There are indications that the current US Defence Secretary- Robert Gates of the Bush Administration- has agreed to continue to hold the portfolio in the Obama’s Administration (Obama is to be inaugurated as the next US President in January 2009). It is a good decision and testifies Obama’s willingness to embrace bipartisan politics to further the good cause of nation- building.

The jehadi terrorism has hit India in its belly! Not for the first time though! I have no hesitation in saying that many 9/11s have happened in India. Is someone hearing! A nation who is not prepared to secure its own home and territories is bound to meet misery time and again. Do not look at my observation as hostile to our nationhood , but this is what has been happening to us as far as terrorist activities are concerned. I distinctly remember what happened after attack on our Parliament in 2001. Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee – the Prime Minister at that time- had declared that we would not spare the culprits. Nothing happend ! Hardly 3 months ago, Indian Embassy at Kabul (Afganistan) was attacked by the unidentified terrorists: CIA and Indian intelligence have come out with a conclusion that Pakistan had a link to this event. Instead what India is doing is that we continue to play cricket with our neighbor, trains will continue! What else can India do. What is our preparedness to combat terrorism: at best it is just reactionary and episodic as The Wall Street Journal observed. So true!

So what is our future? Does India not have a resolve to show that it can contain terrorism on its soil?

Mumbai has been rocked by terrorist attacks again on November 26, 2008 and this has received international attention. CNN reports:

” In a brazen series of coordinated attacks, gunmen struck 10 sites Wednesday night across India’s financial hub, killing scores of people and taking hostages in two luxury hotels frequented by Westerners, officials said.

Mumbai police spokesman Satish Katsa put the death toll at 87 and another 185 wounded, with nine of the attackers killed.

More than six hours after the attacks, fighting was still reported in the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Hotel Oberoi and Colaba Market, site of a number of restaurants, he said.

Bhushan Gagrani, a spokesman for Maharashtra, said no one had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

But several Indian news outlets reported receiving e-mails from a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen that took responsibility for the attacks. CNN was not able to verify the reports.”

So India continues to bleed! The situation has crossed all the limits and national patience but for the lack of apathy and unwillingness on part of our political class to see the reality. Where is our Home Minister of the nation! Does he still have the audacity to say -as he said last time- that as long as Sonia Gandhi is happy with her , his job is safe! The whole political establishment becomes busy in analyzing the events as per their political beliefs and political lines! The common public has no choice but to watch the whole situation in a helpless manner.

Will we as a nation ever try to takes this terrorism seriously? Have we become so indifferent to the lives being lost or are we just mute spectators who can just hope for politicians to wake up to the expectation!

The Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh suggested the attacks were launched by people from outside the country. Okey, may be. May be it is our ‘bete noir’ Pakistan again. But how long shall we continue to vomit these rhetorics! Who is allowing them to get into our boundaries! Why are we allowing buses, trains across the border if our PM has a suggestion that “that were launched by people from outside the country!” Is there no accountability in what our political leadership says?

It is very clear that India has continued to act as a soft state and has not developed a comprehensive system to combat terrorism. One 9/11 in USA meant that they took their lesson as a nation and have not let it happen to them again. India on the contrary has not shown any such resolve to tackle the issue. instead what we see is that whenever such an incidence happens, the political class and the media gets into flurries of debates as to what is the nature of this terrorism: some will say that it is Islamic terrorism, others will vehemently oppose it. is there any doubt left that it is not Jihadi terrorism carried out by terrorists who vouch for an ideology that is Islam! It is a matter of anguish that a secular India continues to set different parameters for its citizens based upon the elements of religion and caste. So impregnated our vision becomes with these underlying currents that sometime the whole nation loses the prospective when analyzing issues like terrorism.

I was surprised to read in a news -item this phrase: ” The president-elect (Obama ) plans to announce Geithner’s appointment in Chicago on Monday, barring an unforeseen snag in a background check that is nearly complete…….”.

Consider this scenario in India: Our Prime-minister wants to appoint a current MP or an individual to one of the cabinet positions and that lady or gentleman is asked to consent for a background check (supposing a well-organized system for back-ground check is already in place, which of course is not threre as we know!), probably the hell will break loose! That is simply against the political culture in our country!
Ironically, we do not have a well-developed system to identify a person in India. Despite the great needs of that (to curb illegal immigration for example), the beaurocratic machinery or the political establishment has been sleeping over this issue! For the sake of identity, various options are allowed: voter ID card, PAN number, ration -card and so forth. That means there is always a chance to let the things slip through!

