While BJP was in Power:
Before analyzing the defeat of BJP in the present Lok Sabha election, it is necessary to have a look how the Party came to power in 1999 with 183 MPs. One may recall that in the Lok Sabha elections held in 1998 the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) obtained a simple majority. This time, the BJP had allied with the AIADMK and the Biju Janata Dal besides its existing allies, the Samata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena. Outside support was provided by the Telugu Desam Party. The NDA had a slim majority, and Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister. But the coalition ruptured in May 1999 when the leader of AIADMK, Jayalalitha, withdrew her support, and fresh elections were again called in October, 1999. Within this brief period, BJP did two remarkable jobs that made it popular across the country. Firstly, it conducted the testing of the nuclear device at Pokhran and secondly, it fought the Kargil war with Pakistan in May-July, 1999.
These two achievements were hailed by the entire population who discovered a courageous fighter in BJP, capable of protecting the sovereignty and freedom of the nation and thrashing the rogue enemy state Pakistan. The people of this country gave BJP a hero’s welcome and, as a consequence, in the Lok Sabha election held on October 13, 1999, the BJP-led NDA won 303 seats. The BJP won an all-time high of 183 seats. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time in his life, and Advani became the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister.
But the said image of BJP was considerably shattered when the NDA government shamefully submitted to the unjust demands of the Pakistani terrorists after the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane, Flight no. 814 on December 24, 1999, and released three dreaded terrorists, most undemocratic way, from the Kashmir jail and one cabinet minister went to Kandahar, by a special plane, with those three terrorists and rupees 900 crores and a planeload of high explosive (to be used against India),.as ransom But after the hijacking drama, it would have been proper for the NDA government to order our army to cross the border of Afghanistan and our air force to bomb Kabul and Kandahar. And thus force the terrorists to release 174 passangers and 15 crew members of the hijacked plane. In this context, one may recall how the Russian government dealt with the Chechen terrorists who seized a school in Beslan in 2004.
On December 13, 2001, five terrorists attacked the Parliament House (Sansad Bhawan) in Delhi. It was due to the prompt and brave action of our security forces, six of whom sacrificed their lives, the lives of a few hundred of our MPs were saved. After this incident many of our commentators described it as a rape of our Parliament, or rather a rape of our democracy. Our military top brass advised the government to take immediate military action against Pakistan and hence to teach a good lesson to that rogue state. Some of our top army personnel commented that we had enough of talks, and time had arrived to act. So an army mobilization was ordered and our troops, with their modern sophisticated weapons were dispatched to the Indo-Pak border and were waiting for final signal from our leaders to cross the border. Our troops were waiting for months after months, but the NDA government failed to gather sufficient courage to give that final signal. Ultimately troops were withdrawn wasting nearly three thousand crores of rupees, as the cost of mobilization and wear and tear of the sophisticated weapons. It is important to note that, had the NDA government conducted the military operation against Pakistan and taught that rogue state a good lesson, the people of this country would have given a hero’s welcome to BJP for the second time and they would have voted BJP to victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha election.
On April 21, 2001, Bangladesh Rifles abducted 15 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel into Bangladesh. They subsequently butchered all the 15 BSF men and carried their mutilated bodies like carcass of animals to return the dead bodies in an extremely humiliating manner. As a cover up of that criminal act by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the government of Bangladesh said that our BSF men illegally crossed the Bangladeshi border and hence BDR captured and killed them. It is to be noted here that, even if it is admitted that the BSF men had entered Bangladesh illegally, it was proper for BDR arrest them and produce them in the court of law. In any case, they could not have killed them.
The most justified reply of the NDA government to this heinous crime was to give order to our army to cross the border of Bangladesh and march towards Dhaka. But our leaders, for the lack sufficient courage or for the sake of its newly adopted policy of Muslim appeasement, failed to take military action against even a small and weak nation like Bangladesh. On the contrary, they supported the claim of the government of Bangladesh that our forces had done a wrong and by entering Bangladesh without any provocation. Our PM sent his personal secretary Brojesh Misra to Dhaka to beg pardon on behalf of the Indian Government for the so called offence committed by our BSF personnel.
It is needless to say that all the above mentioned cowardice acts have completely shattered the image BJP had built up by fighting the Kargil War and testing nuclear device at Pokhran. And there is no doubt that this loss of image had played a major role in its defeat in 2004 Lok Sabha election.
The Hindu Nationalist Party Turned Secular:
We should now have a look on the other activities of the NDA government during its tenure that lasted for 6 years. As a matter of fact, the BJP is a direct successor of The Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), founded in 1951 by Dr Syama Prasad Mookherjee and it was considered the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). After the murder of Dr Mookherjee in custody in 1953, the BJS lasted for 24 more years, but never seriously challenged the power of Indian National Congress It is well known that in 1980, a group of top leaders of BJS, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, formed the new party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the RSS duly recognized this new party as its political organ. So, it is not difficult to understand that “Hindutva” was the fundamental basis of BJP and its ultimate goal was to make India a “Hindu Rastra”.
So, before the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 and 1999, the BJP declared the followings as its professed goals. :
1. No special treatment for any religious group or BJP would never resort to appease the Muslims for securing their votes.
2. The Repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution, which prevents non-Kashmiris, including Hindus who have fled the area due to increasing terrorism, from owning property in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
3. The Promulgation of a Uniform Common Civil Code, which create only one personal and civil law code for Hindus, Muslims and Christians.
4. A Ban on Cow Slaughter, to honor the Hindu tradition of not consuming the flesh of cow, and prohibiting the consumption of beef.
5. A Complete Ban on Religious Conversions
6. The Construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya,.
7. To achieve the full territorial and political integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India. Presently over 40% of the territory is under the control of Pakistan and China.
8. Identification of Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators and send them back to Bangladesh and at the same time taking proper steps to stop infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims to West Bengal..
9. Rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pundits, who have been evicted from their home land Kashmir and living as refugees in the refugee camps in Delhi.
But after assuming power, the NDA government did not take any initiative to implement any of the above promises. On the contrary, during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister Sri Vajpayee assured the Kashmiri Muslims that, so long he is the Prime Minister, the Article 370 would continue. During election campaign BJP promised that it would never indulge in appeasement of the Muslims. But after assuming power, NDA government increased Hajj subsidy for the Muslims and hiked the salary of the imams. Previously the Muslims pilgrims intending to go to Mecca to perform Hajj, had to travel to Mumbai and from Mumbai they used to fly to Jeddah at subsidized rate. But the NDA government arranged flights from all the major cities of India to Mecca and built rest houses, specially for the Hajj pilgrims, in all the major cities of the country.
While it was expected that the NDA government, after assuming power, would strive hard to implement the above mentioned national agenda and hence to consolidate Hindu votes, but on the contrary, it displayed a strong inclination to acquire Muslim votes by appeasement of the Muslims. They floated the idea that all Muslims are not anti-nationals and there also exists a large group of good as well as nationalist Muslims, who are to be brought under the banner of BJP. Which was as ridiculous and bogus as saying, “All cobras are not bad and there are good cobras as well.” On the basis of this newly invented ridiculous, baseless and bogus ideology, they started to appease the Muslims in a big way, especially in 2000-2001, when Bangaru Laxman became the president of the Party. It is needless to say that from this time onwards, the Hindus started not only to reject, but to hate BJP and its leaders.
As mentioned above, prior to the 1999 election, BJP promised to identify every Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrator and send them back to Bangladesh. But after assuming power, the NDA government, according to their newly adopted policy of Muslim appeasement, took no step in this direction. On the contrary, it adopted a serious anti Hindu step in this context. Previously, the Hindus who, being persecuted by the Muslims, were coming to India from Bangladesh were treated as refugees. But NDA government deprived the Hindus from this facility (which is the standing policy of the UN) and started to treat the Hindus as infiltrators, like the Muslims. In one incident, a Hindu housewife, to save her life from the Muslim goons of Bangladesh, was crossing the border by swimming a canal and the Indian security forces gunned her down. Due to this step-motherly attitude of the NDA government towards the Bangladeshi Hindus, lakhs of Bangladeshi Hindus are still not getting refugee status and hence any assistance from either the state or the Central government.
Another important promise made by BJP was implementation of the uniform civil code for all the citizens on India, irrespective of religion or other differences. In this context, it is important to note that, a verdict of the Supreme Court in mid-2003 upheld the necessity of enforcing ‘common civil code’ in India, which could liberate India's Muslim women from the shameful gender discrimination like polygamy and oral divorce. But the NDA government, in tune with its new policy of Muslim appeasement, did not take any initiative in this direction, because such a step would have displeased the orthodox Muslim clerics.
Most importantly, the NDA government remained not only silent regarding the construction of temple at Ayodhya, but opposed any attempt or any movement for temple construction. During its tenure Vishwa Hindu Parishad gave a call for a demonstration of the activists at Ayodhya. But to frustrate the effort, NDA government promulgated an ordinance so that police can arrest anyone found to purchase a railway ticket for Ayodhya anywhere in the country. In Kolkata, many VHP workers were arrested and put into police custody, while they were found to purchase railway ticket for Ayodhya at Howrah and Sealdah railway stations. It is really surprising that the NDA government took such step against the people who voted it to power.
When the author of this article asked a BJP leader about this affair, he said that most of the allies of the NDA are secular minded and hence if the government wanted to move forward any issue concerning the Hindus, they would withdraw their support leading to a fall of the NDA government. The question naturally arises – Did the Hindus voted BJP to rule for a full term at the sacrifice of the Hindutva issues? The leaders of BJP failed to understand that, had the government fallen due to an initiative of the BJP to fulfill its pre-election promises, the Hindus would have voted BJP again, perhaps more profusely, and help form the government. But our leaders preferred to remain in power at the sacrifice of its pre-poll promises and thus earned distrust of the Hindus. Many Hindus began to call BJP as “Biswasghatak Janata Party”.
Thus, without caring for the sentiment of the electorate, who voted it to power, BJP or the NDA government dumped all its nationalist agenda into the cold storage and at the fag end of its tenure started to build roads, as if the voters had voted it to power for making roads. Prime Minister Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was, perhaps, confident that the said road building and the economic reforms he had undertaken, would return him to power again. But the poll results 2004 election reflected that he was wrong. He learned the bitter lesson that the Hindu voters did not make him the Prime Minister of India for making roads and bringing economic reforms.
During the 5 year period from 2004 to 2009, BJP has left no stone unturned to expose itself a truly secular party through complete renunciation of its Hindu identity. Its leaders failed to grasp that it drew strength and status from Hindu society alone and it was the Hindus who voted it to power. They failed to learn a lesson from the debacle of 2004 election. So, in stead of Hindutva agenda, they depended on good governance and development to win the 2009 election and kept silence about the most cherished Hindu issues like temple building in Ayodhya, scrapping of Article 370, enforcement of common civil code and so on.
Projecting L K Advani as the Prime Ministerial Candidate:
In this election, the leaders of BJP, without giving much thought, projected elderly Sri L K Advani as its Prime Ministerial candidate, whom a section of the Hindus have identified as a traitor quite a long ago. Sri Advani is the man who, after the demolition of the old temple at Ayodhya on 6th December, 1992, said that it was the most tragic day in his life. Not only that, “Mr. Advani took the demolition of the contentious structure as a personal slight (he had promised the Supreme Court nothing would happen), and without any discussion with senior party colleagues present there, especially then party president Murli Manohar Joshi, resigned his post as Leader of the Opposition by faxing his resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker and releasing the information to the press. The party was faced with an uncomfortable fait accompli” , writes Mrs Sandhya Jain in her recent article L K Advani: From History to Oblivion.
