Indian Anti-Terror Chief Investigating Hindu Terrorists Responsible for Malegaon Blast Among Those Killed in Mumbai. Hmmmm...
Karkare's response to a death threat: A 'smiley'
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/karkares-response-to-a-death-threat-a-...
Y P Rajesh
Posted: Nov 27, 2008 at 1637 hrs IST
ATS chief Hemant Karkare was killed in the Mumbai seige
The ATS believed it had cracked the September 29 Malegaon bomb blast case, and about a month ago arrested Hindu extremists in a breakthrough that shocked the nation and added a new twist to the entire discourse on Terror and religion.
But as the probe unravelled the alleged plot and the role of some Hindu leaders, the case got caught in the politics of terror and the ATS was at the centre of charges that it was being used as a tool to target the Sangh Parivar amid allegations of illegal detention and torture by some of the 11 arrested for the blast.
The BJP, RSS and VHP leaders, among others from the Hindu nationalist brigade, accused the ATS of being on a witch-hunt, with some even demanding that ATS officers be subjected to a narco-analysis to establish their motives.
less a leader than the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, L K Advani, had demanded a change in the ATS team and a judicial inquiry into the torture allegations made by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key suspect in the Malegaon case.
The Shiv Sena too had come out in support of the suspects and on Wednesday had threatened in its mouthpiece Saamna that it would publish the names of some ATS officers and shame them as it said they had tortured the Malegaon suspects.
That Karkare was affected by this was apparent when we met at his office on Tuesday to get an update on the probe, less than 36 hours before he was killed. The Indian Express has decided to break the confidence of what was an off-the-record conversation in an attempt to highlight the anguish of the investigators over the currents in which the Malegaon probe was getting caught as well as the larger debate over the politics of terror.
"I don't know why this case has become so political," was one of Karkare's first comments. "The pressure is tremendous and I am wondering how to extricate it from all the politics."
Was the pressure telling on the investigation, what with someone who could be the next prime minister of the country questioning the credibility of the ATS?
"Of course," was the answer. "We are being very very careful. In fact, when we want to question a suspect and if he or she has any Hindutvawadi connections, we make sure once, twice, thrice, that we have enough reason and evidence to even question. Normally it is not like that. We are able to freely question anyone we suspect."
"In fact, immediately after the blast I had visited Malegaon along with the Deputy Chief Minister and other officials and witnessed the anger of the locals who shouted some slogans," Karkare said. "After that I told my men that we have to pursue this case very objectively and not start with assumptions that people of this community or that community could be responsible."
Originally from Madhya Pradesh, Karkare studied mechanical engineering in Nagpur and worked at the National Productivity Council and Hindustan Lever before making it to the IPS in 1982. Known to be an upright officer who served in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) as well as the Indian mission in Vienna, Austria, as a counselor, Karkare did not hide his love for Mumbai or his discomfort with the predominantly political-bureaucratic culture of Delhi where he was posted.
During a stint in the Chandrapur forests near Nagpur in 1991 to fight Naxalites, he took an interest in driftwood, discovered artistic shapes in them and converted them into wooden sculptures, making about 150 of them over a two-year period. Talking to the media about sensitive cases such as Malegaon could prove to be a double-edged sword, he had said as we parted, adding that he would like us to meet informally once a month so that he could learn the ways of the media.
His last visuals as seen on TV showed him working with his men near the VT station, the target of one of the attacks, although it is perplexing at this point in time why such a senior officer ended up getting exposed to a brazen terrorist attack. Initially, he was shown wearing a shoddy helmet normally seen used by constables during riots. A little later, a policeman lowers a flimsy bulletproof vest over his shoulders, one that was obviously of little protection when those fatal shots were fired at him.
The previous evening, hours after our meeting, TV channels had ‘breaking news’ that he had received a fresh death threat from some unidentified caller, apparently in connection with the Malegaon probe. An Indian Express reporter SMSed him asking him if this was true or if he had anything to say. His reply: just a smiley.
