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M J Akbar is one of India’s best-known journalists and commentators, someone with a deep insight into the Indian people and their mindset. In this first-person, as-told-to piece, Akbar discusses the Mumbai attacks and their relevance for India.

Many people forget that India is a tough nation. Toothless leaders have turned India into a soft nation. People forget that India has fought back Muslim terrorism in Kashmir; Sikh terrorism in Punjab, Christian terrorism in Nagaland and Hindu terrorism in Assam, and amongst the Naxalites [Images].

We have had everything thrown at the Indian nation State. Still, we have stood up. The people of India have shown the courage and ability to believe in their nation and to fight back. But the completely impotent leadership of five years have turned a tough country into a soft State.

I am very sad. I keep feeling that if they protect India as they protect their leaders — whether it is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] or Congress President Sonia Gandhi [Images] — I think I would be safe. Today, India’s leaders are safe and India is in panic.

On what India’s response should be:

India’s proper reaction would be possible if we understand the extent of the disease.

If the disease is cancer, you can’t apply band aid. After making a complete mess of security issues for five years by asking Shivraj Patil [Images] to go finally we may have a home minister who doesn’t comb his hair and change his clothes. But we want something more than that. If it is cancer, we need chemotherapy, a much more serious exercise. It needs a legislative and executive framework. It needs political mobilisation. People are numbed.

The Indian people have no leadership. You have a prime minister. Did you see him when he addressed the nation? Nobody knew if he was addressing the nation or having a cup of tea?

He looked serious, but he didn’t talk to us about our anger and about our anguish. I think this administration is tone deaf to the anguish of the people. They just cannot understand what the people are going through. They just don’t understand our pain or our anger. The most important thing is that, perhaps, we have politicised not only the instruments of the State like the police but we have also politicised the understanding of the nature of the problem.

I think the very first thing to do is to ensure security so that it prevents the next attack. If any attack takes place under someones job should go. Don’t come to me with alibis.

On the terrorists getting local support:

I am an Indian Muslim and I am very proud of both, being an Indian and a Muslim. I do not see any contradictions. This is my land and I have nowhere else to go.

But can I say because I am an Indian Muslim that no Indian Muslim is involved? Can you, because you are a Hindu, say that no Hindu is involved? We have to behave like Indians first. Not as a Muslim or as a Hindu first. Because we need Hindu votes and Muslim votes and because this government thinks that it needs Muslim votes so it has been in complete denial.

Do you think that these people came across from Pakistan and had no support in Mumbai?

It is not possible. It was a huge operation. Ten people hit nine places and you killed nine of them. You want to say that they went from place to place? Who knows some of them must have slipped away to create new sleeper cells to hit us six months later.

They are hiding things. I would like to believe that there was an underworld connection. Because, Karachi and Mumbai are also linked by drug smuggling. The culture of criminals is aggression. It comes naturally to them. It is not easy for you and I to become aggressive, however angry we are. It does not come naturally to us. These are people who are trained psychologically in aggression. They have no respect for the State. They have no love for the country. And they have no respect for authority.

Why? Because the only face of authority is the corrupt policeman. The criminal gives money in the morning and money in the evening. Why should he have respect for somebody he gives bribes to? For the guy from the underworld his understanding of the Indian State and authority is corruption. He has no patriotism to stop him. Why would he not join hands with the terrorists? In any case, he belongs to another world. We have not even begun to address and discuss this.

On the Pakistan factor

I am tired of giving Pakistan a long rope on some excuse or the other. Everybody is saying this will happen if we do this, that will happen if we do this. Our relations with Pakistan will go, then, let them go. What has our relations with Pakistan brought us except violence and terror? Why should we be in charge of saving Pakistan? For what? Every time they turn around and they say they want evidence. Now, finally we have evidence.

I have been an editor for 35 years from the age of 23. From that time on, since the days of General Zia-ul Haq, I have been hearing ‘Pakistan is asking for evidence’. We asked for withdrawal of their support to the movement for Khalistan, they said, ‘Oh, we don’t know anything about it.’ On Kashmir, they kept repeating where is the evidence. Benazir Bhutto [Images] came, she asked for evidence. Nawaz Sharif came, he asked for evidence. I think Pervez Musharraf [Images] asked for less evidence. Now again, they are asking for evidence.

