[Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 42, Intolrent individuals, tolerent society, that is India.?

[rajendra bhat]

As I was going thru the posts of this edition, I could not but feel the wave of happenings, intolerence of individuals in a tolerent society that is India. Amrtya Sen, was talking about the argumentative indian in his book, but the list reflects not only argumentas for the sake of arguments, but total lack of tolerence in one guise or the other.!

   If there is an encounter, the celebrities come out and show off their intolerence against such happenings. If christians , poor ones are attacked, the intolerence again is on show. If the bhajrang dal is to be discussed, again the same intolerence about the very word.Every individual seems to be intolerent of freedom or right of others in the society  but are very particular about their right to freedom.? How can the freedom be unfettered without the rights of the society is not neglected.? Muslims , most of them are socially aware, politically aware of their rights, but does it mean that whatever a few deviant in the community indulge in is to be ignored.? 
    Christians mostly are involved in sedate and dignified life, but recent influx of funds from the new life foundation to India, to use for increase in the numerical strength of the community is evident in the social turmoil that is gripping the rural life in many parts of India. Should it not be disciplined by the state of governance. ? A few followers of christian faith, in retaliation were on top of the church roofs, stoning the public, police and all and sundry. The bishop  of Mangalore has had nothing to say about this unruly behaviour of his community.? The bishop of Bangalore in most uncivilised behaviour as messenger and servant of god behaved  with the CM of the state, who had gone to visit him and assure him of all the safety and necessary measures to keep peace.

  Bhajrang dal Karnataka chief claimed that his men had destroyed the place of worship, was arrested and still in custody. But what about those who were "retaliating" and injuring the public and police because they were hurt? Even media has shown its intolerence in selective reportage of happenings in Karnataka and Orissa. Killing of 83 year old swami and Yagamaya swamini aged 67 years along with three others in their fag end of life has no importance in news coverage. But "rape" of the nun is important, as it gets more trps and sensations. ?

  Then talk of ban on Bhajrang dal, does the system of governance has the courage to take such logical actions and then follow it up sternly? The answer is big no. After banning SIMI, it only transpired that the same SIMI resurfaced in many other hydra headed monsters as indian mujaheedeen, jehadi council, warriors of islam in south India etc. Instead of any sort of ban on SIMI or Bhajrang dal, let the governance be firm in action against any individual who is deviant in society for religion or faith, then the message of communal harmony will be settling better.

  Even media seems to be very partisan in coverage of incidents at Orissa, as converted crowds hit back and retaliate, it is peaceful demonstrations and when other tribals retaliate it is communal, bhajrangis.? The individual anchors in news channels are not journalists as they are only celeb anchors doing the mercenary work for their media bosses to garner more trps, then more advertisement revenues.

 The entire business of terror is money honey, those who are in it are there only for money, no faith , no idealogies, it is all about power and money, honey.!
----- Original Message ----
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Subject: reader-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 42

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Today's Topics:

  1. Asia Journalism Fellowship (Yousuf)
  2. 'Encounters', Colombian style (Patrice Riemens)
  3. whose terror is worse then? (Javed)
  4. Re: New face of terror: Educated and professionals (inder salim)
  5. FINANCE: Neel Kashkari/MBA, Soft Drink, Electric Car,    Kashmir
      (Naeem Mohaiemen)
  6. Re: rants against media and politicisation (Nazneen Anand Shamsi)
  7. Behind the Batla House shootout - Praveen Swami (Aditya Raj Kaul)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 20:29:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Reader-list] Asia Journalism Fellowship
To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>,    Media Watch
    <mediawatchindia at yahoogroups.com>,    x britindia
    <xbritannicaindia at yahoogroups.com>
Message-ID: <361032.45983.qm at web51401..mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Asia Journalism Fellowship

The Fellowship brings up to 15 journalists from Asia to Singapore's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University for three months.

