War on Terror – Justice not Vengeance

For those who may have read Frederick Forsyth’s Odessa File,?the real life story ?of Simon Wiesenthal may not be news but for everyone else, here is a short summary.

Simon Wiesenthal (Buczacz, December 31, 1908 ? Vienna, September 20, 2005) KBE was an Austrian-Jewish architectural engineer and Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter who pursued Nazi war criminals in an effort to bring them to justice.

Following four and a half years in the German concentration camps of Janowska, Plaszow, and Mauthausen during World War II, Wiesenthal dedicated most of his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazis so that they could be brought to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Wiesenthal claimed to be instrumental in the capture and conviction of the transport manager of the “Final Solution,” Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, and was known to be actively involved in the manhunt for the former Nazi official

After Eichmann was executed in Israel in 1962, Wiesenthal reopened the Jewish Documentation Center, which now focused on other cases. Among his most high-profile successes was the capture of Karl Silberbauer, the Gestapo officer responsible for the arrest of Anne Frank. Silberbauer’s confession helped discredit claims that The Diary of Anne Frank was a forgery. During this period Wiesenthal also located nine of the 16 Nazis later put on trial in West Germany for the murder of the Jewish population of Lw?w and also captured Franz Stangl, the commandant of the Treblinka and Sobibor death camps, and Hermine Braunsteiner-Ryan, a former Aufseherin (literally, “female supervisor”) living in Queens who had ordered and participated in the torture and murder of thousands of women and children at Majdanek

If there was one thing? that stood out about Simon Wiesenthal’s efforts to hunt down Nazis in collaboration with Government it was this sentiment

It should be noted, in regard to this and other accusations, that Wiesenthal’s ecumenical but determined attitude toward tracking human rights abuses, represented by his comments, “justice, not vengeance,” and “I am not a hater,” have put him at odds with a wide variety of institutions and people over the years

As Offstumped starts to examine the facts and myths about the un-Hindu extemist group “Abhinav Bharat”, the life story of Simon Wiesenthal comes to mind.

Abhinav Bharat’s website has been taken down but thanks to google cache its articles of faith and constitution can still be accessed.

Much has been made out on when this organisation was formed and if it was a response to the unabated Jihadi Terrorist attacks. This line of thinking suits bigots on both sides of the contentious debate on the War on Terror. While it allows mischief mongerers like the Thackerays to further their aggresive posture in public without actually having to take responsibility. It also allows the apologists for the Jihadists to obscure the public debate from the larger War on Terror.

The reality however is that Abhinav Bharat was not formed in response to 7-11 Mumbai Blasts, it was formed exactly a month before the blasts on 12th June 2006. The timing of its formation and the surprising absence of “Hindutva” anywhere in its articles of faith or Constitutions raises the question on who eactly were the sponsors of Abhinav Bharat.

Many Offstumped readers have expressed sentiments that patience has been wearing thin and incredible levels of frustration have been built up on account of the the Congress Government’s dismal track record in battling and preventing terrorism.

It is this frustration and lack of patience it seems the sponsors of Abhinav Bharat tapped into to serve a self-destructive cause.

While Offstumped hopes that through the Malegaon Case the truth will established, it is important to have an open debate on what is the Citizen’s Dharma in the War on Terror.

The Gujarat elections of 2007 amply demonstrated how the Citizens of India who care deeply about how the War on Terror could discharge their Dharma by electing the one man in government across the country who gets the War on Terror right – Narendra Modi.

To some elections maybe too indirect a solution to channelise their frustrations on the lackadaisical approach to Terrorism.

To all such citizens Offstumped has only this to say, if you are frustrated about the War on Terror, you want to do something about it, you dont want to wait till the politicians act, then do it the “righteous way”.

Walk the Talk by

- Volunteering to join the Armed Forces or the Security Forces

- Forming Citizens Vigilance Group to work with your local police to keep an eye on suspicious activities

- Finally if you want to be a hero be a Simon Wiesenthal, make it about “Justice and not Vengeance” while not being a “Hater”

With no prejudice to the current accused in the Malegaon Case, whatever be their motive it is clear that there was no Justice in their actions. Randomly targetting Muslims and maybe some Hindus smacks of sheer hatred and vengeance. It doesnt defeat Terrorism but it provides cause for breeding more Terrorists.

Offstumped expects to learn more in the days to come on the specific facts of the Malegaon Case but for now Offstumped asks everyone to be mindful of their Dharma as Citizens in this War on Terror.

Filed under: Delhi Polls 2008, Dharma-debates, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi