Execution Met With Silence in Pakistan

November 26, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Nov 26 (IPS) – Wednesday, Nov. 21, dawned like any other in the sleepy town of Faridkot, located some 150 kilometres from the Punjab capital of Lahore in Pakistan. But as the town’s 3000 residents went about their daily routines the air grew thick with apprehension, for a reason none wanted to mention.At seventy-thirty that morning, one of the town’s former residents, a man named Ajmal Kasab, was executed in Pune’s Yerawada Central Jail, in western India’s Maharashtra state.

Kasab was the sole survivor of a group of ten men who carried out the three-day terror rampage in November 2008 that left 166 people dead in Mumbai.

Kasab was charged with 86 offences, including murder and waging war against the Indian state. After a long trial and the denial of his clemency appeal on Nov. 5, he was hanged just a few days before the fourth anniversary of the senseless but well-orchestrated attack that brought the nuclear neighbours to the brink of war.

Shafique Butt, a correspondent for the English daily newspaper ‘Dawn’, who visited the village on the morning of the execution, told IPS over the phone from Punjab, “While everyone knew he had been hanged, people were just not willing to talk about it; let alone express their feelings – either in favour or against (the execution).”

Kasab’s immediate family had long since left the village. “No one is sure if they have been relocated by the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or Pakistan’s intelligence agencies,” said Butt. The LeT is also blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001.

“I was told there are five or six Lashkar men in the village,” Butt added, including, possibly, Kasab’s younger brother who was just a teenager in 2008.

On the streets, ordinary Pakistanis have shown little or no interest in Kasab’s hanging. They are far too concerned about their own safety: bomb blasts have become a daily occurrence in all the big cities, despite high security since the holy month of Muharram began a week ago.

“The government of Pakistan will not take a critical position on this issue; it will stay quiet,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based political analyst.

Islamic parties and hard-line anti-India groups have expressed some resentment or spoken about the denial of justice, Askari told IPS, but sustained protest was not expected.

Only a handful of people, like Saba Khan, a housemaid in Faridkot, lamented the act. “Couldn’t they have given him life imprisonment? They didn’t even grant him his last wish of meeting his mother,” she told IPS.

Re-examining ‘terrorism’ in Pakistan

On the other side of the border, the hanging has been hailed as “a victory for India” and a “tribute to all the innocent people and police officers who lost their lives” in the tragedy of November 2008.

Megha Prasad, deputy bureau chief for the Indian news channel ‘Times Now’, who reported live from outside the Oberoi and Trident hotels where 33 people were killed, expressed surprise at the clandestine execution of “foot soldier Kasab”, but told IPS that the execution may bring “temporary closure to the victims of 26/11”.

Still, she echoed the sentiments of many when she added that justice will only be delivered when the “perpetrators and those who masterminded 26/11 are brought to book.”

Other experts have been even less taken aback by the incident, which came just one day after India, along with 39 other U.N. member states, voted against a General Assembly draft resolution calling for a non-binding moratorium on executions.

“Kasab’s hanging was a foregone conclusion and surprised no one,” Pervez Hoodbhoy, a peace activist and academic, told IPS. “It had to be done, else mass murder would have gone unpunished.”

“That the Mumbai attacks were carried out by a Pakistan-based militant group can surprise no one because, literally for decades, groups such as LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad, have publically declared that they exist only to attack India, anywhere and at any time,” he added.

Indeed, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of the banned LeT, is a prominent public figure in Pakistan, often seen at political rallies delivering vitriolic sermons, directed primarily at the United States government.

Hoodbhoy’s analysis, shared by many others, highlights the sticky situation the government is now in.

For years, according to Askari, the most popular narrative within official political circles has been that Pakistan is a victim of terrorism. “(Most) officials attribute terrorist activities and violence in Pakistan to Pakistan’s foreign adversaries. That means that they do not give much credence to domestic sources of Pakistan’s problems.”

Zohra Yusuf, chairperson of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told IPS that this makes a strong case “for Pakistan to adopt a credible, meaningful policy. Pakistan has to go after terrorists – and not back off only because India is asking it to act. Almost all terrorist attacks anywhere in the world seem to have some Pakistani ‘connection’, from the U.S. embassy bombing in Kenya” to the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. twin towers, she said.

“The world understands how difficult it is to tackle militants,” added Ashaar Rehman, resident editor for ‘Dawn’ in Lahore, “but is in no mood to play the understanding elder when its own existence is on line.”

But for now, he said, Pakistan seems either unable or unwilling to tackle rising militancy.

