, possibly not even by 2017. This is symptomatic of not only the amateur discussions on India's military but also the posturing by our Department of Defense. Similar claims exist for the other wings of the armed forces - more on that later.

A good overall comparison is provided by wikipedia: IAF - PAF - PLAAF - USAF.
As with all wiki links, the IAF page has incorrect information. For instance, we do not have the HAL Tejas, yet. Also, we have between 60 - 70 Su-30 MKI.

A more interesting comparison is provided by globalsecurity.org: IAF - PAF - PLAAF.
This provides more realistic numbers along a timeline.

As you can see, we were extremely vulnerable during the 90s. Even now, we barely match up with the Pakistan air force. The surprising part is that, the famed Chinese might does not appear to be all that daunting.

India, Pakistan and China are all using refurbished/upgraded versions of MiG-21 (or older) in large numbers. Many of these aircraft are 30 - 40 years old. China has been particularly hit by sanctions. India's main problem is old equipment. We have had more than 120 crashes in the last decade or so (remember Rang De Basanti)?. This hurts us in more ways than one. This has prompted the former Air commodore to actually suggest that we reopen assembly lines of MiG-21!

All three have small fleets of really modern 4.5 generation aircraft. None has a strong network warfare capability or AWACS driven ELINT aided capacity. None will likely acquire this capability in a significant manner in the next decade. Equipment acquisition cycle itself can span several years, then comes training, operational readiness, strategy formulation, tactical deployment and development of doctrines.

Understanding Jet warfare:

Before we get to the Su-30 MKI, it is useful to do a review of jet warfare. The big mistake amateurs like us do in trying to visualize jet combat is to forget the effects of gravity and aerodynamics. We create a mental model of a sci-fi simulation in a 3D space where two airplanes are continuously tossing and turning in circus like acrobatic feats.

In reality, the outcome of one-on-one battle between two comparable airplanes may simply be determined by their relative position in the 3D space at the beginning of the battle. The airplane on top will have a speed advantage on dive. The one with the speed advantage will also have an aerodynamic advantage since higher air speed improves drag on wings and fins etc. - so more agility. This aspect of aerial warfare has not changed much in the last several decades. That is why at lower speeds the MiG-29 can do quite well against the technologically superior F-16.

For a quick review, we recommend the following video clips:

Dogfights - Desert Aces (part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5)

We selected this video because in this the Israelis are using the Mirage III/V. Pakistan Air Force has a large number of Mirage III/IV/V in service. It also features the Sukhoi-7 and MiG-21s. Besides, some of the topographical and personnel motivation related features are highly relevant. This program shows the transition from early days of jet fighting with just guns to later years as missiles and other features get introduced. The Israelis experience supply constraints and sanctions just as we did earlier and still do in certain areas.

To understand where India is trying to get to in terms of capability, the following video is useful:

Dogfights - Desert Storm (part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5)

This depicts the first Iraq war (Bush Sr.) in 1991. This is a battle between F-15E vs. MiG-21/29. It introduces the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) combat concept. A few things are worth noticing: pilot skill and the limits of aerodynamics are still pretty much important. Note how many Iraqi pilots simply run their aircraft aground. Second, guns are no longer useful - even within visual range, kills are done by missiles. Also note how low the kill ratio of missiles is and how effectively chaffe/flares are used as counter measures. According to the air commodore, Indian planes lacked counter measures even during Kargil, i.e. they would be a sure kill for an incoming missile.

The Su-30MKI:

So, jet warfare of this decade is really about BVR fighting. The side with the best avionics, radar, missiles, counter measures, ELINT, jamming etc. will win. We are assuming comparable advances in aerodynamics and engines. The American and Western side mostly concentrated on these areas during the 90s. Meanwhile Russia was undergoing severe resource shortages. India was facing sanctions. A mutual relationship was established - India's import saved a lot of Russian factories.

India first talked about the Sukhoi series of aircraft in 1996. Eventually the aircraft really materialized in 2002 or later.

It is important to understand that aerodynamics, controls, jet engines, electronics, missiles etc. all have different development/obsolescence cycles. Therefore we get into this wild confusion of aircraft model numbers. For instance the F-16A/B is not quite the same as F-16E.

The original Su-27 was modified to make the Su-30. This was made into a Su-30K (K for commercial, i.e. export). Then came the Su-30MK (modified commercial). Meanwhile, China was also starting to demand the Su-30. India likely got upset - since we wanted Russia to reciprocate by giving us something exclusive.

The result was the Su-30MKI (Modernized Commercial Indian). It is being shown as a joint development between Russia and India. At the moment India is adding only some avionics components, either developed at home or imported from Israel. In terms of features this exclusive model is a hybrid between Su-30MK and Su-35. The HAL is now assembling this plane from PKD. They will gradually move to CKD. Eventually there will be a full technology transfer and we will build this airplane from scratch. No one really knows when it is going to happen.

The Su-30 series of aircraft adds an important feature - thrust vectoring. Is this really a game changer? We don't know. This feature has not been battle tested. Besides, going through the modern air combat videos and especially BVR concepts, it appears that at high MACH engagement, this feature will be useful in only a small fraction of battle scenarios.

So, how good is the Su-30MKI is? Can it beat the F-16? The answer seems to be yes. It is not just a cute plane that can do circus tricks, it is actually a great improvement both in BVR as well as conventional within visual range combat. This aircraft has evoked admiration from the Euro zone as well as consternation from the Americans in recent air shows.

Myth vs. Reality

So India has been able to leapfrog its immediate neighbors in the sense that it has a true 4.5 generation airplane. Unfortunately the Sukhoi-27/30 series has not been battle tested like their MiG cousins. Given the poor record of reliability of Russian equipment, it is difficult to assess advantage, especially when we do not have AWACS/ELINT yet. Even so, it gives us a distinct edge in the subcontinent - where air warfare is a mix of technology spanning 4 -5 decades.

The danger comes from unexpected quarters. First of all, we do not have enough numbers, perhaps about 70 of these planes. Secondly, we are not going to be able to scale up very well. The Sukhoi company has received orders from all over the world - from Malaysia, Indonesia to Venezuela and remains fully booked till 2014. We can get only about a dozen per year for a long time to come.

This third danger comes from the quality vs. quantity debate. A recent study done by Americans explored this angle. It is theoretically possible for a neighboring country to stock up huge amounts of MiG-21 parts and then assemble say 1000 aircraft quickly. These cost less then half million dollars each, compared to the $35 million price tag of the Su-30MKI. In the recent red flag exercise, Indian MiG-21s fitted with modern radars and radar jammers actually impressed the Americans and crossed their defenses.

Our bottlenecks in bureaucratic delays, lack of cohesive strategic thinking, political bickering, corruption, wheeling dealings in the international arms bazaar has reduced the Su-30MKI into a mythical bird.

