Internal Security Watch

[Singha]

is it possible to buy 59 revolvers and 2000 ammo in Dubai OTC ?

[Kati]

Link

Muslims helped crack Mumbai terror module
10 Oct 2008, 1010 hrs IST, Mateen Hafeez & Nitasha Natu,TNN

MUMBAI: Crime branch officials tracking terror suspects in Mumbai were sheltered by Muslim families in their homes for a few days. The undercover officers took the families into confidence and used their houses as bases to observe the movements of the suspects before zeroing in on them.

“They played a very important role by supporting us in our operation,’’ joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria said. Several suspects who were picked up from Mumbai and the neighbouring districts stayed in Muslim-dominated areas. For the cops, it was very difficult to move around there without being noticed.

The police identified some families through their contacts in Kurla, Cheetah Camp, and Mumbra, where the officers were provided shelter by Muslim families. “We stayed there for two days, watched the movements of the suspects and kept passing on the information to the crime branch headquarters where senior officers worked on it,’’ a police officer said. The basic idea was to confirm the identities of the suspects before picking them up.

In one instance, an officer apparently shot pictures of a suspect with his cellphone and sent it to headquarters where it was shown to one of the arrested accused. “He confirmed the identity, after which the suspect was arrested,’’ the officer said.

What exactly is the point of the article?

Doesnt this reinforce the impression most common folks have these days that only a few "special" muslims will help out the law enforcement agencies? The very fact that a few muslims helping the police makes headlines suggests(rightfully or wrongly) that most of the community dont...

Would we have such articles if the local hindus/sikhs/jains had helped the police in their investigations??

Whether we like it or not, various security agencies need to recruit more personnel from the minority communities. In the Mumbai case probably it was CP(?) Hassan Gafoor's personal connection with various minority orgs which paid rich dividends in tracking the modules.

Kolkata Police has a fairly large number of minority personnel at high places. there is
no shortage of highly educated and liberal minorities (though this is becoming an oxymoron after the IM module bust) in the city's intellegentia who are willing to work for the security personnel. But sometimes their warnings fall on the way-side. For example, Jamaat's wild-cat
rampage in the city several months ago against Taslima Nasreen had early warnings, but all in vain. Another problem is the shortage of people in city/state police force who are fluent in urdu and arabic. Recent handbills in border regions sent from BD were in urdu/arabic urging
mosques, in the name of OBL, to rise against the infidels. It took a while to translate those
handbills and finding their origins.

[Rye]

What exactly is the point of the article?

That the police/security agencies cannot do effective law enforcement without the cooperation of the Muslim community.

[Rye]

The Home Minister seems to be getting a bad rap because the media seems to dislike him -- this fact never came out in the media until today, and that too only because it was raised during the NIC meet.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/modi- ... ../373073/

But Patil intervened when Patnaik alleged that the Centre had not dispatched enough Central forces to Orissa. “I don’t want to intervene. But what you are saying is wrong. You asked for four battalions and I gave you nine. I did so under difficult circumstances. I had to withdraw forces from the international border,” Patil was quoted as having said. When Patnaik said “they are not acting”, Patil told him: “They are under your control. You have to utilise them.”

[Philip]

Frontline on the confusion in the investigating agencies after the serial terror blasts.What is the truth? One inescapable fact ,from events,is that our anti-terror infrastructure growth has been only 5% in 15 years as stated.A new national anti-terror agency is the top priority,which should be established at once,with a top cop/intel officer at its head armed with the full authority to take any action neccessary to combat this (mainly) Islamist terror afflicting the nation.

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/2 ... 102400.htm

Crime stories
VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
in New Delhi and Azamgarh
Confusion prevails in India’s internal security establishment after the Delhi blasts.

V. SUDERSHAN

In Jamia Nagar, a day after the police encounter of September 19.

“IT does not require supreme deductive skills to understand that the Indian internal security establishment is in a state of confusion vis-a-vis investigation’s into the terrorist blasts. Over many years, the level of success in terms of prosecution has been very limited in cases relating to terrorist incidents and the pressures from the political establishment has increased continuously on account of this. Various segments of the Indian police system as well as the police departments in different States seem to have got into an indecorous competition amongst themselves in their attempts to deal with the political pressure. The country has been presented with a ludicrous exhibition of the same in recent days. It is time that the Union Home Ministry took serious note of this and came up with a detailed analysis of the failures and foibles in order to evolve effective guidelines that would streamline the functioning of the internal security establishment.” This is how K.S. Subramanian, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and author of Political Violence and the Police in India, responded to queries on the Delhi blasts of September 13 and 27.

The point made by the former Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer has been underscored by a number of happenings in the last three weeks of September. Six days after the September 13 blasts, the Delhi Police and the Special Cell for anti-terrorist operations killed two suspected extremists in the Jamia Nagar area of Delhi. A much decorated officer of the Delhi Police, Mohan Chand Sharma, was also killed in the operation. A number of alleged fellow operatives of the slain terrorists were either arrested or taken into custody on September 19 and the following days. Senior Delhi Police officers, including Joint Commissioner of Police Karnail Singh, declared that with this operation the top leadership of the Indian Mujahideen (I.M.) – which claimed responsibility for the September 13 blasts – had been eliminated and deactivated.

Clearly, the Delhi Police presented the operation as a major breakthrough that would help improve the security situation in the national capital and in other parts of the country. However, within a week, a “medium-intensity” bomb killed two people and injured 25 in Delhi’s Mehrauli Sarai area. Though no terrorist organisation claimed responsibility for the incident, it was clear that the assurance of public safety that the Delhi Police sought to provide after the Jamia Nagar operation did not have much merit.

Different Versions

But even before this, many claims made by the Delhi Police in connection with the Jamia Nagar operations had been challenged at several levels. A number of human rights organisations and social activists question the very integrity of the operation, while police departments of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have taken positions, in terms of investigation details, that conflict with the claims of the Delhi Police. Different State police departments have identified different personalities as the chief of the I.M. Their versions have created a number of masterminds for the same terrorist attack.

Central to the police claims on the Jamia Nagar operation was the assertion that the two slain suspected militants – Mohammed Atif Ameen and Mohammed Sajid – were part of the top leadership of the I.M. Atif was identified by the Delhi Police as the chief of the I.M., which planned and executed not only the September 13 blasts in Delhi but also three other blasts in different parts of the country in the past 10 months. These were the Uttar Pradesh court blasts of November 2007, the Jaipur blasts of May 2008 and the Ahmedabad blasts of July 2008.

The Delhi Police briefing to the media was that Atif and others who were closeted at L-18, Batla House, Jamia Nagar, had been confronted by the police team, leading to the shoot-out. The police claimed to have arrested another suspected militant, Mohammed Saif, during the operation, while two others had managed to run away. In the days following the operation, the Delhi Police and the Special Cell arrested many suspected members of the Atif Ameen-led terrorist module. These included Saquib Nisaar, Zia ur Rehman and Mohammad Shakeel of the Jamia Millia Islamia, a Central university.

A team of lawyers, human rights activists, students and academics, led by the Janhastakshep Campaign against Fascist Designs and the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), that went on a fact-finding mission to Jamia Nagar has questioned many of these postulates put forward by the Delhi Police. The team, consisting of well-known lawyers Prashant Bhushan and N.D. Pancholi and Professor N.K. Bhattacharya, pointed out in a letter to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil that there were several discrepancies in the police version of the events.
R.V. MOORTHY

Investigators at the site of the bomb explosion in Mehrauli on September 27.

To start with, Batla House, the scene of the “encounter”, is a four-storey building with a single entrance and stairwell, which virtually makes it impossible for anyone to escape, especially after the police have surrounded it. This has raised suspicions about the police version that terrorists managed to escape during the operation.

At a press conference on September 26, two days after sending the letter to the Home Minister, the fact-finding team also raised the question why Sharma was not wearing a bullet-proof jacket despite being a veteran of many counter-terrorist operations. Many residents of Jamia Nagar, who spoke to Frontline on condition of anonymity, raised doubts as to whether there was any firing at all from the side of the suspected terrorists.

The fact-finding team also pointed out that Atif, the alleged I.M. chief, had submitted his correct details to the police in a tenant verification form received by the local police on August 21 and that all these actions were quite unlike that of a terrorist mastermind. It said the statements of the Delhi Police branding the tenant verification form as forged was not credible since the caretaker of Batla House, Rahman, had handed over copies of it to the media a couple of hours after the incident. “There appears no reason for Rahman to have forged such a form and kept it with him in advance, and there was certainly no time for him to have forged the papers and handed them to the media soon after the incident,” the letter said.

The team also pointed out that Saquib Nisaar, whom the police described as the person who provided logistical support to I.M. operatives for the July 26 Ahmedabad blasts, was actually taking an MBA examination between July 23 and 28. Saquib is a gold medal-winning student. Saquib, along with Zia ur Rehman and Mohammad Shakeel, had given interviews to TV channels and had spoken to the press fearlessly after the September 19 operation, displaying transparent behaviour not normally associated with terrorists, it observed.

The team also said that an atmosphere of terror had been created in and around Jamia Nagar as many people of the area are picked up and harassed routinely. It demanded a judicial inquiry that would take all these questions into account.

Meanwhile, Jamia Millia Islamia has declared it will offer legal aid to students arrested for suspected terror links, with the express clarification that it is not defending any activity the students may have been involved in. The academic and executive councils of the university have formed a legal aid committee and a students’ relief committee to raise funds and provide legal aid to the students.

Pain and anger

Atif and almost all the young men arrested from Jamia Nagar hail from the villages of Sanjarpur and Saraimeer in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. Highlighting this, security agencies have already termed Azamgarh the “breeding ground of terror”. The overwhelming reaction in these villages to the Jamia Nagar incidents is one of pain and anger (see separate story on page 30).

The residents of Sanjarpur and Saraimeer see the killing of Atif and Sajid as cold-blooded murder and the arrest of other youngsters, branding them as terrorists, as a ploy to cover up the failure of the security agencies in unravelling and containing the real terrorists. The dominant opinion in these Muslim-dominated villages is that they are being persecuted because they are soft targets.

The objections raised by civilian groups and common people against the claims of the Delhi Police and the Special Cell focus essentially on the methods and procedures of investigation and human rights issues, but the questions raised by the police departments of other States challenge a large number of conclusions derived by the Delhi team. In fact, the assertions made by the police departments of different States have become such a babel of claims and counter-claims that even seasoned observers fail to understand how the internal security establishment is advancing its anti-terrorist plans and programmes.

The Mumbai Police challenged squarely the Delhi Police’s description of Atif Ameen as the chief of the I.M. On September 24, five days after the Jamia Nagar operation, it claimed to have identified the real I.M. mastermind of the terrorist strikes across India since 2005. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor said that Mohammad Sadiq Shaikh, arrested by it along with four other I.M. operatives, was the one who controlled Atif. Referring directly to the Delhi Police claim that Atif was the mastermind of the Jaipur, Gujarat and Delhi blasts, Gafoor pointedly said that “he was just the operations guy”. He asserted that the five men his department had arrested had not only planned the Delhi blasts of September 13 but were behind every blast in the country since 2005.

The claim of the Mumbai Police Commissioner, however, was not undermining the theory advanced by the Delhi Police alone. By presenting Sadiq Shaikh as the mastermind of all the blasts since 2005, he was discrediting the postulates put forward by various State police departments after each terrorist attack in the past three years.

For instance, after the 2006 blasts at the Varanasi railway station and the Sankat Mochan temple, the Uttar Pradesh Police said they were engineered by Harkat-ul-Jehad al-Islami (HuJI) state chief Mohammed Waliullah, who was operating from Phoolpur near Allahabad. It specifically stated that three terrorists – Bashiruddin, Mustafiz and Zakaria – had come from Bangladesh and handed over bombs to Waliullah.

In fact, the State Police even succeeded in getting a 10-year conviction for Waliullah in this case. A fast-track court in Lucknow sentenced five others – Mehboob Alam, Mohammad Sueb, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Shaad and Farhan – to 32 years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.40,000 on each of them. If the Mumbai Police claims are anything to go by, this conviction should be treated as miscarriage of justice.

Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh court blasts of November 2007 were attributed to Khalid Mohammed, a madrassa teacher from Jaunpur, and Mohammed Tariq, a Unani practitioner from Azamgarh. But, according to the Delhi Police version, Mohammed Saif, who was arrested during the Jamia Nagar operation, and Sajid, who was killed in the same operation, were responsible for engineering the court blasts.

Shahbaz Hussain was presented as the mastermind of the Jaipur blasts of May 2008 by the Rajasthan Police in a similar manner. Saraimeer resident Abu Bashar and the elusive Indian “Osama bin Laden” Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer were identified as the masterminds of the Gujarat blasts of July 2008 by the State’s investigation team. All the above mentioned, except Tauqeer, have been arrested and are facing trial. But the claims of the Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat police have taken a double beating in the last two weeks of September. While the Delhi Police presented Atif as the mastermind of all the blasts since 2006, the Mumbai Police made him a mere implementer and presented Sadiq Shaikh as the mastermind of all the blasts since 2006. According to the Mumbai Police, there is also one Amir Razza, based in Pakistan, who controls Sadiq Shaikh.

According to a number of internal security specialists, the Mumbai Police was provoked to make the presentation on a new mastermind and associates because it was peeved at the way the Delhi Police carried out the Jamia Nagar operation. The initial lead on the Batla House suspects was apparently provided by the Mumbai Police, and it had wanted the Delhi Police to keep a watch on the premises.

But the Delhi Police is said to have gone into overdrive and carried out the operation even before the Mumbai Police could collect more details regarding the I.M. operatives. Clearly, the tales of anti-terrorist investigations are getting more and more startling with every new attack and with every investigation.

“Legitimate Action”

Security affairs expert and former Joint Director of the IB Moloy Krishna Dhar told Frontline that theories put forward by security agencies at different points of time should be seen in the right perspective and as sharing of information with the public in order to alleviate panic. “The fight against terrorism is a continuous process and the threat of extremism should not be seen lightly. The human rights groups and social activists who criticise the actions of security agencies have, maybe unwittingly, added to the confusion and the cause of anti-national elements from time to time,” he said.

Dhar perceives the Jamia Nagar operation as a legitimate counter-terrorist action that was carried out messily. “Even after knowing that a dangerous outfit was holed up inside the building, they went in without adequate protection, leading to the loss of a brave officer,” he said.

Dhar also added that many of the deficiencies in the investigations are essentially reflections of the larger rut in terms of infrastructure development in the security establishment. “If you make a comparison, the infrastructure of the Indian security establishment, especially in terms of intelligence networks, has grown only by 5 per cent in the last 15 years,” Dhar said. By all indications, the Union Home Ministry itself has realised the need for upgrading infrastructure, organisational machinery and manpower.

The Home Ministry as well as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have reportedly stressed on the need to have a federal security agency to deal with crimes having inter-State and cross-border ramifications. The new machinery may well decrease the competition among State police departments and curtail the circulation of conflicting theories on investigations into terrorist attacks. But will that put an end to the methods of investigation that lead to incarceration and harassment of innocent people? There are no signs of a positive answer to this question, at least for the time being. •

[nkumar]

Here are they again, the civil society. BTW, who is this Nivedita Menon?

link

Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group: Some Questions for the Delhi Police and Embedded ‘Journalists’

In the past few days, our favourite newspapers have been scrambling to counter the growing doubts about the supposed “encounter” at L 18. (See Indian Express and Times of India).

Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group responds to the latest claims by the police.

1) The police was caught by surprise. Or was it?

In its response to the questions being raised by the civil society, the police say, “the presence of armed terrorists took them by surprise.” “The police did not expect an encounter at L-18.” (Indian Express October 9)

However, Praveen Swami in his “Alice in wonderland” article in The Hindu (October 10) writes that “the investigators learned that top commander ‘Bashir’ and his assault armed squad left Ahmedabad on July 26 for a safe house at Jamia Nagar.” Further he says, “the investigators came to believe that Atif Amin either provided Bashir shelter or the two were one and the same person.”

Surely, there can be only one truth:

a) The police knew that a “top commander” and his “armed assault team “was residing in L-18 (as claimed confidently by Swami). In which case, the Special Cell’s almost cavalier approach is inexplicable — unless we accept Swami’s contention that Inspector Sharma’s team did as well as it could “given their resources and training”.

While Swami and his ilk may rue the lack of “state of the art surveillance equipment” that can be found in United States or Europe, surely, even Third World police can use, upon knowledge that “dreaded terrorists” are holed up in a house, methods such as sealing the building, and making public announcements asking them to surrender.

b) The Police went to L-18 merely for investigation and was ambushed. In which case, isn’t it surprising that it took them only a few hours to crack nearly all cases of bomb blasts that have occurred across the country? It was of course inconvenient for UP, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra state police, who had been claiming their own successes in uncovering their
‘masterminds’.

The Police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal announced at a news conference the same day that “Atif was the mastermind behind all the recent serial blasts,” and that he had plotted the Saturday blasts… was also involved in the Ahmedabad blasts on July 26, Jaipur blasts on May 13, and one of the August 25 blasts last year in Hyderabad. Sajid was described as bomb-maker.

“Explosives made by him and his team bore their signature — two detonators, wooden frame, ammonium nitrate and analog quartz clocks,” Dadwal said (HindustanTimes, 20 September). The question is that, the Police which did not even expect an ‘encounter’ in the morning, was able to say with confidence that the bombs used in Delhi blasts bore the ’signature’ of the slain Sajid by evening.

The Police must pick one of these ‘truths’. It cannot claim both to be true simultaneously.

2) The puzzle of the Bullet Proof Jacket

Again, the Delhi Police has not made up its mind on this one. JCP, Karnail Singh and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar have reiterated that the Special Cell team members were not wearing BPVs. ["Entering a crowded locality would alert the suspects and give them time to escape" {Indian Express Oct 9); "To maintain secrecy in a cramped area like Batla House." (Tehelka Oct 4)].

However, now we are also told that some police men were wearing Bullet proof vests.

This new version has appeared following the outcry after the publication of pictures of Sajid’s body, which clearly show that he had been shot repeatedly in the head. Such bullet injuries suggest that he could have been killed from extreme close range while he was crouching or kneeling. This it self raises a huge question mark over the ‘encounter’. “Senior police sources” now claim that Sajid was “lying on the floor when he opened fire at a cop. The cop, unlike Inspector Sharma, was wearing a bulletproof vest. He retaliated by firing a burst from his AK-47, which hit Sajid on his head.” (Times of India, Oct .

Neat. It explains why and how Sajid was killed. And also, why the cop in question was not as much as injured when Sajid was supposedly firing at him. But it doesn’t square with the line the Delhi Police have been pushing up till now, that Inspector Sharma’s men did not deliberately wear bullet proof vests. Nor with the claim that the Special team was “armed only with small arms”. (The Hindu, October 10)

Nonetheless, the Delhi Police must clearly make up its mind if the cops that day were wearing Bullet proof vests or not?

3) Corroborative evidence?

Believe it or not, the evidence in support of their claim that the boys living in L-18 were terrorists, the police presents a bucket, adhesive tape and a bag! (Indian Express, Oct 9). The bucket was used to keep bombs (but was presumably empty at the time of’seizure’); the adhesive tape was used to seal the explosives (!!!); and finally the bag was used to carry the bombs (but again presumably empty when the police ‘recovered’ it).

Let it be noted that legal requirements were flouted with regard to seizures. The police is required to prepare a seizure list of all items recovered from the site and it should be attested by two public witnesses unconnected with the police. Given that a huge crowd had gathered at the site, surely, the police could have sought the assistance of members of the public. And why does L-18 continue to remain sealed?

4) Injuries and Bullets:

Photographs of the bodies of Atif and Sajid, taken during the ritual bathing before burial clearly indicate injury marks on the bodies. These marks could definitely not have been caused by bullets. The skin on Atif s back is ripped off. What caused these injury marks? Were they captured before they were eliminated? The Police is now citing the elusive post mortem report, saying that the two did not have any injuries on them apart from those caused by bullets, in order to buttress their claim of the “shootout being genuine”. (TOI, Oct 9). The documentary proof of the existence of such marks on the bodies however belies their claims.

Rattled by the photographs of an injured Inspector Sharma being escorted from the L-18 building, where no blood stain is visible on the front, the Police have stated that he was hit from the front as “one bullet hit him in the left shoulder and exited through the left arm; the other hit the right side of the abdomen, exiting through the hip.” (The Hindu, October 10) For this reason, they argue, the bleeding was from the back—the points of exit. However, according to a senior doctor who conducted the postmortem on Inspector MC Sharma at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, “It was difficult to establish the entry and exit points of the bullet because conclusive evidence had been wiped out by the interventions of the doctors at Holy Family [where Sharma was rushed to].” (Tehelka, October 4).

