Dilip Kumar and Madhubla; a powerful love story

I was the 65^th viewer of the this outstanding 33 minutes love story, it is one of the best real love stories with full range of emotions I have seen. I do regret that it is not in English or English subtitles. It is in Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu) language, the language of Indian Films.

This is a dream come true for guys like me who want to see Indian films in less than an hour (usually three hours)… if I did not have the passion for Pluralism; this is what I would have done; to reduce all Indian films to one hour. Here is the best example of such work.

This is the real love story of two of the greatest movie actors of Bollywood. It is incredible work, a story created from of pieces of different films, reflecting the real love story of Dilip Kumar and Madhubala.

It is one of most beautiful love stories laced with a touch of some of the most beautiful songs and dialogues, its indeed a hog’s heaven for the people of the subcontinent.

I had the luxury of spending over three hours with Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, when they were in Dalals, and subsequently managing his media schedule. I was also their attendent along with Taj Bhai in checking them into the hotel. We had great philosophical conversations with them, indeed, we talked about Pluralism way back then in the early Nineties. It's been 18-19 years ago.

I thank the narrator lady Nigar Khan for putting this together, however, I really wish she had not acted and talked like villainous Bindu in the old Indian movies. I love that set with dim blue gray lighting.

I dropped everything to watch this film, and if you do, please let me know.

Thank you

Watch and enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR3SEh2rM78&feature=player_embedded

~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Ghouse, watch the trailer of the film I am making on the website www.AmericaTogetherFoundation.com. When complete, it is a love story weaved into American Context, making a patriotic American out of all of us.

Stay in Mumbai, Sena will kill you

Law and order must prevail, the nation cannot afford to have groups vanadalize others, there's got to be a dialogue to find out what is it they really want? As terrorizing other people will do more harm to Mumbai than any good - Mike Ghouse

Stay in Mumbai, Sena will kill you. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Stay-in-Mumbai-Sena-will-kill-you-Anurag-Kashyap/articleshow/5569120.cms

Anurag Kashyap

Director Anurag Kashyap says the Hindi film industry lacks integrity and that if Bollywood had united, the ruckus created by the Shiv Sena over Shah Rukh Khan's "My Name is Khan" could have been avoided.

"If it is considered to be an industry, people should have unity among themselves. At least once, they should unite and show that we are working, we are also professionals. They never do that so these people dare and take advantage of it," Kashyap said.

The Shiv Sena had opposed the film's release after Shah Rukh Khan refused to apologise for saying that Pakistani cricketers should have been included in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. Sena activists had vandalised several theatres in Mumbai that were to screen "My Name Is Khan", which also stars Kajol.

"Bigger the star you fight with, higher the media attention you draw. They make use of it too. Nothing...you need not to go to Australia or Pakistan and die in their hands, stay in Mumbai, Shiv Sena will kill you," said Kashyap, who has made films like "Black Friday" and "Dev D".

Asked if he was tagging the Shiv Sena as terrorist, he said: "What to say...people are scared of them, they are pelting stones on cinema halls, breaking glasses, incurring damages. What is their standpoint?

"Shah Rukh Khan said that teams should be allowed to hire Pakistani players and they say that Pakistan had attacked us, how could Shah Rukh advocate their inclusion in the IPL teams? We are subjected to more attacks from insiders here. You need not go anywhere and have an unfortunate death, stay in Mumbai," Kashyap added.
~~