Hoodbhoy pointed out that most militant groups had, at some point in their existence, received the support of Pakistani intelligence agencies. “While some still do (accept the support), others have pointed their guns against their former benefactors,” he said.

Many experts believe Pakistan should make public some of the answers they must already have gathered through their investigations such as: who masterminded the the 2008 attacks and why, where and how the gunmen were trained, and most importantly, how these activities went ‘unnoticed’ in Pakistan.

But the government has proven it will be slow to act. It took a long time for Pakistan to even admit that the Mumbai attacks were planned on its soil, and it continues to deny any official involvement.

While seven of the alleged masterminds were charged in 2009, more evidence is needed to convict them, the government insists.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Featured, Justice, Security, Terrorism Tagged With: , , , , ,

MUMBAI: EROSION OF FAITH IN SECURITY

July 14, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy

B.RAMAN,Camp Vizag

The Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh’s reported decision to visit Mumbai in the wake of the new series of orchestrated and timed explosions on July 13 reflects his embarrassment and concern over the blasts.

3.The embarrassment arises from the continuing deficiencies in our counter-terrorism capability even after the much vaunted improvements introduced after the 26/11 strikes. The deficiencies relate to the preventive and surveillance capabilities of our intelligence agencies and the police. The concern should be over the likely negative political impact of the success of the terrorists in circumventing the security measures.

4.  The Government’s credibility in relation to counter-terrorism is likely to suffer further erosion—-particularly in Mumbai, whose population has been the target of five instances of high casualty terrorist attacks —in 1993,2003,2006,2008 and 2011. The argument about the difficulties faced by the intelligence and security agencies in preventing terrorist attacks will not carry conviction to the people. While they may accept one or two surprise attacks, they would find it difficult to accept repeated attacks not only in Mumbai but also in other cities.

5. Other cities—New York. Madrid and London—have had isolated mass casualty attacks, but the police was able to ensure that there were no more attacks. It would be natural for the public to ask why this has not been possible for our security agencies.

6. Despite arrests made after past attacks, terrorist organisations still have at their disposal a seemingly unending stream of recruits who are willing to be trained and used to carry out attacks. A worrisome aspect is that our security agencies and the police have been unable to quantify the total number of trained terrorists still available to the organizations and neutralize them. They have also been unable to identify and block the sources of recruitment.

7.The attacks of July13,2011, —-like those of 1993,2003 and 2006 and unlike those of 2008— were multi-targeted and well orchestrated with a single modus operandi. They required good motivation and some training and not sophisticated expertise. The 2008 attacks were commando-style and multi-targeted with multiple modus-operandi—use of explosives and hand-held weapons and hostage-taking. They required considerable training and sophistication. Hand-held weapons were used in addition to explosives in 1993 too.

8.No claim of responsibility has so far been made. There has been no electronic interception of suspect messages—-electronic chatter as professionals call it—-which might give a clue as to who might have been responsible. The security agencies are, therefore, groping in the dark in identifying the organisation responsible.

9.Coastal security and immigration controls have been tightened up after the 26/11 terrorist strikes. The possibility of outsiders sneaking in to carry out the attacks is somewhat low. The greater possibility is that the attacks were carried out by some people normally resident in India—- maybe, Indian nationals or foreigners. The investigating agencies should keep an open mind and avoid jumping to conclusions.

10.The reports about a wired body  and a separated head being found in one of the spots need to be carefully investigated. If these reports are correct, this would be a disturbing indicator of an act of suicide terrorism with possible foreign influence.

11.If these reports are ultimately ruled out as not correct, the only other possibility is of timed strikes, which might have been carried out either with mechanical (clocks or the alarm mechanism of a mobile telephone) or with chemical timers. The 1993 strikes were carried out by Dawood Ibrahim’s men with chemical timers of US-origin obtained by them from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

12. The reported use of ammonium nitrate speaks of a lethargy in imposing checks on the sale of nitrogenous fertilisers despite this being repeatedly used as the explosive material  by different terrorist groups in copy-cat acts in different countries of the world. Western countries have imposed checks on the sale of nitrogenous fertilisers. In Canada, sleeper cells were caught when they sought to buy nitrogenous fertilisers. It is not clear whether we have imposed similar checks.

13. Whether it is the Indian Mujahideen (IM) or any other organisation which is ultimately found to have been responsible,it wanted to disprove the official claims of having broken its back. This may not remain a one-city phenomenon. We must be prepared to prevent the danger of similar attacks in other cities.

14. We should not allow the latest blasts to disrupt the on-going dialogue process with Pakistan unless there is concrete evidence to show that either the ISI or Pakistan-trained elements were involved. (14-7-11)

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi)

Copyright © 2011 B. Raman – South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG).