Fortunately, just the presence of this plane has given us a psychological boost. At least now, when we project power, we have some top class hardware to show for it. One can not even begin to imagine what it does to the moral of our pilots when they acquire a lock on very advanced jets from other countries in the joint air drill exercises. That alone we believe makes this bird worth it.

The sorrow and the pity

Another new year dawns. In line with socialist ideology, one must question why should new year's eve matter any more than any other day of the year? Why for instance was 31st December any different from 26th November? Or for that matter from May 13, July 25, July 26, September 13, September 27, September 29, September 29, October 1, October 21, October 30?

After all time is a continuum. What was valid on Dec 31, 2008 is likely to be valid on Jan 1, 2009. Sure enough, it was! A a few unfortunate people in Assam found out. Perhaps six of them didn't quite find out, at least we hope they didn't.

By now we know the answer. We now know that 26/11 was not our tragedy but seculars' non-9/11. That is why it was wholly inconsequential, but for the pithy columns and editorials.

Year 2008 was the year of conspiracy theories. Alternately it was the year of the non-state actor. It was also the year our neighbors frustrated us with their constant prevarications and denials. Funny thing is, the whole episode had a ring of familiarity to it. At first we could not put a finger on it .

Then it dawned on us. It is all part of humanity, a mere continuum in time and space. We are but a tiny speck of dust. Even the part of the world we reside in, South Asia as they call it now or the Indian subcontinent as they used to call it. As one flies away the cities and the villages merge. The cattle and humans become indistinguishable soon after. The rivers, the mountains, the plains and the deserts. At first patches of distinct color. Then it starts to merge. In the brief interlude before the clouds envelope the dusty horizon below, there is not Pakistan, no India, no Sri lanka no Bangladesh. There are no state nor sovereign nations. No civil society, no human rights activists. No ISI, no militants. Everything merges into one. Shock turns to disbelief before the clouds obscure everything.

In the stupor induced by a momentary lack of oxygen, we remain comfortably dumb. Then the cabin comes alive with the hum of humdrum passengers as we wait for another new year. Then another ...

Indian Military Hardware: Myth vs. Reality (coming up....)

Justice gets a Social Justice angle

We seem to have entered a phase where the amount of interest a national issue generates is inversely proportional to its importance.

The first one is the current lead story on the Times of India. This is one of the eight bills that passed recently in a record 17 minutes, taking advantage of a unique chaotic environment in the parliament. Manoj Mitta's absurd editorial adds completely irrelevant dimensions to the story, but to summarize: the Police can no longer arrest a person unless the offense for which the person is being arrested is likely to result in a jail sentence of more than seven years.

Instead, the perp will be issued a notice of appearance. Of course if the perp fails to honor the notice of appearance, he is liable to get arrested, but take a guess - how many do you think will show up?

It is fairly obvious that this law aims to blunt whatever teeth the UAPA bill got via the hastily added amendment after 26/11. In reality this will end up helping the most hardened career criminals just as it will help poorer criminals with no moorings. Also consider this: a very large number of cases are cracked because police arrests people on minor charges, get to detain them while they collect more evidence. This law will destroy that technique.

Of course there is a human rights angle to it but then again the provision of bail makes it a bit redundant, doesn't it?

The second one has not yet been committed into a law:

Suggesting new conditions of performance-based appointments and continuation of service, the ARC report - Refurbishing of Personnel Administration - said that all public servants should be subjected to two intensive reviews on completion of 14 years and 20 years of service, respectively. It said: "Their (civil servants) further continuance beyond 20 years will depend on the outcome of these reviews. It should be expressly provided that all new recruitments will be for a period of 20 years and their continuance beyond that would depend on intensive reviews". [link]

This is merely one of the slew of measures the UPA Government has undertaken to strengthen the executive at the expense of other branches of the Government as well as important institutions.

It is easy to see this rule will ensure loyalty over a longer time horizon, even when a party is not in power. This is also redundant, a public servant can be fired or transferred for poor performance anytime.

SWAT valley experiences Azadi

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region outside the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.

The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies away from the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive.

"You can't imagine how bad it is," said Muzaffar ul-Mulk, a federal lawmaker whose home in Swat was attacked by bomb-toting assailants in mid-December, weeks after he left. "It's worse day by day." [link]

Don't let those small gray areas fool you. Basically the entire Pakistan except the Sindh and Punjab provinces are in trouble. As Rushdie famously said recently, Balochistan wants to get away as well. The various multi-party ethnic conflicts, LeT, Taliban, Army etc. thrown into the mix simply boggles the mind. For a sampler of the kind of human rights violations take place read this article.

All this trouble will naturally make its way into India somehow or the other. Call it gravity, osmosis, seepage - many T-Shirt deprived youth will eventually make their way into India in the near future.

A sample of cognitive dissonance:

The caption from the AP News photo says (above):
Pakistan shifted forces east following the Mumbai attacks.

From CNN-IBN Fact and fiction about Indo-Pak war talk:
Rumour: Pakistan has moved troops away from its Western border with Afghanistan to the East to threaten India.
Fact: No movement of Pakistani troops away from Afghanistan border other than routine.

Like we said before, there are definitely UFOs involved in this bizarre game.

So, what happened to Azadi?

Perhaps it is without precedence that the media and intellectuals would actually want to "liberate" a legal territory of their own country. The secular mischief during the Amarnath land controversy came to naught. The Kashmiris rejected the idea of Azadi.

Our seculars never give up, do they? A campaign was on to prove that the J&K assembly elections was a sham. Indian media's hands were somewhat tied because they could not possibly put a spin on the numbers. Also, we had other bad things going on.

Here is A. G. Noorani writing an opinion piece for Pakistani newspaper Dawn:

THE annals of rigged elections in Kashmir provide no precedent for the polls that will begin there on Nov 17. Even the Unionist parties, the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party, are opposed to them. [...] Today N.N. Vohra is governor. For the Abdullahs it is now or never. Defeat spells oblivion. Yet, victory will earn added disrepute. New Delhi will have to talk the Hurriyat and to Pakistan. The impact on the peace process of this farce can well be imagined. [link]

Hey, anyone knows which side he bats for?

The subversive commie blogs spun conspiracy theories after conspiracy theories, about how people were forced to vote at gun point.

Meanwhile the election turnout was pretty much in line with other state assembly elections. The final tally did not come in as a major surprise. The National Conference and Congress will form the Government. The separatist PDP did not do too well - this is even more encouraging than BJP increasing its seat tally. Reportedly the hardline separatist leaders were disappointed that people did not pay heed to their calls for boycott.

It would really help if Mehbooba Mufti & Co. stopped publicly displaying such allergic reactions to elections. They just don't realize how good a deal they have going with the Indian state.

What is the worst that can happen?