On 4th June, 2007, when Advani was visiting the mausoleum of M A Jinnah in Karachi, Pakistan, said that Jinnah was a great man and he was secular leader. When I asked a BJP leader of West Bengal, about that contentious comment of Advani, to my utmost astonishment, he supported Advani and said, “Advaniji was right. In fact, Jinnah was a staunch secular leader at the beginning of his political career.. But later on Gandhi and Nehru spoiled him.” If this was the BJP-way of looking at things, who would rescue it from its imminent downfall?
Nearly 7-8 years ago, when NDA was in power, Advani said that the day of idealism is over, now the day is of new ideas. Or indirectly, he made it clear that BJP would no longer follow the Hindutva ideology as propagated by its parent organization RSS. Or the ideology which had been identified by Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurovindo, Dr Hedgewar and Guruji Gowalkar as the sole path for the revival of this Hindu nation. All such utterances of Advani makes one to convince that Sri Advani and his coterie have dragged BJP, originally a political party of distinction with the aim for achieving a noble and lofty goal, down to an ordinary political party of petty and conspiratorial politics.
As a result, Hindus lost faith in BJP and its staunch supporters, on their poll-day, remained indoor and enjoyed a holiday. Only 25 per cent of the Hindu electorates turned up at the polling booths to exercise their democratic right and BJP suffered the obvious setback. Only God knows how many years it will take to recover this setback and get back the confidence of the Hindus again.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Indian National Congress, headed by Sonia Gandhi, in INOC v. Kataria, et al. served a Notice of Discontinuance
A bizarre turn of events, Karasik & Associates, attorneys for Indian National Overseas Congress, a subsidiary of Indian National Congress, headed by Sonia Gandhi, in INOC v. Kataria, et al. served a Notice of Discontinuance in the above-named action to Justice Emly Jane Goodman of the Supreme Court of New York on September 29, 2008. The Notice of Discontinuance tantamount to an unconditional surrender by the Congress Party and could be construed as a victory of Dharmic forces. In actuality, the hearing in this case, originally, was scheduled to be held October 2, 2008. The prominent Law Firm of Kornstein, Veisz, Wexler & Pollard represented Narain Kataria, Arish Sahani and Indo Caribbean Council. The stipulation between the attorneys of the two parties was agreed to, signed and stamped in the Court on October 2, 2008. Prior to this last month a similar case filed by INOC in New Jersey Court against Sunanda Thali, Satyanarayana Dosapati, Naresh Sharma, and Mahatma Gandhi International Foundation, Inc., was summarily dismissed by the Judge who found that the Plaintiff had no locus standi in filing such a frivolous case. It is a matter of great happiness for all NRIs, particularly Hindus, that the famous adage from Vedic literature Satya Mev Jayate (Truth shall always prevail, once again, prevailed in New York and New Jersey Courts, on the Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi! In this connection, it should be noted that the INOC had filed these two lawsuits on the alleged grounds that Kataria, Sahani et al had defamed President of Indian National Congress, Sonia Gandhi, by bringing out a full page advertisements in The New York Times, dated October 6, 2007. Some extracts from that advertisement are as follows: “UN’s declaration of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday on October 2nd as the International Non-Violence Day is commendable. However, instead of a true Gandhian delivering his message of peace and non-violence, Sonia Gandhi who is not a representative of Gandhian values is chosen. “Sonia Maino Gandhi is NOT related to Mahatma Gandhi. She is attempting to misappropriate his name for political mileage and international legitimacy. “Sonia is known to be vindictive and undemocratic. Her party uses various mechanisms, such as tax raids, direct threats to subjugate opposition. “Due to her party’s pro-terrorist policies, India has second highest number of terrorism victims after Iraq. Her Government is requesting clemency to Afzal Guru, the mastermind of attack on Indian Parliament. In pursuit of Muslim vote bank, she has created soft borders and turned a blind eye towards Islamic fundamentalism. “Her husband Rajiv Gandhi is alleged to have received payments from KGB. According to Schweizer, Illustrierte, Rajiv has a secret Swiss Bank account of 2 billion dollars. Her son Rahul projected as next Prime Minister of India, was detained by FBI with large unaccounted cash at Boston Airport in 2001. (Swiss magazine Schweizer, Illustrierte 11/1991, Indo Asian News Service).
detention of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and his Colombian girlfriend by (FBI) in 2001
A suit has been filed in the high court here seeking information about the alleged detention of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and his Colombian girlfriend by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2001.
The petition, filed by four lawyers, is likely to be heard Wednesday.
According to the public interest litigation, Gandhi, the son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and his companion were released after being detained at Boston airport following the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office.
At that time, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Indian prime minister and Gandhi was not a member of the Lok Sabha.
"Vajpayee's principal secretary and then national security adviser Brajesh Misra spoke to top US authorities to enable Rahul Gandhi and his girlfriend to get away," claimed Prem Chandra Sharma, who moved the court along with three others.
Sharma claimed to have gathered this information through the Internet and said he had downloaded certain do events to substantiate his allegations.
The petition alleged that Gandhi was found in illegal possession of about $200,000. And it was in that connection that the FBI had detained him along with his girlfriend Sep 21, 2001.
The FBI was said to have sought an explanation about Gandhi's possession of such a huge amount of money, which he was unable to provide, the petition said.
The petition sought a writ of mandamus to the Indian ambassador to the US as well as the union home secretary to make a disclosure about the entire episode. "
The petition, filed by four lawyers, is likely to be heard Wednesday.
According to the public interest litigation, Gandhi, the son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and his companion were released after being detained at Boston airport following the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office.
At that time, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Indian prime minister and Gandhi was not a member of the Lok Sabha.
"Vajpayee's principal secretary and then national security adviser Brajesh Misra spoke to top US authorities to enable Rahul Gandhi and his girlfriend to get away," claimed Prem Chandra Sharma, who moved the court along with three others.