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the permission of the original author or copyright holder.


Filed Under: Asia, Featured, Politics, Security, Terrorism Tagged With: ,

Outrage as Terror Revisits India’s Financial Capital

July 14, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Sujoy Dhar

MUMBAI, Jul 14, 2011 (IPS) – Hastimal Sen mistook the deafening sounds of explosions that shook his office in Mumbai’s crowded Zaveri Bazaar Wednesday evening as cars backfiring.

Rushing out to check, he found dismembered and charred bodies strewn everywhere and people covered in blood screaming and running for their lives.

Sen, haunted by the November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, knew his city was once again a target of terrorism.

“I got many of them in cabs to take them to the hospital. It was a scene I would never forget,” says Sen, a gift shop owner in Zaveri Bazaar, the hub of diamond trade in India’s financial heart of Mumbai.

“But I am angry. This is the third attack in this area and there is no regard for our security or lives as it happens again and again,” he says.

A day after three coordinated blasts tore through Mumbai, whose mostly migrant population tops 20.5 million, anger and hopelessness are overpowering grief and resilience.

“We are called resilient. But the famous Mumbai resilience is forced upon us. We are angry and helpless at the same time,” Jayesh Labdhi, a committee member of the Mumbai Diamond Merchants’ Association, told IPS.

“Life is cheap in Mumbai. I saw it myself yesterday,” says Labdhi. “People lying dead all over and running helplessly. We bring prosperity to Mumbai, but our own lives are valueless since it is happening again and again and the government fails each time.”

Prithviraj Chavan, chief minister of Maharashtra, the western Indian state of which Mumbai is the capital, says the city is targeted because it is the financial heart of India.

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday that the perpetrators of the attack would be brought to justice. Meanwhile the opposition blamed the ruling government for its policy failure in dealing with terrorists and security analysts expressed that India is woefully lacking in capacity to fight terror.

Ajai Sahni, a counter-terrorism expert with the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, said intelligence is of no use till India builds a nationwide capacity to fight terror.

“Even if you fortify Mumbai, there would be countless other Muffasil towns in India where the network will thrive and bombs will be assembled to take them to cities like Mumbai for blasts,” Sahni says.

“Since the 2008 November terror strikes in Mumbai, the city police have made arrests, especially in recent times Islamist terrorists were apprehended, but it cannot stop terror unless that capacity building is extended across the country,” Sahni explains. “You have to dismantle the terror network across India. Terror cannot be contained at the point of delivery.”

While India’s home minister P. Chidambaram said there was no intelligence failure in the case of the latest terror attacks in Mumbai, Sahni said intelligence networks have to be extended nationwide.

According to B. Raman, director of the Chennai-based Institute for Topical Studies and former chief of India’s intelligence agency’s research and analysis wing, any successful terror attack is an intelligence failure.

“These attacks are not matters of providing physical security. Here it is happening in a crowded public place,” Raman says, pointing out that Mumbai was attacked first in 1993, then in 2003, 2006, 2008 and now again in 2011. “While we blame Pakistan for it all, we have to bring concrete evidence of Pakistan’s involvement. Till that time we have to keep talking with Pakistan.”

According to Sahni, talks with Pakistan are meaningless for India’s security because they have got nothing to do with building internal capacity to fight terrorists.

“Pakistan is exporting terror to India since 1984 and there is no reason to believe that it will ever change its policy,” Sahni says.

L. K. Advani, the leader of India’s main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said India should not be ambivalent towards terrorism.

“It is not a failure of intelligence, it is essentially a failure of policy,” Advani says. “The Government of India must shed its ambivalence toward terrorism and follow a zero tolerance policy,” he says, hinting at the Manmohan Singh-led central government’s decision to resume talks with Pakistan after they broke down over the 2008 Mumbai attack.

No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attacks of Wednesday.

While there is suspicion that a home grown group called the Indian Mujahideen (IM) – said to be a part of the Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) – is at fault, Indian authorities have not yet named any outfit.

“All are suspected. We are also interrogating some recently arrested members of IM, but there are no special leads yet,” said U. K. Bansal, internal security secretary under India’s Home Ministry.

LeT was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack in which 10 gunmen laid a three-day siege to a Jewish centre and two luxury hotels killing 166 people, including foreigners, and wounding more than 300.

While the politicians bicker and the blame game continues, Mumbai residents are livid.

“This is a repeat telecast of the past such attacks. The debate over intelligence failure is a sham and the word resilience is nothing but a cover for our impotency,” said Ashok Pandit, a filmmaker and social activist in a television debate here.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Politics, Report, Terrorism Tagged With: ,