To hang or not to hang?

In all the media circus surrounding the elections one event not given its due was the farce of the Ajmal Amir Kasab's trial. Advocate Anjali Waghmare, assigned to the case after much drama and hoopla provided by the Shiv Sena, was replaced due to a conflict of interest. She hadn't informed the court about her role as counsel for one of the victim's of 26/11. Now none of the media coverage of this incident asked the most pertinent question, namely, how come a lawyer deemed by the Government to be competent enough to represent the accused of such a high profile case could display such ineptitude. The whole incident smelt of a cop out by Advocate Waghmare; a trick played on the general public to find an honourable way out. Instead of focussing on her incompetence, the media somehow seemed to be taking her view of situation as not just feasible but reasonable.

The truth of the matter is that Kasab needs to be tried as soon as possible and as fairly as possible. This trial is a test for our democracy and our society as a whole. A section of our leaders and society are saying the man was caught red-handed. Why do we need this long prolonged drama of a trial? We should simply hang him. But that would be a big mistake. India is a tinpot dictatorship. We are the world's largest democarcy and the only functioning one in our neighbourhood. There is enough evidence against Kasab; images of him firing away with that automatic gun are still fresh in the mind. But to deny him a fair and public trial, would put our judicial system and our society on the same barbaric level as Kasab and his ilk. It would be a rallying call for more misguided young men across the border.

But now Advocate Abbas Qazmi has been appointed as Kasab's new lawyer and already he has filed a petition claiming lack of jurisdiction because Kasab is underaged!! Ridiculous twaddle of course, but atleast he's being afforded competent legal representation, in our finest tradition. Let Advocate Qazmi bring it on; the prosecution must be ready with an air-tight case. Only then will justice prevail and only then will the victims and martyrs of 26/11 get closure. Our reputation as a democratic society is on the line and the world is watching.

Still waiting...

Nearly two weeks after the worst terrorist attack on Indian soil, our Government is still trying to decide on an appropriate response to the attack. After the initial shock wore off, our leaders realized that the public’s anger demand some sort of response. What that response should be no one seems to know. So what has the Government/political class done so far? 

We’ve had the worst type political opportunism from the likes of Narendra Modi. Others have come up with statements condemning the attacks, and depending on their political inclination, blaming or pledging support to the Government. The usual statements blaming Pakistan have been issued, only this time they are a bit more nuanced and do not directly blame the Government there.  As usual, our leaders have turned to the US to fight our battles for us, supposedly as part of a diplomatic initiative. And finally, the United Nations has been approached, purportedly to involve the global community in our fight against terror. 

Contrary to claims by the new Home Minister that this time it wont be “business as usual”, none of these moves will do anything to make us any safer. However, there have been unprecedented responses which need to be mentioned. The PM has apologized to the nation for his Government’s failure to prevent the attacks, though this is more a testament to Manmohan Singh’s innate decency than any admission of guilt by the establishment. Also, Parliament has issued a unanimous resolution condemning the attacks and pledging to do all that is necessary to protect us. The last time our leaders were so united, was when they voted to give themselves a raise and added perks.

So what else can our Government do under these circumstances? Definitely any escalation of tensions at the border with Pakistan should be avoided and to fall into that trap would only add to sense of victory that those behind the attacks feel right now. However, calls from the American government and media for restraint from India is ridiculously hypocritical. Expecting the US to help us put pressure on Pakistan is simply being naïve. We should know from past experiences that the Americans do anything at all keeping only their national interests in mind. And right now their interest lies in keeping Pakistani troops involved along the Afghanistan border. So aside from strong statements condemning terror and supporting the people of India from President Bush and Secretary Rice, which make for good headlines, we cannot expect anything from the US.  The UN is the other big part of our Government’s grand diplomatic initiative. The last decade has shown the United Nations to be a toothless organization where leaders meet to talk and play to galleries back home. With its distorted power structure and dependency on western countries for funding, the UN in its current state is hardly relevant in the global scheme of things. Besides, we still haven’t recovered from the fallout of our last approach to the UN for help. That was in 1948 and the issue was Kashmir. 

The government should ideally be pushing the US and all other global institutions to cut aid to Pakistan and to ensure that whatever aid does go is not diverted to the military/ISI apparatus. Seeing that President Zardari’s government already has its hands tied behind its back. Such a move might provide the necessary stimulus to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan. But again all of these moves do not make us any safer in our cities or towns. The government has been deafeningly silent on the promised overhaul of our intelligence gathering apparatus, our disaster response strategy or our police force. What we as citizens demand of our Government is greater transparency and accountability in its response to this tragedy. As a start maybe the government can drastically cut down on the number of police and NSG personnel currently guarding VIPs and divert those forces to the more important job of protecting society at large. But would that be expecting too much of our netas? The nation is waiting and watching.

CARPE DIEM!!

Mumbai has finally been recaptured!! 

This nation grieves with the families of those who lost their loved ones to this dastardly attack. As one, we also salute the bravery of our men in uniform who risked life and limb so that we may go back to our comfortable lives. You truly are the pride of our nation.

But very often this is where things stop. We mourn our dead, praise our soldiers, maybe sit around coffee tables and lambaste our politicians and then forget all the hue and cry and go back to our daily grind. The same sequence of events has played out over and over with every previous attack on our soil. We must not let the deaths of so many go unanswered, we must not let their sacrifices go to waste. This country must now finally free itself of its cocoon of complacency. The time to act is now.

India is on the cusp of unparalleled economic development. We are a nation waiting in the wings to take our rightful place on the global high table, an aspiring superpower. And yet, we cannot guarantee the safety of our people within our borders. Somehow, the size of our country and the 

sheer number of people keep us from realizing that whats happened in Mumbai today might happen in Chennai or Chandigarh tomorrow. Or even if something does happen, as a people we have always been ready to take whatever life throws our way. Yeh India hai, yahan sab chalta hai. 

But that attitude has to stop now. We have to demand solid evidence and definitive actions from our leaders. As usual, we hear news reports of how "hard evidence" points to Pakistani involvement. Well, the citizens of this country must be privy to that information. We cannot and must not accept the usual "its our neighbour's fault" excuse. Heightened security measures at public places is an inconvenience the average Indian is willing to bear. But it must be backed by political will to act decisively against terrorists, an effective intelligence gathering system and most importantly well-equipped and trained personnel to put into effect an effective counter-terrorism strategy. This is the need of the hour. Polticians acting to make electoral gains out of this tragedy are insulting the memory of the martyrs and the average voters' intelligence. 

Any suggestions that its simply impossible to prevent a motivated terrorist willing to risk his life should not be accepted. Both the US and the UK have had a near 100% record in prevention of attacks since 9/11 and 7/7 respectively. And both these countries are as big a target for terrorists as India is.

But we cannot just stop at demanding actions from our leaders. Past experience has shown that our leaders look out for themselves in the aftermath of every national tragedy (but thats a whole other blog). As citizens we must become more self aware. We must realize that terror has no religion. Our judgement of the events in Mumbai must not be coloured by communal prejudice or nationalist fervour. Its time to start thinking of ourselves as Indians first and whatever else we are as secondary. Its time to organize our communities, to watch for suspicious activities and to report these. What we choose to ignore today might just come back to haunt us tomorrow. Its time to sieze this moment, sieze the day. Carpe diem.