Three ideas have firmly taken root in the collective consciousness of opinion makers and policy makers alike:

1. Pakistan is really multiple entities ("Civilian" Government, Military, ISI, Militants etc.)
   
2. There is no long term objective of the "enemy" - it is just "Death by thousand cuts"
3. Military adventure against Pakistan will be expensive - Nuclear deterrent
   

As you can see, this is exactly what Pakistan wants us and the world to believe. Take the first point for instance. Indian media hypnotizes itself into believing that Pakistan actually has a civil society and there is a true democratic Government, albeit one that is engaged in internal power struggle with the military, which in turn is trying hard to win over the militants.

We are expected to believe that. Just a couple of examples: President Zardari, who manages to invoke his dead beloved wife by the third sentence in any conversation is actually blocking investigations into the attack that killed Benazir. He also offered to hug American Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the most grotesque attempt at flirting by the head of a state within nine months of his wife's death. Zardari was also surprisingly eloquent about the alleged incursion by Indian air force. He actually made hand gestures to explain how the "technical incursion" had happened! Meanwhile, the oldest Bhutto kid is throwing parties at Oxford, at the expense of the British tax payer!

Well, that was just the first example. The second example of course is the sudden surge of nationalism within Taliban. Their leader Baitullah Mehsud has offered to help the army.

Pakistanis themselves do not believe in this lie. Strategic Analyst Ayesha Siddiqa has described the Pakistan military-industrial complex in a book widely read and discussed by our intellectuals.

The belief that there is really no long term strategic objective to this deadly game also belies empirical evidence. Pakistan has become increasingly brazen in its covert operations. They are also testing different types of targets. They have attacked a university, they attacked the Parliament, they attacked targets in the financial capital, they attacked army posts. They have also assisted bombing of cities of various sizes, trains and institutions.

What is Pakistan's objective?

On an NDTV show, a retired senior military officer had this tale to share. Apparently the militants wanted to take European hostages. So, the handler gave suitable instructions to the operatives. After capturing a few European nationals from Karachi, the operatives discovered that one of them was an Israeli. He was cracking up, one Israeli is like two Europeans, he thought! As soon as he conveyed the message to the handler, however, he got an earful. He was severely reprimanded and ordered to release the Israeli at the earliest.

Contrast this with the very deliberate targeting of a completely innocuous Jewish mission and the extreme brutality with which the occupants were treated. To put it in context, the Pakistani media started referring to this as a Hindu-Zionist conspiracy. What does that tell us? For one thing, these are carefully constructed and calculated sound bytes, just like "non-state" actors. One can not entirely rule out the work of a professional PR agency. The Pakistani foreign minister Qureshi's well composed and eloquently delivered speech just after the attacks ("yesterday it was us, today it's you, who knows who it will be tomorrow?") seems to be well rehearsed.

We believe that the military-industrial complex is addressing its own concerns. First, the complex derives a significant amount of revenues from India via smuggling, racketeering, human trafficking, drugs, counterfeit currencies. This is being strained because of rapid modernization of India and its middle-eastern partners. These linkages are becoming increasing transparent in an increasingly connected world. Second, India is about to make very dramatic divergence from Pakistan's military capability in the near future. For one thing, we are becoming increasingly sophisticated in terms of technical capability, for another we are naturally gravitating towards the capital global world.

The complex wants to put a stop to this paradigm change. They want to throw the region back into status quo so they can continue to maintain their hegemony, at the expense of poor Pakistani people and the people of the subcontinent at large.

A Unique Opportunity:

The Americans are Iraq-fatigued, plus they are soon going to have the most populist Government in decades. The world is in the middle of a dangerous financial crisis. Several European countries have experienced rioting and arson by minorities. Iceland had its first public protests in decades, Greece had riots. The world is in no mood for fighting. China is flexing its muscles like never before. China also has the South-East Asian economies in a vice like grip, many need Chinese cooperation to tide over the financial crisis.

Meanwhile Pakistani elite are partying like never before. In the last two decades, they have fine tuned the PR effort. Unhindered by norms of a democracy, Pakistani elite throw lavish parties and gifts for western diplomats and businesses. All these things matter. The world perceives Pakistan not by the cab drivers but the suave party animals, mostly the families of Pakistan elite who live in Europe for the most part. Pakistan has established deep business connections within Europe, India and middle-east.

Taking advantage of the overwhelming surge of global liberalism, Pakistan can easily make a few nuclear strikes against India and completely get away with it. Who will you punish after that? Bomb a few villagers? Think the international community will have the belly for a nuke retaliation? Forget the world, after a nuke strike by Pakistan, our ultra seculars will probably do candle light anti-war vigils in our capital (assuming some of it will still be standing after the attacks).

The Pakistani elite will escape to middle-east and Europe, their families already reside there. Arundhati Roy will write another column emphasizing the need to pick up our own debris. Only there will be a lot more debris to pick up. Sonia Gandhi will win the Nobel Peace Prize.

If you were a Pakistani elite, wouldn't you do the same?

When "Enough is Enough" means something ....

One month later ......

Today is the one month anniversary of the Bombay terror attacks.

For the most part, one is principally interested in two things after such an attack:

a) The perps are brought to justice
b) Such attacks are prevented in the future

For the (a) part, intellectuals are still not sure who the perps are. As usual, the blame was put on us. After all, if you wear revealing clothes, you are liable to get raped. Isn't that an axiom firmly believed by a set of people whose arguments are found by a Tehelka reporter to be "complex and sophisticated"? Many of our intellectuals expressed satisfaction that we were taught a lesson for our intransigence and for our inability to ensure justice.

Soon after the attacks, the Pakistani media started reading like the Onion. We thought they were trying to cheer us up by running jokes. Our illusion was shattered when our media actually plead guilty for indulging in jingoism and offered apologies for hurting Pakistani sentiments. It was a bit hard to find jingoism in our media when Barkha Dutt became a veritable Mother India, offering to hug anyone and everyone in her studio. It is sad that they don't appear to share our romanticism, and they are unlikely to reciprocate the love of our media.

The bottom line is that, this winter is going to feel a bit more chillier with the cold realization of our vulnerability, and the fact that there is not a thing we can do.

Meanwhile, India Inc. can't wait to hang the sole captured militant, in what will amount to the most transparent miscarriage of justice in front of the whole world. They have actually lined up up to 40 witnesses for identifying a man whose picture was splashed across TV screens and newspaper pages non stop for the past one month. It is not too late to declare Ajmal Amir an enemy of the state and keep him in detention, if not for anything else, just to annoy the heck out of Pakistani leadership.

For the part (b), we seemed to have fixed the politician issue by sacking a few state and national level ministers. The UPA has introduced an amendment to the UAPA law, making it into a POTA lite. They will also create a national agency (NIA) to fix terror related issues. The home ministry website was updated to put Shri Chidambaram's pictures. The home ministry has issued tenders for night vision equipment. Also boot polish.

