It is impossible to rule out that the terrorists who struck Mumbai’s Taj hotel were privy to watching what was being shown and listening to what was being said by different channels.
It is also as difficult to rule out that the battle could have been prolonged because the terrorists were being kept informed by their controllers based on TV coverage.
As for the lady journalist and Mr Roy’s anger, one needs to introspect whether such coverage is needed when a counter-terror operation is in progress.
Did one ever see the coverage of the counter-terror operations in the Underground in UK?
Did one see the commander of the counter-terror group speak about the operations while it was in progress?
Keeping you and me is appreciated but so is using wisdom and editorial prudence.
Whenever I watch any news, I see outraged faces, some numb, others shouting profanities against the politicians. I can understand the anger, gone through it lot of times but it is time for calm head and ask some relevant questions. Well they are small yet profound. 1. How did it come to this? The nation with the sinews of steel and Vedanta for wisdom suddenly turns chicken in the past 5 years. Why? We have fought Christian insurgency in North east, Fought Hindu(ULFA) insurgency again in North east, Sikh insurgency in Punjab and exported muslim insurgency in kashmir. Suddenly what happened. I think the answer lies in the victory of BJP in 1998-99.With their victory and the fear mongering of the congress and Pseudo-secular media along with the communists Indian muslims got really insecure as they have always been voting en-mass for congress as an alternative to RSS Politics. Moreover with the introduction of laws like POTA, a huge hue and cry was raised regarding their misuse and this further alleviated muslim fears. To the shock of many, congress came back to power in 2004, which they themselves could not believe and thus started the demise of idea called India. They were worried by the defection of their traditional vote bank and to get it back they repealed POTA and rendered the state toothless wherein their own state government in Maharashtra continues to use a law that is replica. Result – 4000 deaths in 4 years in blasts and no convictions while we feed the culprits with tax payer money.
2. What re our intelligence agencies doing? They are supposed to be one of the best? They were created by the hard work of 'The sardar' who refused to divide it with Pukistan. They are supposed to be guarding this Idea called India, what happened and why is so much of turf war going on? ,/b> To understand we need to go back in 1966. A worried Indira Gandhi calls up the IB chief and askd him to track the whole sale food grain prices in the country as she is worried that inflation may cost her elections. Cut to MMS and 'The Incompetent'. Shivraj 'The incompetent ' patil wants to know what article is getting published about him n tomorrows news papers. he calls up the IB chief to send men to spy. Who is guarding India? some 14% officers only. so who will analyse the sea of data generated?Sorry, Ramvilas paswan also wants to know the chances of Mayawati in his state of bihar as Laloo wnats to know the discontent against Nitish but off course – IB has to find the answers. Complete political subjugation. Raw has become a joke, so no comments.
3. Why is government in a denial mode about local complicity? Again, we have to go back to 1947 in the Era of Sardar. he has just withdrawn his name after 'bapu' asks him to do so even if congress men elected him the leader 12 votes to Sardar vs 0 for Nehru. There is a cabinet meeting going on after a few weeks. Nehru walks in and says " Vallabh Jabbar( or jawahar) bhai Patel, Why are the properties evacuated by muslims not going to muslims only? This is my order and I am the prime minster." Sardar listens and says, " This country belongs to all, There are hindus and sikhs too who have lost properties in now pakistan land, they have a first right on this. Moreover , I don't want to make many small pakistans on this land. Population must stay mixed." Result Nehru complaints to Gandhiji who refuses to interfere after Sardar tells him that Local muslims are attacking Indian officials in Aligarh and Junagarh and he will not see symbols of state representing people's power being attacked like this. Then was that 'sardar' and there is this! Thoo !!! what pity my motherland?
4. What can be done now? How do we win this war that is being fought for 26 years? Why does not Sonia and her bandicoots bring back POTA under any name? what other solution
There is only one way to fight terror. As KPS Gill puts it , " You can never out run them, you just have to take out eye for an eye. Infact 2 eyes for one and every one of your teeth , take out their whole jaw along with their parents." I have always said that Terror can only be fought with greater terror. How do we do it? Bring back POTA but UPA can't do it as they are looking at muslim votes . Moreover they have been opposing it for past 5 years now if they get it back they will have to admit their mistake. They are going in knots and so is the country.
