In no modern democracy will a Government or a Prime Minister be allowed to get away with this kind of delinquency in response to the worst terrorist attack on its soil
The first anniversary of the Mumbai commuter train serial bomb blasts on July 11th, 2006, is just a few days away. The stark reality staring us in the face is that not one individual has been brough to justice or held accountable to date. Offstumped had earlier recounted the first 30 days of investigation ensuing the blasts. It is sobering to retrace the last 11 months.
September 2006 saw 37 killed in the Malegaon blasts. The investigations into Malegaon have hit a dead end as well. September also saw Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describe Pakistan as a victim or terror on his way from Brazil to a smoke filled room in Havana from which emerged the fig leaf of an excuse in response to the Mumbai Blasts – The India Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Institutional Mechanism. September was also the month where the Prime Minister told the Left that War was not an option, and pleaded helplessness saying this was the best he could get under the circumstances.
October 2006 was an interesting month. The investigations suddenly got active much to the discomfort of the the Prime Minister who seemed to have written off taking any action.
On October 1st The Hindu reported a Hyderabad connection to the 7/11 blasts.
On October 2nd the Mumbai police raised the heckles of the Manmohan Singh UPA Government. The Prime Minister was away in South Africa enjoying the sun when the Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy declared that they have concluded from their investigations into the July 11 serial train blasts that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) conceived the terror attack.
Mr. Roy said the Mumbai Police and the Anti-Terrorist Squad solved the conspiracy of the terror attack Fifteen people were arrested, of whom 12 were directly involved in the blasts. The Mumbai police also identified as principal conspirator a top functionary of the LeT, Azam Cheema, who also runs a terrorist training camp at Bawahalpur in Pakistan.
The comedy that played out in October needs to be appreciated in its entirety.
So here you have the Mumbai Police accusing Pakistan for 7-11 and the UPA Government rudely awakened from its slumber was fumbling for a formal response. It was neither the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was partying away in South Africa nor the walking zombie of a Home Minister Shivraj Patil who gave a formal response or call. It was not even the Home Secretary.
It was left to the soon to be Foreign Secretary and then High Commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon to issue the first formal response to the Mumbai Police announcement.
“This is something that we will certainly take up with the government of Pakistan and we will judge them not by immediate reactions or verbal statements, by what they actually do about terrorism,” said Mr Menon .
The meeting he was referring to was expected to work out the contours of the joint anti-terrorism mechanism that has become the subject of media speculation and widespread criticism by the intelligence establishment and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP.
Belatedly on October 3rd an embarassed Manmohan Singh reluctantly issued a statement on-board his flight back to New Delhi, that
India will “test the waters” of the joint mechanism it has agreed to with Pakistan by sharing the evidence of the Mumbai train blasts…. Pakistan will have to walk the talk
The Pakistan Foreign Office meanwhile promptly informs us that it has not received any formal communication from Delhi, verbal or written, through any channel regarding Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the July 11 Mumbai blasts.
By October 6th the farce playing out in New Delhi and Islamabad gets even hilarious.
“India should communicate with Pakistan by having direct contact instead of talking about the Mumbai train blasts in the public,” US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C Crocker was quoted as saying in the media
On October 7th as if heeding to Ryan Crocker’s suggestion but misdirecting its pleas, the Manmohan Singh Government again through a bureaucrat informs us of the following
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will raise with the leadership of Britain and the European Union (EU) next week ….“We will certainly raise it (issue of terrorism). We will be discussing all issues, which include our recent experiences as victim of terrorism,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon
On October 10th Manmohan Singh finally gets the message and issues this statement
Addressing a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair after their 90-minute talks, he said India will provide “credible evidence” to Pakistan regarding the July 11 Mumbai blasts, taking advantage of Islamabad’s offer of cooperating in curbing terrorism.
Notice the emphasing on “taking advantage of the join terrorism mechanism”.
Well so the question Offstumped is posing to Manmohan Singh is – when did you actually take advantage ?
Well how could he, his bureaucrats had queered the pitch for him. By October 23rd the National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan had pretty much poured water on the Mumbai Police’s October 1st revealations.
He called the evidence “pretty good” but “not clinching”.
The farce cannot be complete without the verbal gymnastics of Abhishek Manu Singhvi. So here he is trying to salvage the public embarassment on October 24th
that Mr Narayanan had said it should be left to the court to decide whether the proof was good enough.
There you have it folks the mindset of the Congress which has the uncanny acumen to bring the most heinous terrorist attack on par with any contentious political issue the nation faces. Let the courts decide. Imagine President Bush on Sept 25th saying that to the American Nation, Let the Courts decide ?
