by Mustafa Khan
On Saturday November 29, 2008 the attacks in Mumbai ended and in the very first court hearing after the Mumbai attacks Lt Col Shrikant Purohit told the court that there was no proof against the eleven accused in the Malegaon bomb blast of September 29, 2008. He went on to assert that he had nothing to do with it. Within the same week Rakesh Dhawde told the court that he was involved in the bomb blast and was responsible for it. In the clatter of general outcry and accusation of the attacks it should not be strange to see the connection between the two and other similar events apart from the usual dichotomy of the faith of the perpetrators and the country of their origin.
Nettled about the focus on faith rather than fact a woman protester at the Taj hotel refuted faith. 'I am not a Muslim, I am not a Hindu' She did not want to be identified. "Where were you 15 years ago, why did you not protest after the Mumbai riots? I just want to know what is this damn tamasha now! This is all crap! Where were these people after the riots (in 1993) after people got killed in the streets and women were raped? Why did you keep quiet then? Why Enough is Enough now?"
Everybody stopped to hear her as she vehemently spoke about the terrorists operating within India. "Let us first clean up our own backyard and then scream about these terrorists. This is nothing but a television stunt."
We may not share her vehemence but we should strive to understand her logic. ATS chief Hemant Karkare's honesty was acclaimed at all hands except the hardcore elements of Hindutva that considered him villain in life and hero in death. Among them must be included LK Advani, Rajnathsingh, Narendra Modi and Praveen Togadia who said in sum that Karkare was a desh drohi for pursuing the crimes committed by Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakor, Purohit, Ramesh Upadhaya, Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey, etc. In contrast to Karkare, Purohit seems to have acquired new sights after November 26. A man of military should above show honesty, at least to the fellow countrymen whom he has sworn to protect from the enemies of the country. The woman mentioned above links one event with others that are festering wounds on our social and political collective life. In other words she takes a holistic view of the whole matter believing this would be honest in fighting terror. All this should make us introspect on what R H says:
"A careful scrutiny of all the reports available so far suggests, to this writer anyway, that the killing of Karkare and his colleagues was a premeditated act, executed by a group that had stationed snipers at various points along the general route between VT and the Metro cinema with a view to maximising their chances of a successful murderous assault."
Those who are too much vehement in their desire to fight terror need to be more cautious of their pronouncements and their past. There was the same demand for the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed, and others. The latter ala other Pakistanis in the past in order to forestall extradition dug up the alleged complicity of LK Advani in a plot to assassinate Jinnah. A police case was registered against the refugee turned prime ministerial candidate in Karachi. The RSS had hatched a plot to kill the Pakistani leader as his cavalcade passed through the Hindu area of the city, a matter of five minutes drive, on August 14, 1947. It was so dreadful that after crossing it, Jinnah turned to Lord Mountbatten and remarked: "Thank God! I've brought you back alive!" The English man exclaimed: "My God, its I who brought you back alive!" According to the plan the leader of the group would signal others to throw their bombs at the car but the leader was so unnerved that he did not do it. A cycle repairer of Jullundher, Pritam Singh, disclosed this. India's demands for surrender of the 20 suspects falls to deaf ears because of this criminal case of the day Pakistan got its independence.
Advani has shot down another suggestion, which could have helped us see with honest candour, the perpetrators. But there is a snag here and he could not be so disingenuous about it. The raising of the Kashmir dispute in the UNO by Prime Minister Nehru is it. There is need to know that the Americans were involved in negotiation for a solution and it could only come through the UNO. President Clinton's visit was another occasion when the Americans were trying for a solution to the dispute but then happened the Chittisinghpora massacre of 37 Sikhs. It was blamed on Jaishe Mohammad and the five Muslims who were blamed and killed for it turned out to be ordinary poor innocent shepherds. These matters have remained shrouded in mystery because there is no sign of honesty of approach. To say that taking the matter of Mumbai attacks of November 26 to Security Council would produce difficulties for us cannot be true for the reason that Dawood Ibrahim and Jaishe Mohammad are declared terrorists and the world knows that. Why balk from an independent international investigation when such an investigation in the case of the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hareri has established truth of the involvement of Syria in it.
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