Sharma claimed to have gathered this information through the Internet and said he had downloaded certain do events to substantiate his allegations.
The petition alleged that Gandhi was found in illegal possession of about $200,000. And it was in that connection that the FBI had detained him along with his girlfriend Sep 21, 2001.
The FBI was said to have sought an explanation about Gandhi's possession of such a huge amount of money, which he was unable to provide, the petition said.
The petition sought a writ of mandamus to the Indian ambassador to the US as well as the union home secretary to make a disclosure about the entire episode. "
Dr. Bruce Hoffman and Dr. Marc Sageman rise of leaderless jihadis reduced the danger from Al Qaeda
A big debate is going on presently between Dr. Bruce Hoffman and Dr. Marc Sageman, two well-known terrorism analysts of the US, regarding the phenomenon of angry individual Muslims, not belonging to any organisation, taking to jihadi terrorism. Dr. Sageman, in his latest book, calls them leaderless jihadis. Dr. Hoffman is a reputed academic, formerly of the Rand Corporation and now of the Georgetown University, Washington DC. Dr. Sargeman is a retired officer of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
2. Has the rise of leaderless jihadis reduced the danger from Al Qaeda as an organisation? Can the present counter-terrorism policies and techniques, which were tailor-made to confront organisations such as Al Qaeda, be effective when the danger is no longer from organisations but from individuals? That is the central point of their debate.
3. Both are right and both are wrong. It is true---as pointed out by Sageman--- that more and more individual Muslims, out of anger, are taking to jihadi terrorism without identifying themselves with Al Qaeda. We in India have been seeing this phenomenon since 9/11. The West has been seeing it since the Madrid train blasts of March, 2004. Pakistan has been facing this since the commando raid in the Lal Masjid of Islamabad in July last. The 56 suicide terrorists, who committed acts of suicide terrorism in different parts of Pakistan last year, were not members of Al Qaeda, though, personally, they were admirers of bin Laden.
4. At the same time, these individual jihadis---whom I have called citizen jihadis in my articles written after July, 2007--- have the capability only for tactical terrorist strikes, but not strikes of a strategic nature such as an act of maritime terrorism, or strikes directed at energy supplies or strikes involving weapons of mass destruction material. These are terrorists born out of the anger of the moment. They give vent to their anger through tactical strikes, but have no strategic objective.
5. Only Al Qaeda and other similar organisations have the capability for terrorist strikes of a strategic nature, which could cause mass casualties, mass economic damage, mass disruption and mass panic. Al Qaeda, which is a flexible organisation, has adapted itself to this phenomenon of individual jihadis by encouraging and helping them to do whatever they want, while retaining to itself the leadership role in respect of strategic strikes.
6. Any meaningful counter-terrorism policy has to cater to the continuing resilience of Al Qaeda while at the same time evolving new techniques of dealing with individual jihadis with no organisational affiliation.
7.Prof.Hoffman is right in warning that the rise of individual jihadis should not be interpreted as meaning that the strategic threat from Al Qaeda is diminishing.
8. I am appending below an extract from my latest book on "Terrorism: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow", which has some relevance to this debate.
- two months before the Madrid blasts and 18 months before the London blasts---Hossam el-Hamalawy, an Egyptian free-lance journalist, in an article drew attention to the emergence of the phenomenon of free-lance jihadis----that is, individual Muslims not belonging to any organisation, who take to jihad against the US and Israel because of their anger against their policies. His article was titled Crusaders Vs Soldiers of Allah (Jundullah).
He wrote: Quote Observers in Cairo have highlighted the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada, September 11 attacks, and the US-led onslaught on Afghanistan and Iraq as triggers to the ongoing radicalization across the Muslim World, a radicalization that is feeding Islamist militancy, especially as Muslims could clearly see that it is largely the Islamists who are now on the forefront of the struggle to end Western hegemony in the region. It has never been that easy for rage to meet ideology. “September 11 was Islamism’s Suez War,” said Diaa Rashwan, an analyst with Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “Nasser’s defiance of the West in 1956 was the virtual birthmark of pan-Arabism. September 11 attacks and the war on terror served the same purpose for pan-Islamism. They united Muslims around the world by the sense that ‘we are all under attack by the West, and we have to do something.’ ”This is pushing, Rashwan argues, new actors to enter the stage
of armed politics: the “freelance jihadis.” Unquote.
Enquiries with well-informed sources in the Islamic world show that Jundullah is not the name of any particular organisation. It is the name of a pan-Islamic, anti-US and anti-Israel suicide terrorism phenomenon which is creeping across the Islamic world and the Muslim diaspora in the Western countries. Everybody, who takes to suicide terrorism against the US or Israel-----whether individually or as a member of a jihadi organisation---looks upon himself or herself as a Jundullah---a soldier of Allah. All pan-Islamic jihadi organisations---whether Al Qaeda or any other organisation--- look upon themselves as Jundullah fighting to establish the sovereignty of Allah over the Islamic world and to "liberate" areas which, according to them, historically belonged to the Ummah.
The Jundullah phenomenon has made its appearance in Pakistan at a time when more and more individual Muslims are taking to jihad and suicide terrorism out of their own volition. They were not made into suicide terrorists, with offers of money, women or a place in heaven by their religious leaders. One has been seeing this not only in Afghanistan, but also in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Traditional pan-Islamic jihadi organisations allied with Al Qaeda in its International Islamic Front (IIF) such as the Pakistan-based Neo Taliban of Afghanistan, the various brands of Taliban of the tribal areas of Pakistan, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-Al Islami (HUJI), the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) and Gulbuddin Heckmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami (HEI) have been claiming credit for the acts of terrorism of these citizen jihadis and trying to give an
impression as if all that has been happening in the areas on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has been orchestrated by them.