As a Fellow, you will have the opportunity to pursue your intellectual interests together with other accomplished journalists from the region, away from the deadline pressures of your job. The semi-structured programme is designed to sharpen your professional skills and deepen your understanding of trends in media and communication at a time of rapid and sweeping change.

It will also provide access to key newsmakers in Singapore's public sector, business community and civil society, giving you insights into the challenges faced by one of Asia's most cosmopolitan hub cities.
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, NTU

The Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information is one of the leading schools of its kind in Asia.

It has an enrollment of around 1,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in fields such as journalism, public relations and knowledge management. Its more than 40 full-time faculty are engaged in diverse research, ranging from media law and censorship, public opinion and health communication, to video game culture and Asian film.

The Wee Kim Wee School is also the home of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), an NGO that spearheads the development of media and communication expertise in Asia within the broad framework of economic, social and cultural development. For more than 30 years, its programmes and publications have crossed the boundaries between academia, media professions and policy makers, allowing those with an interest in communication in Asia to share perspectives, challenges, and best practices.
Temasek Foundation

The Fellowship is made possible by Temasek Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organisation anchored in Singapore that seeks to contribute to sustainable growth and a bright future of hope and opportunities for people in Asia.

The foundation works with partners to support programmes that develop people through health care, education and research, programmes that build bridges between peoples, programmes that build institutions of excellence through good governance and ethics, and programmes that rebuild lives and livelihoods affected by natural disasters.

For more details see:
http://www.ajf.sg/index.php




      


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 12:25:24 +0200 (CEST)
From: "Patrice Riemens" <patrice at xs4all.nl>
Subject: [Reader-list] 'Encounters', Colombian style
To: reader-list at sarai.net
Message-ID:
    <16290.82.233.50.198.1223547924.squirrel at webmail.xs4all.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


Observers have wondered at the speed at which new techniques of torture
and repression spread from one conflict area to another, sometimes
continents away. I hope I am not contributing to this phenomenon...

French daily 'Liberation' reports that in Colombia, the army now abducts
destitute civilians in the cities' streets or in the countryside,
bus/trucks them a few hunderd miles, and shoot them in staged 'encounters'
in order to fatten up the tally of 'guerrillas'/ 'terrorists'/ 'drug
dealers' eliminated, and pocket premiums, bonusses and other rewards (one
'ennemy of the state' killed = 5 days furlow).

How low can you go?

Meanwhile the Colombian govt has ordered inquests "in order to clean up
the name of our army".

Article in Liberation (in French): http://tinyurl.com/3t9xza








------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 18:52:35 +0530
From: Javed <javedmasoo at gmail.com>
Subject: [Reader-list] whose terror is worse then?
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Message-ID:
    <fc87bbf20810090622oc5b460fjd086f58e3aa8fc9b at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Bajrang Dal dares govt to ban it

9 Oct 2008, 1330 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), has dared the Indian government to ban it, warning that the
authorities will face the "consequences" if it was outlawed.

"We will fight the ban and we will go to the people to explain the
injustice done to us. The elections are coming up soon and it (a ban)
will prove costly for the government," Prakash Sharma, national
convenor of the Bajrang Dal, said.

The Hindu group has in recent weeks been accused of targeting
Christians and vandalising churches in Orissa and Karnataka. A far
more serious charged hurled at the group in recent times has been
making bombs with a view to attack Muslims.

Sharma denied that Bajrang Dal members had anything to do with the
violence in Orissa, where 35 Christians, mostly poor villagers, have
been killed in a series of violent incidents sparked by the gunning
down of a Hindu leader.

"Bajrang Dal does not believe in violence of any kind. Our aim is ...
public agitation by mobilising democratic governments to protect
Hindus," Sharma maintained.

He accused the media of portraying the Bajrang Dal negatively. "Are
newspapers competent enough to tell the truth? They print anything,"
said Sharma.

