Desicritics Author: sharique

Mohammed Afzal Guru: To Be Or Not To Be?

sharique — Mon, 9 Oct 2006 14:10:31 EDT

To hang him or not is the the question. Well, again, I will consider both sides of the coin and present my argument. Abhay Singh has argued for the capital punishment to be upheld. His arguments is that a heinous crime like the attack on the symbol of Indian democracy should be curbed with iron hands, hang Afzal!

Afzal's crime goes beyond that line and calls for a highest deterrent punishment, which as per the Indian law, is death sentence. Don't forget Afzal hasn't committed an act of an individual's murder, but that of conspiring to trespass and spill blood in the country's supreme institution -- the people's Parliament. This is unpardonable.

Letting off Afzal will embolden those who have been misguided and supported by Islamic jehadis from across the border to wage a relentless war against India to force it to accede to their ultimate design. Granting clemency would be tantamount to giving in to the forces that have bludgeoned the nation and pushed the Valley into an endless vortex of terror and bloodletting.

I don't endorse his views. He should be punished but not capital punishment for being a part of the conspiracy. I advocate the sternest of punishment for his involvement but not death. An eye for an eye as the saying goes, and he didn't take anyone's eye. I do feel for the families who lost their dear ones. Many of them, mostly poor, lost their bread earners and it will not be fair on their part if Afzal is not subjected to sternest of punishment.

Let us now take the other side of the coin. Is he really guilty? Inam ul Rehman has something interesting to say.

In fact, Afzal denied every aspect of his involvement in the conspiracy to which he had allegedly confessed earlier. "I had not identified any terrorist. The police told me the names of terrorists and forced me to identify." Needless to say, Afzal also stated that the police made him sign a pre-written disclosure and confession; he also gave graphic details of the illegal procedure under which these were obtained

The defence of Mohammad Afzal, the key figure in the state-sponsored story of conspiracy, suffered the most. With great difficulty, Geelani's defence managed to produce some witnesses; Afzal had none. He had no legal defence in the period between his arrest on December 15, 2001 and the filing of the charge sheet on May 14, 2005; in other words, no counsel had studied the complex case.

Grave, unanswered questions surround the Parliament attack case even after four judicial pronouncements. Who attacked the Parliament and what was the conspiracy? On what basis did the NDA government take the country close to a nuclear war? What was the role of the State Task Force (J&K) on surrendered militants? What was the role of the special cell of Delhi police in investigating the case?

It will be a travesty of justice to hang Mohammad Afzal without ascertaining answers to these questions. On October 20th, they are not going to hang Afzal alone but with him they will also hang whatever little trust the Kashmiri people had in this judiciary; all to be hanged till death.

Let's imagine a court scene in which there is the advocate representing the state (A), the judge( J), Mohammed Afzal (M)and his so called defense lawyer (D).

J: Let's begin the proceedings (and please for God's sake keep it short as I have already received the fax from the PM office regarding the final judgement and plus today is my wedding anniversary...ah I even forgot the wedding gift)

As the judge was lost in thoughts A starts presenting his arguments.

A: I request the court to award death penalty to Afzal as his crime cannot be pardoned. The lives of august members of the Parliament were in danger and as he has confessed his crime,this leaves no doubt what so ever in anyone's mind.

M: I object to this! I was forced to.....

The judge interrupts

J: Speak when you are allowed to. A, carry on.

A: I have nothing more to say. I think the court had enough of M's plea of being guilty.

Meanwhile D brooding

D: Kaha phans gaya mai. Koi Gandhi thodi na hoo mai. Mat maare gayee thi jo zayada human rights ka josh aa gaya aur yeh case accept kar liya. I don't even have proofs to at least save him from death penalty.

Meanwhile J also lost in thoughts

J: The last time I gave pendant to my wife she didn't like it. Damn the packing was not good so I had to buy her a new original gold necklace. Yeah but I gave that pendant to Tina......ah, Tina.

A: I am done my lord.

J: Tina..ah..my darling...Oh he is done. Has the defence anything to say ?

D: Le aa gaya number. I have nothing to add my lord. Phew...they are going to ditch me now...

M: What! Why did you take my case then? I could have argued for myself.

D: I need to find some other NGO now..Tina was telling me of some organization associated with Medha Patekar. At least I will get to interact with stars and not bearded terrorists.

(Tina is D's wife)

J: Afzal you can speak now.