But at least one enthusiastic journalist doesn’t stop here. He tells us that the “abdomen wound was inflicted with Amin’s weapon and the shoulder hit, by Mohammad Sajid”. And how does he know? “The investigators believe that.” (The Hindu, October 10) And he believes the investigators. Has he seen a copy of the post mortem? Or the videography of the post mortem? What bullets were fired upon Inspector Sharma? What was the weapon that killed Sajid and Atif?

Why are the post mortem reports of Inspector Sharma and Atif and Sajid not being made public?

5 “Over confident terrorists”:

In response to why these supposed ‘terrorists’ left a trail of identification marks which would have made them sitting ducks, the police have a simple answer. They were over confident.

(Indian Express, October 9)

These boys (aged 17 years — 24 years) were so confident that they had their tenant verifications done in which they provided their genuine addresses; Atif had his driving license made by providing his genuine details; carried out blasts and returned home coolly to watch their exploits on television; felt no need to flee or change residences frequently; bought sim cards in their own names; registered as students in schools and institutions; sat for examinations midway through planning and executing blasts. And yet, these masterminds had no inkling of the special cell surveillance, and indeed helpfully stored material such as photographs of blast sites on their laptops and cell phones, so that their guilt could be proved promptly by the police whenever they were caught.
Mr. Praveen Swami writes that that “the allegations leveled over the encounter tell us more about the critics than the event itself.” Sure, we are skeptics, unwilling to lap up everything that comes forth from “police sources”, senior or otherwise; but what does taking dictations from the Special Cell tell us about you, Mr. ‘journalist’?

Our doubts remain. Our questions unanswered. Only a time bound, independent inquiry under the sitting judge of the Supreme Court can illumine the truth. What does the Delhi Police and the Government have to fear if the truth is on their side?

Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group

[Rye]

A terrorist-sympathizing Piece of **** called Mahtab alam argues for the health and well-being of terrorist scum.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/oct/14inter.htm

Apprarently, Afzal is innocent and the security agencies are suspect in the eyes of terrorists...I think we all knew that already.

he Rediff Interview/APCR coordinator Mahtab Alam

'People are losing faith in security agencies'
Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh [Images], police and intelligence bureau officials say, is slowly but surely becoming a hot bed for terror. This came to light after the Delhi [Images] Police claimed that suspects picked up after the Jamia Nagar encounter were from Azamgarh.
So how have the people of Azamgarh, which occupies 4234 sq km of Uttar Pradesh, reacted to the latest charge that their district is the new breeding ground for terror in India? Interestingly, Azamgarh, which comprises 60 per cent Hindus and 40 per cent Muslims, has never since 1947 seen a single instance of communal violence but today it is being branded as the hot bed for terror activities.

A joint team of Association for Protection of Civil Rights, People's Union for Democratic Rights, Janhastkshep and National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation visited Azamgarh two days ago and found how people there were coping with all the latest attention they have got following the spate of terror strikes in the country.

Mahtab Alam, coordinator of the APCR who was part of the team visiting Azamgarh spoke to Special Correspondent Vicky Nanjappa about the situation over there and how the people have reacted to the latest happenings.

<snip>

I do not know what he wants. Well, if you look at police statements, they are all contradictory to each others. Even though police have claimed that they have nabbed the 'masterminds' behind the terror attacks, then why are so many incidents of terror still taking place in the country? ( Note his covert supporters for terrorists and terrorism while spitting on the Indian state and government -- this guy is an overground worker for some terrorist group. Apparently, once police say they have certain masterminds, ALL TERROR will stop in India...specious logic meant to provide cover to terrorism and terrorists)

The Jamia encounter case is with the NHRC at the moment. What is the status?

The NHRC has issued notices to the police department. I am not aware of what else is happening over there. Our demand is for the setting up of an independent judicial inquiry headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge. (that's right -- find another corrupt judge like UC Banerjee and then pay him off to come up with predetermined conclusions to help terrorists)

How are the people of Azamgarh reacting to charges being framed against their people?

The people are scared and definitely agitated. The fear is to such an extent that the people are not even exercising their rights and seeking for autopsy reports through the Right to Information Act. The families of the victims do not even want to sign Vakalatnamas assigning lawyers to fight their case. (Note that this fellow means "terror suspects" when he says "victims" -- so the Teesta types are finding it hard to be proxies like they used to be) Various human rights groups have been going to Azamgarh and talking to the people over there and the reaction is pretty much similar as there seems to be doom descended upon them. We are trying to convince people to exercise their rights.


<snip>

So are you trying to say that there is not a single Muslim involved in terrorism in this country?

I do not have any information of any Muslim being involved in terrorism in this country. Where is the proof? If there is any proof that should be brought in the court of law -- let the law take its course then.

Then who do you think is carrying out all these terror activities in the country?

We are not an investigating agency. It is not our job to tell as to who is involved in terror activities. All we want is that, human and civil rights should be upheld. Fundamental rights of each and every citizen of India should be ensured.

You say that there is no proof against the Muslims. What about Afzal Guru?

See, Afzal was not found to be part of any terrorist outfit, nor did he play any direct role in the same. The Supreme Court noted that there is no direct evidence of his involvement. The evidence was mainly circumstantial.

<snip>

Non stop support for terrorist activity from this "civil rights activitst" M. Alam -- he needs to be given a full-body cavity search by the security agencies to see what he's up to when he is not giving interviews supporting the "civil rights" of terrorists and mass murderers. This oiseaule is so confident of the incompetence of the Law agencies that he is challenging the legal system to nail down any terrorist when it has the support of "civil rights groups" run by terrorist sympathizers like M. Alam.

[fanne]

Ever read more of coc* and bull story. This should go to the humour thread, except that it has tragic consequence.

http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index ... 5&Itemid=1

6 injured in Kanpur blast

At least six people were injured in a minor bomb explosion in Kanpur city of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday evening, police said, adding that it was seemingly caused by firecrackers and not a terrorist attack.

The explosion took place in Colonelganj locality of the city around 7 p.m., police officials said.

"It seems that a man had purchased firecrackers ahead of the Diwali festival and he left his bag on his bicylce. Apparently, the firecrackers went off accidentally, injuring five people including three children," senior superintendent of police H.R. Sharma told IANS.

Senior police officials had rushed to the spot and the injured were rushed to hospital, he said

Ps - I am ver afraid now, I shall not store any more fire cracker, lest they go off accidently. Moreover I shall not accidently leave firecrackers (that I paid for with my hard earned money), in a cowded market (another accident), and that would accidently (the third accident) go off accidently injuring people. Had this been Khadmal - NDTV would have reported, hardline Hindu terrorists, baught explosives under cover of Diwali and exploded it to time with the peek evening hours to kill and rape after the killing. Hey but since it is Kanpur you have to live with this report.

[Rye]

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/explo ... ed/373293/

The "firecracker exploded" nonsense is the Indian equivalent of a "vaccuum bulb explosion" -- looks like law enforcement is a joke in that state.

[sum]

"It seems that a man had purchased firecrackers ahead of the Diwali festival and he left his bag on his bicylce. Apparently, the firecrackers went off accidentally, injuring five people including three children," senior superintendent of police H.R. Sharma told IANS.

Dint want to put such smileys for tragic events but not sure what else to say for the "official response".....I would surely love to have such self igniting and bursting crackers which go off at the slightest provocation.

Maybe the down playing has something to do with the article below(election season hain naa). Already, so many victims(in the words of Mr.Alam of no muslim terrorist in India fame) have been harassed by cruel police in Azamgarh. Maybe, this kind of psy-ops will stop the harrasement as yindoos burn themselves with self-bursting crackers....

With an eye on LS polls Maya woos Muslims

Lucknow, October 13: In a bid to dent the traditional Muslim vote bank of Samajwadi Party ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday announced a number of schemes, including setting up of an Arabic-Persian university in Lucknow.

"The Government will establish an Arabic-Persion{the education which the community ws desperately yearning for } university in the state capital and we have allocated Rs 10 crore for the purpose. Besides, the number of madrassas on government grant list will also be increased from 360 to 460," Mayawati said addressing a national convention on the "Problems of Muslim Community: Reasons and Solutions" here.

She also announced grant of Rs two crore to Waqf Board, establishment of unani medicine directorate, increased income limit for scholarships to minority students from Rs 18,700 to Rs one lakh and Manyawar Kanshiram employment scheme.

The BSP chief also offered to set up a coaching institute for civil service aspirants from minority community and allocated Rs four crore for the purpose.

Mayawati said, besides filling up of vacancies of Urdu teachers, the government would make arrangement of Urdu teaching in 964 primary and 1,212 higher secondary schools and open two new schools for girls.

The grant of Rs one crore for marriage of girls of minority community would be raised to Rs 12 crore. The government would file an SLP (special leave petition) in the Supreme Court to ensure opening up of a minority institution, plan for which was at halt after a high court order on Aug 24, 2006.

Sad that a lady who had such potential deteriorated so fast....

[Tamang]

Best Actor in a sadistic comic role award goes to - Shivraj Patil

Home Minister Shivraj Patil [Images] on Tuesday claimed in Bangalore claimed that terrorism had come down under the regime of the United Progressive Alliance.

Patil who was in Bangalore for a day said that statistics would show that the quantum of terror incidents had reduced under the UPA regime.

Quoting statistics, Patil said that during the previous regime, 11,000 persons had lost their lives due to terror activities but under his regime the number of lives that were lost was 6,000.

He also said that the government was fighting terror with an iron fist and added that the Congress-led UPA government intended to curb this problem.

[sampat]

Blast in Kanpur--NDTV

Seven people, including four children, were injured when a crude bomb exploded near
a shop in Colonelganj area on Tuesday evening.

[ramana]

Blast in Kanpur--NDTV

Seven people, including four children, were injured when a crude bomb exploded near
a shop in Colonelganj area on Tuesday evening.

The story has changed from Diwali fire crackers to this.