Besides Muslim organisations, mainstream politicians too have started
demanding a ban on the Bajrang Dal, whose members are known to resort
to violence at the slightest perceived insult to Hindu religion. Its
members often take to the streets brandishing tridents and khukris.
Its ideology is virulently anti-Muslim and anti-Christian.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is the latest Indian politician to
seek a ban on the Bajrang Dal, which takes its name after the Hindu
god Hanuman or Bajrang Bali.

The group has been linked to a bomb blast in August 2006 at Nanded in
Maharashtra where two people were killed. Apparently, its members were
making bombs when one or more exploded. A similar incident occurred in
August this year in Kanpur.

"The person involved in the Kanpur incident used to be with Bajrang
Dal 10 years ago. By that analogy, the Congress should also be banned.
Their minister ... was caught for the 1993 serial blasts in Surat and
now he has been jailed for 20 years," said Sharma.

Sharma is unapologetic about the Bajrang Dal's role in "reconversions"
in Orissa -- making Hindus who became Christians embrace Hinduism
again.

"What is reconversion? We are making them return to where they were
before. This is 'ghar wapasi' (coming back home), and we are doing it.
And it is legal," argued Sharma.

Despite talk of banning the Bajrang Dal, the group is planning to
launch its silver jubilee celebrations from this month.

"There will be 'yagya' and 'havan' in Ayodhya Oct 13. It will be a
religious event," Sharma said.

The Bajrang Dal, formed in 1984, played a big role in the events
leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in December
1992, which led to widespread Hindu-Muslim violence in the country.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, presiding over a cabinet
meeting, said the government needed to have a "foolproof case" if
Bajrang Dal needed to be banned.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Bajrang_Dal_dares_govt_to_ban_it/articleshow/3577380.cms


------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 22:21:48 +0530
From: "inder salim" <indersalim at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] New face of terror: Educated and
    professionals
To: reader-list at sarai.net
Message-ID:
    <47e122a70810090951r6939b6afs45cca14ae34fd0a4 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Dear Nazo

i dont if this is what we call black humour, but  your creative  piece
has indeed intensified the unfortunate subject 'New Face of Terror' .

i thought of Ronald Barthes who wrote a famous pieces on the Negro Boy
in French Uniform in Salute ( image in Paris Match ).

