UPA creates a Taliban corridor -- MD Nalapat

October 05, 2008
UPA creates a Taliban corridor
By MD Nalapat

Thanks mainly to the superb job done by Palaniappan Chidambaram and Suresh Pachauri of keeping her detractors quiet, almost all the media ire against the destruction of the security screen of the Indian state has been directed at the hapless Union Home Minister, whose main job is to ferry the Big Boss around in a state aircraft, while he trots along by her side with an obedient, adoring expression on his face. His is one of several departments—others being Finance, the PMO, Energy, Defence and MEA—that are clandestinely micromanaged by Sonia men.

Had vigorous action been taken against such elements since 2004, and had the security agencies been allowed to do their task of safeguarding the country, several of the terrorist strikes that have taken place during the UPA’s watch could have been avoided. Hundreds of lives have been lost as a result of the dilution of counter-terror activity caused by the signals emanating from 10 Janpath.
Should “Chief Information Commissioner” Wajahat Habibullah so ordain, a request via RTI to unearth the numerous “advisories” sent out directly and otherwise by UPA Chairperson Sonia Maino on crucial segments of the counter-terror operations of the police, military and intelligence agencies would be illuminating. They would show that there has been ceaseless pressure by those linked to Manmohan Singh’s boss to place brakes on investigations and follow-up. Because of these informal directives, localities where pools of suspected terrorists took refuge were declared off limits to law enforcement agencies. Small wonder that these based themselves either in Congress-ruled states such as Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, or in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the time of Rabri Devi.

Had vigorous action been taken against such elements since 2004, and had the security agencies been allowed to do their task of safeguarding the country, several of the terrorist strikes that have taken place during the UPA’s watch could have been avoided. Hundreds of lives have been lost as a result of the dilution of counter-terror activity caused by the signals emanating from 10 Janpath.

To give credit to Sonia Maino, she has never hidden her desire to make matters easier for terrorists. Since 2004, several convicted murderers have been hanged, and more are scheduled to swing soon. This columnist opposes the death penalty and would like to see the provision repealed, as the taking of even a single innocent life by the state is a travesty of justice. However, it is remarkable that the sole beneficiary of the “humanism” of Sonia Maino is an individual who was part of the assassination team that took away her husband’s life. In like manner, it is on Sonia’s initiative that POTA was abandoned. It is true that both POTA as well as the earlier TADA have been shamelessly misused, mainly by Congress chief ministers in Maharashtra and Gujarat, who used to arrest individuals and release them after extorting large sums of money for the purpose. The conviction rate under POTA was less than five per cent, a symptom of the disuse and misuse of the law. However, to say that maladministration is a ground for repeal would be to argue that the laws against rape and murder need to be repealed, as both crimes still flourish in abundance. What is needed is to create a monitoring and review mechanism for a strong anti-terror law that would include non-official members as well as hold public hearings, to prevent abuse. Although hundreds have died because of her reluctance to allow the agencies to act with despatch and depth against those responsible for acts of terror, it is unlikely that Sonia Maino will allow Manmohan Singh and Shivraj Patil to enact a law that takes note of the reality that terrorism is a crime very different from others, one that calls for different standards of proof and preventive action. If innocent lives have to be saved, this is the only way forward.

Thanks mainly to the superb job done by Palaniappan Chidambaram and Suresh Pachauri of keeping her detractors quiet, almost all the media ire against the destruction of the security screen of the Indian state has been directed at the hapless Union Home Minister, whose main job is to ferry the Big Boss around in a state aircraft, while he trots along by her side with an obedient, adoring expression on his face. His is one of several departments—others being Finance, the PMO, Energy, Defence and MEA—that are clandestinely micromanaged by Sonia men. Any RTI request into the cellphone and official/home telephone records of senior functionaries of these departments would expose the truth of this. Of course, Habibullah is likely to rule that these are “state secrets, even though they relate to telephone calls being made by a non-official and her designated underlings to those ostensibly in charge of these departments. Under Sonia Maino, over the past four years the agencies have concentrated not on enemies of the state but foes of Sonia, and as a result, the country has begun to host the same Taliban that has devastated Afghanistan and which is now in the process of laying waste to its creator, Pakistan. A “Taliban Corridor” has been created that links the whole of India with Pakistan, Bangla Desh, Afghanistan and Nepal, the other states where the Taliban nests. Since 2005, because of the somnolence of the UPA, the ISI has succeeded in recruiting hundreds of Indian citizens as foot soldiers in their covert war on India, a battle that is being waged even while Manmohan Singh— following the signal given from the top—seeks to free the leadership in Pakistan from blame for their activities in India

What does the ISI seek? Very briefly, it is to ensure that India by 2018 goes the way of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. That the country disintegrates into a medley of squabbling states and identities, that will tear apart everyday life and make the entire territory a hell for each citizen. They have succeeded in ensuring that today, four hundred million indians living in the urban areas are no longer safe. At any time,any of them can be blown to pieces by explosives that have been allowed to have been brought into the country and processed. Till 2005, the international jihad in India was confined to Kashmir, a state where consistent pandering to (well-funded) Wahabbi fanatics in the Valley has made a breeding ground for terror. Now, at least five states are in almost as much risk of attack as Kashmir, and in more than twelve states, modules of the Taliban nest, awaiting the nod from their controllers in the Pakistan Army.