Protesters Call On 'Khan' Star to Leave India

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703525704575061174036495404.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks#

~~~

Muslims send a strong Message to Terrorists

A Strong Message to Terrorists

Muslims had enough of this non-sense from terrorists claiming to be Muslims. It is time to treat them as criminals and do what needs to be done, if some one calls them Muslim, shame on them.

The Muslim majority has spoken, give no room to these terrorists. I have been writing "that Muslims get from both ends, Muslims are more sick of terrorism than others" This was also echoed by Javed Akhtar “Indian Muslims have often suffered twice: first from the terror, and then from the accusations afterward.

It is good to see a solidarity in the fight against terrorism. Those bad boys should know now that they have been duped that they will go to heaven and get the houris. Heck no, their bodies won't even be buried. This is the strongest message Muslims are sending them, that terrorism is bad and those who duped them are bums and no need to listen to them any more. Just live a decent life, even with hunger and poverty but get a decent burial.

Thank God, Muslims are given a space in the media, I wish Media had done this for a long time, we would have had less of this.

Mike Ghouse

A Strong Message

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/EDIT_A_Strong_Message/articleshow/3819386.cms#write

All over India, Eid celebrations on Tuesday were muted. Many Muslims wore black bands in protest against the Mumbai terror strikes while imams of
several prominent mosques spoke out against terrorism and pledged to stand united against terrorists. The Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid India's biggest mosque called the 'jihad' which took nearly 200 lives in Mumbai a crime against all people. He also slammed Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in India. So did the imam of another prominent mosque, the Fatehpuri Masjid.

The nationwide protests on Eid by Muslims against the terror attacks weren't a one-off event. In the immediate aftermath of the Mumbai attack, the city's Muslims refused to allow the dead terrorists to be buried in Muslim graveyards. Earlier this week, Muslim organisations in Mumbai took out a rally to send the message that killers of innocent people are the enemies of Islam. And over the past few days, several Muslim icons of India, including Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, have spoken out against terrorism. These strong words and actions by India's Muslims are a slap in the face of groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba which are intent on spreading terror in the name of Islam and to supposedly avenge wrongs done to Indian Muslims. What Indian Muslims are saying is that terror has no religion. But by clearly speaking out against Islamist terrorism, India's Muslims are taking away any justification that the terrorists might claim for their bloody acts.

Groups like LeT not only want to spread immediate mayhem but eventually to break up India. India, with its 150-million Muslim minority population, is a direct challenge to Islamist terror groups. Nothing would please the terrorists more than if blasts and terror attacks were followed by communal violence. But every time there has been a terrorist act, Indians, irrespective of religion, have closed ranks. This has been so since 1993 when terrorists first struck in a big way in Mumbai. Since then there have been several terror attacks across India, but none has provoked rioting or large-scale violence.

Indian Muslims occupy a unique position. They're the largest Muslim minority anywhere and practise an Islam that is much more syncretic than elsewhere. At a time when radical Islamic ideologies are trying to gain the upper hand across the world, Indian Muslims could offer a compelling counter-narrative. Indian Muslims have already given a fitting answer to the Islamist groups that were behind the Mumbai terror attacks. The point now is to sustain the debate and to widen it further.

Muslims in India Repudiate Terrorism

Muslims in India Repudiate Terrorism

Individuals are terrorists, not their religion. Muslims had enough of this non-sense from terrorists claiming to be Muslims. The Muslim majority has spoken, give no room for the terrorists. I have been writing "that Muslims get from both ends, Muslims are more sick of terrorism than others" This is echoed by Javed Akhtar “Indian Muslims have often suffered twice: first from the terror, and then from the accusations afterward,” a Muslim poet and lyricist. “Perhaps because of that, they have been much more articulate and more unconditionally clear about condemning this attack.”

Thank God, Muslims are given a space in the media, I wish Media had done this for a long time, we would have had less of this.

Mike Ghouse

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/world/asia/08muslims.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: December 7, 2008

MUMBAI, India — Throngs of Indian Muslims, ranging from Bollywood actors to skullcap-wearing seminary students, marched through the heart of Mumbai and several other cities on Sunday, holding up banners proclaiming their condemnation of terrorism and loyalty to the Indian state.


Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Muslims took part in a candlelight march last week toward the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai.
The protests, though relatively small, were the latest in a series of striking public gestures by Muslims — who have often come under suspicion after past attacks — to defensively dissociate their own grievances as a minority here from any sort of sympathy for terrorism or radical politics in the wake of the deadly assault here that ended Nov. 29.

Muslim leaders have refused to allow the bodies of the nine militants killed in the attacks to be buried in Islamic cemeteries, saying the men were not true Muslims. They also suspended the annual Dec. 6 commemoration of a 1992 riot in which Hindus destroyed a mosque, in an effort to avert communal tension. Muslim religious scholars and public figures have issued strongly worded condemnations of the attacks.

So far, their approach appears to have worked: the response has been remarkably unified, with little of the suspicion and fear that followed some previous attacks.

Hindu right-wing groups have been noticeably absent from the streets. Although leaders of the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have criticized the government’s handling of the crisis, they have not stirred anti-Muslim sentiment. The fact that some 40 Muslims were among the victims of the attackers may well have helped dispel any strife.

Still, many Muslims seem anxious, fearing that some of the anger unleashed by the attacks may be directed into the Hindu-Muslim violence that has often marred India’s modern history.

“It’s a pity we have to prove ourselves as Indians,” said Mohammed Siddique, a young accountant who was marching in the protest here on Sunday afternoon with his wife and mother. “But the fact is, we need to speak louder than others, to make clear that those people do not speak for our religion — and that we are not Pakistanis.”

The cluster of banners all around him, held aloft by marchers, seemed to bear out his point. Some read “Our Country’s Enemies are Our Enemies,” others, “Killers of Innocents are Enemies of Islam.” A few declared, in uncertain grammar, “Pakistan Be Declared Terrorist State.”

There were also slogans defending against the charge often made by right-wing Hindus that Muslims constitute a fifth column, easily exploited by terrorists. “Communalist and Terrorist are Cousins,” one sign read. Some of the marchers held up a sign with lines drawn through the names of various terrorist or extremist groups, including, notably, the acronym S.I.M.I.

That stands for the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, a radical group, now banned, that has come under suspicion after recent attacks. One of the men arrested earlier this year in what appears to have been a similar plot against Mumbai landmarks used to belong to the group. Unlike the most recent attackers, who are all believed to be Pakistani, four of six members of the earlier plot were Indian.

There is little doubt that jihadists — including Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group believed to be responsible for the Nov. 26-29 attacks — are seeking Indian recruits. Although such groups are rooted in the ideology of global jihad, many people fear that the Indians who join them may be motivated in part by essentially Indian grievances, like the 2002 mass killings of Muslims in the state of Gujarat that left 1,100 dead.

One of the gunmen in last month’s attacks referred to the Gujarat riots before he shot and killed a hostage at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel, apparently in an effort to identify his own cause with that of Indian Muslims.

He seems to have failed. The brutality of the attacks and the fact that many Muslims died have strengthened a sense of outrage among ordinary Muslims here, and even some sense of communal harmony, however precarious.





“After this attack, everything has changed; people now see the realities,” said Saeed Ahmed, 45, as he stood outside his stationery shop on Muhammad Ali Road, a working-class Muslim area. “This is something different from what we had before, it’s like your American 9/11. It is not about Hindus and Muslims; it is about the nation being attacked.”