There is a terrorist in Mumbai, captured and arrested. How much more evidence do you want? If what he is saying is not evidence, then how can you get more evidence?

This government is in its 11th hour. Now they will bluff the people to protect their votes. There is no time left for them. The agony of departure will be hard from this government.

On the reaction in the West

The US and Britain have a vested interest in telling India to look within. Why? When Americans die then they can send their air force 7,000 miles and bomb every country to smithereens. But when Indians die, they tell us no, no, you must be patient. You must act like a swami and a yogi. Why? Is an American life more precious than an Indian life? Why should we keep listening to them? But we have a government that keeps listening to them all the time. We don’t get tough.

The last time we got tough was after the attack on Parliament. We took some tough actions under Operation Parakram and then there was a certain lull. Three years ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was able to tell President George W Bush [Images] that there are no terrorists amongst Indian Muslims. That means that lull continued.

Pakistan must be made to realise that it will have to pay a heavy price. Not necessarily through war, but a heavy price will have to be paid in loss in trade, in cancellation of orders and other engagements. They should pay a heavy price in terms of people to people relations. I am not saying you can freeze a relationship to death, but the message must go out that if there is a crime there will be a penalty. You just can’t get away with it.

Let the Pakistan government cooperate with us. But look at how the Pakistan government has buckled down and we are sitting here whimpering.

They want to send some lowly officers to India. For what? Even Pakistan is treating the Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi government with total contempt. They know how weak it is.

Delink Hindu-Muslim relations and Pakistan

Look, you must not confuse the Pakistan issue with the Indian Muslims issue. Their so-called alienation or their economic deprivation is not linked to the issue of Pakistan.

Indian Muslims have nothing to do with Pakistan. They have absolutely no sympathy for Pakistan. They know that Pakistan was the biggest mistake committed in the history of Indian Muslims. They know it. You can ask anyone in Baroda, Bihar or Mumbai. They know how they are suffering the backlash of all the consequences of cross-border terrorism.

Today, they fear retribution from the government, they fear retribution from popular disenchantment and anger. They feel helpless. They feel afraid.

We must understand finally that it is not so much the ‘local people’, it is the local underworld that is involved in anti-India activities. In 1993, who were involved in terrorism? The underworld. Why have you not done anything about it? The State turns a blind eye to the police and corruption. I don’t know how many readers smoke hashish and other stuff, but I am accusing them of cross-border terrorism. Drugs come to India from Afghanistan via Karachi.

What we can do as individuals

If whoever is responsible for protecting the nation fails, then he or she should not be allowed to continue in power. That is the toughest and sharpest message we can give. You can tell that you may be a soft State, but we are a hard people and we are hard voters.

We are not going to forgive you for your lies and deception and for your waffling. How many blasts do we need to understand that? When Jaipur [Images], Ahmedabad [Images], Mumbai and Delhi [Images] happened no one who was genuinely guilty was caught.

We have to understand now that corruption has eaten away vitals of this nation. It is the biggest danger to the security of India. It is not just the case of some spectrum being sold to someone by some minister in. Everyone who is corrupt get out!

It Is a failure all around. We have to be extremely practical and pragmatic. There is great deal to be depressed about as an Indian. Frankly speaking, I feel very angry and upset. I am never upset by the behaviour of our enemies. I am only upset by the betrayal of those I trust.

M J Akbar, editor-in-chief, Covert magazine, spoke to Sheela Bhatt

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/02mumterror-pakistan-will-have-to-pay-a-heavy-price.htm

Interesting article by Sai Shivaswamy

Read On…

Choose the odd man out: March 12, 1993. September 11, 2001. November 26, 2008.

September 11, 2001, since it is the one without a sequel.

That is the only apolitical sms I have received since November 26, all the others have been simply scathing about our political establishment.

