Hyderabad Mecca Masjid Blasts – Some Uncomfortable Questions ?

At least 13 people were killed on Friday when a bomb ripped through a historic mosque in southern Indian city of Hyderabad. The blast occurred during the Friday prayers at the historic Mecca Masjid in Charminar area. The Times of India reports that the custodians of Mecca Masjid, target of a Malegaon-type attack involving Pakistan-backed jehadi outfits, had spurned the moves of Hyderabad Police to tighten security in spite of intelligence inputs warning of an attack. The TOI also reports that Home ministry sources said that Hyderabad Police, alerted by intelligence agencies, had been bracing for a Malegaon-type attack in the city and had approached the mosque authorities only to find them non-cooperative. The initial investigation according to the TOI into the blasts reveals use of a mixture of ammonium nitrate with fuel oil, the same ingredients that were found from the blast sites in Malegaon on September 5, 2006.

Calling Hyderabad the home to many sleeper cells of ISI, with the trail of investigation into many terror incidents leading to the city, the TOI reports that One RDX consignment headed for Malegaon, which was intercepted near Pune, had originated in the city.

With nearly 11 months since the 7-11 serial commuter train bomb blasts that ripped Mumbai killing nearly 200 people Offstumped poses some uncomfortable questions to the Government of the day and the left of center mainstream media and the psuedo-intellectual communist cabal it draws its inspiration from.

First some unanswered and long forgotten questions to the Manmohan Singh Government in light of its pronouncements in the immediate aftermath of 7-11.

Manmohan Singh on July 12th said India must win in its “War on Terror”, So does the Government of India stilll believe India is at War against Terrorism ?

Manmohan Singh on July 14th said it cannot be business as usual, So is the Government of India going about its business with a not so usual attitude to affirmatively deal with terrorism ?

Manmohan Singh on July 14th also said that we must act on a credible strategy, to date the only hint of something that can remotely be called strategy was the India Pakistan Anti Terrorism Insitutional Mechanism, its been many months now since its constitution, does the Government have anything to show by way of its credibility ?

Manmohan Singh on July 14th also said that terror modules are instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border without which they cannot act with such devastating effect, so what facts has the Anti-Terrorism Mechanism collected and what steps has the mechanism taken to confirm or invalidate Mr. Singh’s assertions ?

Manmohan Singh at the G-8 Summit said that terrorism must be isolated whatever their cause and whichever country provides them sustenance and support, so what does Manmohan Singh have to show 11 months on this count ?

Offstumped had earlier in the year contrasted how New York, Madrid and London had investigated and prosecuted terrorist attacks in sharp contrast with the investigative comedy that played out in Mumbai. Now here is the rub.

If the Y.S Rajshekar Reddy lead Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh and the Manmohan Singh Sonia Gandhi lead UPA dispensation in New Delhi were aware that the Muslim Clerics who run the Mecca Masjid were being deliberately uncooperative in responding to a potential terrorist attack, why were they silent ?

Was the political correctness around rubbing the Muslim Clerics the wrong way so overwhelming that it numbed the Government into inaction ?

Well for a Goverment which has Shivraj Patil for Home Minister, this disastrous handling of intelligence on account of political correctness is not surprising at all.

Now for the left of centre mainstream media that has been bleeding with moral outrage defending licentious art and human rights of hardened criminals.

Offstumped had earlier in the year in the aftermath of the 7-11 Mumbai Blasts had analyzed the editorial page in The Hindu from July 11th to the 2nd of September to highlight the perverse value system that pervades the Left of Center Mainstream Media.

Op-ed columns on accountability for 7-11 – Just 6 op-ed columns in all over 3 months 17/8, 5/8, 21/7, 18/7, 17/7, 13/7, also note there was NO Lead editorial on the 12th July in the immediate aftermath.

Now contrast this with The Hindu’s opinion making on the Vadodara Art Controversy.