Certainly, the violence has prompted many Muslims, including religious scholars, Bollywood figures and politicians, to speak out more urgently than they had in the past.

“Indian Muslims have often suffered twice: first from the terror, and then from the accusations afterward,” said Javed Akhtar, a Muslim poet and lyricist. “Perhaps because of that, they have been much more articulate and more unconditionally clear about condemning this attack.”

But many remain anxious that foreign jihadists could take advantage of the divisions in Indian society to wreak more havoc here. India’s 140 million Muslims are generally much poorer and less educated than Hindus. Although some of the very rich and many Bollywood stars are Muslim, the faith is far less well represented in the professions and the middle class. Many have bitter memories of communal riots and violence, from the 2002 killings in Gujarat all the way back to the bloodletting that accompanied the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.

“There is a very deep divide,” said Mahesh Bhatt, a well-known film producer and director who is half Muslim, half Hindu, as he sat on a plastic chair on the set of his latest film on Sunday morning, with actors strolling nearby. “And if the foreign element is using the indigenous clay, how can justice be done?”

Mr. Bhatt, who has the baroque manner of an old-fashioned Hollywood eminence, added that he saw in the crisis a chance for India to heal the religious and social fractures that make it vulnerable.

“In every danger there is an opportunity, a chance to look at the evil within,” he said. “If you’re going to do this fight against terror, you’d better start by fortifying your own house.”

Battle For The Muslim Mind

Battle For The Muslim Mind

Ronojoy,

Your powerful sentence is the highlight of the article "By identifying the terror attacks as "un-Islamic", the clerics undermine the religious legitimacy that the terrorists seek to bring to their violent acts." Furthermore, the denial of burial space for the terrorists by Indian Muslims sends a very strong signal to the terrorists that upon their death, ugliness will be meted out to them and not the houris. They will realize that they have been duped and hopefully the recruitment to terrorism will dwindle.

Mike Ghouse

###
Battle For The Mind
9 Dec 2008, 0012 hrs IST,
RONOJOY SEN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/COMMENT_Battle_For_The_Mind/articleshow/3809701.cms
Post-Mumbai terror strikes, most of the talk has been about improved security and ways of hitting terror camps within Pakistan. But we often forget that the battle against terror must be won in the mind too. It is in this context that the unequivocal condemnation of the Mumbai terror by prominent imams in Delhi and Mumbai is important. And well before the Mumbai carnage happened, a gathering of some 6,000 Islamic clerics in Hyderabad endorsed a fatwa against terror issued by the influential Deoband seminary.

What effect, you might ask, would the Deoband fatwa and the imams have on those who inflict terror in the name of Islam? Possibly not much. Those who have been indoctrinated into taking up arms in the name of martyrdom and a place in paradise would probably continue doing terrible deeds. But the actions of the clerics are not academic exercises either. By identifying the terror attacks as "un-Islamic", the clerics undermine the religious legitimacy that the terrorists seek to bring to their violent acts.

In a larger context, the proclamations by the clerics and the Deoband school are very much a part of the process of interpretation of Islamic law and canons, which have been going on since centuries. It's a common error to regard Islamic law as unchanging and cast in stone. Though the Quran, the sunna (the practice of the Prophet) and the hadiths (sayings of the Prophet) are the primary sources of Islamic law, there is also a place for ijma (consensus), qiyas (analogical thinking) and ijtihad (systematic original thinking).

Ever since Islam was founded, change has been a part of the religion. And this continues to be so. Just a few weeks ago, lawyers, religious scholars, judges, journalists and activists gathered at Salzburg a not-so-unlikely place considering the Ottomans had once reached the gates of Vienna to debate and discuss if there was a common ground between Islamic and international law. There were no simple answers at the Salzburg Global Seminar but the consensus was that in many areas Islamic law was compatible with international law and covenants such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The gatherings in Hyderabad or Salzburg must be seen in this context of reinterpreting tenets of Islam, perhaps the most controversial being jihad. Jihad which in Arabic means "righteous struggle" or "striving" can be looked at in several ways. There are many Islamic scholars who believe that the greater jihad is the inner or spiritual struggle. These interpretations, of course, cut no ice with the terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or the "army of the pure" which orchestrated the Mumbai terror.

It is no secret that jihadi terrorism has emanated from radical and backward-looking strains of Islam such as Wahhabism and Salafism. It's also no secret that the dominance of these hardline ideologies can be traced to Saudi backing and money. This has resulted in the mushrooming of mosques and madrassas across the world that preach an ideology of hate. LeT is known to have received Saudi funds and, of course, Pakistani patronage. Undoubtedly there are some in India who are also receptive to this ideology.

This is where Islamic clerics figures of authority for many Muslims could play a crucial role. If they interpret Islam as being patently against terror and violence, it is bound to have an effect on believers. And if the majority of Muslims subscribe to that view, it makes it that much more difficult for the purveyors of terror to gain acceptability.

A long-term solution to countering the ideology of hate must involve liberal interpretations of Islam. India, and indeed South Asia, could be one of the poles of this transformation. It is often forgotten that nearly half of the world's Muslims live in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. And contrary to what many people think, an overwhelming majority of ordinary Muslims in South Asia we must not, of course, confuse them with governments reject the ideologies of hate and violence. That's why international relations scholar Vali Nasr said during a recent visit to India that South Asia "matters to the Muslim world in real terms much more than the Arab world".

There could be other poles for the reinterpretation of Islam. Turkey, where the AKP party has won elections for the second time running, could provide a testing ground for a confluence of Islam and secular ideologies. The AKP leader and Turkish PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has on more than one occasion affirmed his faith in secularism even while arguing for more freedom for Muslims. Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation but also a multi-religious one, could be another pole. Recent reports suggest that the government is serious about cracking down on radical groups such as the Jemaah Islamiah. And Muslim groups, including the Indonesian Ulemas' Council, have said that the three men recently executed for the 2002 Bali bombings must not be treated as martyrs. These are encouraging signs.

It is a truism that terror has no religion. But when that terror emanates from a twisted interpretation of religion, we must acknowledge it instead of justifying it by referring to Kashmir or atrocities against Muslims as some prominent commentators have done. This is precisely the sort of logic employed by LeT ideologues. Such bigots and their followers have no place in civilised society. But they cannot be countered by force alone; their militant ideologies have to be thoroughly discredited. This is where India's 150 million Muslims and clerics could play a significant role.

President of Pakistan on Mumbai

I am impressed with this op-ed!

Mr. Zardari needs to follow it up by action, catch them bad buys, each one of them, then the words and actions will match. - Mike Ghouse

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/opinion/09zardari.html

December 9, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
The Terrorists Want to Destroy Pakistan, Too
By ASIF ALI ZARDARI

Islamabad, Pakistan

THE recent death and destruction in Mumbai, India, brought to my mind
the death and destruction in Karachi on Oct. 18, 2007, when terrorists
attacked a festive homecoming rally for my wife, Benazir Bhutto.
Nearly 150 Pakistanis were killed and more than 450 were injured. The
terrorist attacks in Mumbai may be a news story for most of the world.
For me it is a painful reality of shared experience. Having seen my
wife escape death by a hairbreadth on that day in Karachi, I lost her
in a second, unfortunately successful, attempt two months later.

The Mumbai attacks were directed not only at India but also at
Pakistan's new democratic government and the peace process with India
that we have initiated. Supporters of authoritarianism in Pakistan and
non-state actors with a vested interest in perpetuating conflict do