On November 10th the PTI informs us that
India will use next week’s Foreign Secretary-level talks to put Pakistan to “test” by giving it “certain” part of the “clinching” evidence it has with regard to involvement of “elements” based there in July 11 Mumbai blasts and other terror acts in the country
The reference was to Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan meeting on November 14-15.
The farce continues through November.
The PTI on Nov 15th once again dutifully informs us that
Pakistan was given information on cross-border links relating to terror incidents in India but the Mumbai blasts did not figure because the chargesheet is yet to be filed in court. So between Nov 10th and 15th the Government found another fig leaf of an excude to not share evidence. However in what was touted as the UPA Government’s biggest Anti-Terrorism achievement we were informed in the same release by PTI that a three-member anti-terror mechanism to be headed by K C Singh, Additional Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry and his Pakistani counterpart Tariq Osman Haider was setup The mechanism will hold its first meeting next month. “We hope the mechanism makes progress,” Menon told reporters So did the mechanism meet the next month to discuss July 11th ? well not really, so when exactly did the mechanism meet for the first time. It was not in December, not in January not even in February. A full 4 months later the mechanism met in March for the first time. The PTI once again dutifully informs us The India-Pakistan Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism, decided at a summit meeting in Havana in September last, will hold its first meeting in Islamabad on March 6. Very important to note how the UPA soft pedalled taking any action on 7-11 and eventually sweeping it under the carpet. Remember the Mechanism was touted as the forum in which 7-11 will be taken up with Pakistan and tested if it will walk the talk. So what happened ? The day before the Foreign Ministry downplayed expectations senior officials said India did not see the ATM as an “episodic” forum They confirmed that the February 19 firebombing of the Samjhauta Express would figure in the talks with the Pakistani side. No reference to Mumbai or 7-11. In fact the extent to which Samjhauta bombing hijacked the ATM and focus away from Mumbai can be appreciated from the 21st Feb 2007 joint press conference between Pranab Mukherjee and Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri. I have no doubt that the meeting of the anti-terror mechanism which is supposed to meet in Islamabad will take cognizance of this. That was Kasuri on the Samjhauta blasts. But March 13th the famed first day of the India Pakistan Joint Anti-Terrorism Institutional Mechanism should go down in history as the most comic day when the role reversal Manmohan Singh initiated in Sept 2006 came a full circle. Manmohan Singh then declared Pakistan a terror victim and on March 13th he handed Pakistan a forum to institutionalize it. Islamabad’s demand that New Delhi share intelligence with it about the terrorist explosions on the Samjhota Express would put to test for the first time India’s intentions whether it was serious about implementing the “India-Pakistan anti-terrorism institutional mechanism” to remove the concerns of both countries. That was pretty much it. The ghosts of 7-11 Mumbai have been buried for good. With the Samjhauta blasts the Anti-Terrorism Mechanism has been given sidelined as well. The victims and their next of kin of 7-11 awat justice Offstumped Bottomline: In no modern democracy will a Government or a Prime Minister be allowed to get away with this kind of delinquency but in India. In response to the worst terrorist attack on its soil Manmohan Singh has not bothered to come back to the Nation and report where the investigation stands, where the trial stands, what concrete steps his government has taken and when it intends to bring to justice those responsible. We should not forget, we should not forgive.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Its painful to see such things happenning to our country. I dont understand their motive behind such anti national activities. MMS and congress has lost all its credibility and conscience. Can you tell me what can I do as Indian? How can I not forgive them?
This is an amazing eye-opener for all Indians.
You are doing great service by running this blog. Keep it up.
You didn’t even have to wait one year to assess this. The investigations were basically shut down soon after the blasts. A typical reaction, “Don’t flare up sentiments”, since you know, a multi-bomb blast on a heavily crowded commuter network is nothing to get upset over. That was the government stand. It had two options. It could have bit the bullet and hurt someone’s sentiments at the end result of getting to a more concrete end, or they could do what they always have. Ignore it and assume most of their voters don’t care about national security anyway. Sad thing is, they are partially right. Your timless is an ode to that.
Hats off to you for such consistently brilliant pieces days after days. This should be bookmarked by every Indian who cares for the country. Do keep it up.
Yossarin,
That was brilliant. Surely makes my blood boil.
And this is a Govt which pats itself on the back for keeping communal forces at bay and reacts with “they havent been able to come to terms with the 2004 election defeat” statements whenever the Opposition raises any issue!
I wish somebody in the Opposition raised these questions in the Lok Sabha!
I read long ago a commentary that the “Indian” identity would have fully replaced the regional mentality in about 2050. I doubt there was much scientific basis for it, but I don’t think its far off from the truth. India’s biggest failure will continue to be regional pre-eminence, and the political parties ready to exploit it.