Second thing urgently -please put all these Bhai- Bhai idiots, specially the ones born in Pukistan, in Jail, specially the Kuldip nayyar types who continue to burn candles. They have made the state complacent. I remeber , how the cops who gave punjab back to India, died fighting human rights cases and in penury. These Dhoti roy( that opiumated anaemic porn writer) and barkha dutt types should be put behind bars and executed. These people are dangerous along with the whole gang of Pronoy, Rajdeep, Vikram and others along with these NGO's.How dare these guys kall Northern areas of Kashmir as Azad Kashmir, It against an act of parliament and a fit case for onvoking NSA. Let me tell you , fighting terror is dirty business, if you harrase the fighter like this, you are condemned as a nation to die like this. complete immunity for the security forces is the only solution.
Please bring POTA back and appoint fast track courts for speedy justice and free the IB and put under the supervision of this court.
5. Why so much of hue and cry this time
This answer is that for the first time the rich and mighty have been affected directly. How shamefull it is to see Channels talking about Taj Hotel as if it was mahatma gandhi's Samadhi. They have completely forgotten CST. Why? It 's because their advertisers don't travel by trains, they dine in luxury hotels. There was a bomb blast in Assam yerterday, 5 people killed. how many people talked about it, none. How many people have died in the carnage at jaipur, delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai trains before? where were these Channels? The answer is, there is no value of to the life of 'Stupid common Men'. After he elects a govt he himself just becomes a number. This common men whose forefathers fought for this nation(While most of today's elite were busy licking Brit balls except for Birla, Bajaj Modis and few others) and holds the ideals of this country together has just become a number.
This common men who teaches their children to join the forces and love the country more than their own life. This common men whose son's and daughter are fighting to save this idea called India on the icy peaks of Himalayas , deserts of Rajasthan, Jungles of Mizoram, waters of Cochin does not even know if he will come back home, safe in the evening. He is still doing it because he still have faith in the wisdom and knowledge of his elite brethren who got educated in the colleges subsidised by his income. faith, that his brethren will create a just society where he will have his share on resources.
His offsprings are being denied the basics – a meagre raise of Rs1400 per month for jawans while we give 3 crores to one Olympic shooter.The politicians he elected to serve him have become the masters and the new rulers. They fly around in the planes bought by his tax money while he is dying on railway platforms waiting for his soldiers to reach him as they are delayed as they dont have their won plane. Jawan keeps on struggling for his pension, job after his retirement at age 35, food, education for kids. You name it. Stiil, He has faith but now he is loosing patience and his dreams are watching this fallacy of democracy narrowly.
India, is badly let down by the educated. They abdicated their responsibility so that they can continue their hold on resources and exploit them. The people who owe 100's of crores in debt to public sector banks but dine and wine in Taj and Oberoi, who are giving qoutes and are planning to flee the country to UK/ US. This stupid common men can not even reach his home.
There was a 'Sardar' who created nation out of 565 riyasats and then we have this Sardar.
@Chandraban Good overall coverage. But I dont think legislation alone is enough to handle this crisis.
All the following are required: 1. A central body to co-ordinate actions and share intelligence across the country – an improvised ATS for the whole country.
2. Better equipment for local police – both for surveilance and attack/defense. Semi/fully automatics, infrared sensors, better communication equipments, bullet proof vehicles and vest
3. The IB and RAW officials should be let loose – more powers, more money, more men and more jurisdiction. More operatives should be prepared to infiltrate these terrist organizations.
4. Political approval should NOT be required for fighting grassroot terrorism. Too much red tape currently exists in this area.
5. UNBIASED red tape on any journalist/TV channel who is giving out strategic and tactical information through their media. More intelligent use of the media by manipulative and suggestive mis-information should be priority.
After fighting insurgency for years, and listening to Miss Dutt and party’s homilies I heaved a sigh of relief when I learn’t that the two 5 star hotels have been targeted. Things MUST even for all. I only wish more of the chaterrati got whacked. I feel sorry for Sandeep. Sorry not for that he died in battle – but that he did for people who are unwilling to put their young men. along him.