not want change in Pakistan to take root.

To foil the designs of the terrorists, the two great nations of
Pakistan and India, born together from the same revolution and mandate
in 1947, must continue to move forward with the peace process.
Pakistan is shocked at the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. We can
identify with India's pain. I am especially empathetic. I feel this
pain every time I look into the eyes of my children.

Pakistan is committed to the pursuit, arrest, trial and punishment of
anyone involved in these heinous attacks. But we caution against hasty
judgments and inflammatory statements. As was demonstrated in Sunday's
raids, which resulted in the arrest of militants, Pakistan will take
action against the non-state actors found within our territory,
treating them as criminals, terrorists and murderers. Not only are the
terrorists not linked to the government of Pakistan in any way, we are
their targets and we continue to be their victims.

India is a mature nation and a stable democracy. Pakistanis appreciate
India's democratic contributions. But as rage fueled by the Mumbai
attacks catches on, Indians must pause and take a breath. India and
Pakistan — and the rest of the world — must work together to track
down the terrorists who caused mayhem in Mumbai, attacked New York,
London and Madrid in the past, and destroyed the Marriott Hotel in
Islamabad in September. The terrorists who killed my wife are
connected by ideology to these enemies of civilization.

These militants did not arise from whole cloth. Pakistan was an ally
of the West throughout the cold war. The world worked to exploit
religion against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan by empowering the
most fanatic extremists as an instrument of destruction of a
superpower. The strategy worked, but its legacy was the creation of an
extremist militia with its own dynamic.

Pakistan continues to pay the price: the legacy of dictatorship, the
fatigue of fanaticism, the dismemberment of civil society and the
destruction of our democratic infrastructure. The resulting poverty
continues to fuel the extremists and has created a culture of
grievance and victimhood.

The challenge of confronting terrorists who have a vast support
network is huge; Pakistan's fledgling democracy needs help from the
rest of the world. We are on the frontlines of the war on terrorism.
We have 150,000 soldiers fighting Al Qaeda, the Taliban and their
extremist allies along the border with Afghanistan — far more troops
than NATO has in Afghanistan.

Nearly 2,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives to terrorism in this
year alone, including 1,400 civilians and 600 security personnel
ranging in rank from ordinary soldier to three-star general. There
have been more than 600 terrorism-related incidents in Pakistan this
year. The terrorists have been set back by our aggressive war against
them in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the
Pashtun-majority areas bordering Afghanistan. Six hundred militants
have been killed in recent attacks, hundreds by Pakistani F-16 jet
strikes in the last two months.

Terrorism is a regional as well as a global threat, and it needs to be
battled collectively. We understand the domestic political
considerations in India in the aftermath of Mumbai. Nevertheless,
accusations of complicity on Pakistan's part only complicate the
already complex situation.

For India, Pakistan and the United States, the best response to the
Mumbai carnage is to coordinate in counteracting the scourge of
terrorism. The world must act to strengthen Pakistan's economy and
democracy, help us build civil society and provide us with the law
enforcement and counterterrorism capacities that will enable us to
fight the terrorists effectively.

Benazir Bhutto once said that democracy is the best revenge against
the abuses of dictatorship. In the current environment, reconciliation
and rapprochement is the best revenge against the dark forces that are
trying to provoke a confrontation between Pakistan and India, and
ultimately a clash of civilizations.

Asif Ali Zardari is the president of Pakistan.
# # #

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/world/asia/09pstan.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

December 9, 2008
Pakistan Raids Group Tied to Attacks
By JANE PERLEZ and SALMAN MASOOD

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — After mounting pressure from the United States
and India, Pakistani authorities raided a camp run by the militant
group suspected of carrying out the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani and
American officials said Monday.

The operation on Sunday appeared to be Pakistan's first concrete
response to the demands from India and the United States to take
action against the militants suspected in the attacks, which have
raised tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors to their highest
point in years.

The Pakistani authorities said that among those arrested was Zaki
ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who Indian and American officials say masterminded
the attacks for the militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a
State Department official in Washington.

American Embassy officials could not verify the claim independently,
he said. Neither would Pakistani officials in Islamabad.

A senior Pakistani security official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said about a dozen people had been arrested in the raid,
which took place in Muzaffarabad, the capital of
Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

The official at first said that Mr. Lakhvi, an operational commander
for Lashkar, was among them, but later backed away from the assertion.

Lashkar-e-Taiba was founded 20 years ago with the help of Pakistan's
intelligence agencies as a proxy force to challenge Indian control of
part of Muslim-dominated Kashmir.

American intelligence and counterterrorism officials told The New York
Times that Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence,
continued nurturing the group, even after 9/11, when the Pakistani
government pledged to sever its ties with militant groups.

While investigators and intelligence officials say there is no hard
evidence linking Pakistan's spy agency to the Mumbai attacks, they
have pointed to Lashkar as the likely culprit.

The Pakistani government has resisted the notion that Pakistani
citizens may have been involved in the Mumbai attacks, and it has so
far refused to hand over 20 criminal and terrorist suspects long
demanded by the Indians.

The raid on Sunday appeared to be the first step by the Pakistanis
that at least tacitly recognized the American and Indian claims.

Counterterrorism experts familiar with the behavior of the Pakistani
security services said there was a need by Pakistan to be seen to be
doing something to alleviate the American and Indian pressure, as well
as to avert the possibility of an Indian military strike.

Still, the effectiveness of that action might be less than India or
the United States would like, they said. In the past, Pakistan
detained militants under pressure from the United States and Britain,
and then quietly let them go, said Sajjan M. Gohel, a director of the
Asia-Pacific Foundation in London.

A senior Pakistani official said the operation was part of a gradual
effort to bring the militants under control. This accords with the
general view among civilian politicians that Pakistan cannot afford to
appear as if it is being coerced into shutting down militant groups
that have been created to fight India.

"Pakistan will do it at its own pace, not at gunpoint," said a senior
politician in the Pakistan Peoples Party, who declined to be named
because he was not authorized to speak.

Moreover, the politician said that the efforts by Pakistan's
president, Asif Ali Zardari, to deal with the Mumbai attack were
interpreted by the Pakistani public as an attempt to mollify the
Indians rather than stand up to them.

"The street is upset," the politician said. For that reason, the
government could not move too harshly against Lashkar-e-Taiba, he
said.

The murky relationship between Pakistani military and intelligence
services and Lashkar seemed to contribute to the confusion over what
actually happened during the raid and who had been detained, as well
as to the official reluctance to discuss the matter.

Whether law enforcement officers or soldiers were on the scene in
Muzaffarabad was unclear on Monday. Most Pakistani news reports said a
helicopter hovered near the compound.

Some reports said the compound was run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, while
others said it belonged to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the related charity
organization.

On Sunday night, the senior official in the Interior Ministry, Rehman
Malik, told the newspaper The Nation that he believed that the raid
was being conducted by the local police, but that he was not sure.

The information department of the Pakistani Army released a statement
on Monday evening saying an "intelligence-led operation against banned
militant outfits and organizations" was under way. There had been
arrests, it said, and the results of investigations would be available
"on completion of preliminary inquiries."

A resident near the compound told Dawn, an English-language newspaper,
that she had heard an army helicopter over the area and then two or