September also saw Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describe Pakistan as a victim or terror on his way from Brazil to a smoke filled room in Havana from which emerged the fig leaf of an excuse in response to the Mumbai Blasts – The India Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Institutional Mechanism.
And yesterday, he said Pakistan is facing terrorism for the first time:
“Pakistan is seeing terrorism for the first time. What is happening in Pakistan, thinking people have realised fundamentalism is perverse and dangerous to society,†he said. Describing terrorism as a ‘curse’, Singh said: “Terrorism is a common enemy. It is a menace. We are dealing with it. It is a difficult situation. I understand what is happening.â€
Link: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/pak-realising-dangers-of-fundamentalism-says-pm/44166-3.html
Huge sections of our population have more pressing concerns than terrorism – employment opportunities, natural disasters like floods, droughts, basic amenities like water, living conditions, and so on. Basic infrastructure improvement and transparency in governance go a long way in improving the lives of peoples. Even after almost 60 years of independence and democracy, the politicians, the babus and the police still have an attitude of the colonial masters rather than the public servants they actually are.. This is where I hope the center-right politics can make a positive difference!
Terrorism, considering so many more people die almost periodically every year due to rains/droughts, is not a significant issue for these sections and hardly anyone remembers/cares for such things by the time the elections come around! For the reasonably well off people like most of us here, a fitting response to terrorism, strong posturing of our Govt. in international forums, strong military capabilities – all serve as a source of national/cultural pride. While I don’t deny the importance of these issues, I also feel that there are much more important issues handled much more badly which often don’t get enough attention, from the blogging community!
Before applying the standards of US response to terrorist attacks on its soil to our response, we can’t ignore the fact that for the people of US, the basic stuff are almost taken for granted and hence such attacks are the most pressing concerns!
National security is no doubt, an important issue, but not the only one. Just as an example, I have seen only a handful articles (almost all of them in The Hindu) on the farmer suicides happening across the country, which I believe is a more important concern and affects more number of people than terrorism.
Jujung – Terrible argument to make. You have your value system upside down. Think of what you are implying here. If one were to go by your value system there should have been no social justice hue and cry over Nithari Killings after all so many people die, a few children dead how does it matter, especially since they were poor to begin with anyway and would have die of malnutrition or dengue or chikuguniya or any one of those innumerable, unmentionable diseases. Ponder over it once you start making value judgements of this nature it can be perversely interpreted any which way.
Yossarin – I don’t know how you made that inference- Nithari killings is a classic example of police neglecting people’s complaints and “not behaving as public servants” and no recourse for the people in such a situation! This had continued for almost two years I guess. The basic law and order problem itself is hardly addressed, let alone intl terrorism!
My point was not that the terrorism is an insignificant issue, it’s that there are far more important and more basic issues which hardly get any attention, compared to the any number of analyses of terrorism and its nature.
Jujung – I am afraid to you national security doesnt seem a basic issue but some kind of upper middle class armchair intellectual’s passtime. If the nation is not secure no basic issues will ever get addressed. History stands testimony to that fact. If there is no national security how will you ever guarantee any other kind of security – economic or social ?
Someone wondered, Why issues like these are not brought up in the LS/RS ?
Let me attempt to answer that question.
There is no representation for big picture issues in India. The country has been successfully divided into narrow interest groups. These narrow groups then elect their representatives. What you see today in politics today are these babies ?
They arise to the occassion only when the interest groups they represent are threatened, or these interest groups seek to extend their influence. This usually results in jostling with other groups or running foul of the constitution.
You can judge for yourself by the full house and late night cabinet sessions when issues like OBC quota, 93rd amendment, etc are in play.
How dare you ! How can you blame manmohan Singh for not doing anything ? Do you not realize how much sleep he has lost because of the way Muslims were portrayed by the media (see http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=punj%2Fpunj111.txt&writer=punj)
IN this sleeplessnes, how can he be expected to sympathize with families whose near and dear were blown to bits by bombs … I mean, who lost their family members in blasts (We don’t want to “flare up sentiments” now, do we ?)
[...] 6th July 2007 – Mumbai Blasts First Anniversary – At the Dead End of Justice [...]
[...] 6th July 2007 – Mumbai Blasts First Anniversary – At the Dead End of Justice [...]
[...] The third time you could call it a mistake – Mumbai [...]
[...] Indo-Pak Joint Anti Terrorism Mechanism, the UPA let the steam off the Azam Cheema trail (read this Offstumped post from 2007 to understand how the UPA deliberately stopped applying pressure on [...]
[...] of a local hand, Mr. Manish Tiwari would do well to ask of his party’s government if its delinquency after 7/11 in letting Azam Cheema off the hook was in part responsible for #1 Not pre-empting the Indian Mujahideen series of strikes engineered [...]