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Details missed out
A blog from Pakistan has some doubts about the authenticity of the allegedly Muslim attackers. It is too early for me to conclude that the article is correct but we should mind some of the details early before the spin doctors set their message in stone.
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/evidence-being-deliberately-ign...
November 29, 2008
Mumbai Terror: Evidence being deliberately ignored!
Strange that none of the media (TV or Print) have picked this up at all. Or have they been deliberately ignoring it?
Have a look at the above picture of one of the terrorists.
Notice the orange thread / band on his right hand.
Tying a red thread or cord around the wrist is a Hindu practice and it is unlikely a Muslim, especially one politicized enough to carry out an attack such as this, would observe it. I think this provides more evidence that this was a false flag operation or at least an attack by a non-Muslim group. For more information about the significance of the red thread see wikipedia and this blog post. [Thanks to Uruk]
Additionally, the terrorists inside the Nariman House Building were reported to have stocked up on supplies on Wednesday evening, buying not just food items but liquor, among other things, from a local store [Source]. Again, it is highly unlikely that a Muslim, let alone a ‘Mujahid’, and especially one politicized enough to carry out such an attack, would consume liquor in normal life, let alone hours before his inevitable ‘martyrdom’.
Don’t let them ignore it. Circulate this to as many people as you can as we strongly believe it wouldn’t have been ignored if the terrorists were carrying a copy of the Qur’an, or a taveez.
Kalava
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kalava (Sanskrit) is the sacred Hindu thread. It is worn while performing Hindu rituals like Yajna or Puja. It is tied by a priest on the wrists of all the people attending the prayer ceremony. Kalava is tied on right hand of males and unmarried females, and on left hand of married females. Sometimes it has small yellow parts in between the mostly red string. It sometimes has knots which are tied up while reciting Sanskrit mantras to invoke God and is worn to ward off evil from the person who wears this red thread.
The Pak Alert blog looks pretty useful
I'm bookmarking it
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/
People in India processing information...
This is what looks like a mainstream Indian portal-type site with news and reader input. This thread has lots of interesting questions -- not necessarily opposing the "Pakistan did it" meme but certainly pointing to weak spots in the official (under construction) story.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/01mumterror-some-questions-about-the-...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/pakistani-security-consultant-calls-mumbai-a...
what its all for
This is an opinion piece by a Pakistani writer. It is a big picture take on the Mumbai attack focusing on Indian parties that may have been involved and their motives. This writeup stays on the conservative side and does not discuss possible motives by foreign actors that may have been involved in the attacks.
http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/latest_col.php?id=78
November 29, 2008
Signs Of An Attempted Coup In New Delhi
With a traumatized nation and a paralyzed government, a core group of secular ideologues and Hindu nationalists are executing a ‘soft coup’ in New Delhi to bring to power hawks who want to pursue America’s agenda of grooming India as a regional policeman, sort out Pakistan and confront China. India will self-destroy in the process. India’s military and intelligence has been penetrated. The man who uncovered the plot, Hemant Karkare, the antiterrorism chief of Mumbai police, was the first target of the mysterious terrorists. Patriotic Indians need to wake up and save their country.
By AHMED QURAISHI
Saturday, 29 November 2008.
WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Preliminary signs emerging from India’s power center, New Delhi, paint a picture of an unstable situation. Security is already compromised. But a bigger story is taking place in New Delhi, not Mumbai. There are disturbing signs that India, a nuclear-armed nation of a billion people, is witnessing a ‘soft coup’ attempt involving secular rightwing ideologues and Hindu nationalists.
Exploiting the fears of a traumatized nation and a government caught sleeping at the wheel, a core group of rightwing ideologues within India’s military, intelligence and political elite are trying to overthrow Manmohan Singh’s government. The plan apparently is to help the rise of rightwing elements in power and firmly push India in a confrontation with Pakistan and some other countries in the region.