It is true that these organisations continue to play an active role in the further radicalisation of the people of these areas and in egging them on to join the on-going jihad. At the same time, an increasing number of incidents being reported from these areas is the result of individual jihadi initiatives by persons unconnected with any of the known organisations. That is why the Pakistani Police has not been able to make much headway in its investigation of the acts of suicide terrorism, which have been taking place at regular intervals in different parts of the NWFP.
New leaders, new cadres, new groups and new mullas are coming up almost every other week and taking to jihadi terrorism. Old fundamentalist leaders of the 1980 Afghan war vintage such as Qazi Hussain Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam (JUI) of Pakistan, Maulana Samiul Haq of another faction of the JUI, Prof.Hafeez Mohammad Sayeed of the LET, Maulana Masood Azhar of the JEM, Fazlur Rahman Khalil of the HUM and Qari Saifullah Akhtar of the HUJI no longer command the kind of influence and obedience which they commanded in the past. Fatwas of the Mullas of the past do not carry much weight with these citizen jihadis. They ignored with contempt a fatwa against suicide terrorism against fellow Muslims issued by a group of old Mullas.
The traditional organisations of Afghan vintage were exploiting factors such as the alleged foreign occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the perceived occupation of Muslim lands in Palestine, Jammu & Kashmir, Chechnya, Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand, the Arakan area of Myanmar etc by non-Muslims, violation of the human rights of the Muslims etc for motivating their recruits and making them take to suicide terrorism.
The citizen jihadis of Pakistan’s tribal belt, who see no TV, Internet and video players which they regard as evil, have no way of seeing with their own eyes what is happening in other lands and far-away places. They are being influenced more by what they hear on the FM radio stations operating in the tribal areas. Many Mullas have their own FM radio station. These stations have been propagating highly exaggerated accounts of the humiliation allegedly being inflicted on Muslims all over the world and of the evil impact of cultural globalisation on their religion, men, women and children. The news of Ms.Nilofer Bakhtiar, a former Pakistani Minister, letting herself be hugged by her French gliding instructor spread far and wide in the tribal areas through such FM stations. Stories of the evil influence of foreign culture on the Islamic way of life, trivialisation by foreign analysts of what is projected as the glorious instances of martyrdom by suicide terrorists etc are addin
g to the number of citizen jihadis.
The Internet plays an active role in the spread of pernicious ideas and calls for action in the Western world and in other countries such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Algeria etc, but in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where the literacy rate is very low, it is the word of mouth and the FM broadcasts, which are instigating individual Muslims to acts of terrorism in the name of jihad.
In the non-tribal areas of Pakistan and in the Muslim diaspora in the West, the Internet plays an important role in motivation. A typical example of the spread of the Jundullah phenomenon to the diaspora abroad was the cell consisting of two Indian Muslims and some Arabs, which tried in vain to carry out acts of terrorism in London and Glasgow in June, 2007. They were self-motivated Jundullahs not associated with any organization.
Al Qaeda and other structured jihadi organizations are concerned over this phenomenon because if this trend continues, it could affect the flow of volunteers and funds to their organisations. It is said that many angry Muslims in the non-tribal areas and in the diaspora no longer flock to these organisations to volunteer their services for suicide terrorism. Instead, they rush to the nearest Internet Cafe to learn how to be a suicide bomber, gang up with a small number of like-minded persons, pool their savings, buy material which could be converted into explosives and embark on their suicide missions.
For these Made-in-the-Internet suicide bombers, the cyber world has become a virtual Ummah and everyone of them looks upon himself as a bin Laden or as an Amir fighting for the cause of his religion.
Concern over this development has been openly expressed by Maulana Masood Azhar, the Amir of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) of Pakistan, in an article in "Al Qalam", a publication of the JEM, written before the Pakistani Army raid into the Lal Masjid of Islamabad in July, 2007. He said: "Now, there are hundreds of jihadi outfits and hundreds of Amirs. Most of these Amirs are computer operators, who have become jihadis by watching CDs of jihad. They have received jihadi training through websites. They think that via the Internet, they have become Amirs. If they come across a gullible youth, they tie a bomb around his body and send him to jihadi battlefields. Some of the jihadis are in the business of drugs, human smuggling and kidnapping for ransom. Jihad has become everybody's business. Now, it is difficult to control these jihadis."
However, unlike the JEM, Al Qaeda's reaction to this phenomenon has been more nuanced. It does not claim responsibility for these individual attacks, but at the same time, it does not discourage them. It has been trying to give the impression that it is still in total control of the global jihad and that whatever has been happening in the world in the form of jihadi attacks----whether by individuals not belonging to any organisation or by those belonging to Al Qaeda and other organisations---- is in pursuance of its global jihadi strategy. The stepping-up of its propaganda offensive and dire warnings since the beginning of 2007 are part of its strategy of creating an impression that it continues to be in total control of the jihad.
2. Has the rise of leaderless jihadis reduced the danger from Al Qaeda as an organisation? Can the present counter-terrorism policies and techniques, which were tailor-made to confront organisations such as Al Qaeda, be effective when the danger is no longer from organisations but from individuals? That is the central point of their debate.
3. Both are right and both are wrong. It is true---as pointed out by Sageman--- that more and more individual Muslims, out of anger, are taking to jihadi terrorism without identifying themselves with Al Qaeda. We in India have been seeing this phenomenon since 9/11. The West has been seeing it since the Madrid train blasts of March, 2004. Pakistan has been facing this since the commando raid in the Lal Masjid of Islamabad in July last. The 56 suicide terrorists, who committed acts of suicide terrorism in different parts of Pakistan last year, were not members of Al Qaeda, though, personally, they were admirers of bin Laden.
4. At the same time, these individual jihadis---whom I have called citizen jihadis in my articles written after July, 2007--- have the capability only for tactical terrorist strikes, but not strikes of a strategic nature such as an act of maritime terrorism, or strikes directed at energy supplies or strikes involving weapons of mass destruction material. These are terrorists born out of the anger of the moment. They give vent to their anger through tactical strikes, but have no strategic objective.