three loud explosions in the early evening.

All the national newspapers reported Monday morning that Mr. Lakhvi,
the Lashkar-e-Taiba leader, was among those who were arrested during
the raid. Later in the morning, a senior security official confirmed
that Mr. Lakhvi had been arrested, along with about a dozen others.

But by the afternoon, after a meeting of the Defense Council of the
Cabinet, a civilian body that includes the army chief of staff, Gen.
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the security official said he understood that
Mr. Lakhvi had not been arrested.

At one point during the day, word spread that Mr. Lakhvi had eluded
arrest. On Monday night, two members of the cabinet declined to
confirm whether Mr. Lakhvi was in custody.

If Mr. Lakhvi was indeed in custody, India and the United States would
regard his arrest as a good first step, diplomats said.

But his arrest along with the arrests of a handful of others would
fall well short of fulfilling the expectations of Washington or New
Delhi, they said.

Mr. Lakhvi, who is in his 50s, fought in Afghanistan as a mujahedeen
against the Soviet Union, said Arif Jamal, a visiting fellow at the
Center on International Cooperation at New York University and the
author of a coming book, "Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in
Kashmir."

Mr. Lakhvi had not actually fought since 1989, Mr. Jamal said. He said
Mr. Lakhvi possessed excellent organizational skills and a strong
ideological commitment to the jihadist cause. "If Lashkar-e-Taiba was
involved in the Mumbai attacks, Mr. Lakhvi would have an important
role because of his organizational abilities," Mr. Jamal said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, which regards itself as a wing of the charity
Jamaat-ud-Dawa, dismantled most of his training camps after 9/11, Mr.
Jamal said. "They keep erecting mobile camps for training," he said.

Mr. Lakhvi was active in the relief effort organized by Jamaat-ud-Dawa
after the earthquake in Kashmir in 2005. That was the last time Mr.
Jamal said he had seen Mr. Lakhvi.

A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba, Abdullah Gaznabi, confirmed Monday
that the Pakistani security forces had carried out a raid "under
pressure from India and the United States," but would say nothing
specific about who or how many people had been detained.

"We have already made it clear that the Lashkar has nothing to do with
the recent attacks in Mumbai," he said by phone from an undisclosed
location, "and by constantly trying to drag our organization's name
into these is nothing but to malign it."

He also warned the government against sacrificing the cause of
Kashmir, which has been disputed by India and Pakistan for more than
60 years. "Being Kashmiris, it is our right to use any part of the
territory of Jammu and Kashmir for our just freedom struggle," he
said.

The Pakistani authorities offered on Monday to send a "high-level"
delegation to India for a joint investigation, the foreign secretary,
Salman Bashir, said.

Police officials in India, meanwhile, said they had identified the
hometowns of all 10 known gunmen — all of them from Punjab Province in
Pakistan — and said they had evidence further establishing the
Pakistani origins of the men. "There are mailboxes from Pakistan,
there are medical kits from Pakistan," said Rakesh Maria, the joint
police commissioner in Mumbai who is in charge of the case. "The
rations — the flour, the rice — that has markings from places in
Pakistan."

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington; Yusuf Jameel from
Srinagar, Kashmir; and Robert F. Worth from Mumbai, India.

Hindus Call for a New Dialogue on Terrorism

North American Hindus Call for a New Dialogue on Terrorism -

Chandra,

Please include "World Muslim Congress" and the"Foundation for Pluralism" as dialogue participants. I will be representing the group. It sounds funny that this dialogue does not have participants from the Muslim, Jewish, Christian and other communities who are equal victims of terrorism. Most certainly Musilms get it more than the others. Their presence is a must and every group that is committed to non-violence and co-existence must be included. Make the sincere effort, sincere results will come out.

As peace makers, our words and our actions should create an environment of peace, where one is encouraged to dialogue, put everything on the table with an open mind and an open heart. The goal should be finding solutions and not pointing fingers. No one can bring the dead back to life today, so there is no need to make calls on them. We have to find solutions and not excuses. As citizens for peace, it is our duty to focus on working for peace and co-existence. Terrorism has got to go from our lives.

There was a time, when you could find fliers at Mosques with hate for others, no more, enough of us have worked hard to rid of such fliers, come to find out no one wanted them in the first place. Yesterday, I found the orange flier distributed at the temple to contain language that was not peace makers language.

We have not been able to solve Terrorism because we are eager to bark at the wrong tree, we are smart people, we can do better than that. It is my deviousness that makes me rob the bank, kill any one that comes my way, and my religion does not teach me to do that. There are millions of Christian, Hindu, Muslims and Jews rotting in Jails for their wrong doing, their religion surely did not teach them to do that.

If we blame the religion, can we punish it? Is it tangible? It is the wrong effort to blame religion and leave the problem un-solved. We need to find the individuals, however many they may be and punish them for their crimes to disturb peace and creating chaos and anarchy. Then we will have justice with justice comes peace and prosperity. Truth triumphs, hate does not.

Religion came in to existence to make us better beings. Lord Krishna says whenever there is Adharma, he will appear and re-store dharma; Allah in Qur'aan says that he sends a messenger to every nation, every community to set them on the right track.

If I burn the Belgian embassy, or burn the busses in the fight for Cauvery water, or burn the innocent men and women in train compartment in Godhra or burn innocent men and women in Gujarat or bomb the trains or bomb Mumbai, It is me, who is the criminal and I should be punished, and each individual should be punished who does that ugly crime. Does blaming my family members make any sense to you? Does blaming the State of Karnataka make sense to you? Does blaming India make sense to you? Does blaming Islam or Hinduism I claim to practice makes sense to you?

We all have the base emotions playing at us, the terrorist find excuses to blame injustice or some other idiotic excuse to kill us, and some of us are eager to act on our base emotions to harm the ones who have done no harm to us.

In the press release below, I took out the Prefix- terrorism attached to the name of the religion. Here is a letter from Iffat Khan about the flier.

Mike Ghouse, Moderator
Dallasindians@yahoogroups.com
______________________________________________________________________
As a proud Indian and Muslim, I felt a great need to join my Indian compatriots who held the prayer ceremony in memory of the victims of the Mumbai carnage at the DFW temple.

I laud you for having taken the initiative for a “new dialogue” to promote peace. But, I am dismayed at the choice of language in your call for dialogue on “Islamic Terrorism”. Labeling the acts of few disaffected beings to vilify the religion Islam does not promote dialogue. Terrorism has no religion, and has been and is being committed by Hindus in India and SriLanka; and by Jews and Christians elsewhere -- i.e. by people professing various faiths. These acts have NEVER been labeled Hindu, Jewish or Christian Terrorism. I, therefore, beseech you to refrain from labeling atrocious acts as “Islamic”.

It behooves people of conscience to use greater prudence in the choice of words, especially if they genuinely espouse "dialogue". Remember one of the debates we have all had in our schooling - "The Pen is mightier that the Sword".

Ardently striving (JIHAD) for peace, justice,charity and fraternity--the cornerstones of Islam.

Iffat Khan
______________________________________________________________________
Chandra Siv
Date: Sun Dec 7, 2008 12:25 am
Subject: North American Hindus Call for a New Dialogue on Terrorism -

Dear Mike,

I understand that you had called and attended the Shanti Homam performed at the DFW Hindu Temple to-day, Dec 6, 2008 morning along with ...... Akram from IANT representing the Islamic faith and Community. I was there too.... distributing the copies of the Press Release.....

Missed talking to you there....Below is the Press Release Dt, Dec 6, 2008, from the North American Hindu Community

PRESS RELEASE

North American Hindus Call for a New Dialogue on Terrorism

The heinous terrorist attack on the City of Mumbai from 26 November, 2008 through 29 November, 2008 that claimed over 200 innocent victims and left over 300 injured is a stark reminder that Terrorism is one of the greatest dangers to the future of peaceful human existence in the world. This incident clearly exposes the fact that it was a cold blooded, well orchestrated attack, with months of planning and preparation behind it, and targeted at destabilizing the democratic and secular society of India in particular and the world at large.