 3 columns in less than a week - Op-ed on 18 May, editorial on 16 May, op-ed on 11 May.

But that is not all for The Hindu the line between news and opinion is very thin and blurs all the time. So you have this news item on the 11th May with extensive reactions from the Artist community while referring to the art in question in quotes as “obscene” while not exactly going into what Mr. Chandramohan had painted. Now The Hindu is not doing remote reporting here. They had a reporter actually go to the University to speak to individuals who were present when the incident occurred. So it was not as if The Hindu was blissfully unaware of the art in question but it saw fit to conveniently gloss over it. On May 14th alone The Hindu carried 6 news stories on the controversy. In the first story The Hindu went into great lengths on Artists getting together to protest the incident again no reference whatsover to what triggered the controversy. The next story goes into how the University was barring outsiders and has a passing reference to “negative potrayal of hindu deities”, note no reference to Christ. Another news story with most of the same rhetoric and extensive reactions from CPI-M leaders.

Well the less said about the communist rag The Hindu has reduced itself to the better. Now for the psuedo intellectual communist cabal that has appropriated to itself the moral high ground on all things artistic. Ranjith Hoskote who was at the forefront of mobilizing artists in response to the Controversy talked about the Artist’s Right to Revisit, Reinvent and to Integrate.

Offstumped poses the question to these morally outraged Artistes where their moral outrage was in response to 7-11 ? What Revisiting, Reinventing and Integration did this Artist community attempt in response to the worst terrorist attack on freedoms and the pursuit of destiny for the 200 odd victims and their families ? How is it that there was no sustained movement from within this community to ensure justice was delivered to these 200 odd families ?

For those of you who may think these are hollow questions not backed by facts, allow Offstumped to focus the spotlight on Mr. Hoskote’s fulminations in the past. On September 19th 2002 Mr. Hoskote wrote an elaborate piece jointly with an Illja Trojanow critical of the response to September 11th. Some quotable quotes to demonstrate to you the perverse value system represented by the likes of Hoskote -

The greatest beneficiary of these attacks, and of the perception of national threat they produced, is the military-industrial establishment that dominates the USA

the few voices that were heard after the attacks, which drew attention to the underlying conditions of oppression and injustice that breed terrorism, have been quickly sidelined and silenced

this grotesque nonsense is the best that the intellectual elite of the Free World can come up with, to justify the slaughter of Afghans (Taliban)

The only justification offered for the bombing of Afghanistan was the capture of the alleged perpetrators of September 11.

 The act of killing nearly 10,000 people (not substantiated), fighters and civilians, only so as to fail to capture a few CIA acolytes-turned-terrorist masterminds, hardly meets the criterion of commensurate justice

Mr. Hoskote who calls himself a Cultural Theorist found it fit to express moral outrage internationally over the getting rid of the Taliban from Afghanistan but surprisingly Mr. Hoskote reactions to 7-11 dont quite measure upto the moral outrage in response to 9-11. Mr. Hoskote promptly wrote an op-ed in The Hindu on the 14th of July. The bulk of the column was dedicated to Mumbai’s resilience. A few passing references to complacency and calls for better policing are pretty much how Hoskote wraps up his moral outrage on 7-11. No reference to Pakistan, no reference to ISI, no reference to Islamic Terrorism. For someone who normally pulls all punches and does not mince words on issues as remote as Afghanistan and governments as distant as the Bush Administration Mr. Hoskote’s moral outrage was surprisingly subdued in response to horror perpetrated in his hometown.

Offstumped Bottomline: The Manmohan Singh Government dismal track record in dealing with terrorism continues. Does the Government atleast have the spine to hold the Clerics accountable for ignoring intelligence ?

Do the mainstream media and the left of center psuedo-intellectual artistes have the conviction to justify their perverse value system that is more outraged to protest the elimination of the Taliban, to defend Licentious Art but falls deafeningly silent in response to Islamic Terrorism.

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