Smells like a hoax

The 10 Pakistan terrorists who attacked Mumbai were indoctrinated by the Pakistan terror establishment.

Jehad-for Virgins Scam was used to cheat teenage muslims to become terrorists.

During the training Pakistan Army officers and Lashkar-e-Toiba commanders repeatedly told the terrorists that "the moment you are killed in the Jehad against India in Mumbai attack,your body will emit divine glow and an intoxicating fragrance, before the body rises to heaven, to enjoy sex with beautiful virgins waiting for you," The Political Party.com quoted Kasab's confession with the Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad (ATS). [link]

Only news aggregator sites are reporting this, aside from Yahoo India. A link to DNA shows up on search but leads to an invalid page.

In any case, if they were indeed promised such stuff, they were probably shown pics of Bollywood starlets as samples.

Meanwhile, India may pull off the ultimate in reality TV, according to this DNA report.

Fast learners

We talked about this before.

Here is a dude who is learning pretty fast:

A delegation of Christian leaders led by Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Raphael Cheenath met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urging him to provide security to Christians in other areas besides violence-prone Kandhamal district. [...] "We apprehend that influx of non-state players into Kandhamal is aimed at creating communal violence", he said adding Christians were leaving relief camps because of fear. [link]

Our Prime Minister's soporific sermons are so utterly uninspiring, his own home minister uses phrases from an enemy leader's speech. One can't really blame Archbishop Cheenath.

Amar Singh a big donor of Clinton Foundation

The Clinton Foundation has finally released its donor list after lots of drama. This is obviously aimed to preempt allegations of moral hazard in view of Mrs. Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State in the incoming Obama administration. The user friendliness of the list attests to the eagerness of the Clintons in releasing it.

Well it turns out that Samajwadi Party leader and friend of Congress party Amar Singh is a huge donor of this foundation. A TOI report confirms that this Amar Singh is indeed that Amar Singh.

The implications of this are massive for both our foreign and domestic policy issues. Anyone who is following Pakistani newspapers and TV reports knows the simmering discontent in that country about the ever widening economic disparity with their neighbor. At the moment the sensitive Pakistanis are rather prone to conspiracy theories. They went complete nuts about the Nuke deal. Now they are throwing tantrums at the idea that India might be trying to jack it out of its just dues of $15 Billion that it has been promised by the incoming democratic administration. Quite obviously the Pakistani army and elite, who will eventually pocket much of this largesses are very willing to fan this fire of discontent. The net effect of Bombay terror attacks thus has been to consolidate Pakistani nationalism across the board.

Needless to say this doesn't spell well for our domestic economic situation either. The presence of wheeler dealers is never good, much less when they can actually influence and engineer deals of strategic importance. The long term effects of such systemic corruption is terrible for the democratic process, as RealityCheck elaborates. As it stands now, all we got out of the Nuke deal is crony socialism of the worst kind, potential for diverting large amounts of money and land towards Nuke plants, and neither last nor the least - dozens of in situ nuclear bombs waiting to be triggered by teams of attacking Fidayeen.

Urdu for beginners

There is no sinister motive behind the fact that Bollywood movie dialogs are understood in the entirety by perhaps only a small fraction of the audience. Many talented Bollywood writers are native Urdu speakers. An extra touch of Urdu also makes marketing to our neighbors a bit easier perhaps.

For us lay persons, there isn't much of a difference between Hindi and Urdu except that one uses a smattering of words borrowed from Persian and Arabic. Distinct but adjacent cultures are always picking up flavors from one another through inevitable seepage. You hear the other say a cool word, and want to use it yourself. Pretty much like how people want to say dialogs from a movie.

Native speaker of language A: %@%$@% &@^&^@ *&*& context ^%^%^%^%
Native speaker of language B: Hey, that sounds cool, can I borrow it?
Native speaker of language A: Sure.

Of course, the gradual seepage of Persian and Arabic into Hindi may have made it a little less accessible for people from other regions. We are just guessing of course. But the fact remains that the cozy exchange has over a period of time evolved into fault lines. Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and it is moving further away. But Bollywood keeps us up to date. Soon words from tribal dialects from say Baloch region may find its way first into Bollywood movies and then make a trip across the border.

There is a sense of timelessness to this intermingling, so much so that it goes further beyond. In our subconscious we also pick up ideas. In time will we start believing in them too? Well, only time can tell.

Take for instance Arundhati Roy, speaking in an interview: Having closely looked at the Batla house encounter and Parliament attacks, I am not ready to believe what anyone says. I have to see and think for myself. I am not prepared to believe anything. On the other hand, I am prepared to believe anything. This is what the Pakistani public is saying at the moment.

Or for that matter minorities affairs minister A R Antulay: Antulay seemed to have borrowed a leaf from Pakistani TV hosts who have claimed that the Mumbai attacks were the handiwork of "Hindu-Zionists".

Even our newly anointed reluctant Home Minister: In a virtual disapproval of anti-Naxalite group 'Salwa Judum' in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the Centre was not in favour of "non-state" actors taking the job of law enforcement in their hands.

"Non-state actors" - sounds strangely familiar. Perhaps all this is part of the same script.

Schemes and scams

(click on graphic for a larger version)

Our intellectuals are rather busy with the Kashmir freedom issue at the moment. But we gotta pay for the social justice bill. Arundhati Roy says we must see things in the correct context. We like that. So, here is a graphic that will hopefully put the issue in the correct context.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of scams. In fact they don't even cover all the recent ones, for instance the vaccine scam or the gas scam. As a matter of fact there are many other live scams going on. For instance the Kerala tender scam, which is an example of a state level scam.

The highlighted one is of course the mother of all scams, the so called spectrum scam. To see that number in the right context, it is about the same as the amount at current exchange rates the Bush administration bribed Pakistan with for not attacking other countries. That didn't work. The incoming Obama administration has promised Pakistan almost time and a half. Hopefully it will work better this time.

References:

Stamp Paper Scam
Fodder Scam
Ration Pilferage
NREGS (2007-08)
VIP Security
Spectrum Scam

The shoe throwing incident

So, an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at the US President at a press conference and became a hero. The video of the incident is all over the web.

Actually there is nothing funny about this.

The security implications of this are grave. The slow reaction of President Bush's security detail shows just how unexpected this was. Now it adds another layer of headache for security agencies, as if there are not enough nuts in the world already without a journo starting to behave like one.

Believe it or not, this incident will send alarm bells ringing in the Indian VIP security establishment. We have already lost a Prime Minister to an unexpected attack. We also have journalists of similar temperament.

Justice

A new word has entered the Indian political lexicon, both Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal and Arundhati Roy used it in their most recent pieces. Now justice replaces poverty and territorial occupation as the prime cause behind the [...] attacks.

There are two Justice related cases that are currently being discussed on prime time TV.