it is indeed sad..... and time to ask questions

love
is

On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 7:50 PM, Nazneen Anand Shamsi
<nazoshmasi at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> To continue the thread of postings and forwards on Jamia and other ghastly
> incidents, here's one more. It seems that now, even these 'educated' Muslims
> of India, cannot keep their hands of from juvenile adventurism! But the
> question we need to ask is, what kind of message does one wants to convey
> when one writes 'New face of terror'? Isn't this communal profiling of the
> most insidious sort? This report had a photograph of Mumbai police
> commissioner Hasan Gafoor, and I was thinking who fits more to the headline?
> please see
> http://www.indianexpress.com/news/new-face-of-terror-educated-and-professionals/370409/
>
> I propose that all educated, professional Muslims of India, particularly
> those who live in metros like Delhi or Mumbai, must not let go of this once
> in a life time opportunity to avail themselves of this brand. The sikhs had
> this opportunity but they sadly missed it, so did the tamils, the naxals,
> the manipuris.
>
> Here are some preliminary suggestions, first and foremost, push an
> application to patent this brand, 'Terrorist'. Then a logical step must be
> taken to franchise it. The organization must be strictly not-for-prophet
> (ooops! profit) of course!
>
> Introducing brand TERRORIST
> sign: T
> attributes: educated, muslim
> rewards to be associated with this brand: immediate visibility, TV
> interviews, documentaries on life, mobility, social acceptance
> psychological attributes: loyalty, committed, devoted, unflinching, can take
> challenges, flexibility in work.
>
> 'T'
>
> Franchise: Terrorist cafes, Terrorist Bars, Terrorist Pubs, Terrorist
> T-shirts, Terrorist condoms, Terrorist cups, Terrorist glasses, Terrorist
> bindis, Terrorist saries and Terrorist bangles, Terrorist bras and panties.
> There must be a Terrorist drink too. For children, it must milk with Nutmeg
> or Jaiphal to induce immediate hallucination for adults it must be one shot
> of Chardonnay with one shot of Vodka and two shots of beer with egg yolk, to
> be taken in one gulp!
>
>
> The Terrorist Anthem must go like:
>
> Mazhab nahi sikata aapas main bair rakhna
> Terrorist hain hum
> Watan Hai hindu-sthaan hamara hamara
> Saare Jahan se accha...
>
> The Terrorist prayer must go like:
>
> Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tammanna mere
> ho mere kam zaifoon ki, dardmando ki khidtmat karna
> Ilm ki shamma se ho mujhko muhabbat ya rab
>
> Mere allah burai se bachana mujhko
> TERRORIST ki joh rah hai us reh pe chala mujhko
>
>
>
> There must be a Terrorist Academy also to train Dj's, Nurses, Waiters,
> Graphic artists etc basically to supply labor to a burgeoning market created
> by this brand. The prime consumer would be of course GOI.
>
> I don't think SRK will have any problem endorsing it. The ad will go like-
>
> First sequence- SRK is a middle class boy is sitting in front of a computer.
> Searching for work.. You know pushing employment applications. In the
> background one can see trophies lined up on the wall. The search goes on.
> The computer screen blinks -sorry no vacancy-.
>
> Second sequence- SRK is sitting dejected on the sea front in Bombay with his
> girl friend. Conversation ensues-
>
> SRK: No jobs. They don't want me. (Looks dejected. Head bows down. Soft
> breeze is hitting his face, throwing his hair to the wind)
> Girlfirend: Don't worry (Places her hand on his shoulder. Looks far into the
> ocean)
> SRK: What will happen? When will I find my job? When will I marry you. (SRK
> is almost in tears now)
> Girlfriend: Wait a minute! In the Job application what do you write?
> SRK: What do you mean? What do I write.
> Girlfirend: (has got a glint in her eyes) No no it is important. VERY
> IMPORTANT. Do you mention that you are a muslim.
> SRK: No of course not. I am educated. What has my religion got to do with
> this?
> Girlfirend: Arre ghantu!  You are an educated Muslim. Don't you see you are
> a TERRORIST. You are not like those Ram sunders  or Vinod sharma's.
> SRK: Amina, I love you! You are my darling. (hugs her)
>
> Next shot:
>
> SRK: (Sitting in front of computer filing a job application. Typing his
> religion also) Muslim. Terrorist.
> Compter screen: Congratulations! You got a Job.
>
> SRK: (PUNCH LINE) SRK is wearing a white lenin shirt with blue jean. He is
> facing the camera and an office acts as a backdrop.
>
> If you are educated and a muslim. you are not an educated muslim. (SRK
> smiles)
>
> You are a Terrorist! (SRK smiles)
>
> DON'T EVER FORGET THAT. (Close up shot of SRK's Mouth when he says this
> line)
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Nazo
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
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-- 

http://indersalim.livejournal.com


------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:59:20 +0600
From: "Naeem Mohaiemen" <naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com>
Subject: [Reader-list] FINANCE: Neel Kashkari/MBA, Soft Drink,
    Electric Car,    Kashmir
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Message-ID:
    <e9cfea7c0810091259y7d9f67d9xa561505ba067de62 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"

The folks at South Asian Journalists Association (New York) have
rounded up coverage of Neel Kashkari, head of $700B bailout plan, in
US media, and here are some brief excerpts.


1. NYT: "Bailout Role Elevates U.S. Official" by Charlie Savage and Ben White:
Samuel L. Hayes, an emeritus professor of finance at Harvard Business
School, said Mr. Kashkari will face tremendous pressures. "It's
amazing to me that a guy who is only six years out of business school
has been given this kind of assignment, because it would be an
enormous challenge for someone with 30 years of experience," Mr. Hayes
said.