Why just sms, online message boards, television talking heads, the man on the street ? all are unanimous that Mumbai, and India, is sorely let down by its political class.

There was outrage when the train blasts happened in Mumbai on July 26, 2006. Now there is just rage.

Not the kind of rage that will beat up the next person; not the kind of rage that will pick on innocents. Not the kind of rage that wants war.

It’s the kind of rage that that will find expression through the ballot, as and when. The politicians are on notice, and they don’t seem to either know it, or care.

As a helpless Mumbai-ite and Indian I too feel enraged at the callousness of our political class. Seemingly decent and competent men and women holding high office turn to jelly when confronted with the biggest problem facing India, terrorism, and they evince neither the will nor desire to tackle the problem head-on.

But, I had told myself, I will not articulate my rage, for nothing much has changed since I cried out Enough is Enough! two years ago. My blog has strangely been silent through the traumatic week, as has my Facebook account. What do you say that hasn’t been said before, what do you say when everyone feels the same way?

Having lived through both of Mumbai’s worst encounters with terrorism, in 1993 and 2008, I can say categorically that nothing has changed. The ones capable of making a difference, have indeed made a difference — to their careers and, presumably, bank balances. Sharad Pawar [Images] was chief minister in 1993; he is now a central minister. But his city remains the same sitting duck it was. Today his party holds the home portfolio in Maharashtra — can there be a more cruel joke on us!

Then too the deadly explosives were smuggled in through the sea, through the Raigad coast. This time, too, the perpetrators have taken the sea-route, in both instances corruption down the line clearing the trawler’s path. After 1993 there was talk of strengthening our coastal security. What has been strengthened is the politician’s bank balance.

But, I had told myself, I won’t point fingers. The ruling class doesn’t give a damn anyway, so busy is it feathering its nest for an uncertain future.

And the ones who do the actual work, the bureaucracy, is no different. Crises such as the one Mumbai has emerged from are the result of omissions and commissions by them. Yet, they have recently given themselves a huge pay hike, relegating to the doghouse the ones who got us out of the terrorist attack by wagering their lives, the men in uniform. Even by the standards of an unfair world, this is criminal.

What worries me is whether the political class, even now, grasps the damage its inaction has wrought, not merely on the nation’s morale, not merely on the men in uniform who form India’s backbone, not merely on its polity, but among its people. For too long have we patted ourselves on the back for not succumbing to the terrorist’s provocation to civil war. Yes, riots have not broken out on the streets, and will hopefully never happen, but civil war can also happen in hearts and minds.

And the more I hear voices, not the dolled up oh-so-liberal sound bytes masked for TV studios and newsprint but candid voices around me, I worry that complete partition of minds is not too far away. Once the mind has seceded, geography becomes irrelevant even if maps don’t depict the reality.

But, I had told myself, I won’t be a pessimist, I won’t be a Sad Sack, I won’t paint a Doomsday scenario. God knows there are many already doing that.

Instead, I had resolved, I will be forward-looking, positive, and suggest a way out, as befits one with limited intellect but infinite passion for India.

The need of the hour is not to point fingers — everyone knows who is responsible for Mumbai’s trauma.

The need of the hour is not to bemoan what was not done ? the stark denouement is before us on Marine Drive [Images] and Apollo Bunder [Images].

Rather, the need of the hour is someone who can heal, who can soothe, who can restore the citizen’s confidence in the system, who will bridge the chasm that is slowly growing between Indian and Indian.

A politician, we know from our long and painful experience with that abominable set, does not do any of the above. The good ones among them are the ones who don’t do the opposite.

The tragedy of India is that neither the ones in power, nor the ones who believe they will be elected tomorrow, do any of the above. The prime minister does and says nothing. The man who hopes to replace him does and says the wrong things.

Perhaps it is just as well. Given the groundswell among the public against politicians in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, neither of them can be the messiah the nation so desperately needs.

Is there such a one among us?

Someone who is politic yet not a politician.

Someone who can inspire us, give our faith back, restore to us our tryst with destiny that lies tattered.