The first is the encounter killing of three youths suspected of throwing acid on two female college students. The first set of victims - the girls, were grievously injured and disfigured from the acid attacks, they are currently battling for life in a Hospital. Doctors and nurses are battling hard to keep politicians away who are thronging in large numbers for a darshan of the girls. The visits can cause infection. We are assuming the hospital charges are free. The politician photo-op with acid disfigured girls: priceless. The second set of "victims", i.e. the perps of the acid attack were shot and killed in police custody in what was described by the police as encounter killing. This thing happened in Hyderabad.

The second incident comes from Sheilaji's Delhi. Big SUV vs. small family sedan, alcohol involved. Wedding party - check. Final score: 5-0 in favor of SUV. This second incident has taken a curious turn because people allege that the cops did a switcheroo. The actual perp is missing and they arrested a teenager in his place. People are angry, demonstrations etc. taking place. This is what we call a live action version of an episode from The White Tiger, the 2008 Booker Prize winning novel by Aravind Adiga.

Just a few days ago we were so eager to change our society and punish evil politicians, fix broken institutions. But cricket season has started, a new Miss World runner up needs TV time.

As a passing thought, both the states happen to be Congress ruled, not that we mean anything by that. In any case, it just doesn't matter, does it?

There are laws and then there are laws

Did you know that the captured militant has not been charged under MCOCA?

Arrested Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab completes two weeks in the custody of Mumbai police on Thursday. However, though he has been booked under ordinary laws such as the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act and the Explosives Act-all of which allow the police a maximum of only 14 days to interrogate a suspect-Kasab's interrogation is unlikely to end any time soon. This is so because the crime branch plans to seek extension of Kasab's custody in each of the cases he has been booked under.

It is only under special laws such as the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) that police get 30 days to interrogate an accused and six months to file a chargesheet. However, MCOCA has not yet been applied in this case. [link]

So, how does the Police intend to keep him in custody? Simply by finding a small loophole:

Kasab will be produced before a magistrate on Thursday when his custody in the CST firing case registered with the Azad Nagar police station ends. The police is likely to request the magistrate to hand him over to the crime branch again in connection with any one of the 11 other cases. Using this tactic, police can technically extend Kasab's custody for at least 154 days.

This is what we call too clever by half. The implications are grave. Meanwhile lawyers are refusing to represent the militant.

The thin layer of credibility that the Indian Government has built up against furious backpedaling by Pakistani authorities backed by the Kabuki theater consisting of Pakistani media, army and military-industrial complex is contingent upon this man being alive. Yet the Indian media seems a little too eager to get him hanged at the earliest.

This man has expressed remorse and unabashedly blamed the hideous militants for brainwashing him. Yet he will probably be hanged by an over zealous media in what would amount to a miscarriage of justice.

But we won't hang another man, a much older one, one that was found guilty by the highest court after due process of law. A man who was a surrendered terrorist before being charged for the offense in question, conspiring to attack the Indian parliament. A man who till this day has not expressed remorse for his actions.

We won't charge Ajmal Amir under MCOCA that enables the authorities to hold him with a clean conscience, instead resorting to an underhand tactic not morally much distinct from our neighbors next door.

We won't even treat him as an enemy combatant, which is constitutionally the prudent thing to do under the circumstances. Simply because we are the devotees of the latest God Obama, whose election promises discourage such practices.

We are illegally confining this man and massively jeopardizing our diplomatic efforts, which we have convinced ourselves is the only option we have.

It is no wonder Pakistan is showing us their middle finger. They know where we keep ours firmly embedded.

Cultural fallouts of the terror attacks

M F Hussain Painting titled "Rape of India"

You have to give it to Indian opinion makers when it comes to making up arbitrary rules and then not sticking to their end of the bargain. We heard that we should not politicize the terror attacks.

Then we were told that we must not commercialize the terror attacks, i.e. not make films on it. Specifically the filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma was endlessly beaten up by TV anchor after TV anchor until the dude apologized and said that he would not make a film. Many Bollywood filmmakers also said that they would not make a film out of the tragedy.

Why on earth not???

Simultaneously the film Parzania is endlessly promoted. After the Tehelka sting tapes, this is the top G-Had recruitment tool, which is a bit inaccurate since the Director's cut version of the Tehelka tapes as shown by Indian TV stations actually contained footage from the movie.

M. F. Hussain has already made paintings on the attack. This perv can not think of anything outside of a sexual context. The painting (picture above) is titled "Rape of India". This was part of an exhibition in London.

In the age of terror, how can art stay aloof? This week, a ‘blood-spattered' painting has become the highlight of an exhibition of Indian contemporary visual art at a leading London art gallery. Titled the `Rape of India', it is M F Husain's response to the Mumbai terror attacks.

"I am a painter. I can express anger only through my art,'' said the 93-year-old Husain. The artist, who is currently living in exile abroad, painted his view of the brutalization of Mumbai on 27/11, while the city was still under siege. [link]

This was a lead story on the Times of India. Contrast this with:

Bollywood has reacted with horror that one of their own toured the Mumbai terror sites in the immediate wake of a seige that has left the whole world gasping, condemning his intentions, if any, to make a movie on the carnage. Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has now said he did not go to the Taj and Trident with this intention; that his being inside the hotel was a “mere coincidence”. [link]

One hopes that someone will eventually come up with a dignified artistic portrayal that highlights the cult of death and its cheerleaders responsible for the attacks.

Author Arundhati Roy suggests all minorities can become Terrorists

STAFF REPORTER: You knew this was coming. Author Arundhati Roy has published an article on the British leftist magazine The Guardian, highlighting aspects of the Bombay terror attacks no one has ever thought before. It is funny she should publish on a British magazine, because in part she puts the blame for the subcontinent's problems on the British (a parting kick, she says).

She also waxes eloquent about a very grand worldwide conspiracy without really detailing it. Funny that for this grand conspiracy theory to be true, certain political parties in India and the US should have been winning election after election. She takes out her frustration at US Senator John Mccain in the very second paragraph. The senator, by losing his presidential bid, rendered at least half her theory a non-starter.

She also dishes out enough venom and insults towards her political adversaries.

But this was by far the most surprising part in her article, a paragraph that simply tops all her previous radical ideas:

Homeland Security has cost the US government billions of dollars. Few countries, certainly not India, can afford that sort of price tag. But even if we could, the fact is that this vast homeland of ours cannot be secured or policed in the way the United States has been. It's not that kind of homeland. We have a hostile nuclear weapons state that is slowly spinning out of control as a neighbour, we have a military occupation in Kashmir and a shamefully persecuted, impoverished minority of more than 150 million Muslims who are being targeted as a community and pushed to the wall, whose young see no justice on the horizon, and who, were they to totally lose hope and radicalise, end up as a threat not just to India, but to the whole world. If ten men can hold off the NSG commandos, and the police for three days, and if it takes half a million soldiers to hold down the Kashmir valley, do the math. What kind of Homeland Security can secure India? [link]

Minority community leaders and opinion makers were not available for comment at the time of this report.