5. Only Al Qaeda and other similar organisations have the capability for terrorist strikes of a strategic nature, which could cause mass casualties, mass economic damage, mass disruption and mass panic. Al Qaeda, which is a flexible organisation, has adapted itself to this phenomenon of individual jihadis by encouraging and helping them to do whatever they want, while retaining to itself the leadership role in respect of strategic strikes.
6. Any meaningful counter-terrorism policy has to cater to the continuing resilience of Al Qaeda while at the same time evolving new techniques of dealing with individual jihadis with no organisational affiliation.
7.Prof.Hoffman is right in warning that the rise of individual jihadis should not be interpreted as meaning that the strategic threat from Al Qaeda is diminishing.
8. I am appending below an extract from my latest book on "Terrorism: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow", which has some relevance to this debate.
- two months before the Madrid blasts and 18 months before the London blasts---Hossam el-Hamalawy, an Egyptian free-lance journalist, in an article drew attention to the emergence of the phenomenon of free-lance jihadis----that is, individual Muslims not belonging to any organisation, who take to jihad against the US and Israel because of their anger against their policies. His article was titled Crusaders Vs Soldiers of Allah (Jundullah).
He wrote: Quote Observers in Cairo have highlighted the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada, September 11 attacks, and the US-led onslaught on Afghanistan and Iraq as triggers to the ongoing radicalization across the Muslim World, a radicalization that is feeding Islamist militancy, especially as Muslims could clearly see that it is largely the Islamists who are now on the forefront of the struggle to end Western hegemony in the region. It has never been that easy for rage to meet ideology. “September 11 was Islamism’s Suez War,” said Diaa Rashwan, an analyst with Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “Nasser’s defiance of the West in 1956 was the virtual birthmark of pan-Arabism. September 11 attacks and the war on terror served the same purpose for pan-Islamism. They united Muslims around the world by the sense that ‘we are all under attack by the West, and we have to do something.’ ”This is pushing, Rashwan argues, new actors to enter the stage
of armed politics: the “freelance jihadis.” Unquote.
Enquiries with well-informed sources in the Islamic world show that Jundullah is not the name of any particular organisation. It is the name of a pan-Islamic, anti-US and anti-Israel suicide terrorism phenomenon which is creeping across the Islamic world and the Muslim diaspora in the Western countries. Everybody, who takes to suicide terrorism against the US or Israel-----whether individually or as a member of a jihadi organisation---looks upon himself or herself as a Jundullah---a soldier of Allah. All pan-Islamic jihadi organisations---whether Al Qaeda or any other organisation--- look upon themselves as Jundullah fighting to establish the sovereignty of Allah over the Islamic world and to "liberate" areas which, according to them, historically belonged to the Ummah.
The Jundullah phenomenon has made its appearance in Pakistan at a time when more and more individual Muslims are taking to jihad and suicide terrorism out of their own volition. They were not made into suicide terrorists, with offers of money, women or a place in heaven by their religious leaders. One has been seeing this not only in Afghanistan, but also in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Traditional pan-Islamic jihadi organisations allied with Al Qaeda in its International Islamic Front (IIF) such as the Pakistan-based Neo Taliban of Afghanistan, the various brands of Taliban of the tribal areas of Pakistan, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-Al Islami (HUJI), the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) and Gulbuddin Heckmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami (HEI) have been claiming credit for the acts of terrorism of these citizen jihadis and trying to give an
impression as if all that has been happening in the areas on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has been orchestrated by them.
It is true that these organisations continue to play an active role in the further radicalisation of the people of these areas and in egging them on to join the on-going jihad. At the same time, an increasing number of incidents being reported from these areas is the result of individual jihadi initiatives by persons unconnected with any of the known organisations. That is why the Pakistani Police has not been able to make much headway in its investigation of the acts of suicide terrorism, which have been taking place at regular intervals in different parts of the NWFP.
New leaders, new cadres, new groups and new mullas are coming up almost every other week and taking to jihadi terrorism. Old fundamentalist leaders of the 1980 Afghan war vintage such as Qazi Hussain Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam (JUI) of Pakistan, Maulana Samiul Haq of another faction of the JUI, Prof.Hafeez Mohammad Sayeed of the LET, Maulana Masood Azhar of the JEM, Fazlur Rahman Khalil of the HUM and Qari Saifullah Akhtar of the HUJI no longer command the kind of influence and obedience which they commanded in the past. Fatwas of the Mullas of the past do not carry much weight with these citizen jihadis. They ignored with contempt a fatwa against suicide terrorism against fellow Muslims issued by a group of old Mullas.
The traditional organisations of Afghan vintage were exploiting factors such as the alleged foreign occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the perceived occupation of Muslim lands in Palestine, Jammu & Kashmir, Chechnya, Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand, the Arakan area of Myanmar etc by non-Muslims, violation of the human rights of the Muslims etc for motivating their recruits and making them take to suicide terrorism.
The citizen jihadis of Pakistan’s tribal belt, who see no TV, Internet and video players which they regard as evil, have no way of seeing with their own eyes what is happening in other lands and far-away places. They are being influenced more by what they hear on the FM radio stations operating in the tribal areas. Many Mullas have their own FM radio station. These stations have been propagating highly exaggerated accounts of the humiliation allegedly being inflicted on Muslims all over the world and of the evil impact of cultural globalisation on their religion, men, women and children. The news of Ms.Nilofer Bakhtiar, a former Pakistani Minister, letting herself be hugged by her French gliding instructor spread far and wide in the tribal areas through such FM stations. Stories of the evil influence of foreign culture on the Islamic way of life, trivialisation by foreign analysts of what is projected as the glorious instances of martyrdom by suicide terrorists etc are addin
g to the number of citizen jihadis.