Someone who can unleash the immense potential of our largest wealth, our youth, who are lurking in that shadowland between yesterday and tomorrow.

Someone who can assuage the Muslim angst that they have been underserved by the system in democratic India; someone who can assure the Hindu that his hoary, glorious heritage is not under threat in secular India.

Is there such a one among us? If yes, will the messiah ? such a one can be nothing else ? please stand up and be counted?

There is one, yes, but he is not going to step forward. For he is not seeking any office. In fact, in the last office he occupied, he moved in with just a suitcase; and moved out five years later with little else. Such is the man’s simplicity and earthiness.

At times he reminds me of the humble Hanuman [Images] who doesn’t realise his prowess before leaping to Lanka. Other times he reminds me of Arjuna in the battlefield unaware of his dharma.

His popularity is the envy of any politician. In fact, I daresay he was denied a second stint at his last office because the politicians felt he was outshining them.

Not since Rajiv Gandhi [Images] in 1984 has anyone mesmerised the youth of India as he has.

Not since Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 has anyone articulated a vision for developed India as he has. Yet, his vision of India as a superpower in 2020 may not be realised because of the politicians’ folly.

Today, such a man is out of the system, nurturing his pet project, Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas, PURA, away from the spotlight, sharing his experience and knowledge with the youth in various academic environs, continuing to inspire them about an India that we may never see.

Yes, Bharat Ratna Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam [Images] is the man I am talking about. If anyone can restore India to Indians, heal the rift among Indians, and lead us forward in our oft-interrupted march, it is him. Will he please step forward?

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/01mumterror-will-the-messiah-of-the-hour-please-stand-up.htm

Don’t the taxpayers have the right to know where their money is being spent? The Fed’s excuse ‘The information is too scary for the citizens’. What BS!

Apparently Bernanke, that wonderful bipartisan soul who is so competent and wonderful that everyone in the village thinks Obama should leave him in charge is refusing to identify who got almost 2 trillion dollars of Fed cash. Bloomberg News is suing to find out. Personally I really, really, really want to know. What exactly is Bernanke hiding? Who got the money he doesn’t want us to know got the money?

This is money that was loaned in exchange for “collateral”, by which we mean “trash no one else but the Fed would buy for anything but cents on the dollar”. Barney Frank, embarrassing himself yet again, claims the Fed should keep its clap shut because if people know how bad it is, well, there might be a run. I think Barney’s missing the point, as long as people don’t know how bad it is, they won’t trust anyone who might be borrowing large amounts of money from the Fed with crap collateral, because they don’t know how bad it is and they suspect it’s really really really bad. As in 10 cents on the dollar bad.

More to the point, that 2 trillion is taxpayer money, and taxpayers have a right to know what sweetheart deals Bernanke’s been giving out, and who’s been getting what. This whole “this information is too scary for citizens to know” schtick is so Bush regime. I thought we were moving into a new era of openness? Perhaps Barney should get with the program?

As for Bernanke, this is yet another reason why Bernanke, a central banker so incompetent he lost complete control of LIBOR, his most basic job, should lose his position. Sure, his mandate runs for another year, but if Obama asks him to step down, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t. The idea that a central bank that has screwed up as badly as the Fed has under both Greenspan and Bernanke is so much better off independent than with the public having some control is ridiculous and fundamentally anti-democratic. Central bank independence has just led to a huge financial bubble and economic collapse, while Bernanke and Greenspan both acted as if they were virtual dictators.

Bernanke needs to go, and either before or after he goes, the Fed needs to come clean about who it has given 2 trillion in loans to, and what the collateral is.

Link

More cheap stunts from the hockey mom. This is getting ridiculous by the day. And she’s clearly lying here.

The same reporter who tried to ‘quiz’ Joe Biden pretty much lays a red carpet in front of McCain.

http://www.wftv.com/video/17712615/index.html

And rightly so. We have had enough of dirty GOP politics in this campaign. First, the girl with the ‘B’ on her cheek and now this GOP lemming of a reporter.