Can we politicize corruption? Please?

As you all know, we must not politicize terror attacks. We must not politicize inflation either. The directive on corruption is not clear as the secular media is simply not running corruption related items.

How to become a crorepati overnight

When the spectrum controversy began to spin out of control and Telecom Minister A Raja was recently attacked by political leaders from within the UPA and outside for his questionable decisions, his mentor and DMK leader M Karunanidhi condemned the critics as people who could “not tolerate the rise of a humble Dalit”. As it turns out, the ‘humble Dalit’ allowed his ministerial clout and official address to be used for businesses which later connected with the spectrum deal, now under the scanner of the high court and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

Not only did a commercial organisation, with the Minister’s wife as a director, begin operating from his official residence, well-placed sources said the information was concealed from the Prime Minister in violation of Service Rules. The Minister did not also deem it necessary to file an affidavit of ‘non-conflict of interest’ between his family’s business activities and his role as a Union Minister. In course of time, the address was changed and his wife officially withdrew from the firm. But the company’s association with the Raja family continued as closely as before, with the shares distributed among his kith and kin. [link]

Kerosene sprinkled on train: sabotage suspected

A major fire tragedy in Hemkunt Express (Train number 4610) was averted late on Sunday evening when certain miscreants sprinkled kerosene in a bogie. The matter was kept under wraps by the Railway authorities. An emergency alert was sounded and an alleged attempt of sabotage was averted, railway sources said on Tuesday.

The Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force (RPF) have started a joint probe into the incident. "It would have been another disaster had the passengers not reported the matter to the police," said a senior official of Northern Railways.

Hemkunt Express runs between Rishikesh (near Hemkunt Sahib) in Uttarakhand and Jammu Tawi. Sri Hemkunt Sahib is a holy site of the Sikhs in Uttarakhand and the train passes through the famous Hindu pilgrim centre of Haridwar. [link]

Train, fire, kerosene, pilgrims etc. You know the drill.

Lalu's railways, as always. Event the recent terror attack had a major component of railways. Not that we are suggesting anything.

What is Sonia Gandhi doing on FDLAP?

Why is Sonia Gandhi listed as a co-president of an organization that supports secession of Kashmir? Last time we checked, the Indian Government does not officially endorse an Azad Kashmir. India officially considers Kashmir, including the region called Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as integral part of its territory. It also appears that Kashmiris themselves do not particularly want freedom, they participated in the recent assembly election in large numbers.

Even her party, the Indian National Congress officially recognizes Kashmir as Indian territory. A very recent statement by party spokesman Manish Tiwari affirms this:

Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy who had issued a statement advocating freedom for Kashmir was a "loose cannon" who had "abused the liberal traditions of India", the Congress said on Wednesday. "She (Roy) is a loose cannon who has abused liberal traditions of India to its fullest," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari. "It is a great tribute to the tolerance of India's ethos that a person who openly calls for Balkanization of country is not being locked up and the keys are not being thrown away," Tiwari told IANS . [source: TOI]

The website is indeed legitimate as it is listed on Open Society Institute, a non-profit funded by the billionaire George Soros.

This is a serious situation.

We are asking NSG commandos to risk their lives to save citizens of India, a country they must be proud enough of to give up their lives for (if it is not for nationalism, why the fuck would an otherwise perfectly sane dude give his life for just Rs. 5 lakh saving a rich dude in a posh hotel paying $500+ and who has just savored succulent Patra ni Machchi). We must also inform him that according to the people who dominate Indian opinion - nationalism is a sham.

We are asking the SPG to protect a woman and her family, pretending that she is the only savior of the country since she is the president of the party intellectuals prefer and endorse and which is also in power. Funny the woman wants to give away parts of the country.

We are basically spitting on the graves of the martyred soldiers, cops and many who lost their lives in Kashmir.

Psycho Secularism

Now that the CCTV footage from the Taj Hotel has been found, it has put to rest at least partially a Hindu-Zionist conspiracy that also somehow implicates the Parsi business community. It is time now to ask some more "uncomfortable" questions, you know, the kind that stops Hindu fundamentalists on their tracks:

• Will we ever see the full guest list of the hotels attacked on 11/26? Are we to believe an obscure journalist from the Times was the only one there aside from a clueless Tehelka financier, who had any connection to the media?
• Why is the media not pursuing the angle that it was Shivraj Patil who delayed the NSG plane?
• Why did the Times of India Delhi edition published the first family's party pictures only on 4th December? The party took place on the 30th November.
  
• What is the score on that attack really? The max we saw was on a ticker on CNN-IBN which read 217. A photo caption on the Outlook now says "over a 100".
  
• Why are the media going after the Naval chief? What does he know? Why does he want to sue the media? Why is the media silent about this lawsuit?
• How come major TV stations were so well coordinated in their coverage at least in terms of conclusions, themes and ideas? An attack so sudden would have normally brought out very different analysis.

These questions will never be asked just like no one will ask why Bhujbal, who was earlier implicated on a terror financing case, was restored to the Maharashtra cabinet. Of course we could get way nastier and start questioning the religious affiliations of the top cop of Bombay, but we won't, because we are not like them.

Now that the state elections have been decisively won by the secular party, we sense a great danger. Danger because the party sure knows its priorities right. Just after the attack, the PM was negotiating with the LTTE sympathizers down South, about sending Pranab Mukherjee to Sri Lanka. Danger because the aam aadmi is starting to factor in terror risk as as part of life, just like getting mowed down by a blue line bus. Danger because the only solutions we heard so far involves doing things that are not achievable within the next six months. Buy a new plane for NSG? A new federal agency? What is the guarantee the chief of this new agency will not be used for electoral negotiations?

The Tehelka head Stinger in his latest editorial blames the "elite" for this problem, which he elaborates later is not the real problem after all. Funny how makes fun of a dead man and a fictitious elite. Hey, what sort of elite stay in the Taj Hotel? Do they ever vote? The dude sure knows how to bark up the wrong tree. Of course we know he is joking, as a picture in the article show. Now, who does the world belong to?

Will the Tehelka chief ask himself why no stings, none whatsoever till date which goes against the secular party? Don't tell us there were no targets. There have been scams after scams. Now the telecom spectrum scam has brought the scams to full spectrum in a manner of speaking. Of course he has dropped the earlier idea that terror is caused by economic exploitation, because with Shah Rukh Khan, and various other rich personalities from the community etc. splashed on TV shows, it starts to become a little untenable. Now the new mantra is justice. Now, we are scratching our heads here how to connect justice in India with an attack launched by Pakistan, the only remaining part of which turns out to be a boy who is seeking to see his mother?