M: I am not guilty damn it! I have been intentionally dragged into this. In 1990 I was attracted to the movement led by the JKLF, like thousands of other youth. I went to Pakistan for training and stayed there for a little while. However, I was disillusioned by the differences between different groups and I did not support pro-Pakistani groups. I stayed there only three months without getting any training. I returned to Kashmir and then went to Delhi to pursue my studies. I always wanted to study and before I joined the movement I was doing my MBBS. I wanted to return to normal life and with that intention I surrendered to the BSF. The BSF Commandant refused to give me my certificate till I had motivated two others to surrender. And I motivated two other militants to surrender. I was given a certificate stating that I am a surrendered militant. You will not perhaps realise that it is very difficult to live as a surrendered militant in Kashmir but I decided to live with his family in Kashmir. In 1997 I started a small business of medicines and surgical instruments in Kashmir. And then I got married.

J: Speak to the point. No one is interested in your life history. Perhaps you can write your autobiography in jail.

M: I am coming to the point. Throughout the period that we lived in Kashmir the Indian security forces continuously harassed me and told me to spy on people they suspected of being militants. One Major Ram Mohan Roy of 22 Rashtriya Rifles tortured Afzal and gave me electric shocks in my private parts. I was humiliated and abused.

J: Eeesshhh..these general at army !! how can they be so inhuman..but they have hawt wives..they really need them

M: The Indian security forces used to regularly take me to their camps and torture him. They wanted to extract information from me. One night the Indian security forces came to our home and abused all of us and took away me to their camp; another time I was taken to the STF (State Task Force) camp Palhalan Pattan.Some days later they took me to the Humhama STF camp. In that camp the officers, DSP Vinay Gupta and DSP Darinder Singh demanded Rs one lakh. We are not a rich family and we had to sell everything, including the little gold I gave to my wife. I was kept in freezing water and petrol was put into my anus. One officer Shanti Singh hanged me upside down for hours naked and in the cold. They gave electric shocks in my penis and I had to have treatment for days.

A: Is he true? I know that the army is a butcher when it comes to handling terrorist but such an extreme torture!!

D: And the say human rights violation...damn! what more do they want? I am going to medha patekar....can't stand all these.

D then messages Tina to stay at home tonight as he has something important to talk to her.

J: I don't know how true these stories are Afzal but how are the relevant the case?

M: I just want to prove my innocence and how I was deliberately thrown into this chaos. I left to Delhi after all these but STF again brought me back to Kashmir. The STF told me to bring one man Mohammad to Delhi from Kashmir. I met Mohammad and one other man Tariq there at the STF camp. I did not know anything about the men and had no idea why i was being asked to do the job. And after that I was caught on charges of conspiring against the state. I was in close touch with the security agencies throughout the period starting from 1993 to at least 2000. Second, three of the people (Tariq, me, Mohammad: the mastermind, the link, the attacker), allegedly involved in the attack, originated from the STF camp itself. If Tariq was, in fact, spotted in the STF camp, how was he allowed to go un-investigated? If I had to report regularly to the STF, how could they not have known anything about the conspiracy? Would militants repose trust in someone who was in regular contact with the STF?

J: The judgement is final and binding. Hang till death!! (ah for the first time in my life I had the opportunity to break nip of the pen....as they used to do it in movies..will tell Tina tonight..she loves movies)

M: As if I care.

Next time J and D were together in courtroom was as fighting parties. Tina had applied for divorce from D.

This is based on Mohammed Afzal's wife public appeal

****

Capital punishment is a must for a terrorist. Not just capital punishment but I advocate something more severe. Death is a one time thing but continuous punishment will instill greater fear among future terrorists. I cannot be silent when someone rapes my wife in front of me and further pardon him just because human rights will be violated. If a person is found guilty of murder then he should be given the capital punishment..as eye for an eye...simple.

But then people will say that an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. I don't agree with that. It's human tendency to seek revenge and until and unless his thirst is quenched, he cannot rest in peace. Many terrorists take up arms against the atrocities against them or their families. I don't buy the argument that religion is alone the source of provocation. The fire has to be kindled and it has to come from deep inflicted wounds. For peace to prevail judiciary systems should have capital punishment because then only the animosity won't exist (because the state will be responsible for the killing then).

My whole point is that the capital punishment has to be justified with solid evidences and not like the one sided enquiry of Afzal's case. I strongly believe that he is being dragged into this. And that's my only objection his capital punishment.

Movie Review: When Munna Bhai is Overtaken by Veer

sharique — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 10:21:02 EDT

I don't generally write movie reviews and neither I am a movie buff but I couldn't resist writing this review. We went to see Lage Raho Munna Bhai but as the tickets were sold out we thought of 'entertaining' with a movie called Naksha. And we had a cracker of time, if not less as compared to Munna Bhai. The reasons, well many-

1.) Engineering lesson- If you are caught somewhere and in desperate need to direction then do the following- look for a piece of metal (like hair clip of your girl friend or you have to first find a girl with a hair pin because nothing can substitute a hair pin...you know it can also be used to open locks). Having found one, now you need to rub it so as to excite the electrons near the surface and then miraculously the electron and protons align themselves in such a way that they form a dipole and you can use that as a magnet! OK now the task is to let it freely align itself. For that you need to select a leaf which can easily be rotated my the metal piece. Place the metal piece on the leaf and the whole assembly on water (stagnant water please!) and it will point towards the North Pole. Well if you are wondering which side will be the north pole as the metal might have symmetric ends then you better ask Sunny Deol. Sorry its out of the scope of my mind.