[fanne]

Why is it so in the news where we Indians (and within India Hindus) at receiving end, the initial news always deliberately (at least I think) confuses the situation. During Kandhar news, BBC came initially as saying it was Sikh terrorist (and we at BR were contemplating bringing class action suite) doing the hijacking. Here we see, a clear case of terrorism, but passed as fire crackers. During Gujarat riots, many news channel (peddled by Arundhati Roy, she admitted her lie, but you will not find any news on her retraction) reported a lie that how a pregnant women womb was ripped open. Is there some research that says if you obfuscate the issue in the initial hour, the impact is very less? As with Godhra, the news was distinctly, a community or mixed community train accidentally catching fire. Does anyone know anything here?
Thanks,
fanne

[ramana]

Check what Chomsky says or the old psy-ops gurus of BBC say. Eg. Guy Wint who was an old India hand.

[Rye]

Posted by SSridhar in Sri Lanka Thread:

Bid to attack The Hindu office in Coimbatore

When a group of 16 lawyers marched towards the newspaper office, it was prevented by the police. The demonstrators were demanding that The Hindu withdraw the article and tender an apology. Even as the police were trying to remove them, they burnt copies of the newspaper.

The Race Course police registered a case against them under Sections 143 (Unlawful Assembly) and 285 (negligent conduct with regard to fire or combustible matter) of the Indian Penal Code.

Within 20 minutes, another group of 10 persons, most of them Coimbatore Law College students (including PDK members), came towards The Hindu office raising slogans

They attacked the Hindu office because of this Article:

The dangers of Tamil chauvinism

Malini Parthasarathy

The latest campaign in Tamil Nadu masterminded by a desperate LTTE must not be allowed to undermine the sound policy decision upheld by successive Indian governments since 1991 to stay out of Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.

Time appears to have stood still for most Tamil Nadu’s politicians who seem completely insulated from the complex ground realities that mark India’s new political landscape. India’s political establishment and civil society are anxiously grappling with the enormity of the horrific new threat to Indian society — terrorism — fast becoming an everyday reality on the streets. But oddly enough, seemingly oblivious of the contradiction, political parties in Tamil Nadu, led by the MDMK and the PMK, have recently plunged into high-pitched activity aimed at garnering support for the LTTE, a deadly terrorist organisation.

These parties have launched a campaign in the State ostensibly to express solidarity with the Sri Lankan Tamils trapped in the war zone in northern Sri Lanka but the timing of this campaign which appears to have materialised overnight, is a dead giveaway. The Sri Lankan army, just two kilometres away from the LTTE’s administrative capital, Kilinochchi, has successfully encircled the Tigers and their leader who are virtually trapped in their bunkers. For the first time in years, the Sri Lankan government appears to be on the brink of a major success in its battle with terrorism. There is now the very real prospect of the capture of the elusive LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabakaran, who is behind the assassination of a former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi.

Tamil Nadu’s politicians clearly have different standards for India and for Sri Lanka. It would appear that they accept that battling terrorism in India and saving Kashmir from Islamist jihadis are important national tasks but not so in Sri Lanka which has been menaced for more than two decades by the LTTE. It was the LTTE which pioneered terrorism in South Asia and produced two generations of suicide bombers who have claimed numerous high-profile victims. For far too long have the legitimate aspirations of the Sri Lankan Tamils been held hostage to the hegemonic ambitions of the LTTE chief Prabakaran who has consistently sabotaged all attempts to find political solutions to the ethnic conflict.

Shouldn't these violent so-called lawyers and law students be disbarred from practising anywhere in India? Or is this the general quality of today's lawyers in Tamilnadu? Or maybe this is the overall status of the so-call "legal mechanism" in the country -- there are rumours that such a thing exists though most people with a pending case in court are skeptical about such claim.

[Avinash R]

Atif's BSc degree found to be fake
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 596725.cms

15 Oct 2008, 0250 hrs IST, Rajiv

ALLAHABAD: The BSc degree found in possession of Mohammad Atif, the Indian Mujahideen mastermind who was shot in Jamia Nagar encounter, is a fake one.

This was confirmed by Allahabad University authorities when an Intelligence Bureau team from Delhi visited the campus on Monday to verify the degree.

This could turn out to be a key piece of information because it blows apart the theory that Atif was a bona fide student.

Earlier his tenant verification statement was found to have been falsified. After the shootout at Jamia, critics have alleged that encounter was staged and Atif was a genuine student enrolled for a diploma course in human rights. They had argued that no terrorist would, for example, use a post-paid cellphone connection which can be easily traced.

A team of IB sleuths reached the AU campus on Monday to cross-check with authorities about the authenticity of the varsity BSc degree found in possession of the slain alleged terrorist. The degree was verified by the authorities of the examination section and found to be a fake.

Talking to TOI, controller of examinations, Prof HS Upadhyaya said that he was approached by an IB officer on Monday and asked to verify the BSc degree. The degree was supposedly issued in the name of Mohammad Atif Amin.

The team of sleuths also met the assistant registrar (AR) examination, Ram Babu Mishra and inquired about the degree. Mishra said the degree was a fake as neither the enrolment number nor the roll number mentioned on it was in the varsity records.

[ramana]

So he might be a secret agent type with manufactured identity? Is he Indian at all? Or is he a Riley type?

[Rye]

This goes to show that one of the biggest threats to internal security is the college peon or whoever who forged this fake certificate for a price (I bet people can get forgeries of any and all documents for the right price) -- a lot of people were fooled by that, and now a lot of people are dead because of that kind of corruption. Foreign intel/spy agencies must be exploiting such systemic weaknesses to the fullest possible extent.

[John Snow]

Listen to this in Freshair Terry Grosos interview. It is interesting to know that Israeli companies can listen on to conversationons world wide. Which gives them strategic advantage in terms of Military and as wells as commercial intelligence. (on defense contracts, economic activity etc)

Secondly notice how the 9-11 hijackers were in the same township as the NSA listening posts and intercepts centers


*********
Shining A Light On The NSA's 'Shadow Factory'
Listen Now [39 min 19 sec] add to playlist

Fresh Air from WHYY, October 14, 2008 · Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the National Security Agency stepped up its efforts to collect intelligence domestically by filtering millions of phone conversations and e-mail messages. In his new book, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 To The Eavesdropping On America, journalist James Bamford reveals that the ultra-secret agency has half a million people on its watch lists.

Bamford has been writing about the inner workings of the NSA since his first book, The Shadow Factory: A Report On America's Most Secret Agency, was published in 1982. He is also the author of Body Of Secrets: Anatomy Of The Ultra-Secret National Security Agency.

Excerpt: 'The Shadow Factory'
by James Bamford




The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America
By James Bamford
Hardcover, 416 pages
Knopf
List price: $27.95


Sanaa

It was late December and Yemen's capital of Sanaa lay cool beneath the afternoon sun. A fine powder of reddish sand, blown southward from the vast Arabian Desert, coated the labyrinth of narrow alleyways that snake throughout the city. On crowded sidewalks, beneath high walls topped with shards of broken glass, women in black chadors paraded with men in drab suit coats and red-and-white checkered scarves that hung loose like long shawls. It is a city of -well—oiled Kalashnikovs and jewel-encrusted daggers known as jambiyahs; a place where former comrades from the once Marxist south sit on battered sidewalk chairs chewing qat and puffing from hookahs with wrinkled imams from the tribal north.

At the northwest edge of the city in Madbah, a cluttered neighborhood of cinder-block homes and yapping dogs, was a boxy, sand-swept house. Across the street sat a vacant lot littered with stones, bits of concrete, and tufts of greenish weeds. Made of cement and surrounded by a black iron fence, the house had a solid, fortresslike appearance. On the flat roof were three chimneys, one for each floor, and open balconies that were wide and square, like bull pens at a rodeo; glass arches topped the windows and doors.

It was the home of Ahmed -al-Hada, a middle-aged Yemeni who had become friends with Osama bin Laden while fighting alongside him against the Russians in Afghanistan. Hada came from a violent family tribe based for generations in Dhamar Province, about sixty miles south of Sanaa. In a valley of squat, mud-brick houses and green terraced farms, the region was sandwiched between two volcanic peaks in the Yemen Highlands. The area had achieved some fame as a center for the breeding of thoroughbred horses. It also gained fame for kidnappings.

A devoted follower of bin Laden, Hada offered to turn his house into a secret operations center for his friend in Afghanistan. While the rugged Afghan landscape provided bin Laden with security, it was too isolated and remote to manage the day-to-day logistics for his growing worldwide terrorist organization. His sole tool of communication was a gray, battery-powered $7,500 Compact-M satellite phone. About the size of a laptop computer, it could transmit and receive both voice phone calls and fax messages from virtually anywhere in the world over the Inmarsat satellite network. His phone number was 00-873-682505331; the 00 meant it was a satellite call, 873 indicated the phone was in the Indian Ocean area, and 682505331 was his personal number.

Bin Laden needed to set up a separate operations center somewhere outside Afghanistan, somewhere with access to regular telephone service and close to major air links. He took Hada up on his offer, and the house in Yemen quickly became the epicenter of bin Laden's war against America, a logistics base to coordinate his attacks, a switchboard to pass on orders, and a safe house where his field commanders could meet to discuss and carry out operations. Between 1996 and 1998, bin Laden and his top aides made a total of 221 calls to the ops center's phone number, 011-967-1-200-578, using the house to coordinate the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in East Africa and to plan the attack of the USS Cole in the port of Aden in 2000.

Also living in the house was Hada's daughter, Hoda, along with her husband, Khalid al-Mihdhar. Standing 5'6" and weighing 142 pounds, Mihdhar had an intelligent face, with a soft, unblemished complexion and a neatly trimmed mustache. Wearing glasses, he had the appearance of a young university instructor. But it was war, not tenure, that interested Mihdhar. He had been training in secret for months to lead a massive airborne terrorist attack against the U.S. Now he was just waiting for the phone call to begin the operation.

Khalid al-Mihdhar began life atop Yemen's searing sandscape on May 16, 1975. Shortly thereafter, he and his family moved to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was the beginning of the oil boom and the Mihdhars, like thousands of others in the poverty-racked country, hoped to take advantage of the rivers of petrodollars then flowing into the Kingdom. They settled in the holy city of Mecca, Khalid's father was successful, and the family became Saudi citizens.