Which will not be explained by Barkha Dutt either, who will try to fit the current event into her own template on a TV show. Minority after minority would state that this attack has nothing to do with Indian minorities and they do not feel threatened. But do you think Barkha gives up? Surely she has designated audience members to take care of contingencies. Like the planted girl in the audience who spoke her scripted lines about Raj Thackerey, clearly rehearsed. Within half an hour Barkha found a sympathetic woman, who suddenly discovers she carries a label on her forehead. She took umbrage at the comment of another person, which he had not really made.

We all know how to fix terror problems, but it will not be done. You see, the problem is really one of ideology and kinship. Not the ideology you have in mind or the kinship for that matter. The ideology we have in mind is that the opinion makers in this country do not know right from wrong.

Take for instance our Prime Minister. He has certain ideas about allocating resources. Now, the Tehelka chief might want to explain how this will be perceived by those shortchanged by this arrangement. Will this be justice?

Anyway, this was in the past. Now look at what he has to say:

"It is the fundamental right of all to follow their religion, practise their culture and hold to their views. But it is nobody's right to deny anyone this right, or to dictate faith and opinions to others. The essence of democratic polity is that we can disagree, but still work together." [link]

This is exactly where we reach a hard stop each and every time. If you want an LDR (Liberal Democratic Republic), most certainly people are not allowed to practice their faith as they seem fit. If they are, you are not going to have a nation, just like we don't.

We know how to stop terror. The only way to stop terror is by making the Pakistani elite feel unsafe. As long as Pakistani elites party with Indian elites, this threat is not going to be very credible. And so ......

Tora! Tora! Tora!

If all the people are brethren, why are the waves of the sea and the winds restless? (Japanese emperor Hirohito in a Diet meeting, contemplating an attack on Pearl Harbor)

On this day in 1941, the Japanese navy launched an audacious attack on Pearl Harbor. Plenty of details are available on the web. We strongly recommend the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! for understanding the historical context and also the tactical and diplomatic blunders that led to this event of great carnage and destruction. This is one of the most spectacular and authentic war movies ever made. The soundtrack is glorious.

This incident led to the famous "day of infamy" speech by Roosevelt and a declaration of war. The somewhat demoralized Americans made a counter-move, by bombing Tokyo in April, 1942. This attack was largely symbolic. There are two pretty decent movies that chronicles this event: Thirty Seconds over Tokyo shows the air strike preparation and the bombing. Destination Tokyo is based on the covert submarine operation that was supposed to provide intel support for the air attack.

Actually the Japanese made a follow up attack to Pearl Harbor. This is very well depicted in another fantastic film Midway. This time the plan was to catch the American carriers on high seas and destroy them. Like the Pearl Harbor, the strategic objective of the Midway attack was not met. They could not successfully destroy the large naval carriers.

At the end of Tora! Tora! Tora!, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is heard saying: I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

This would eventually lead to the nuclear bombing of two Japanese cities by Americans. But the Japanese have moved on, as we discussed in a previous blog post.

Strategic Analysis


Reviewing the various media reports, articles and other details available on the Bombay terror attacks of 11/26, it appears that it is but a small part and a trial run of a much larger and very deliberate strategic plan.

The Tom Clancy novel Debt of Honor describes a scenario where the Japanese have not moved on. So they launch a very devious plan involving covert operations within the United States as well as coordinated external naval and air attacks. Interestingly there is a component of attacking the American financial system as well.

Pakistan has not really moved on from 1971. A direct military conflict may be very costly for Pakistan and must be supplemented with covert operations. The recent financial crisis presents an opportunity like never before, the world is wholly preoccupied with cleaning up the financial mess. It is well known that the ISI prints Indian currency. Pakistani visitors regularly go missing within India. America just had an election and its future foreign policy goals are pretty fuzzy. India is going to have an election.

India is also going to have a war, whether it likes it or not.

Tabloid edition

Former union Minister and long time Gandhi family friend Captain Satish Sharma's son got married just after the unpleasant events at Bombay folded up. Since this was a prior commitment, the Gandhi family had to attend the event. Thankfully the national media did not splash this across the front pages, nor did the popular TV channels make a huge issue out of it.

Our heartiest congratulations to the couple.

We got the pictures from the Times of India, New Delhi edition, available online.

Here we see Sonia Gandhi with her mother Paula Maino.

Yuvraj looks so dashing in this picture, in that cute turban. Can you spot the tricolor? That's what we call commitment.

Hostage crisis: 60 hours, Maharashtra political drama: 120 hours

So, Narayan Rane (picture from Saamna), who coulda been a contender, got the royal snub. The final dynastic choice of Ashok Chavan, son of an ex-CM of Maharashtra, is lending itself to intense speculation about the power equations in the state.

The wheeling dealings for the CM post was business as usual in Indian politics. Funny how the much reviled (only now though) politicians showed their middle fingers even as the people marinated in their indignation with lighted candles across multiple cities.

Hey, any ideas how to make these politicians behave without voting them out? Seriously, we'd like to know.

World's deadliest biological weapon

War of the babies.
Numbers matter.
France, Mark Stein's book etc.

The Kalavati lady who our Yuvraj met and promised nuclear electric during the Nuke deal drama happens to have nine children. So, in a manner of speaking, we are stockpiling pretty fast too. But here is the kicker - it is turning out to be a self goal.

Think they will care about terror attacks on Taj Hotel or the price of Kerosene? Meanwhile our Government's latest health care "reforms" have spurred baby making. Make a baby and get Rs. 2000.

Perhaps the captured militant got a better deal, Rs.96,000, COD of course.

This can not end in nice ways. There are two outcomes. We can lose the baby making race. In which case babies from other places come in and kill ours. Alternately our babies get frustrated since the milk is gonna dry up pretty soon. So they divvy themselves up into teams of babies and sort of do a group Indian Idol with elimination rounds until the end.

And then they become strong and take on the other babies.

Then it got weird ....

So, Barkha Dutt, who is according to her own channel's jingle, one of India's most admired and respected journalists, has penned an opinion piece, defending the media's alleged transgressions in the Bombay terror attack coverage.

It is a lengthy piece, still we read it.


Divested of righteous indignation and poetic flourish, essentially the report makes the following points:

1. The internet is buzzing with vitriol against media in general and Barkha in particular - well, tough love Barkha.
   
   
2. She stresses that this eruption of allegations is only one small part of a larger picture - and that there is also an avalanche of words of encouragement and praise. This point sort of renders the first point and the article irrelevant but we will move on. As an example she sites InfoSys founder Narayan Murthy, he termed the coverage the finest piece of journalism in a decade. Me scratchy scratchy your backy you baily me out, you hear? Tough times eh?
   
   
3. She terms the allegations "concocted and slanderous charges" and "malice and rumour". Really?
   
   
4. She makes the point that in the absence of any instructions on site and in the absence of any such framework the media broke NO rules. This outright stumped us. There are grave implications of this assertion. Hope she is only joking.
   