Both Pakistan and China are alarmed at the prospect of India becoming a major economy, and Beijing is happy to let Islamabad—or more accurately, Lahore and Rawalpindi—do the dirty work of pushing the country back to below the Nehru Rate of Growth of two per cent. According to concerned citizens across the border, the explosives used in the recent Marriott Hotel blasts in Pakistan’s capital were supplied to the army by an allied country in Asia, which was fully aware that the target of such deadly materials was India. Unfortunately for both,the terrorists to whom the material was supplied subsequently decided to use them in Pakistan instead, in order to accelerate their offensive to convert the tribal areas of the country into a safe haven for the Taliban. This allied country has also supplied the Pakistan army with sophisticated communications and encryption equipment, which too has migrated to those active in mayhem in Kashmir. Interestingly, since 2004, the UPA has allowed the steady expansion of the foreign company that has been the primary supplier of sensitive communications technology to the Pakistan army, even though the Government of India (and indeed the company) are aware that the actual beneficiary of such largesse are terrorists. However, now that the Marriott blasts have shown that Pakistan and not India has become the primary target of the jihadis who are being supplied logistical, communications and explosive material by the Pakistan army, perhaps saner voices will prevail on the jihad-loving Chief of Army Staff, Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani, to halt this flow. Perhaps, although the chances of such a change in policy are slight, so deep is Kiyani’s corrosive hatred for India and desire for its collapse, a feeling that he has never concealed from colleagues and foreign allies, including representatives of the country that has emerged as the primary supplier of deadly equipment to the Pakistan Army, including sophisticated explosives, communications and encryption gear, as well as missile and nuclear capability. Incidentally, this is a country where Sonia Maino was treated as Head of State during a recent visit, feted by the President and the Prime Minister in a style denied to poor Manmohan Singh, who is only the Prime Minister.

All those interested in victory against the ruthless struggle-to-the-death launched by the Taliban against India since 2005 will need to avoid activities that play into the hands of the ISI. In particular, care needs to be taken to ensure that places of worship belonging to all communities is protected, and that each citizen is made to feel safe and equal. Under the UPA, there has been a conscious effort to separate the majority community from the rest of the population. Although there has been active discrimination against the majority community, yet a crescendo of misinformation has gone out in India and other countries that religious minorities are not safe in India, a country where affirmative action in support of the minorities has been institutionalised since 1949. The most vicious untruths about this country and its peoples are being carried on by a small band of Indian citizens who travel to international capitals each month for the purpose. Such falsehoods get traction at reports of attacks on religious places of worship, such as those that occured in Mangalapuram and Bengalooru two weeks ago. Rather than take to violence, what is needed is for individual citizens to register FIRs against those guilty of publishing tracts that denigrate any of the religions flourishing in India. For instance, an individual in Andhra Pradesh who has access to the highest officials in that state has brought out more than two dozen tracts that are deeply offensive to the religious sentiments of the majority community. Unlike some learned jurists, who believe for example that salacious representations of the Goddess Sita are simply “pure art”, this columnist believes that while each individual has the right to extol the virtues of her or his faith, such a right does not extend to abuse of other faiths. There is evidence—unfortunately not yet revealed to the media—of substantial financial involvement of a major national party in the attacks on the churches, the same way as this columnist personally witnessed members of that same party funding some of the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002, a week that has emerged as a potent weapon in the hands of detractors of India. Interestingly, few in the media care to report that since that awful period, not a single life has been lost in communal clashes in Gujarat, and this despite severe jihadi provocations such as the Akshardam attack. Indeed, even in the recent Gujarat polls, several individuals who ought to have known better accepted financial help from elements belonging to a major political party to traduce the BJP government in Gujarat. The reality of such subversion underscores the need for all patriotic elements to avoid actions that can help those intent on defaming the country and dividing it

Each citizen of India, whatever be her or his creed, is an equal citizen of this ancient land. Even so fanatic an individual as Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran speaks of the “7000 years of Persian civilisation” while defining himself. Each of us are the inheritors of a vibrant culture that is more than 5000 years old. We come neither from England nor from Turkey, but from the sacred soil of our common motherland. The Taliban seeks to do the bidding of the ISI and convert India into the next Yugoslavia. We must unite to ensure that they fail, we must unite to ensure that the malign grip of the Maino family over this country is removed in the coming elections. Under Sonia Maino, the country has witnessed a steady collapse of its security, its economy, its social cohesion and its democratic polity. Five more years would push India beyond the brink, into disaster. Hopefully, all patriots will accept the challenge and succeed in making the next five years the springboard for Superpower India’s emergence.
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