2.) Geographical lesson- In Haryana you can find dense forests with such lavish greenery that can put Africa to shame. You also find nomads there, Lilliputian to be precise. There is one short-cut from Haryana to Himalayas which is a deadly river but you can reach Himalayas in few hours. I wonder why the heroes took the heroine with them, she just entertained them with shrieks and also put their swimming ability to test. They in fact survived every obstacles only to later find out that the villain was smarter than them, he took the road!

3.) The heroine's snorting was severe that kept both the heroes awake! Finally they found out a solution, they found a v shaped piece of wood and placed it so as to clip her nose. But unfortunately it didn't hold on for long.

4.) The girl who is introduced as an inhabitant of the jungle and an acquaint with every corner of the jungle is more modern in her dressing sense than any Mumbai girl. I wonder where did she find got that (nearly-no) dress from. It was definitely not made of lion skin and her sex appeal couldn't even sooth the villain. Finally this Jungli lady is overpowered my the feeble urbane heroine!

5.) The agility that Sunny Deol shows while cutting the ropes that try to thrall Vivek Oberoi is awesome. We had a hearty laughter at that. It was like khach..khach..khach and that is it! all the divide ropes were cut in a flash of eye lid!.

6.) Finally the movie ends on a happy note but the problem is that the Kawatch still exists on earth (now beneath it) so chances that Naksha 2 is released is high.

In all a great time pass, not because the director made it that way but its because we saw it that way. Full paisa vasool!

Lessons in Governance from Good Old Laloo

sharique — Sun, 3 Sep 2006 09:42:17 EDT

People usually curse Laloo for the jungle raj in Bihar during the 15 years of unopposed rule. True, under him Bihar had retrograded to one of the least developed states in India. There was nothing called governance. The law and order situation was pathetic. Murder, dacoity, rape, corruption - you name it, they were all there in Bihar. He single handedly transformed the fate of the then Janata party which later broke into Rashtriya Janata Dal, led by Laloo, and another faction led by Ram Vilas Paswan. Laloo Prasad Yadav was involved in many scams, including the fodder of poor animals.

Bihar became a place for the elitist few to make money. The economic gap widened. There was no investment in the state because of the demands of the local mafia. There was turmoil all around. People were looking at opportunities to leave the state and settle down elsewhere. There was an exodus of students after school for better education. States like Karnataka and Maharashtra played host to them and that's the reason you find Bihrai students in many localities of Delhi like Mukherjee Nagar. A '"student from outside state" became synonymous with a "Bihari student". So who were the beneficiaries? The private colleges in Karnataka and our good old Bokaro (oops Dhanbad) Alleppy express. (Well if you are unaware of this train then you better brush up your GK. This is the only train that connects many places in Bihar, and now Jharkhand, to southern India. It crosses 5 states and the total run time is 60 hours! This express train stops at every damn place which has a railway platform or no platform.)

This exodus of students led to brain drain and loss of huge revenue that could have been generated if they had stayed back. But there is a dearth of professional colleges in the state and all the existing ones are overburdened with the children and grandchildren of Bihari Babus. BIT Mesra, Ranchi (perhaps the only engineering college of repute) has the dubious image of having progenies of ministers, political leaders and people with influence. I dare not narrate those stories involving those students because by doing that I will put the lives of my family members in danger, well if those babus are exposed to the world of blogging, that is.

There is absolutely no professionalism in those colleges with late semesters being a regular feature. This revenue loss further aggravated the sick economy already slackened under the pressure of corruption and lack of revenue generation. Professor Shreesh Chaudhary, IITM, points to the mind-set of people that has set in and says that no change in governance could rectify that.

Coming back to Laloo Prasad Yadav, he has been the architect of the mayhem that existed in Bihar a few years ago (the situation has improved a lot after Nitish Kumar took over) but have you even wondered how a man with a rural background can rise to such high level on his own? He had no patrons when he started his political career. The answer lies in his shrewdness. He successfully exploited caste politics in Bihar to his advantage but in the process he also worsened the existing situation of social divisions (he empowered the lower caste with arms thus opening new vistas for a bloody conflict). When he was being tried for the scams he intelligently nominated his wife as the CM. Rabri devi was ignorant of the dirty world of politics but that's not the only thing she was ignorant of! She was also ignorant of the fact that world has made overwhelming progress in the art of language and now people don't use symbols to convey ideas but use the letters of the English alphabet. In short she was illiterate. But its was not her fault, c'mon she wouldn't have even imagined in her wildest of imagination than one day she would become the CM of a state. Laloo didn't trust someone else with the job because he must have feared that his hold on the party might decline if someone else became the leader. Even though he was involved in multi-crore scams, he was active in politics and eventually became the Railways minister of India. And again here he transformed the fate of a loss-making operation to a public sector unit that stunned everyone by earning a profit of Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) in 2005-06. I will quote few lines from a Rediff.com article.