   
5. She also trades charges with the Navy bosses.

She also makes the point that it was a tough assignment, a grueling 72 hour experience. This is the only item on which we can offer help. We do it every day, it is called delegation. But then again, they would have to record a new channel jingle.

Cops fired at in Hyderabad, suspect escaped - update

Update on the previous report - unfortunately the suspect escaped.

The Commissioner said Viqar and his other accomplices managed to flee from the scene leaving behind the country-made weapon. "We suspect that Viqar Ahmad is the member of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India. In the past, he was also the member of Darsadgah-e-Jihad O Shahadat", Prasad Rao said.

[...]

Viqar was missing after the Mecca Masjid blast in May last year and is understood to have returned to the city a few days ago, it was stated. [link]

Blame 60 years of socialism, not politicians for 60 hours of terror

Although it may be premature, but from various media reports that are trickling in, it appears that India is in the grip of a hitherto unseen massive public protest across multiple cities. This may snowball into a Thailand style revolution and go many ways from there. It can turn violent and take the Burmese route. It can also gradually subside on its own.

The people are expressing a very strong resentment towards the system in general and politicians in particular. Many are demanding President's rule.

Here are some preliminary thoughts:

The politicians are essentially a product of the system itself, unless the system is defined and its malaise diagnosed, the cure may end up being worse than the disease. Whether terror attacks are ideological in nature and whether they are preventable are debatable issues. What is not debatable is that across the world and throughout history the set of geo-political entities that have been able to provide the best care for its citizenry share certain common features. These features are collectively known as the free market system.

These countries also provide the best welfare for their citizens, not only in quantitative but qualitative terms.

Incident after incident, tragedy after tragedy, our response has been to demand an ever bigger Government. This has led to the grotesque imbalances such as obscene amounts having been spent on security for politicians while the police force of the entire city of Bombay have only 500 WWII model rifles.

Unless we have a well defined objective and a model in place, it is futile to overthrow the democratic system violently or non-violently.

• Demand that the constitution be rolled back to its original form and be locked down for a decade.
• Demand that education be freed from the clutches of the state .
• Demand that commercial entities be allowed to enter into private agreements with land owners and farmers.
• Demand that the Government immediately exit from all commercial enterprise.
• Demand that the Government stops providing subsidies to charitable organizations of any hue.
• Demand that the Government stop appropriating land.

President's rule??? You gotta be kidding!

Cops fired at in Hyderabad, one seriously injured - developing

The Indian Express version:

Ex-SIMI activist opens fire at police, Hyderabad on alert
Posted: Dec 03, 2008 at 1654 hrs IST

There was panic in Hyderabad after a former SIMI activist Waqar Ahmed, an accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case, opened fire on a police team at Santhoshnagar Cross Roads today afternoon. Waqar Ahmed has been absconding and police said they received a tip-off that he was moving around in the slums adjoining Santhoshnagar. A team of anti-insurgency force was dispatched there to check the information. Police officials said that head constables Rama Raju and Jaffer Sheikh spotted him walking near the Santhoshnagar cross road and started to chase him. Police said, in his attempt to flee Ahmed opened fire at the cops in which Raju was hit in the stomach and collapsed on the road. He has been rushed to the Apollo DRDO hospital where his condition is stated to be serious. "A police patrol recognised him and he was surrounded but suddenly he opened fire and a Head Constable A Raju was hit in the stomach. He has been admitted to the Apollo Hospital. The activist fled the spot in the ensuing melee,'' Hyderabad Police Commissioner B Prasada Rao said. [link]

The Times of India version:

Firing on cops in Hyderabad; 2 injured
3 Dec 2008, 1621 hrs IST, PTI

HYDERABAD: Two policemen were injured when a group of unidentified persons opened fire on them at Santosh Nagar on Wednesday. Constables Jafar and Rama Raju were hurt when the unidentified men opened fire after they came across the policemen, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Zone) Atul Singh said. The injured policemen were admitted to a super-specialty hospital in the city. Singh said the antecedents of the miscreants, who were about six in number, were being ascertained. Residents of the locality said the youth were local residents. [link]

U-Turn

The Tehelka website had this as their lead story, just after the attacks. They also had an interview of slain cop Hemant Karkare on the same issue.

Soon after they changed the site - obviously to provide more prominent coverage to the more important event. The earlier content is now replaced with what must be rather dull content for this otherwise sensational magazine. Anyway, we digress.

Excerpts from the interview of Hemant Karkare is pasted below:

Will Pravin Togadia be questioned, since his name has also cropped up in the narco tests done on the accused in the Nanded blasts of 2006?
No, as of now there is no evidence against him. [....]

The ATS made a flip-flop on the links of those arrested with the Samjhauta blasts, which raised questions when it found no mention in the remand copy.
A lot has been made of the Samjhauta Express statement that was made by the public prosecutor in the case. There was a statement made by the witness that Purohit helped in the procurement of RDX. That was a part of the case diary. It cannot be taken as gospel truth. What was wrong was the mention of the same to the media, although we had said that there is no such evidence of the same.

The BJP has targeted the ATS for its investigations. Has there been any political pressure?
We are here to do our job as an investigating agency and bring out the truth. Having said that, it’s baseless to say that we are working under political pressure. There is absolutely no pressure on me or my officials. We are doing our best to bring the truth out.

There were also reports that the army was not cooperating with the ATS with regards to information on Col Purohit and his leave records?
I would like to clear this. The army has given cooperation to the ATS right from day one on every aspect of the interrogation. There have been reports that the army has not been cooperating with the ATS and that’s absolutely untrue. The army gave us his leave records and other documents, which we needed.

Is the ATS looking at arresting more army officials?
No, we are not looking at arresting or detaining any more army officials in the case.

Can Purohit and Dayanand Pandey be called the key conspirators in the Malegaon blasts? Is this evident from the narco tests of the accused?
We are yet to get the narco reports. There is evidence against Purohit, but we can’t reveal anything at this ....

Please read the whole thing.

Barkha Dutt's Pakistani cousin

Terrorist arrest caught on video

The footage, which was captured on a mobile phone, shows a furious crowd beating the alleged terrorist, Ajmal Qasab, before he is taken away. It allegedly shows him with other gunmen on Marine Drive, a few streets away from the train station where the group had just carried out a killing spree.

Fleeing the scene of the carnage, the gunmen were forced to stop because the tyres of their getaway car had blown out.

Within seconds, they were surrounded by unarmed police. [...] Sky reporter Ashish Joshi, in Mumbai, said: "Officers told them to come out of the car with their hands up. They did, but Qasab had a gun between his legs which he then brought out and shot three officers dead.

"It was seen by passers-by who shouted 'Look, look, they're killing police officers' and then suddenly from every direction a mob gathered. "They over-powered him and started beating and attacking him. Then another police unit arrived and he was arrested." [link]

Looks like the vintage Indian style works better sometimes.