The Internet plays an active role in the spread of pernicious ideas and calls for action in the Western world and in other countries such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Algeria etc, but in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where the literacy rate is very low, it is the word of mouth and the FM broadcasts, which are instigating individual Muslims to acts of terrorism in the name of jihad.
In the non-tribal areas of Pakistan and in the Muslim diaspora in the West, the Internet plays an important role in motivation. A typical example of the spread of the Jundullah phenomenon to the diaspora abroad was the cell consisting of two Indian Muslims and some Arabs, which tried in vain to carry out acts of terrorism in London and Glasgow in June, 2007. They were self-motivated Jundullahs not associated with any organization.
Al Qaeda and other structured jihadi organizations are concerned over this phenomenon because if this trend continues, it could affect the flow of volunteers and funds to their organisations. It is said that many angry Muslims in the non-tribal areas and in the diaspora no longer flock to these organisations to volunteer their services for suicide terrorism. Instead, they rush to the nearest Internet Cafe to learn how to be a suicide bomber, gang up with a small number of like-minded persons, pool their savings, buy material which could be converted into explosives and embark on their suicide missions.
For these Made-in-the-Internet suicide bombers, the cyber world has become a virtual Ummah and everyone of them looks upon himself as a bin Laden or as an Amir fighting for the cause of his religion.
Concern over this development has been openly expressed by Maulana Masood Azhar, the Amir of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) of Pakistan, in an article in "Al Qalam", a publication of the JEM, written before the Pakistani Army raid into the Lal Masjid of Islamabad in July, 2007. He said: "Now, there are hundreds of jihadi outfits and hundreds of Amirs. Most of these Amirs are computer operators, who have become jihadis by watching CDs of jihad. They have received jihadi training through websites. They think that via the Internet, they have become Amirs. If they come across a gullible youth, they tie a bomb around his body and send him to jihadi battlefields. Some of the jihadis are in the business of drugs, human smuggling and kidnapping for ransom. Jihad has become everybody's business. Now, it is difficult to control these jihadis."
However, unlike the JEM, Al Qaeda's reaction to this phenomenon has been more nuanced. It does not claim responsibility for these individual attacks, but at the same time, it does not discourage them. It has been trying to give the impression that it is still in total control of the global jihad and that whatever has been happening in the world in the form of jihadi attacks----whether by individuals not belonging to any organisation or by those belonging to Al Qaeda and other organisations---- is in pursuance of its global jihadi strategy. The stepping-up of its propaganda offensive and dire warnings since the beginning of 2007 are part of its strategy of creating an impression that it continues to be in total control of the jihad.
4000 Muslim thugs & terrorists in West Bengal attack Hindu camp in Gangasagar
4000 Muslim thugs & terrorists in West Bengal attack Hindu camp in Gangasagar, West Bengal.
There is no place for such openly violent criminals and hate mongers in a democratic, pluralistic India.
The addressees must act immediately.
They should be arrested immediately, an investigation launched and the perpetrators severely punished to
deter such terrorist crimes being committed by such Islamic fundamentalists in the future. [If such things
happened in India's neighboring countries like Pakistan or Bangladesh, the Hindus or other minority
perpetrators would have received the most brutal treatment befitting the infidels.]
Date, place, some of the victims etc. and indications of likely ring leaders, if known.
An advance copy can be e-mailed to those addressees with copy sent of some newspapers like The Indian
Express, Telegraph, Pioneer, Hindu etc. Please start an online short petiton immediately to the President & Prime Minister in India copy to Leader of Opposition & Chief Minister of West Bengal & the Indian Ambassadors & High Commissioners
There is no place for such openly violent criminals and hate mongers in a democratic, pluralistic India.
The addressees must act immediately.
They should be arrested immediately, an investigation launched and the perpetrators severely punished to
deter such terrorist crimes being committed by such Islamic fundamentalists in the future. [If such things
happened in India's neighboring countries like Pakistan or Bangladesh, the Hindus or other minority
perpetrators would have received the most brutal treatment befitting the infidels.]
Date, place, some of the victims etc. and indications of likely ring leaders, if known.
An advance copy can be e-mailed to those addressees with copy sent of some newspapers like The Indian
Express, Telegraph, Pioneer, Hindu etc. Please start an online short petiton immediately to the President & Prime Minister in India copy to Leader of Opposition & Chief Minister of West Bengal & the Indian Ambassadors & High Commissioners
seventh anniversary of our Parliament Attack
13 December 2008 will be the seventh anniversary of our Parliament Attack. The dreaded Islamic terrorist Mohammed Afzal Guru has not been hanged yet despite the Supreme Court's verdict of sending him to the gallows. The present UPA government, in sheer contempt for the Supreme Court, has refused to hang him.
In the meantime, the grief stricken families of the great martyrs have returned the gold medals to the government and this shameless government has kept those medals with it, without showing any remorse, but showing scant regards to those people. It is outrageous that this UPA has insulted the families of their own saviors!
The lack of will and the impotency of this government have led to enormous escalation of Islamic terrorism, which has reduced this nation to the level of Iraq, Ahghanistan and Pakistan.
In the aftermath of the Mumbai attack in which we have lost hundreds of our brothers, sisters and children, it is our responsibility to remind this impotent government and put pressure on it to do its duty of honouring the Supreme Court's verdict.
Hence, we, a group of citizens, have decided to submit a petition to the Honourable President of India to direct the UPA government, in her capacity as the Head of the State, to carry out the punishment for Afzal Guru by honouring the Supreme Court's verdict.
Arrangements have been made to go, along with the families of the martyrs, to meet the President in person and handover this petition, exactly on the 12th of December. We just have nine days to collect as much signatures as possible. Therefore, we request you all to kindly sign this petition and forward it to all your contacts, so that, we can make the government hear the "voice of the citizens".