“We are extremely disturbed by this horrible terrorist attack on Mumbai. Our hearts bleed for the departed souls and families who have lost their loved ones, we also feel compelled to state that the people who master-minded this attack should be severely punished. The Hindu community of North America has come together to perform a Shanti Homa (ceremony of peace) to pray for peace for the affected families and also for the world” says Kalyan Viswanathan president of Dallas-based Sanatana Dharma Foundation.

The Shanti Homam at the DFW Hindu Temple, Irving, Texas attracted members of over 30 Hindu organizations living in the DFW metro area. Members of the Jewish and Islamic faiths were also present at the ceremony where prayers for world peace and solace for the affected families were offered, in the Sanskrit language in a traditional Vedic ritual. “We come together to look into the eyes of terror and say we stand together as one people of the world in support of humanity - Not in despair or hopelessness, but rather in love, strength, resolve, and peace for the present and the future” says Ranna Jani, President of the DFW Hindu Temple, Irving, Texas. Similar Homam ceremonies were also offered in many cities in United States of America, Canada, Australia and around the world.

Nearly 3 million Hindus live in North America today. India is home to another 900+ Million Hindus. Pluralism or the ability to accept many different belief systems and pathways to God is not new to Hindus. Right from the early Rig Vedic era (5,000 BC), Hinduism aka Sanatana Dharma has upheld and valued the fundamental spiritual freedom and the right of the individual to believe and practice his or her faith. As a result numerous sects and sub-traditions within the family of traditions called Hinduism exist in harmony within India and across the world. Over the ages, Hinduism also welcomed many religions born in distant lands to come into her land to make a home, free from fear of persecution. This has been the very core of the Hindu civilization for many millennia. In keeping with her ancient Hindu pluralistic ethos, India embraced a Secular Constitution after its independence in 1947 further affirming and accepting the co-existence of many diverse faiths in its land. As a non-proselytizing family of religious traditions, Ahimsa (non violence) being one of its core values, Hinduism poses no threat to any other faith community in the world.

However, this essential pluralistic tradition has made India vulnerable to threats that have come into its lands from afar and within. Since 2004 alone, nearly 7000 people lost their lives due to terrorist attacks. Behind every terrorist attack is the same ideology that sanctions violence against innocent people, in the name of a particular religion and its God. We are concerned that the civilized world and India in specific, which are committed to democracy and pluralism, are increasingly under threat.

Even as our heart goes out to the innocent victims of this heinous crime and we affirm the validity of different paths and religious traditions in this world, we are obliged in this hour of crisis to raise our voice, and say “Enough. We need a new resolve. We need fresh thinking. We need an approach to resolving the problem of Terrorism that does not tip-toe around the hard issues, and keeps making practical compromises, leaving behind the infrastructure that graduates yet another batch of terrorists. We need our Islamic brothers and sisters, who truly believe in peaceful coexistence, to step up and be equal stakeholders in stamping out this deadly cancer from the world”.

Signed by :

Sanatana Dharma Foundation, Dallas, Texas
DFW Hindu Temple, Irving, Texas
Vaishno Devi Temple, Ontario, Canada
North Texas Hindu Mandir, Dallas, Texas
Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, (FACT), Houston, Texas
Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Foundation, New Jersey
International Sanatana Dharma Society, Omaha, Nebraska
Samskrita Bharati, San Jose, California
United States Hindu Alliance, Atlanta, Georgia
Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Vadtal Dham, Scarborough, Ontario
Kanchi Kamakoti Seva Kendra, Toronto, Canada
Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, Madison, Mississippi
Hindu Mahasabha of America, Houston, Texas
The Arise Arjuna Foundation, New Jersey
Indic Studies Foundation, California
Indian Intellectuals Forum, New York City, New York
Third Eye Meditation Inc., Dallas, Texas
Denton County India Cultural Association, Denton, Texas
SEWA International, USA – Dallas Chapter
National Federation of Indian American Association (NFIA), California
International Kashmir Federation (IKF), San Francisco, California
Global organization of the people of Indian Origin, San Francisco, California
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Dallas Chapter
Foundation for Hindu Religious Studies, Cleveland, Ohio
Forum for Religious Freedom, New York City, New York
Yoga Bharati, San Jose, California
Sri Kripalu Kunj Mission, Houston, Texas
Kashmiri Association of North Texas, Dallas, USA
Jagadguru Kripalu Yog, USA
Frisco Vishnu Sahasranama Group, Frisco, Texas
Sanatana Dharma School, Irving, Texas
DFW Hindu TRAC Group, Dallas, Texas
Vedanta Today, Boston, Massachusetts
American Telugu Association (ATA), Irving, Texas
Indo-Caribbean Cultural Council, Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean
Subhodhayam Group, College Station, Texas
Canadian Hindu Advocay, Toronto, Canada
DFW Gayatri Parivar, Arlingon, Texas
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sydney, Australia


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
www.MikeGhouseforAmerica.net
www.FoundationforPluralism.com
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com
2665 Villa Creek Dr, Suite 206
Dallas, Texas 75234
(214) 325-1916

No place to hide

No place to hide

Will we allow mainstream Islam to turn into a moderate fringe, while extremists take centre-stage?

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

December 01, 2008

Watching the terror nightmare unfold in Mumbai over the past three days on TV, my children have repeatedly asked me: “Who are these terrorists and why are they doing this?” And every time I wished I could offer them a convincing answer. I was clueless why these people had taken over Mumbai and were targeting people who had nothing to do with them. I was also ashamed to tell them that the terrorists were Muslims and came from a country that was created in the name of Islam.

At work, while my colleagues went about covering the madness in Mumbai and laying out pages with the images of the Taj Hotel with its Islamic arches and domes go up in smoke, I find it hard to look at them in the eye.

This happens all the time. Every time innocents are targeted in the name of Islam around the world, one can’t face one’s non-Muslim friends and colleagues. A distraught friend who has devoted her life to speaking and fighting on behalf of Arabs and Muslims wrote: “I’ve had it with the Arabs and Muslims and Islamic militancy. Forgive me but I am throwing in the towel.” I couldn’t write back to her. She grew up in Mumbai and is upset. She went on to say: “The Muslims and Islam have a problem and only they can solve it. If they do not, the whole world will turn against them.”

If this is how our most loyal friends feel, imagine the sentiments and reactions of the rest of the world. Can you blame the world if it’s turning against Muslims? What do you expect when not a day passes without the name of our faith being dragged through the mud by fellow believers around the world?

I know that Muslim leaders, including those in the highest echelons of power, have lately started speaking out against the extremists. The Darul Uloom Deoband in India, one of the oldest and most respected centres of learning in the Muslim world, issued a fatwa against terrorism at a large gathering of Islamic scholars in June. Last month, nearly 5,000 scholars backed the edict at a huge congregation in Hyderabad. The Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), and Saudi Arabia have, of late, been vehement in condemning these repulsive acts of violence targeting innocents. But clearly, we need to do more to be heard.

The great irony of the Mumbai attacks is the killing of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, a brave officer trying to establish the link between Hindu extremists and the Malegaon blasts. He was killed outside the Cama hospital on Wednesday night. Obviously, some Muslims do not know their friends from their enemies.

It’s all very well for us to say Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. We can go on deluding ourselves that these psychopaths do not represent us. However, the world finds it hard to accept this line of argument as it sees the extremists increasingly assert themselves and take the centre-stage while mainstream Islam turns into a moderate fringe.

Aijaz Syed is Opinion Editor, Khaleej Times

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=ca0ddccc-f725-4957-91c7-5ba0f568b371

Pakistanis, leave us alone!

Pakistanis, You left us in 1947, Now leave us alone!

By A.M.Jamsheed Bahsa

The Mumbai terror attack has no doubt shocked the nation. It was an attack on Mumbai, an attack on India. It is a matter of concern for all of us Indians. But the community that has to be concerned most is that of the Muslims of India, because those who came and attacked the financial capital on the fateful day of 26/11 were bearing Muslim names and had come from the so-called Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