2. WSJ blogger Heidi N. Moore's post, "What Neel Kashkari Learned in
MBA School":
Since 2006, Kashkari has been one of Paulson's regular advisers,
sharing with his mentor a hairstyle, Midwestern roots, a Goldman
alumni card and even the same taste in popular soft drinks.


3. "Morning Edition" profile on NPR by Yuki Naguchi:
Back in the 1990s, Tom Dautel worked on a team led by Kashkari to
design a solar car called the Photon Torpedo at the University of
Illinois. He says Kashkari worked like a slave, often even on projects
he wasn't directly overseeing.


4. Gilbert Cruz's "Two-minute Bio" of Kashkari in Time.com:
"When he does anything, if you ask him to make an electric car or ask
him to plan an outing to Niagara Falls, he is so meticulous."—Chaman
Kashkari, father, USA Today, October 6, 2008

"I'm a free-market Republican."—Kashkari, at an American Enterprise
Institute conference, Sept. 19, 2008


5. "Rakesh Kaul, a leader in the Kashmiri-American community and
chairman of Spherenomics (he knows the Kashkari family)" on SAJAForum:
"I view Neel's appointment in some ways as even more important than
the signing of the Nuclear deal. It is the final rubber stamp of how
our Indo-American community has achieved acceptance at the highest and
most critical positions in the land. If there is a change in
administration then we should think long and hard and see if Indians
on both the Democratic and Republican side, in a spirit of
bipartisanship, can ensure that he has the support to continue in his
job."

"Interestingly the name Neel means the color blue but also it stands
for the blue sapphire in Sanskrit and as your readers may well know
the best sapphires in the world came from Kashmir. Finally as a
postscript. To all the Kashmiri Pandits who have been ethnically
cleansed from their land and are suffering either in refugee camps or
have been scattered into environments that are below their dignity and
human potential. Neel is one inspiring story that took two generations
from Kashmir to the US to happen but there will be many others. We
will return back to our homeland from a position of strength, a
strength founded on a 5,000-year culture that can produce a Neel, a
Jawahar, an Abhinav Gupta, a Kalidas and many more!"

And finally a photo:
http://sajablogs.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/07/photo_100608_001_2.jpg


------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:56:37 +0100
From: "Nazneen Anand Shamsi" <nazoshmasi at googlemail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] rants against media and politicisation
To: "mahmood farooqui" <mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com>
Cc: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
Message-ID:
    <169ff67c0810091756t40d5882fvdb9bd9ded0a0d1b1 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Dear Mahmood,

Thank you for replying to suggestion.

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 3:24 PM, mahmood farooqui <mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com
> wrote:

Good idea. But tell me a little bit about your ancestry first, not
necessarily biological


Pray, I wonder. What's my ancestry got to do with anything I write. I may be
to a kam jaat born for all you know! I am sorry I cannot contribute to your
Project Genealogy!

By the way, despite all your Rhodes education and your warm latkas and
jhatkas as a dastan go, your perhaps well meaning and innocuous question
betray a deep rooted and a banal male castiest anxiety about strangers,
something  which I absolutely loathe among Indians, a la ' Kaun Jaat ', if
you may.

Warm regards

Nazo

PS: I am sorry but please don't be upset to see this reply on the reader
list. it's just that i have a pathological allergy to unnecessary personal
conversations. You may have noticed that I have had this conversation with
other list members too, in the past. I have joined this esteemed online
community to engage in a public dialogue only! I hope that is not an issue
with you. And despite all the respect that I have and Will always have for
the exemplary work that you are doing to revive an ancient art form of
storytelling, I think I deserve an apology, to be considered as a deserving
recipient to this most disgusting question, which I, in my humble opinion,
think, does not fit well to the public persona that you have so carefully
crafted.

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 3:24 PM, mahmood farooqui <mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Good idea. But tell me a little bit about your ancestry first, not
> necessarily biological
>
> 2008/10/9 Nazneen Anand Shamsi <nazoshmasi at googlemail.com>
>
> Yes. There is.
>>
>> How about a dastan goi performance on Jamia and other stories, with
>> Aamir Hamza as a terrorist/storyteller. Retelling of the present as
>> fantastic history.
>>
>> N
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> [Reader-list] rants against media and politicisation
>> mahmood farooqui mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com
>> Wed Oct 8 22:36:48 IST 2008
>>
>>    * Previous message: [Reader-list] Fwd: Online access to all SAGE
>> journals until October 31, 2008
>>    * Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
>>
>>
>>
>> Politicisation of an issue=dirty, partisan play by political parties.
>>
>> Play by political parties=realm of social, political negotiation=openly
>> roughing it out=mob political culture=civil war with a bumbling
>> authoritarian state
>>
>> Is that news
>>
>> Is there another way
>>
>>    * Previous message: [Reader-list] Fwd: Online access to all SAGE
>> journals until October 31, 2008
>>    * Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
>>
>> More information about the reader-list mailing list
>>
>
>


------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:47:35 +0530
From: "Aditya Raj Kaul" <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
Subject: [Reader-list] Behind the Batla House shootout - Praveen Swami
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Message-ID:
    <6353c690810092117g19c2d818k4dd8d4b02138ce66 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"

An interesting piece by one of the most renowned expert on internal security
and terrorism, Praveen Swami. It highlights the major areas which have been
missed by those campaigning hard to convert this encounter or at least
portray it as fake one. Hope they plan a better theory or else revise their
'Wonderland' stories. Have a look at 'The Hindu' column below which came out
in today's newspaper.

Love
Aditya Raj Kaul



*Behind the Batla House shootout
* Praveen Swami *

Charges that the Jamia Nagar encounter was fake belong in the Wonderland.

*

"Sometimes," said the Queen in Lewis Carroll's *Alice in Wonderland*, "I've
believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Ever since last month's encounter in New Delhi's Jamia Nagar, critics have
been claiming that the two men killed by the police were innocent students,
not Indian Mujahideen terrorists. A number of well-meaning commentators and
politicians have expressed concern over the encounter. Few seem to have
paused to wonder if there was, in fact, anything mysterious about the
shootout. If it was indeed fake, the story would read something like this:
Hoping to redeem their anti-terrorism credentials and whip up anti-Muslim
paranoia, the Delhi police shot dead two innocent Muslims. For some reason,
though, they left a third innocent Muslim, Mohammad Saif, alive to tell the
tale. Either because of incompetence or to get rid of an inconvenient honest
officer, depending on who is telling the story — the Delhi police also
killed one of their own. They also shot another officer, but let him live.

A riveting fiction? The truth about Batla House is, in comparison, mundane.

When inspector Mohan Chand Sharma walked through the door of the flat where
he was to die, all he knew was that he was looking for a man with two
missing front teeth. Soon after the Gujarat bombings, a Bharuch resident
contacted the police to report that the vehicles used as car bombs in
Ahmedabad had been parked by his tenant. Gujarat Crime Branch Deputy
Commissioner Abhay Chudasma had little to go on, bar one small clue: the
mobile phone used by the tenant to communicate with the landlord. It turned
out that the phone went silent after the Ahmedabad bombings.

Based on the interrogation of suspects, Gujarat police investigators
determined that the cell phone was one of the five used by the perpetrators
between July 7 and 26 — the day of the serial bombings. They learned that
the perpetrators had observed rigorous communication security procedures,
calling these numbers only from public telephones. Between July 16 and July
22, the investigators learned, another of the five Gujarat phones had been
used in the Jamia Nagar area. This phone had received just five calls, all
from public phones at Jamia Nagar. Then, on July 24, the phone became active
again in Ahmedabad.

The investigators also found evidence of a second link between the Ahmedabad
bombings and the Jamia Nagar area. On July 19, the Bharuch cell phone
received a call from Mumbai, made from an eastern Uttar Pradesh number — the
sole break in the communication-security procedure. Immediately after this,
a call was made from the eastern U.P. phone to a number at Jamia Nagar,
registered to local resident Mohammad Atif Amin. The authorities mounted a
discreet watch on his phone but decided not to question him in the hope that
he would again be contacted by the perpetrators.