In the meantime, the grief stricken families of the great martyrs have returned the gold medals to the government and this shameless government has kept those medals with it, without showing any remorse, but showing scant regards to those people. It is outrageous that this UPA has insulted the families of their own saviors!
The lack of will and the impotency of this government have led to enormous escalation of Islamic terrorism, which has reduced this nation to the level of Iraq, Ahghanistan and Pakistan.
In the aftermath of the Mumbai attack in which we have lost hundreds of our brothers, sisters and children, it is our responsibility to remind this impotent government and put pressure on it to do its duty of honouring the Supreme Court's verdict.
Hence, we, a group of citizens, have decided to submit a petition to the Honourable President of India to direct the UPA government, in her capacity as the Head of the State, to carry out the punishment for Afzal Guru by honouring the Supreme Court's verdict.
Arrangements have been made to go, along with the families of the martyrs, to meet the President in person and handover this petition, exactly on the 12th of December. We just have nine days to collect as much signatures as possible. Therefore, we request you all to kindly sign this petition and forward it to all your contacts, so that, we can make the government hear the "voice of the citizens".
Maoists and Muslim fundamentalists internal contradictions and political ramifications
12: Maoists and Muslim fundamentalists — they may seem to be the most unlikely partners. But in a move which is rife with much internal contradictions and political ramifications, the two are coming together to forge a national platform to combat “state terror”.
Calling themselves “the victims of state terror”, the two improbable partners had sat together for the first time and called for resistance against all kinds of terror unleashed by the State and Central governments against Maoists and Muslims. The meeting was held in Kerala last month.
The main forces behind the move are — ‘Porattom’, a Maoist group having base in South India, Minority Watch, a human rights organisation suspected of having close links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and National Democratic Front (NDF), a radical Muslim group accused of having similar links with the banned Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS).
“Maoists and Muslims share the similar plight of being the victims of the state terror. The best way to eliminate anyone who raises his voice against the wrong doings of the State is to brand him as a Naxalite. Similar is the plight of Muslim brethren. Whenever and wherever there is a terrorist attack, the community as a whole is brought under the eye of suspicion. Every Muslim is being treated as a potential terrorist. It is in this background that we have decided to join hands to combat this state sponsored terrorism,” said Ravunni, general convener of Porattom.
Nazaruddeen Elamarom of the NDF also echoed similar views. “The Maoists and the Muslims are the worst affected victims of state terror. We are the favourite whipping boys of the Government as we are clubbed together as anti-nationals. And this is the common thread that connects the two,” he said. According to him, it is for the first time that the Naxalites and Muslim groups are coming together for espousing a similar cause.
Nazarudden maintained that the fight would be against the upper caste ruling elite forces of Hindutva and imperialism who have the agenda of hunting down Maoists and Muslims. “This is for upholding human rights and to stop the fascists,” he added.
The agenda of the Maoist-Muslim joint platform group includes withdrawal of ban on SIMI and a total full stop to encounter killings. They also want the Naxalites to be given the treatment of war prisoners.
According to Ravunni, they are in touch with many other Maoist and Muslim groups across the country. “We are planning to hold our next meetings in Bangalore and Calcutta. We would be deciding upon the nature and structure of the joint platform in those meetings and it would have a pan Indian nature,” he said. Ravunni said that the meeting has brought together two victim groups together and the rest of the fight would be fought together.
Acknowledging that it was an unlikely alliance, Ravunni said: “A lot of complexities are involved in this coming together.” “But we would unite to fight against the common enemy putting aside differences in their ideologies,” he added.
The meeting was also attended by some civil society movements including Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) and People’s Union Civil Liberty (PUCL) working against encounter killings and anti-terror laws.
Calling themselves “the victims of state terror”, the two improbable partners had sat together for the first time and called for resistance against all kinds of terror unleashed by the State and Central governments against Maoists and Muslims. The meeting was held in Kerala last month.
The main forces behind the move are — ‘Porattom’, a Maoist group having base in South India, Minority Watch, a human rights organisation suspected of having close links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and National Democratic Front (NDF), a radical Muslim group accused of having similar links with the banned Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS).
“Maoists and Muslims share the similar plight of being the victims of the state terror. The best way to eliminate anyone who raises his voice against the wrong doings of the State is to brand him as a Naxalite. Similar is the plight of Muslim brethren. Whenever and wherever there is a terrorist attack, the community as a whole is brought under the eye of suspicion. Every Muslim is being treated as a potential terrorist. It is in this background that we have decided to join hands to combat this state sponsored terrorism,” said Ravunni, general convener of Porattom.
Nazaruddeen Elamarom of the NDF also echoed similar views. “The Maoists and the Muslims are the worst affected victims of state terror. We are the favourite whipping boys of the Government as we are clubbed together as anti-nationals. And this is the common thread that connects the two,” he said. According to him, it is for the first time that the Naxalites and Muslim groups are coming together for espousing a similar cause.
Nazarudden maintained that the fight would be against the upper caste ruling elite forces of Hindutva and imperialism who have the agenda of hunting down Maoists and Muslims. “This is for upholding human rights and to stop the fascists,” he added.
The agenda of the Maoist-Muslim joint platform group includes withdrawal of ban on SIMI and a total full stop to encounter killings. They also want the Naxalites to be given the treatment of war prisoners.
According to Ravunni, they are in touch with many other Maoist and Muslim groups across the country. “We are planning to hold our next meetings in Bangalore and Calcutta. We would be deciding upon the nature and structure of the joint platform in those meetings and it would have a pan Indian nature,” he said. Ravunni said that the meeting has brought together two victim groups together and the rest of the fight would be fought together.
Acknowledging that it was an unlikely alliance, Ravunni said: “A lot of complexities are involved in this coming together.” “But we would unite to fight against the common enemy putting aside differences in their ideologies,” he added.
The meeting was also attended by some civil society movements including Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) and People’s Union Civil Liberty (PUCL) working against encounter killings and anti-terror laws.
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