On September 18 this year, Prasad, who is also the Rashtriya Janata Dal president, will deliver a lecture to the management students and the faculty at IIM-A, explaining how he turned around the Indian Railways from a loss-making operation to a public sector unit that stunned everyone by earning a profit of Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) in 2005-06. The invitation to deliver a lecture came after IIM-A's Prof G Raghuram conducted a detailed study on the Indian Railways 'turnaround' and decided to introduce the case study as a part of the curriculum.
Ever since Prasad took over as India's Railway Minister, the Railways have become the second-largest PSU profit-earner after the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Lalu has surprised many by emerging as one of the top-performing ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Cabinet.

So what has Prasad done to the Indian Railways which his predecessors could not? The answer lies in his own down-to-earth attitude and rustic wisdom.

Prasad puts it in his inimitable style: "My mother always told me not to handle a buffalo by its tail, but always catch it by its horns. And I have used that lesson in everything in my life, including the Railways."

So you see how Laloo handles things. He has achieved something which few politicians in India can boast of. He has proved the prowess of a Bihari when it comes to intellectual and governance skill. No doubt Biharis excel in many competitive exams across the country. It's our blessing in disguise.

Laloo is an able leader but the only problem is that he is more concerned for his family than his country. If only he would have cared for Bihar then it would have surpassed many states in the country.

Reservations: Are They Justified?

sharique — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 09:50:11 EDT

A lot is being said about the reservation policy these days. Many label this as political manipulation by the congress to strengthen its vote bank as more than 50% of the 'august' population of India belongs to so called reserved class (SC/ST or OBC). It might be true to a very great extent as congress has lost the lustrous look it had post-independence and was reduced to a party of little significance few years ago.

"I came, I saw, I conquered" would be apt to describe Sonia Gandhi's rescue act that restored Congress's lost pride.

Moving onto the reservation policy, well I am partially opposed to it. The reason, because its absurd! You are trying to nurture an already moulded branch of a tree which makes no sense. The under-privileged class definitely needs upliftment so as to remove the age old stigma of being untouchables. They need to be included in the main stream. There has to be a just social system and all discrimination needs to be abolished.

But the point is how to achieve them; we need to change people's mentality at basic level. We need to lay more emphasis on interaction at primary level so as to even out the differences among kids belonging to the different compartments our society has been divided into. We need to ensure that out coming generation is not subjected to the same discrimination as our ancestors.

It is because the difference lies in our minds. We are often taught as kids to avoid someone's company because he belongs to certain segment of the society which is alien to our culture. This sows a seed of hatred in the young minds which develops as we grow and installs in us a natural feeling of 'they are different so should be avoided'.

I was in a convent school where we had students belonging to the schedule tribe. We studied in the same class but still never intermingled with them. We (or perhaps I) had this deep rooted feeling that 'they' are not of our standards and which was conspicuously reflected in academics and other extra curricular activities. Its because we had resources at our disposal at home, the latest gadgetry (computers were unknown but still there were many) and the exposure. Whereas they were kept away because of the clutches of poverty. So the reservation policy that hopes to produce doctors and engineers among 'those', might cater to their immediate monetary needs but it is definitely not a long term solution. (more on that later).

The same story repeated itself in my graduate years at IIT. Many of my classmates came through the reservation quota found in increasingly difficult to cope up with the fierce competition in the class. We both gave JEE but the difference is I had to score 80+ (out of 180) to qualify the exam but a 80 for them guaranteed top 10 AIR (all India rank)! That's the difference!!

The reservation policy has crippled them to an extent that they don't even think of putting hard labour for exams we burn mid night lamps. They take it for granted and thus defeating the basic purpose of reservation. Previously this policy of (27% reservation) was introduced for 10 years but kept on extending even after 60 years of independence.

So finally, what I suggest is that let the present reservation policy be intact but get strict on them by setting a time frame. On the other hand government should encourage reservations at primary level and ensure that the so called SCs and STs also get to rub shoulders with the cream of the society. Give them more exposure, resources and more encouragement. Teachers should do more at primary level to reduce the gap between the different social blocks. I understand that influencing a child's mentality at school level is not easy because of importance of family in our society (parents here have all the time in the world to impart their knowledge to their wards) but still an attempt can be made. How, is a matter to debate.....so do drop in your comments.