Prime Minister -Manmohan Singh- has won the vote of confidence in Parliament today (July 22, 08). At what expense: horse-trading, paralysis of functioning democracy, focus of whole nation on useless debates by the spineless MPs and people rejoicing or feeling sad on political lines not minding that it is their own tax money that the government spends even when it is not functioning!
A black day for Indian democracy! The whole electoral system needs reforms so that we get rid of corrupt and self-centered politicians.

India among countries worst affected by terror: The US Dept of State has said in its annual report. Nothing surprising, though! But some observations are worth noting.

# Indian government’s counter-terrorism efforts remained hampered by outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems.

#”The Indian court system was slow, laborious, and prone to corruption. Terrorism trials can take years to complete. Many of India’s local police forces were poorly staffed, lacked training, and were ill-equipped to combat terrorism effectively,” the report said.

#Noting about the attack on Samjhauta Express, the report said, it was carried out by extremists who tried to incite anger among the Hindus and Muslims.

“These attacks, which killed and injured both Muslims and Hindus, were probably conducted by extremists hoping to incite anger between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Indian officials claim that the perpetrators of these attacks have links to groups based in Pakistan and Bangladesh, particularly the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, among others,” the report said.

For further details, please read the link…….

The Olympic torch has arrived in India and obviously Indian government has lost its sleep! If protests like what happened in France, and England happen here, what reply we will give to China! I do not agree with this policy, but there is no pointy in going into details. Well, protests will happen, they should happen and Tibetans have the right to protest for their rights! India is home to a very large Tibetan population as refugees.

Meet Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan poet, rebel and general secretary of the Friends Tibet. When asked about the potential of violence during protests in India, he summed up the things in a very succinct manner:
“Why is the media doing this? Because of the media, the entire event is heightened. The media is depicting the torch relay ceremony as if it is a war. The government has pitched in 15,000 security people for a ridiculous torch, which is not even worth Rs 2. Because of the security, the torch has lost all value.”
He added: ” Why do you believe propaganda of the Chinese government? We have Dalai Lama in heart, Gandhiji in mind and we are Buddhists. There will be protests on Thursday (April 17, 2008), but it will be non-violent.”

Very well, Indeed! I am all for peaceful demonstrations by Tibetans for their right to self-rule!

It is not a wishful thinking. I favor that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should try to unite and regain to be the one we knew as India. We need to undo what we did years back.
Given the events and shapes Pakistan and Bangladesh have shown in last many decades, this unification effort may seem to be a dangerous plunge to many. In fact the most vocal critics of this idea say that we do not want to inherit the problems Pakistan and Bangladesh have created in last many decades, i.e., their pointer is towards growing extremism and fundamentalism. They often say that any efforts towards unification with these two Islamic countries means inheriting the ‘hell’ they have created in the name of religion. Herein lies the solution itself: India did not go that way because we chose to be a secular polity and not a theistic state! We chose plurality, tolerance as our guiding principles and that is why the monster of fundamentalism and extremism has not been able to raise its head in India to that extent that our survival could be at stake!
Thus any talk for unification must include embracing the basic constitutional framework of a secular polity: secular constitution as our lynch pin!

I do not see why the countries of Indian sub-continent can not come together to form a bigger India. Let the estranged brothers come together! We have so much in common, and the differences of religion can be overcome by implementing the governance based on modern laws of land and not by religion. Well, we are already spending so much money on guarding our boundaries against each other, much lesser money will be required to maintain ‘communal harmony’ if people are afraid of the communal monster! Religion is a real serious impediment towards the idea of unification of these 3 nations, but it is possible to overcome the differences if we rise above the occasion! This needs statesmen and not petty political approach as we see by our modern leaders of the three countries! We need statesmen to come forward and carry this idea to a meaningful conclusion!
The advantages gained by unification are: 1. Bigger land area, thus netting more natural resources 2. Lesser money required to spend on defense and moreover, and 3. It will be a natural culmination of efforts to regain the lost boundaries which were divided -as we often like to say- by not us but by erstwhile powers (Britain)!

Olympic torch for the upcoming Olympic games to be held in Beijing is facing protests. Today, it happened in France. The authorities had to actually cancel the torch relay because of frequent interruption in Paris. The protests against authoritative rule of china against Tibet have been on the spread globally. It is a voice against China’s cultural invasion of Tibet.

Will China listen! So far it has acted in a repressive manner, even its tone and tenor towards the global community suggests that China is in no mood to acknowledge the facts! But if the disrepute continues, the Dragon’s colors may change! Tibet needs world’s voice!