It is a different thing that the Muslims would disown them as practising Muslims, for they were sporting guns and ammunition and above all they were wining and dining, and who knows, womanising, something not expected from hard-core religious elements. To a common man they were just Muslim mercenaries on a mission to cause maximum damage as per the directions of their mentors sitting across the border. They did exactly that and vanished from this world, a fate they deserved most. Then what next? Pakistanis may try to put a brave face but they cannot deny that these evil men were their countrymen, born, brought up and trained by a terrorist organisation in their country for this day.

The Indian Muslims, particularly our Urdu Press should behave responsibly. It is no time for a blame game. It is no time for concoction of a theory of conspiracy alleging complicity of the saffron brigade. It may be best left to the investigating agencies to unravel the real players behind this sordid drama. The whole of India and every Indian is angry. Not for the loss of life and destruction caused alone, but for the attitude of the politicians and helplessness of the government of the day. The people’s ire would be shown elsewhere in the next ballot, but the mood is one of action, a firm action, a decisive message that should go across the borders and the steps that should be taken to secure the nation and insulate it from future attacks. Yesterday it was through land, today it was through sea and who knows tomorrow it may be through air. All these vulnerable places have to be protected and secured for we should allow no incursions into our land from any side. These steps are vital for the future of this country. The prime concern of the citizen today is how safe and secure we are in our own country. This is the general feeling and mood of the countrymen.

Like me, many such Indian Muslims are equally angry and frustrated and unable to understand why disaster after disaster is staring at them all the time. What’s wrong with our community and why are we in such a position of feeling like strangers and alien in our own land. We have been living here for centuries and also after we were ditched by the greatest villain of the century, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Company, who partitioned India in the name of two-nation theory. Don't the Muslims of today feel angry at them for they were responsible for our present state of affairs? They left us, and still they are not leaving us alone to deal with our problems ourselves. Who are they to interfere in our internal matters? Muslims should come out in open and tell the people of Pakistan or any element fighting in the name of Islam to keep off from our problems and mind their own business.

Govt of India did the right thing in issuing a demarche, a strongly worded message to Pakistan, to do something tangible to wipe out the remnants of terror outfits from their soil and hand over all those listed wanted criminals that are enjoying the hospitality of the Pakistani people at the cost of Indians, including the infamous Don Dawood Ibrahim, the kingpin of 1993 Bombay Blasts and whose complicity in 26/11 terror attack can also not be ruled out. President Zardari, came on his knees virtually pleading with India to spare Pakistan and not to punish her as retaliation for the act of a few disgruntled elements. The same voice of concern and anguish came from Premier Gilani and his Foreign Minister recently touring Indian. Mere words would not do, Mr. Zardari and Company, show it in action and deeds alone would gain confidence of the people of India.

Indians demands firm action in one voice and would not tolerate any more attacks on them. Muslims of India are solidly behind the Government and the people of this great country. It is said wise men do not do desperate things in desperate times. It would be wise for Indians to act with restraint. This is the call from across the globe as like us the enemy across the borders too is armed with nuclear arsenals. Any emotive action at this stage would not be acceptable to the world at large either. The world is not prepared to go through a nuclear holocaust. It calls for sober thinking and actions. Pakistan was told in strongest terms that it should act and cooperate with India to solve the terror plot besides curbing the activities of the terror groups that are freely moving in the country. The same sentiments were echoed by US Secretary of State, Condolisa Rice, who is travelling to India shortly, specifically to offer us American support.

It is incumbent on the Muslim intelligentsia and the Urdu Press in particular that they do not inflame passions in any way. Instead, they should send a clear cut message to all the Muslims that India is our country, where we have to live and die. We are Indians and Muslims and there is no distinction between these two. Our prosperity and well being lie here and nowhere else. If we have any problems or grievances, it is for us to try to resolve them in a democratic manner. No one from outside need interfere. We the Muslims of India constitute the biggest Muslim population of the world after Indonesia. Though we are leaderless for the time being , we are resilient enough to sort out our own problems without outside interference as we have been doing in the last 61 years.

The Muslim Press whether it is Urdu Press or any other vernacular managed by Muslims, has a duty of guiding its people in this hour of crisis. Muslims are at a crossroad with no guide in sight. The educated Muslim class should rise up to spread the message of love, compassion and brotherhood. We need to reassure the nation. The bullet of the insane terrorists did not distinguish between Muslims and others. Among those who got killed were a fair number of innocent Muslims too, over 40 at the last count among the 179 dead according to the latest official figures. It was a pathetic description when a bearded Muslim was narrating the ghastly incident at a TV programme, "We, the People" telecast by 24x7 News channel, how six of his family members were brutally killed on the spot while he was away to fetch a water bottle. His voice was chocking, eyes welled up with tears, unable to describe how he would live along with the orphans. This tugged at the hearts of one and all participating in the debate. The silence in the hall was eerie and mood sombre. We could feel the mood of the participants in the debate. Those who were watching too could not control their emotions. Our eyes too welled up, some hid their faces with their hands, and a few were seen fighting their tears. One could immediately feel as if our own family members were killed there. Imagine how the family of 195 people who were killed would be feeling at the loss of their near and dear ones. Think again of the sacrifice made by our great son of India Karkare, ATS Chief, and five others of his team, who laid down their lives performing the sacred duty of this great nation. This was the tragedy that unfolded on 26/11. My heart goes out to all those families who are grieving over the loss of their dear ones.

Our nation is great and so are our people. The spirit is high and India will certainly bounce back. Mumbai's cosmopolitan spirit is springing back to normalcy, with business as usual. But the incident has left a deep scar on the psyche of the people. Let’s all allow our investigating team the time and peace to probe while people keep a tight vigil in their respective places. Till such time, do not lend ears to rumours. It is our ardent duty to guard our unity in diversity with life. Jai Hind.

A.M.Jamsheed Basha is a Chennai-based writer.

Mumbai - Elite Ironies

Death Of A Salesman And Other Elite Ironies
TARUN J TEJPAL

ROHINTON MALOO was shot doing two things he enjoyed immensely. Eating good food and tossing new ideas. He was among the 13 diners at the Kandahar, Trident-Oberoi, who were marched out onto the service staircase, ostensibly as hostages. But the killers had nothing to bargain for. The answers to the big questions — Babri Masjid, Gujarat, Muslim persecution — were beyond the power of anyone to deliver neatly to the hotel lobby. The small ones — of money and materialism — their crazed indoctrination had already taken them well beyond. With the final banality of all fanaticism, flaunting the paradox of modern technology and medieval fervour — AK-47 in one hand; mobile phone in the other — the killers asked their minders, “Udan dein?” The minder, probably a maintainer of cold statistics, said, “Uda do.”

Photo: AP
Rohinton caught seven bullets, and by the time his body was recovered, it could only be identified by the ring on his finger. Rohinton was just 48, with two teenage children, and a hundred plans.

A few of these had to do with TEHELKA, where he was a strategic advisor for the last two years. As Indians, we seldom have a good word to say about the living, but in the dead we discover virtues that strain the imagination. Perhaps it has to do with a strange mix of driving envy and blinding piety. Let me just say Rohinton was charismatic, ambitious, and a man of his time, and place. The time was always now, and in his outstanding career in media marketing, he was ever at the cutting edge of the new — in the creation of Star Networks, and a score of ventures on the web. The place was always Mumbai, the city he grew up in and lived in, and he exemplified its attitudes: the hedonism, the get-go, the easy pluralism.