It had been a while since I’d checked out what was happening back home. The first site I go to to get my dose of desi news is www.rediff.com and since I’m a huge Bollywood buff, the movie section in there is my all time favorite. Well, to my surprise, there wasn’t much news on the site only to later realize that it was a holiday back home for Good Friday aka Easter. I am having to work my ass off on a Friday living in a Christian-dominated country and our Indian brethren get to celebrate Good Friday? Talk about being secular! I’m just jealous Anyways, without digressing. There were a few headlines spread here and there and one of them was the review of the latest Abbas-Mustan offing, Race. I have always liked AM movies for they are only guys who exclusively are dedicated to making action/suspense/thriller movies back home. And Race seemed to be exactly that, only this time around, they have gone bonkers with the budget and also have like the three hottest girls of Bollywood (1, 2 and check this one out 3).

I have always been a great fan of Raja Sen, the ace Rediff reviewer and usually go by his advice when it comes to Bollywood flicks. He is a no nonsense reviewer and does seem to suit my taste. However, this time around, his no-nonsense behavior went a little too far. As I proceed to read the article, behold, the first sentence I see, he gives away the climax. Seriously, I’m not kidding. The whole damn climax, right in front of your eyes. And he looks pretty damn confident in giving it away. I know, he must not have liked the movie which is why the 1.5 stars. But that is not the question here. The question is about moral ethics of a responsible scribe. You would at least put a spoiler alert in there. I think Raja wanted to look ubercool this time and he tried to come up with a really bold review. And what better way to look cool than to spill beans right off the bat. But Mr. Sen, this was not cool at all. In fact this is totally irresponsible behavior from a well-respected journalist like you and for this behavior of yours, you do owe an apology to your readers as well as the producers of the movie. Agreed, the movie might have sucked beyond imagination but do you realize how much work might have gone into the making of the movie? Producers spend millions and there is a whole crew that slogs its ass for years together to come up with a movie and you just write it off in what, 30 mins? C’mon, give us a break. I’m not sure how many people even read your reviews but I’m certain you have managed to change quite a few minds today; one of them being mine, to not read your reviews anymore that is.

For the ones who missed Raja’s review and do not know the suspense yet, I’m going to point them to a review that is more balanced > Taran Adarsh’s review

The movie says 8 vantage points. However, after almost 90 minutes of onslaught, I couldn’t find even one. This is my first movie review here and I wanted it to start on a positive note but turns out that destiny had different plans. I was given a few movie passes by my employer the other day and I wanted to put them to some good use. I and Khushi had one of the best Thai lunches ever and we wanted to complement it with an afternoon movie. But damn misfortune, we chose Vantage Point. When it comes to movies, I’m not too picky. I will pick a movie by reading a couple of reviews or just by counting the stars next to the title. And 9 out of 10 times, I like one or the other thing about the movie. Vantage Point, where do I begin? OK let me try by saying that VP is the worst movie I’ve seen in recent times and most probably a long time to come. I really do not want to waste my energy writing a full-fledged review since there is nothing to talk about for this movie, I’m serious, zip, zilch, nada, zero, nonka. The only motive behind writing this post is to save you from the misery that I’d to undergo watching this joke. I beg you, do not waste your money on this piece of *#%$ even if someone gives you a free ticket (like I was). This is the worst movie of 2008 since I’m more than confident there will be not as bad a movie as this one coming out for the rest of the year. I know I’m repeating my words, but that is how pissed after watching this movie. There is no script whatsoever, the writer I guess got bored after writing a couple pages or maybe joined the writers strike! The characters are half-baked, almost all of them out of place. And at the end of it, you’re left completely frustrated and cheated after all the initial buildup. The actual footage for the movie is about 20 minutes which has been repeated at least ten times over and again to cover the entire length of the movie. WTF?! The whole rewind concept (where the director chooses to rewind actual movie footage in real-time) falls flat on its face. What was Pete Travis thinking? Do not listen to any of the reviewers on other sites who have given the movie big thumbs ups and A pluses. Either they slept through the movie or they just want you to undergo the same misery as they did. Save your money and watch something else. A biiiigg F