Mumbai police crime branch chief Rakesh Maria made the next breakthrough
last month, when his investigators held Afzal Usmani, a long-standing
lieutenant of ganglord-turned-jihadist Riyaz Bhatkal. From Usmani, the
investigators learned that top commander 'Bashir' and his assault squad left
Ahmedabad on July 26 for a safe house at Jamia Nagar. Armed with this
information, the investigators came to believe that Atif Amin either
provided Bashir shelter or the two were one and the same person. Inspector
Sharma was asked to settle the issue.
'Vodaphone salesman'

Sub-inspector Dharmindar Kumar was given the unhappy task of trudging up the
stairs in the sweltering heat, searching for Bashir. Dressed in a tie and
shirt, just like other members of Sharma's team, Kumar pretended to be a
salesman for Vodaphone. At the door of Amin's flat, he heard noises — and
called his boss.

According to head constable Balwant Rana, who was by Sharma's side, the two
men knocked on the front door, identifying themselves as police officers.
There was no response. Then, the officers walked down an 'L' shaped corridor
which led to a second door. This door was unlocked. Sharma and Rana, as they
entered, were fired upon from the front of and to the right of the door.
When the rest of the special team, armed only with small arms, went in to
support Sharma and Rana, two terrorists ran out through the now-unguarded
front door. Saif wisely locked himself up in a toilet.

It takes little to see that Sharma's team made several tactical errors.
However, as anyone who has actually faced hostile fire will testify, combat
tends not to be orderly. In the United States or Europe, a Batla House-style
operation would have been carried out by a highly trained assault unit
equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. Given their resources
and training, Sharma and his men did as well as could be expected.

Judging by Sharma's injuries, as recorded by doctors at the Holy Family
Hospital in New Friend's Colony and later re-examined at the All-India
Institute of Medical Sciences' Trauma Centre, he was fired at from two
directions.. One bullet hit him in the left shoulder and exited through the
left upper arm; the other hit the right side of the abdomen, exiting through
the hip. The investigators believe that the abdomen wound was inflicted with
Amin's weapon and the shoulder hit, by Mohammad Sajid.

Much has been made of a newspaper photograph which shows that Sharma's shirt
was not covered in blood, with some charging that it demonstrates he was
shot in the back. Forensic experts, however, note that bleeding from
firearms injuries takes place through exit wounds — not, as in bad pop
films, at the point of entry. In the photograph, signs of a bullet having
ripped through Sharma's shirt are evident on his visible shoulder; so, too,
is evidence of the profuse bleeding from the back.

In some sense, the allegations levelled over the encounter tell us more
about the critics than the event itself. In part, the allegations have been
driven by poor reporting and confusion — the product, more often than not,
by journalists who have not followed the Indian Mujahideen story. More
important, though, the controversy was driven by the Muslim religious
right-wing whose myth-making, as politician Arif Mohammad Khan recently
pointed out, has passed largely unchallenged.

In a recent article, the University of Delaware's Director of Islamic
Studies, Muqtedar Khan, lashed out at the "intellectually dishonest"
representatives of Muslims who "live in denial." "They first deny that there
is such a thing as jihadi terrorism," Dr. Khan noted, "resorting to
conspiracy theories blaming every act of jihadi violence either on Israel,
the U.S. or India. Then they argue that unjust wars by these three nations
[in Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir] are the primary cause for jihadi violence;
a phenomenon whose very existence they have already denied."

It is easy to rip apart the pseudo-facts that drove the claim that the Jamia
Nagar encounter was fake — or that the Indian Mujahideen is a fiction. Much
political work, though, is needed to drain the swamps of denial and deceit
in which the lies have bred.

*Link - http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/10/stories/2008101053621100.htm
*


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