The objective of this core group is to see India emerge as a superpower closely allied with the United States. They are excited about American plans for India as a regional policeman and have no problem in confronting China and Pakistan to achieve this status. They think time is slipping and they don’t want a hesitant political leadership in their way. Already the instability in the wake of Mumbai attacks is being exploited to start a war with Pakistan. The fact that this will also help U.S. military that is facing a tough time in Afghanistan appears to be more than just a coincidence.
In the very first hours of the Mumbai attack, the unknown terrorists were able to achieve a singular feat: the targeted murder of Hemant Karkare, the chief antiterrorism officer in the Indian police. The man was responsible for exposing the secret links between the Indian military and Hindu terror groups. His investigation resulted in uncovering the involvement of three Indian military intelligence officers in terrorist acts that were blamed on Muslim groups. At the time of his murder, Karkare was pursuing leads that were supposed to uncover the depth of the nexus between the Indian military and the sudden rise of well armed and well financed Hindu terrorism groups with their wide network of militant training camps across India.
Curiously, a CCTV camera has caught on tape one of the unknown terrorists when he arrived with his group at their first target: a train station. The man, dressed in a jeans and a black T-shirt and carrying a machine gun [see picture below], is wearing an orange-colored wrist band very common among religious Hindus. As a comparison, a recent picture of a Hindu militant activist taken during an event this year is shown to the right where the militant is wearing a similar band.
Left, a CCTV snapshot of one of the Mumbai terrorists, wearing the sacred Hindu armband and carrying a machine gun. Right, a picture of a typical member of Hindu terror groups, wearing the same armband. The band is sacred to fundamentalist Hindus who believe wearing it shows devotion and brings good luck from gods. [click here if you can’t see the pictures]
An aggressive advertisement campaign has already begun across India urging a scared population to rise against the government.
On Friday, front-page advertisements appeared in several newspapers in Delhi showing blood splattered against a black background and the slogan “Brutal Terror Strikes At Will†in bold capital letters. The ads signed off with a simple message: “Fight Terror. Vote B.J.P.â€
The Indian, the Pakistani and the international media has not woken up yet to this ‘soft coup’ taking place in New Delhi. Some observers and journalists are beginning to catch its first signs. This is how a New York Times reporter, Somini Sengupta, has characterized it today:
“Mr. Singh’s government had lately hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party with evidence that its supporters, belonging to a range of radical Hindu organizations, had … been implicated in terrorist attacks. Indeed, in a bizarre twist, the head of the police antiterrorism unit, Hemant Karkare, killed in the Mumbai strikes, had been in the midst of a high-profile investigation of a suspected Hindu terrorist cell. Mr. Karkare’s inquiry had netted nine suspects in connection with a bombing in September of a Muslim-majority area in Malegaon, a small town not far from Mumbai. “
Evidence is emerging that Karkare knew he was facing the prospect of a violent death because of the investigation he was pursuing. What Karkare probably didn’t know is that his elimination would come in such a perfectly executed operation.
Only hours before Karkare’s violent death, his close friend, retired Colonel Rahul Gowardhan, received an envelope. Karkare called him to say he was sending him a confidential letter. This is how Times of India has reported the story:
Just some hours before that, Karkare had sent a letter to him in an envelop which had some “personal†content. “Hemant had called me up on Wednesday,†said Gowardhan, a top official with MSEDCL. “As I was in a meeting, we decided to postpone the talk. He hung up saying he would be sending me an envelope. When I wanted to know the content, he told me to just read the letter that’s inside it. I returned home and read it. I cannot share the content of the letter with anyone,†said Gowardhan.
The highly sophisticated nature of the attack in Mumbai, lasting for almost 60 hours, diminishes the chances of a foreign invasion and increases the possibility that influential elements in Indian intelligence and Hindu militant organizations might have helped orchestrate this incident, pretty much like they did in the Sept. 29 Malegaon attack, in which they tried to simulate a Muslim terrorist group. In that attack, in which three Indian military intelligence officers have been arrested, the objective was to provoke a Muslim backlash that could justify a massive state crackdown against minorities.