For me there is a deep irony in his death. He was killed by what he set very little store by. In his every meeting with us, he was bemused and baffled by TEHELKA’s obsessive engagement with politics. He was quite sure no one of his class — our class — was interested in the subject. Politics happened elsewhere, a regrettable business carried out by unsavoury characters. Mostly, it had nothing to do with our lives. Eventually, sitting through our political ranting, he came to grudgingly accept we may have some kind of a case. But he remained unconvinced of its commercial viability. Our kind of readers were interested in other things, which were germane to their lives — food, films, cricket, fashion, gizmos, television, health and the strategies of seduction. Politics, at best, was something they endured.

In the end, politics killed Rohinton, and a few hundred other innocents. In the final count, politics, every single day, is killing, impoverishing, starving, denigrating, millions of Indians all across the country. If the backdrop were not so heartbreaking, the spectacle of the nation’s elite — the keepers of most of our wealth and privilege — frothing on television screens and screaming through mobile phones would be amusing. They have been outraged because the enduring tragedy of India has suddenly arrived in their marbled precincts. The Taj, the Oberoi. We dine here. We sleep here. Is nothing sacrosanct in this country any more?

Photo: REUTERS

What the Indian elite is discovering today on the debris of fancy eateries is an acidic truth large numbers of ordinary Indians are forced to swallow every day. Children who die of malnutrition, farmers who commit suicide, dalits who are raped and massacred, tribals who are turfed out of centuryold habitats, peasants whose lands are taken over for car factories, minorities who are bludgeoned into paranoia — these, and many others, know that something is grossly wrong. The system does not work, the system is cruel, the system is unjust, the system exists to only serve those who run it. Crucially, what we, the elite, need to understand is that most of us are complicit in the system. In fact, chances are the more we have — of privilege and money — the more invested we are in the shoring up of an unfair state.

IT IS time each one of us understood that at the heart of every society is its politics. If the politics is third-rate, the condition of the society will be no better. For too many decades now, the elite of India has washed its hands off the country’s politics. Entire generations have grown up viewing it as a distasteful activity. In an astonishing perversion, the finest imaginative act of the last thousand years on the subcontinent, the creation and flowering of the idea of modern India through mass politics, has for the last 40 years been rendered infra dig, déclassé, uncool. Let us blame our parents, and let our children blame us, for not bequeathing onwards the sheer beauty of a collective vision, collective will, and collective action. In a word, politics: which, at its best, created the wonder of a liberal and democratic idea, and at its worst threatens to tear it down.
We stand faulted then in two ways. For turning our back on the collective endeavour; and for our passive embrace of the status quo. This is in equal parts due to selfish instinct and to shallow thinking. Since shining India is basically only about us getting an even greater share of the pie, we have been happy to buy its half-truths, and look away from the rest of the sordid story. Like all elites, historically, that have presided over the decline of their societies, we focus too much of our energy on acquiring and consuming, and too little on thinking and decoding. Egged on by a helium media, we exhaust ourselves through paroxysms over vacant celebrities and trivia, quite happy not to see what might cause us discomfort.

For years, it has been evident that we are a society being systematically hollowed out by inequality, corruption, bigotry and lack of justice. The planks of public discourse have increasingly been divisive, widening the faultlines of caste, language, religion, class, community and region. As the elite of the most complex society in the world, we have failed to see that we are ratcheted into an intricate framework, full of causal links, where one wrong word begets another, one horrific event leads to another. Where one man’s misery will eventually trigger another’s.
Let’s track one causal chain. The Congress creates Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to neutralise the Akalis; Bhindranwale creates terrorism; Indira Gandhi moves against terrorism; terrorism assassinates Indira Gandhi; blameless Sikhs are slaughtered in Delhi; in the course of a decade, numberless innocents, militants, and securitymen die. Let’s track another. The BJP takes out an inflammatory rath yatra; inflamed kar sewaks pull down the Babri Masjid; riots ensue; vengeful Muslims trigger Mumbai blasts; 10 years later a bogey of kar sewaks is burnt in Gujarat; in the next week 2,000 Muslims are slaughtered; six years later retaliatory violence continues. Let’s track one more. In the early 1940s, in the midst of the freedom movement, patrician Muslims demand a separate homeland; Mahatma Gandhi opposes it; the British support it; Partition ensues; a million people are slaughtered; four wars follow; two countries drain each other through rhetoric and poison; nuclear arsenals are built; hotels in Mumbai are attacked.

IN EACH of these rough causal chains, there is one thing in common. Their origin in the decisions of the elite. Interlaced with numberless lines of potential divisiveness, the India framework is highly delicate and complicated. It is critical for the elite to understand the framework, and its role in it. The elite has its hands on the levers of capital, influence and privilege. It can fix the framework. It has much to give, and it must give generously. The mass, with nothing in its hands, nothing to give, can out of frustration and anger, only pull it all down. And when the volcano blows, rich and poor burn alike.

And so what should we be doing? Well, screaming at politicians is certainly not political engagement. And airy socialites demanding the carpet-bombing of Pakistan and the boycott of taxes are plain absurd, just another neon sign advertising shallow thought. It’s the kind of dumb public theatre the media ought to deftly side-step rather than showcase. The world is already over-shrill with animus: we need to tone it down, not add to it. Pakistan is itself badly damaged by the flawed politics at its heart. It needs help, not bombing.. Just remember, when hardboiled bureaucrats clench their teeth, little children die.

Most of the shouting of the last few days is little more than personal catharsis through public venting. The fact is the politician has been doing what we have been doing, and as an über Indian he has been doing it much better. Watching out for himself, cornering maximum resource, and turning away from the challenge of the greater good.

The first thing we need to do is to square up to the truth. Acknow ledge the fact that we have made a fair shambles of the project of nation-building. Fifty million Indians doing well does not for a great India make, given that 500 million are grovelling to survive. Sixty years after independence, it can safely be said that India’s political leadership — and the nation’s elite — have badly let down the country’s dispossessed and wretched. If you care to look, India today is heartbreak hotel, where infants die like flies, and equal opportunity is a cruel mirage.
Let’s be clear we are not in a crisis because the Taj hotel was gutted. We are in a crisis because six years after 2,000 Muslims were slaughtered in Gujarat there is still no sign of justice. This is the second thing the elite need to understand — after the obscenity of gross inequality. The plinth of every society — since the beginning of Man — has been set on the notion of justice. You cannot light candles for just those of your class and creed. You have to strike a blow for every wronged citizen.

And let no one tell us we need more laws. We need men to implement those that we have. Today all our institutions and processes are failing us. We have compromised each of them on their values, their robustness, their vision and their sense of fairplay. Now, at every crucial juncture we depend on random acts of individual excellence and courage to save the day. Great systems, triumphant societies, are veined with ladders of inspiration. Electrified by those above them, men strive to do their very best. Look around.. How many constables, head constables, sub-inspectors would risk their lives for the dishonest, weak men they serve, who in turn serve even more compromised masters?

I wish Rohinton had survived the lottery of death in Mumbai last week. In an instant, he would have understood what we always went on about. India’s crying need is not economic tinkering or social engineering. It is a political overhaul, a political cleansing. As it once did to create a free nation, India’s elite should start getting its hands dirty so they can get a clean country.

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 49, Dated Dec 13, 2008