For centuries the Mihdhar tribe was prominent in the remote Yemen provinces that merge invisibly into Saudi Arabia across an endless expanse of drifting sand dunes. Known as the Empty Quarter, the provinces are a geographical twilight zone, a void on the map where governments, borders, and lines of demarcation have scarcely intruded. Horizon to horizon, there are only the occasional Bedouins who pass like a convoy of ships on a sea of sand. In the city of Tarim is the al-Mihdhar mosque, with its strikingly beautiful minaret reaching more than seventeen stories into the sky, the tallest such structure in southern Arabia. It was built in honor of the -fifteenth—century religious leader Omar-al-Mihdhar, the grand patriarch of the tribe.

When Mihdhar was growing up, one of his neighborhood friends was Nawaf al-Hazmi, whose father owned a supermarket and a building in the Nawariya district in northwest Mecca and whose older brother was a police chief in Jizan, a city in southwest Saudi Arabia across the border from Yemen. Darker, more muscular, and a year younger than Khalid, he came from a prominent and financially well-off family of nine sons. His father, Muhammad Salem al-Hazmi, described both Nawaf and his younger brother, Salem, as "well-behaved, nice young men who have been brought up in a family atmosphere free from any social or psychological problems." Nevertheless, Nawaf would later complain that his father once cut him with a knife that left a long scar on his forearm.

Soon after turning eighteen, Hazmi packed a duffel bag and left for Afghanistan to learn the art of warfare. But by 1993 the war against the Soviet occupiers was long over and Osama bin Laden had returned to his contracting business in Sudan. Undeterred, Hazmi called his family from Peshawar, Pakistan, near the Afghan border, and told them he was going to fight in Chechnya. Very concerned, Muhammad al-Hazmi went to Peshawar to bring his son home. "I went to Peshawar," he recalled. "I found him there. He said he was staying in Pakistan as a trader of frankincense and we returned home together. I asked him to help me in my commercial ventures, including shops and hotels." Speaking of his sons, he added, "In fact, I planned to open branches for them and to find brides for them. But they did not stay for long."

Returning to Mecca with his father, Hazmi met with a key al-Qaeda member and in 1996, bubbling with enthusiasm, convinced Mihdhar to join him in a new war, this one in Bosnia defending fellow Muslims from attacks by the Serbs.

What drove Mihdhar, Hazmi, and thousands of others was a burning need to defend Muslim lands from the West, which had a long history, as they saw it, of invading and occupying their territory, killing and humiliating their families, and supporting their corrupt rulers. The victory in Afghanistan over the Soviets, a superpower, was their first real win and gave many Muslims across the region a sense of unity, fueling an ideology that viewed their separate countries as a single Muslim nation—what they called the "ulema." An occupation or invasion of one Muslim state was therefore an aggression against all Muslim states.

Now with the taste of victory over Russia still sweet in their mouths, adrenaline still pumping through their veins, and a new sense of Muslim nationalism, many were no longer willing to sit and wait for the next encroachment on their lands. The West had long waged war on Islam, they believed; now it was Islam's time to defend itself and fight back. The time had come to go on the offensive.

On August 23, 1996, Osama bin Laden issued his call to action: "My Muslim Brothers of the World," he said. "Your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two Holy Places [Saudi Arabia] are calling upon your help and asking you to take part in fighting against the enemy—your enemy and their enemy—the Americans and the Israelis. They are asking you to do whatever you can, with your own means and ability, to expel the enemy, humiliated and defeated, out of the sanctities of Islam."

Turning his attention to the United States, he said, "[We] hold you responsible for all of the killings and evictions of the Muslims and the violation of the sanctities, carried out by your Zionist brothers [Israel] in Lebanon; you openly supplied them with arms and finance [during Israel's bloody Grapes of Wrath invasion]. More than 600,000 Iraqi children have died due to lack of food and medicine and as a result of the unjustifiable aggression [the sanctions] imposed on Iraq and its nation. The children of Iraq are our children. You, the U.S.A., together with the Saudi regime, are responsible for the shedding of the blood of these innocent children."

The charges resonated with Mihdhar and Hazmi, and in about 1997 Hazmi returned to Afghanistan, formally swore his loyalty to bin Laden, and fought against the Northern Alliance, possibly with his brother, Salem. Mihdhar followed, and swore his allegiance to the al-Qaeda leader in 1998. They would become the elite of al-Qaeda, among the first seventeen to join from the Arabian Peninsula. Bin Laden would call them "The Founders." Early on, the al-Qaeda leader had developed a special affection and trust—almost father-son at times—for Mihdhar. They shared a common heritage, both sets of ancestors having come from the remote, desolate Yemeni province of Hadramont.

In the spring of 1999, bin Laden and his operations chief, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, worked out a plan to bring their war to the doorstep of the enemy. Using large commercial airliners, they would in one swoop bring mass destruction to America's financial, political, and military centers: the World Trade Center, the White House, and the Pentagon. During the meeting, bin Laden told Khalid Shaikh that he wanted Mihdhar and Hazmi to travel to the U.S., begin pilot training, and lead the operation. The two were so eager to participate, he said, that they had already obtained U.S. visas.

That fall, bin Laden began setting the air attack operation in motion by sending Mihdhar and Hazmi to an elite training course at his Mes Aynak training facility. But Mihdhar may have been having second thoughts about the U.S. plot. That fall he learned that his wife, Hoda, was pregnant with their first child, and he returned to Yemen rather than continue on to specialized training led by Khalid Shaikh. For Mihdhar, it was a complex situation in a difficult time. His father-in-law, whose house he shared, was one of bin Laden's most loyal supporters and ran his Yemen ops center. And he himself was one of bin Laden's favorites and had sworn his life to him. But all that was before the news of his future child.

Shortly after Hazmi completed Khalid Shaikh's course, in late December 1999, Mihdhar was at the ops center when he received the phone call he had been waiting for. He and Hazmi were instructed to leave in a few days for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where their final, fatal mission to the U.S. would begin. Now Mihdhar had to make a decision.

At that moment, seven time zones and 7,282 miles to the west, the phone call was captured and recorded by America's big ear, the ultra-secret National Security Agency.

Intercept

Michael Vincent Hayden stood at the window of his large corner office looking west through rimless glasses with rectangular lenses. Balding, with dark, graying hair cropped close on the sides, he had a broad globelike forehead, cheeks that were full and friendly, and a slight chin that quickly disappeared into his neck. At fifty-six, he was in good shape—stood as straight as a plumb line but carried a slight paunch that pressed tight against the buttons of his starched, powder-blue shirt. On each shoulder was a cloth epaulet with three silver stars, the rank of an air force lieutenant general.

Unrecognizable to most Americans, the man at the window was the nation's top electronic spy, overseeing more analysts and operatives than anyone else in the country and possibly the planet. In addition to people, he controlled the largest collection of eavesdropping tools the world had ever known: constellations of billion-dollar satellites that could hear whispers on a cell phone from more than twenty-two thousand miles in space; moonlike listening posts around the globe with dozens of giant white orbs containing satellite dishes capable of pulling in tens of millions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and faxes an hour; and, to sort it all out, the largest collection of supercomputers on earth. In addition, he controlled the agency's own secret military force, the little-known Central Security Service, with its fleets of ships, submarines, and aircraft that quietly vacuum the world for telltale voices and data.

The vast and mysterious city stretched out below Hayden was the largest, most powerful, and most intrusive eavesdropping machine ever created. Made up of tens of thousands of people, more than fifty buildings, dozens of receiving antennas, and the planet's most powerful number-crunching supercomputers, it had one overriding goal: access. Access to billions of private hard-line, cell, and wireless telephone conversations; text, e-mail, and instant Internet messages; Web-page histories, faxes, and computer hard drives. Access to any signal or device that might contain information in any form regardless of protection—firewalls, encryption, or passwords. Never before in history had a single person controlled so much secret power to pry into so many private lives.

The NSA was once a backwater agency whose director had to fight to sit at the same table with the CIA chief, but by the time Hayden arrived it had become the largest, most expensive, and most technologically advanced spy organization on the planet. Supplying nearly 80 percent of all intelligence to the rest of government, it needed an entire city to house it—a city that, if incorporated, would be one of the largest municipalities in the state of Maryland. At the same time, it remained nearly as dark and mysterious as when Harry Truman secretly created it, without the approval—or even knowledge—of Congress, nearly half a century earlier. To those who worked there, NSA still stood for No Such Agency and Never Say Anything. To those on the outside it was virtually invisible, hidden from the world behind a labyrinth of barbed wire and electrified fences, massive boulders, motion detectors, hydraulic antitruck devices, cement barriers, attack dogs, and submachine gun-toting commandos in black ninja outfits nicknamed "Men in Black."

Inside, upwards of 30,000 employees and contractors traveled over its 32 miles of roads, parked in lots covering 325 acres, and entered one of more than four dozen buildings containing more than seven million square feet of floor space. More than 37,000 cars were registered in the city, and its post office distributed over 70,000 pieces of mail a day. The secret city's police force employed more than 700 uniformed officers and a SWAT team, ranking it among the top 5 percent in the country in terms of size. Its fire department responded to 168 alarms and 44 automobile accidents the year before Hayden arrived.

Like a powerful political boss, Hayden oversaw his city from a suite of offices on the top floor of the agency's massive headquarters/operations building, an interconnected maze of over three million square feet that stretched in all directions. The complex is so large that the U.S. Capitol could easily fit inside it—four times over. Modern and boxy, it has a shiny black-glass exterior that makes it look like a giant Rubik's Cube. But hidden beneath the dark reflective finish is the real building, a skinlike cocoon of thick, orange-colored copper shielding to keep all signals—or any other type of electromagnetic radiation—from ever getting out. Known by the code name Tempest, this protective technique, used throughout much of the secret city, was designed to prevent electronic spies from capturing any escaping emissions. Like a black hole, NSA pulls in every signal that comes near, but no electron is ever allowed to escape.

Like the walls, the window through which Hayden was looking that bright December morning was specially designed to prevent eavesdropping. Made of two thick, bulletproof-style panes, they contained -hair—thin copper wires to seal in even the faintest electronic whisper. And to prevent sophisticated laser devices from capturing the telltale vibration of his voice on the glass, music played between the panes.

But despite the metal walls and unbreakable windows, when Hayden arrived the NSA's vast city was a land under siege. Congress was lobbing mortar rounds. Morale was lower than a buried fiber-optic cable. Senior managers had become "warlords" and were locked in endless internecine battles.

Excerpted from The Shadow Factory by James Bamford Copyright © 2008 by James Bamford. Excerpted by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.


***

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=95689436

[sanjaychoudhry]

Perpetrator as the victim

Balbir Punj

How do we define the identity of a terrorist? How do we characterise his creed that motivates him not only to kill but also undertake suicide missions to achieve 'holy' goals? The answers to these questions can help us understand the phenomenon of terrorism and plan a suitable counter-terrorism strategy.

Is it correct to term serial bombings across India as part of globalised Islamic terrorism? Why should these terrorists be known for their Muslim identity and the equally violent Maoists not for their Hindu identity? Do we attach the 'Islamic' tag to these bombings because of our prejudiced, anti-Muslim mindset?

The Maoists are not known as 'Hindu terrorists' because they do not identify themselves as Hindus, though most of them are born Hindu. The creed that inspires them to take to violence and wage against civil society is not Hinduism or Gita, but Marxism-Leninism as interpreted by Mao Tse-tung and other ideologues of the far-Left. Since being born in a Hindu family is inconsequential to the Maoists, they are identified by their political creed and not their religious faith which they have repudiated.

On the other hand, Muslims who have taken to jihad proclaim that their "war" is against kafirs, in defence of Islam, and for the restoration shari'ah. Kafirs include all non-Muslims as well as Muslims who, according to them, are not true to their faith and thus not 'good Muslims'. That explains jihadi violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, both declared Islamic countries.

The 14-page e-mail sent out minutes before the September 13 serial bombings in Delhi begins with a quotation from the Quran and vows "to carry on the struggle and fight against Kufr (disbelief) till our last breath". From Mohammad Ghazni to Aurangzeb to the present day terrorists, all have invoked the Quran and claimed inspiration from Islamic theology. Gory details of razing temples and forcibly converting Hindus to Islam are available in plenty from the accounts penned by court historians of Muslim rulers. Can we (non-Muslims, including secularists) claim better understanding of Islam than those who have been killing and getting killed to uphold the fundamentals of their faith for more than a thousand years?

Darul Uloom Deoband is one of the principal seminaries of Islamic theology in the world. Established in 1866 by the ulema in the aftermath of the debacle in 1857, the seminary, less than 200 km from Delhi in Uttar Pradesh, has affiliate institutions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the UK, South Africa and hundred other places of all over the world. Its official Website proclaims in flowery language, "The whole of Asia is redolent with the aroma of this prophetic garden."

The Deoband syllabus states, "When the Muslims enter the enemy's country and besiege the cities or strongholds of the infidels, it is necessary to invite them to embrace the faith, because Ibn Abbas relates of the Prophet that he never destroyed any without previously inviting them to embrace the faith. If, therefore, they embrace the faith, it is unnecessary to war with them, because that which was the design of the war is then obtained without war. The Prophet, moreover, has said we are directed to make war upon men only until such time as they shall confess, 'There is no god but one god'." Can one ignore the Deoband message and then claim to understand the phenomenon of jihad?

What is the extent of Deoband's influence? In a recent article, scholar and former Cabinet Minister Arif Mohammad Khan has quoted a study by Sohail Abbas, a leading Pakistani psychologist. The study, based on personal interviews of 517 mujahideen arrested in Afghanistan and later lodged in two Pakistani jails, asserts that "the figures on rural / urban jihadis become even more interesting as all the jihadis, barring just a few, belonged to the Deobandi school of thought". Is this mere coincidence? Is there no co-relation between Deoband's curriculum and the results of this study?

Will negationism and denial of reality help us combat the threat of terrorism? To demonstrate the patriotism of the entire Muslim population of the country, it is repeatedly said that they proved their love for India by opting to stay back at the time of partition. While most Muslims in India are indeed patriots, it is also an unpleasant fact that the agenda for the creation of Pakistan was aggressively pursued not by Muslims belonging to the areas that constitute Pakistan today but almost entirely by those belonging to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Kashmiri Muslims, who now constitute nearly the entire population of the Valley after the forced exit of Pandits to the last person, did not migrate to Pakistan. They continue to remain in India while openly working for Pakistan. At the slightest provocation, thousands of them come out of their homes, chanting "Death to India" and waving the Pakistani flag. So merely staying in the country is no guarantee of loyalty.

It's because of the confusion on such fundamentals that our response to the threat of terrorism is muted, ineffective and befuddled. In spite of all the periodical 'red alerts' and 'bold statements' against terrorism, we are able to neither stop terrorist activities nor secure convictions against terrorists. The reaction of several sections of society to the police encounter in Jamia Nagar underlines this confusion.

A familiar litany is now being heard in Jamia Millia Islamia -- that it was a 'false' encounter and innocent Muslims have been targeted. The post-script of such litany is that the police and others want to target Muslims and hence stage such 'false' encounters. Their fevered imagination has also invented the theory that the Delhi Police officer, MC Sharma, who died in the encounter was killed by the police to make the episode appear real!

After every encounter, policemen are painted as communal, cold-blooded killers and terrorists as innocent young men. Or it is claimed that the system is unfair to Muslims, leaving them with no option but take to such devices that are available to them.

Terrorists believe that god has given them the mandate to establish a Taliban-like Islamic rule through whatever means available; master terrorist Osama bin Laden is their hero. Why cannot we see this reality? Have we started suffering from the 'Stockholm syndrome' -- and begun sympathising with our tormentors?

http://www.dailypioneer.com/125213/Perp ... ictim.html

[fanne]

Something does not add up.
http://www.asianage.com/presentation/le ... olved.aspx

Kanpur blast case resolved


By Our Special Correspondent

Lucknow

Oct. 16: Having arrested one more person in connection with Tuesday’s blast in Kanpur, the Kanpur police claimed to have finally resolved the case.

The police, late on Wednesday night, arrested one Atiq Mohammad, who used to illegally manufacture firecrackers. He was picked up on a tip-off provided by Kamal Kumar Sahu, who had been arrested earlier on Wednesday.

Sahu’s shop is located near the blast site and during investigations, it was found that he used to sell firecrackers without a license, the police said.

"Atiq Mohammad used to supply firecrackers, including bombs, to Sahu and, on Tuesday he was on his way to the shop when he stopped near a liquor store," H.R. Sharma, senior superintendent of police, Kanpur said on phone. Mr Sharma said the explosion was accidental and not a terror blast.

Meanwhile, a bomb was found buried in a mound of earth in Antandaula area of the district, sending the administration in a tizzy. A bomb squad was rushed to the spot which defused it, station house officer Ghanshyam Singh said. Senior police and district officials have also reached the spot.

[Kati]

Agartala blasts have been thoroughly investigated. All but two parpetrators have been caught.
It's ATTF with help from ULFA. ULFA is trying to deflect pressure by surrogating other terror orgs.
With help from ULFA, ATTF also opened a branch to undertake urban terrorism, and these blasts
were all part of it. The SIM card and mobile ph have been recovered which were used to detonate
the bombs. Entire operational blueprint was made in BD camp of ATTF under ULFA's bomb experts.
Good work by Tripura police.

[Avinash R]

ULFA, ISI responsible for Agartala serial blasts
http://news.oneindia.in/2008/10/17/invo ... 29105.html

Agartala, Oct 17: The Crime Investigation Department(CID) of Tripura Police has ascertained the involvement of ULFA and ISI in training and motivating the proscribed militant outfit ATTF for engineering the October one serial blasts here.

Director General of Tripura Police Pranay Sahay told newspersons today that the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) was responsible for the serial blasts, adding the logistic support was provided by the ULFA having expertise in executing high-power explosions.

On the other hand, the ISI imparted training in the Bangladesh territory to carry out the serial blasts, he added.

''Two senior cadres of ULFA had visited the ATTF hideout at Satcherri in Bangladesh and imparted training by hiring an ISI expert on how to handle high power explosive like IED and Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil,'' Mr Sahaya said.

The investigations revealed that explosives were brought into Agartala from the ATTF camp at Satcherri in the last week of September on three different occasions and they had been assembled in a rented house at Bhati Abhaynagar here before planting in five populated areas.

Mr Sahaya made it clear other than the ISI, no evidence of any Jihadi groups or international terrorist's involvement had so far been found behind the serial blasts.

It was also revealed that the ISI activists were involved in providing guerrilla training and motivating the north-eastern militants including ATTF in Bangladesh soil.

Referring to the security measures following the incident, Mr Sahaya stated that they had already informed the confessional statements of the arrested ATTF cadres to Assam police and sought inputs on the style of ULFA's operation.

'' Investigation process will be expedited after obtaining information from the police in Assam and we are sharing intelligence inputs on insurgency among north-eastern states, '' Mr Sahaya said.

He elaborated that there was, however, a significant difference in the mechanics of detonation in blasts which were triggered in Delhi and other parts of the country including Agartala.

He said, '' We are yet to receive a full report but the National Security Guard (NSG) experts, who conducted the chemical tests on the materials, have pointed out the anomalies. However, the unexploded bomb recovered from a drain near Radhamadav temple was a little different since there was no fuel oil in it.'' Altogether 17 people had been arrested in connection with the blasts and two of them, including the Imam of Nagicherra mosque, had been granted bail, he added.

There were six hardcore Tiger Force rebels of their urban group behind the blasts and three of them Dinesh, Bikash and Sachindra, had been arrested.

''The police have now launched manhunt for Surjya, the blast mastermind, Satyaranjan, who rented the house in Abhaynagar, Karuna, a Tiger Force militant and Bapon Debbarma, who was recognised by one Sabita Das, owner of a laundry near G B Bazar, when he went to plant a bomb,'' Mr Sahaya said.

Third arrest in Kanpur blast
17 Oct 2008, 1554 hrs IST,PTI
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 608692.cms

KANPUR: Police on Friday arrested a third person in connection with the recent blast in the city suspected to be caused by illegally manufactured crackers.

Ayaz, who was allegedly a supplier of illegal crackers, was arrested on Thursday night.

Police had arrested Atik and Kamal Sahu, who were accused of selling crackers illegally, a day after the October 14 blast that left seven people, including four children injured.

According to Assistant Superintendent of Police Dayanand Mishra, a large quantity of crackers were recovered from Ayaz's house in a raid.

He said that Atik and Ayaz had come to supply crackers to Kamal Sahu, who has general store in a Puranisharab gaddi area.

The two were carrying crackers on a cycle to deliver them to shopkeepers on October 14 when the cycle fell down leading to an explosion.

Kamal, Atik and Ayaz have been charged under various section of the IPC and Explosives Act, Mishra said, adding Ayaz is being interrogated.

Serial blast case: Nasir sent to police custody till Oct 23
16 Oct 2008, 2325 hrs IST
http://www.keralanext.com/news/2008/10/ ... cle112.asp

AHMEDABAD: A local court sent an accused brought from Belgaum in Karnataka for his alleged involvement in the serial blasts of July 26, to police custody till October 23.

Raizuddin Nasir was produced before the metropolitan magistrate G M Patel after his police remand ended.

The city crime branch investigating the blast cases, demanded the court that further custody of Nasir was required for his alleged involvement in the blast that took place in Khadia area, killing three people.

The court sent Nasir in police custody till October 23.

The crime branch in remand application said the accused had attended terror training camp in Pakistan and was in close contact with underworld don Rasul Party and Abdulwahab.

He was in Pakistan for over a year where he was in touch with members of international terrorist organisations, it added.

Other reason for remand stated in the application was that Nasir had brought weapons for SIMI leader Safdar Nagori in November last year. His remand was essential to get details of where, how and by whom were the weapons used.

The application also stated that Nasir, son of Maulana Nasiruddin who is presently lodged in Sabarmati Central jail here for waging war against state, had attended terror camp in Kerala for which his remand was required.

[sum]

Link

This Puja, pray to fight evil
5 Oct 2008, 0153 hrs IST, SWAPAN DASGUPTA
Print Email Discuss Share Save Comment Text:
The Durga Puja celebrations that mean so much to Bengalis have begun. To the cosmopolitan and the agnostic, the Goddess’ homecoming is just an occ
asion to blend street festivities with gluttony. But to those less inclined to paint expressions of faith in secular colours, Durga Puja denotes the worship of shakti and the triumph of good over evil.

Unlike the Goddess Kali, another manifestation of shakti, with whom devotees have an intensely personal relationship, the ethos of the five-day invocation of Durga is congregational. Till the early-20th century, family pujas were the norm; today, community worship funded by small donations and corporate sponsorship are all pervasive. True, many pujas have turned unappetisingly bling. But these distortions shouldn’t detract from the underlying theme of the festival: the bonding of family, community, society and nation in a common reaffirmation of dharma. The symbolic destruction of Ravana on Dussehra in northern India underscores the same message.

This year’s celebrations, tragically, are likely to be muted. Whether we admit it or not, silent fear has gripped urban India. With one serial blast following another, there is concern that someone may end up at the wrong place at the wrong time - with deadly consequences. As yet there is no widespread alarm but many families all over India have decided to keep their outings during the festive season to a bare minimum. There are no geographical limits set by the bombers. The blasts could happen anywhere because the terrorists have one clear objective: to create maximum panic.

For more than a year, India has faced terror with the proverbial stiff upper lip. There have been no sectarian recriminations and even the provocative emails of the Indian Mujahideen have been met by a combination of resilience and black humour. A dandy union home minister has become the butt of jokes, not because we seriously believe that the government can provide foolproof security, but because lampooning an incompetent politician is the least disagreeable alternative to doing nothing.

Yet, something has changed over the months. TV channels have quietly ceased to invoke the celebrity-led “spirit” of civic resilience that greeted, say, the July 11, 2006, bombings in Mumbai. After the Ahmedabad blasts on July 26 this year, a cabinet minister floated the disgusting theory that the bombings were state-sponsored. When the blasts recurred in Delhi on September 13, he retreated behind pop sociology, trying to identify the “root cause” of terrorism.

Over the weeks, the contrived piousness of the liberals has been overshadowed by growing impatience with those who are seen to be soft on terror. The outpouring of grief at the death of Delhi police inspector M C Sharma signified a loud public affirmation of robust counter-terrorism - even if it involves emulating Dirty Harry. There were no spirited interventions in support of Jamia Millia Islamia’s vice chancellor Mushirul Hasan when he succumbed to sectional pressure and threw his institutional weight behind two alleged student-terrorists - one enrolled in a course on Human Rights! And there was a lot of grimacing after some clerics and politicians went over the top, equated counter-terrorism with a witch-hunt of educated Muslims and swore electoral vengeance.

When fear and anger combine, the signs are ominous. Exasperated by the excesses of Mahishashura - who, too, had a form of divine blessing - the Gods joined hands to create a Durga and endowed her with the deadliest weapons from their arsenal. The personification of shakti was then entrusted with saving the three worlds from the terrible demon. The awesome Durga prevailed over evil and facilitated the return of decency. Later, Lord Ram invoked Durga out of season to bless his campaign against Ravana. This week’s puja follows Ram’s calendar of war.

This Durga Puja will be less celebratory. Yet, the prayers for collective strength, leadership and wisdom to defeat the newest manifestation of evil must be even more compelling.

The large font part of the artcle is most significant...Atleast, the channels stopped airing the BS about how resilient and uncared the city was about blasts....It always sounded like a cruel joke on the victims.

Overall, a straight-talking, well-written article...

Edit: also gets me into the four figure club of BR...

[Avinash R]

Two terror suspects arrested, equipment seized
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Oct ... updatenews

Mangalore : Dakshina Kannada District Crime Intelligence Bureau on Friday arrested two terror suspects from Bantwal and Udupi and seized equipment used in the manufacture of explosives from Koppa and N R Pura taluks in Chikmagalur district.

The arrested are Rafeeq of Bolanthur village in Bantwal taluk and Fakeer Bava of Mallur in Udupi district, who reportedly had close links with Riyaz Bhatkal, the kingpin behind the serial bomb explosions that occured at various places across the country.

Inspector General of Police (Western Range) A M Prasad told reporters here that the police got information about Rafeeq and Fakeer from Ahmed Bava, who was held during a joint operation by the Mangalore and Mumbai police on October 3. Rafeeq was picked up on October 16 night while Fakeer Bava was arrested on October 17.

Rafeeq was in close touch with Riyaz Bhatkal. Fakeer used to take Riyaz, Ahmed Yasin, Ahmed Bava, Badabhai, Chotabhai, Moosa and a few other people to Hakkalamane in N R Pura where preparations were on for a terrorist attack,” Prasad said.

Superintendent of Police N Satheesh Kumar said Rafeeq was in touch with these people for two years and was Riyaz’s driver for some time. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Fakeer was in Indonesia during this period, collecting funds for terrorist activities across India, he said.

The police also seized equipment including engineering, electrical and carpenter kits, glass jars, chemicals, advanced target practice items, tents, gun powder and rifles from Vittalamakki in Koppa taluk and Hakkalamane in N R Pura taluk of Chikmagalur district.

“Investigations have revealed that they had made bombs and tested in these two places. Target practice has also been done with rifles and pistols,” the SP said. The IGP said the investigations are on in collaboration with the Mumbai police.

[Sumeet]

check in red this is educated IM.

Jamia Nagar vows not to vote for Cong, BJP

Residents of Jamia Nagar say they will give vent to their anger over the police shootout in the area in September by voting out the sitting Congress legislator and ushering in a candidate of their choice in the Delhi Assembly polls on November 29.

They are seething with rage against the Congress, which has so far been silent on conducting a judicial probe into the September 19 encounter in which two Muslim youths were gunned down as suspected terrorists. However, they are also quick to add that it will not translate into votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) either.

"People are furious with the Congress. Our youngsters have been killed in the name of terrorism. We were attached with the Congress for decades, but now we feel that we have been ditched," said Mohammed Akram, 34, a contractor who lives in Okhla.

The suspected militants who were gunned down at Batla House in Jamia Nagar were linked by police to the Delhi serial blasts of September 13. But doubts have been raised about the police version.

Various parties, especially the Samajwadi Party (SP), which is a political ally of the Congress, have been demanding a judicial probe into the shootout.

A huge crowd was addressed by Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in the area on Friday night. Both reiterated their demand for a judicial probe.

"Today the Samajwadi Party party has extended its hands towards us and Muslims will respond to it," said Parwez Akhtar, 33, an engineer in Jamia Millia Islamia University.

The perception is that Muslim youths are being victimised in the name of terrorism.

"People in general are feeling insecure. In this election, instead of development, security for the community will the main issue - something that has made Muslims lose hope in the Congress," said Parwez.

Residents of the Muslim majority area are busy making their own political calculations and want a non-Congress candidate who can also defeat the nominee of the BJP, which has been talking tough on terrorism.

"We don't want the Congress, but we don't want the BJP either. If the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) puts up a strong Muslim candidate then he will have a fair chance of winning the election, as this constituency has almost 20,000 Dalits who votes for the BSP," said Shariq Zaheer, 35, an architect.

"Seeing the mood and anger of people, both the BSP and Samajwadi Party want to put up a candidate who can ensure victory against Parvez Hashmi, the sitting MLA of the Congress," said Mohammed Ayyub, 31, a local trader.

[Anindya]

Swapan points out a dangerous trend...

Link

...for the past month, important bodies of India’s Muslim community and “secular” politicians have worked themselves into a frenzy about the complete equation of Muslims with terrorism. What began as a run-of-the-mill protest by a nervous ghetto and a grandstanding Vice-Chancellor has escalated into a mischievous movement to scare Muslims into seeking the protective embrace of sectarian groups. Mobilisation through fear and panic has become the signature tune of those who want to divert attention from terror and confine the Muslim community to an emotional ghetto. Worse, there is an organised attempt to coerce a confused Government into abandoning the war on terror with the threat of withdrawal of political support by an entire religious community.

The game plan is insidious but it has already had a measure of success. Under pressure, the Delhi Police has more or less put on hold the follow-up investigations into the terrorist ring that was operating in Delhi. Mercifully, the Gujarat and Maharashtra Police have not followed suit. In other words, there have been no attempts to explore the wider links of the cell operating from Batla House. Have the leads given by Gujarat Police been pursued? Has there, for example, been any follow-up of why the group maintained close links with some who nominally claim to be journalists?

There is an orchestrated attempt to undermine the faith of Muslim in all the institutions of the State. There is, per se, nothing out of the ordinary in the demand for an inquiry into the Batla House encounter made, among others, by the Minority Cell of the Congress Party. It is routine for all those with any grievance to put forward such proposals and it is not obligatory for any Government to accede to the protesters. Yet, there is something sinister in the demand by Samajwadi Party MP Abu Azmi that 25 per cent of any inquiry panel must comprise Muslims. From here to the demand that Muslims must be tried only by Muslims is a small jump and this jump will, probably, be made during the General Election campaign.

Other institutions, too, are being transformed into extensions of the ghetto. The Minority Commission has turned into a sectarian pressure point and spends taxpayers’ money sloganeering. The National Integration Council meet last week had the usual quota of chief ministerial platitudes but beyond that it was turned into an unreal demonstration of a bid to cripple the fight against terrorism. One participant confided that there were moments the NIC resembled a working committee meeting of the pre-1947 Muslim League.

Likewise, a function last Friday in Aligarh Muslim University to commemorate the 191st birth anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan turned, predictably, into a political demonstration of angst. But it was also marked by a very revealing assertion of separateness. According to the Indian Express, “the audience jeered as a student’s dupatta slipped off her head while she was on stage to talk about Sir Syed. In her confusion, the student looked around. Someone pointed at the dupatta. Only after she pulled it back did the audience let her speak.”

The innocuous incident raises a pertinent question: Have public-funded universities like AMU and Jamia Millia accepted Mushirul Hasan’s assertion that “we owe no explanation to anyone except ourselves and to our faith” as their operating principle?

[Dmurphy]

NDTV-Cops offer a blow-by-blow account of Delhi encounter

Its a real pain to see the police being made to 'explain' after having faced the bullets and lost one of their best men!

[sum]

"Today the Samajwadi Party party has extended its hands towards us and Muslims will respond to it," said Parwez Akhtar, 33, an engineer in Jamia Millia Islamia University.

"We don't want the Congress, but we don't want the BJP either. If the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) puts up a strong Muslim candidate then he will have a fair chance of winning the election, as this constituency has almost 20,000 Dalits who votes for the BSP," said Shariq Zaheer, 35, an architect.

"Seeing the mood and anger of people, both the BSP and Samajwadi Party want to put up a candidate who can ensure victory against Parvez Hashmi, the sitting MLA of the Congress," said Mohammed Ayyub, 31, a local trader.

If the "educated" IMs actually fall for the SP gag, i feel that the IMs deserve to languish and rot wherever they are now. The day will soon arrive where virtually every non-kufr will turn against them and every IM will be shunned and looked at as a potential traitor,going by the antics of the "literate" IMs.

[derkonig]

"Today the Samajwadi Party party has extended its hands towards us and Muslims will respond to it," said Parwez Akhtar, 33, an engineer in Jamia Millia Islamia University.

"We don't want the Congress, but we don't want the BJP either. If the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) puts up a strong Muslim candidate then he will have a fair chance of winning the election, as this constituency has almost 20,000 Dalits who votes for the BSP," said Shariq Zaheer, 35, an architect.

"Seeing the mood and anger of people, both the BSP and Samajwadi Party want to put up a candidate who can ensure victory against Parvez Hashmi, the sitting MLA of the Congress," said Mohammed Ayyub, 31, a local trader.

If the "educated" IMs actually fall for the SP gag, i feel that the IMs deserve to languish and rot wherever they are now. The day will soon arrive where virtually every non-kufr will turn against them and every IM will be shunned and looked at as a potential traitor,going by the antics of the "literate" IMs.

There is no question of "IF" anymore, as long as I can remember, the IMs have always been that way. Can you site even 1 occasion in the past decade or more when the IMs have not voted on communal lines & actually helped a good candifate win?

[vsudhir]

‘People say I am soft on terror. What should I do? Go on shouting about it?’

Shivraj Patil defends his record in a conversation with Shekar Gupta.

[sum]

If the "educated" IMs actually fall for the SP gag, i feel that the IMs deserve to languish and rot wherever they are now. The day will soon arrive where virtually every non-kufr will turn against them and every IM will be shunned and looked at as a potential traitor,going by the antics of the "literate" IMs.

There is no question of "IF" anymore, as long as I can remember, the IMs have always been that way. Can you site even 1 occasion in the past decade or more when the IMs have not voted on communal lines & actually helped a good candifate win?

But suddenly its more pronounced and more and more normal non-IM people are actually noting this and not brushing it under the secularism/Babri demolition and hence angry carpet....

I predict the IMs going deeper and deeper into their hole(even the liberals will turn hardliners) and the majority(even the "secular" crowd) slowly loosing their tolerance of all these years.......

[derkonig]

But suddenly its more pronounced and more and more normal non-IM people are actually noting this and not brushing it under the secularism/Babri demolition and hence angry carpet....

Perhaps this is what is best for our eternal civilization. The Hindus need to get over the heavy dosage of mauclayism & marxist history. Not only should they see things as they are i.e minus any PCness & MSM/WKK/HFL distortions, but also connect these events with the history of over a millenium now. In there lies our only hope.

I predict the IMs going deeper and deeper into their hole(even the liberals will turn hardliners) and the majority(even the "secular" crowd) slowly loosing their tolerance of all these years.......

History is testimony to the fact that those who refuse to change or accept the truth will fall by the wayside.

[sum]

Hold the presses. A "suzanne" Roy says:
Link

amia encounter: Arundhati for judicial probe



Arundhati Roy

New Delhi: Arguing that she was just among the people who are not buying the police version of the Jamia Nagar encounter in South Delhi, Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy has demanded a judicial inquiry into the entire episode.

“I am just one of the thousands of people who are asking some very serious questions from the police...thousands of people are saying a lot of things.

“One [of them] is that once the police has killed people, it ceases to be a neutral party,” Ms. Roy told Karan Thapar in Devil’s Advocate programme of CNN-IBN.

She said: “Historically, the world over, police and security forces have done things like that. But I am not saying it is fake. I am saying lets have an enquiry.”

On being asked that in doubting the police, she was ignoring the evidence recovered from the scene of the encounter, she said, even in case of these recoveries, there had been a serious procedural lapse.

“When the police makes recoveries at the scene of a crime they should have independent witnesses corroborating it...and even the magistrate is asking for all documents, for the FIRs, for the post-mortem reports, for the case diaries [and they are] not being produced,” she said.

Asked what she suspects or accuses the police of, the writer said, “primarily of giving us a story that does not hold together, that insults our intelligence.”

Ms. Roy said she was not dismissing corroborative evidence such as the clips of vehicles used as bombs at an Ahmedabad hospital which were found in Atif’s mobile and a laptop recovered from Batla House in which Al Qaeda literature was found. — PTI

I agree with the bolded part...Someone close to her please understand Roy's "intelligence" and put her in the nearest mental asylum...

[sum]

Link

One held for terror links

Special Correspondent

KANNUR: The police here on Saturday arrested a person suspected to have links with operatives of terrorist outfits in J&K, according to the police. The arrest of K.V. Abdul Jaleel,38, allegedly an active worker of the National Development Front, from his house at Kadachira was the culmination of their surveillance of activities of some suspected youths following unearthing of explosive materials here.

Im sure we will have full day session in NDTV,Times Now about why the NDF should be banned after its members were found with bombs...

Oops, forgot that we are secular onlee and hence, no such shows.

[Sachin]

The arrest of K.V. Abdul Jaleel,38, allegedly an active worker of the National Development Front,

Local medias report:
* The two dead Mallu Jehadis had called this chap a number of times, asking him what could be done to save their lives (Malayalam news report) .
* This fellow then suddenly changes his mobile phone number, stating that he is getting unwanted calls.
* Police smell a rat in this, as who is going to give so many irritating calls to a person who is a painter by profession.
* The arrest was also done quite discreetly, and he was interrogated by senior officials before he was produced before the magistrate.

Link to Mathrubhumi
This is surely going to a blow a lot of holes in the pet theories, of "seculars" and communists of Kerala. Kerala has not seen a large scale religious riot for the past couple of decades, and yet there are terrorists (who are even willing to march their way to Kashmir). Also the state police would be now forced to take actions, to potential Jehadis amongst mallus. With a strong pro-minority LDF in power, the theory of "terrorist only are present in BJP ruled states" also goes for a six.

[Prasad]

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/oct/20goa.htm

Bandh stalls life in Goa

The day-long shut down call is in protest of the increasing instances of desecration of idols in temples across the state.

Goa has witnessed around 500 desecrations so far, mostly in the temples located in isolated rural areas. The Goa government has declared the bandh illegal and has appealed to the people not to co-operate with it.

Fatherr Caldeira said that the desecration is a dangerous trend for the social fabric of Goa, which is known to be a land of religious harmony and amity. "While we condemn such acts of cowardice and vandalism against religious places, we express our unstinted solidarity with the aggrieved community and we appeal for peace to be maintained at all costs. We call upon the concerned authorities to bring the culprits to book," the church has said.

not a squeak about this on any news media while the entire "secular" media goes to town over the incidences in M'lore! And what does the church have to do with desecration of temples and who needs their message? Shouldn't it be the govt that issues statements like this??

[sum]

Goa has witnessed around 500 desecrations so far, mostly in the temples located in isolated rural areas. The Goa government has declared the bandh illegal and has appealed to the people not to co-operate with it.

Cant even imagine the realms of paper ToI(let) (with special supplements just on this issue thrown in) and millions of "special programmes" which CNN-IBN would have scheduled had even a few(forget 500 since tha is just unimaginable) places of worship had been of a "minority community"...


Meanwhile, some bad news:
Link

Seven CRPF personnel killed in naxal attack


October 20, 2008 16:35 IST
At least seven Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed on Monday in an ambush by suspected naxalites in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.

One of the attackers was also killed in the exchange of fire that followed, according to CRPF officers in New Delhi [Images].

Jawans belonging to the 170 Battalion of the force who were on duty were fired upon by the ultras and the resulting skirmish left at least seven personnel dead, they said.

The troops, deployed in the area to provide security to Border Roads Organisation personnel, retaliated by opening fire, killing one of the ultras.

The attack took place at around 1330 hours between Modukpal and Kongupalli in Bijapur district.

No "eminent citizens"/intellectuals jury visiting the place to check on the atrocity committed by the Naxals?

[Manu]

Link

Key accused in Akshardham temple attack nabbed
Indo-Asian News Service
Ahmedabad, October 20, 2008

Majid Patel, a key accused in the terror attack on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar in 2002, has been caught, police said on Monday.

Patel, a financier, was nabbed in a joint operation of the Ahmedabad police Crime Branch and the Bharuch Special Operations Group.

Majid, who is from Tankharia village of Bharuch, had escaped to Saudi Arabia after the terror attack.

Police expect to get more information of his possible involvement in recent terror activities in the state as he is suspected to be an important link in the illegal money laundering networks out of India.

Majid was caught while his two accomplices managed to flee.