Observers are already seeing how the hawks within the Indian establishment and Hindu militant organizations have seized the initiative from a paralyzed government. The Indian army and intelligence are already penetrated. Now the real culprits are channeling the fears of a traumatized people toward Pakistan.
India is on the same path today that the Bush administration hawks took the American nation on after 9/11. But this time, patriotic Indians have the benefit of hindsight. They should stop the secular warmongers and Hindu militants from hijacking their country. The future of the entire region depends on it.
From an Indian writer
I first saw this as a comment at 9-11B and tracked it back at its source in alternet where it was also posted as a comment. It covers the possible complicity of the BJP party and how the party is exploiting the situation after the attacks.
http://www.911blogger.com/node/18715
http://www.alternet.org/story/109886/is_mumbai_india%27s_9_11_it%27s_not...
RE: Perhaps, it is time to turn off the US media and pay attention to what Indians are saying
Posted by: MeyravLevine on Dec 4, 2008 6:38 PM
JSri Raman writes:
"Several questions, of course, have remained unasked and unanswered. Even the number of the militants is nowhere near ascertained. We still do not know whether the terrorists included some British nationals. And no one has disputed reports that some of the miscreants spoke “fluent Marathiâ€. All this has not prevented some eminent experts and non-experts from rushing to draw conclusions designed to disappoint and depress those trying hard to preserve faith in the India- Pakistan peace process.
Few pundits, even outside the Parivar[Hindu Right wing], have dwelt too long on the possible political significance of the elimination of Hemant Karkare, chief of Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, and his entire team during the shootout. Karkare was leading the investigations into the case of the Malegaon blasts. The explosions of September 2006, which took a toll of 37 lives, had become an acute embarrassment to the Parivar, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The ATS investigations had threatened to expose what came to be known as “Hindutva terrorâ€. As I have pointed out before (“BJP’s true faceâ€, Daily Times , November 21), the ATS findings had come at an inopportune time for the BJP, engaged as it was in election campaign with terrorism as the priority issue on its platform.
Many, especially in the minority communities, fear that the end of Karkare (shot thrice and in the chest, thus a specific target of the terrorists, the ones reportedly fluent in Marathi) may be the end of the investigations too. Lal Krishna Advani and other BJP leaders, meanwhile, are proceeding as though even the earlier ATS findings had become irrelevant with the hypocritical tributes to Karkare whom they have reviled in the harshest terms recently.
The Malegaon affair had led briefly to a makeover of Advani and his party as defenders of human rights. They had waxed righteously indignant at alleged violations of the rights of the accused in the case. Mumbai has helped them make a quick U-turn and to re-appear in their more familiar role as loud campaigners for a more draconian law against terrorism.
A particularly disturbing reaction is one that sounds deceptively non-political but can only strengthen the Far Right in the end. Politician-bashing, ever a favourite pastime of the middle class, is now being equated with passionate patriotism in its own media. Mumbai has given the politician-baiters yet another opportunity to broadcast the dream of a democracy without the participation of plebeians.
What makes the reaction all the more disturbing is the accompanying call for the cult of the uniform. “Salute the men in uniform who have risked their lives for us†– that is the recurring refrain assailing our ears ever since that fateful November night. Those who issue the clarion call have never asked Indians to salute the drainage worker without the minimal protective gear or the “untouchables†carrying night soil on their heads still – and keep exposing themselves to deadly diseases and dying slow deaths for us all."
The writer is a journalist based in Chennai, India. A peace activist, he is also the author of a sheaf of poems titled At Gunpoint
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about JSri Raman
http://www.inesap.org/bulletin20/img/raman.htm
other articles by
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\11\21\story_21-11-2008_pg3_5