@ Chandrabhan, Excellent article! Wish we had some more people of your type. Shiv, I am a proud indian (and so are you as is evident) and I feel pained at the way the media deals with the Indian Armed Forces. You fellows can hold the mike and say whatever crap you want and get away with it, because there is nobody to audit your stuff. That’s both good and bad, but remember every time the media makes statements loosely, your own armed forces and in turn the country suffers. I have the following points that one might like to ponder upon(hope you project it appropriately- after all you have the power)-
(a) Do you seriously think that the Indian Navy or the Coast Guard would not have taken any action, if they had the information? Most of the time the intelligence that you get is sheer bullshit! and let me tell you that it is practically impossible to pick up and identify a trawler unless you have pointed intelligence to that effect. Shit served on platter serves no purpose cause its still shit. The problem is the intelligence agencies are full of people without any experience of the armed forces. Does anyone in RAW or IB understand nuances of Naval Operations Analysis, Search Patterns, Engagement matrices, ROE’s, Time on task etc? Might make a lot of sense to have the armed forces handling the country’s intelligence agencies.
(b) Let me assure you and promise you that such an incident will occur again in a few months time because we are completely wrong in our conclusions. Firstly, You just cannot carry out surveillance without the introduction of surveillance equipment in large scale (such as AIS, satcom, datalinks etc. Secondly, we still do not know who is in charge. Unless the Command and Control of all agencies are well defined, it is impossible for information and decisions to flow.
(c) Where is it written that the NSA must be a bureaucrat? Why can’t we have a ex army chief etc as one? Believe me a service officer will do a great job!
(d) Nothing is going to change unless there are major changes carried out in our bureaucracy and administration.
(e) Its fashionable to criticize armed forces these days (kudos to shekhar gupta and other clowns like him). Remember this hurts the people who are going to fight for you. The way things are going on, there are not going to be very many left.
(f) What happened to the pay parity issues? With out a concrete and clear arrangement in place all this talk is a non starter!
Bulls eye chandrabhan. There are 100 *****rds per square yard in this country to devide the country in the name of religion, caste, region, language etc. After 9/11 not even a single incident took place in USA. That is security. Here in India every second day u will find min of 30 to 50 people dying as a routine. Even then every voice makes its openion as per its own convenience. The people of this country lack in basic disipline, ethics and nationality feeling. All they do is lighting up candles and shouting slogans.
All u need in this country is conscription to service at the age of 17-18. Then only the next generation can fight any terror.
Shiv and fellow friends, I am just a stupid common man. Too common to be noticed and counted for. Just one more number who got fed up of the system and left the country. But I will be back now.I can't run away form my destiny and that is tied to this nation. I do write on and off about my pain ans dilemna.
I am thankfull to shiv for allowing the expression of emotions on his blog. Please read the genesis of this nonsense that is ailing India in the following
Hats off to you Chandrabhan. I totally agree with you that, this hue and cry is only since rich amonst the poors of the nation were forced to come to terms with the naked face of our polity. No one including our politicians ever cared for people getting killed in terrorist bombing all over India. Even our media has remained happy reporting soldiers dying by each day in J & K as a clipping of news in a few sentences. Having spent 30 yrs in Army I indeed felt very sad to read Shri Mukesh Ambani's suggestion of conscription for the youth of the country. The timing of suggestion makes me very sad and tells us their commmitment for the country. The main problem with us is lack of discipline in small little things that we do in our daily life. For people of India including media, politician etc discipline is a word reserved for armed forces only. Let me tell you any amount of efficient policing and security cover can not improve the situtation. Look at what has happened in AP assembly yestarday. MIM chief fights for the terrorist who injured the policeman on duty and says it was wrong to term him terrorist. I am sure none of us have forgotten what happened in the aftermath of Batla house encounter and the position taken by our politicians. I many times wonder as to whether it has been worth it to have given my youth and energy for an ungreatful lot? Look at what is being done to our Naval Chief who tried to showw mirror to these newswallas! One must read their reactions. They dont have the moral courage to even admit their failings. I see very little hope for the country. Creating additional agencies with hands tied on their back would not be able to bring about the desired change. Thanks Pat
Pat sir, We just can’t give up. We are keepers of this Idea and we will prevail , come what may, whatever cost we may have to pay, we will pay.
We are to be blamed for this mess as we abdicated oursleves from the responsibility by paying taxes and hands off policy from govt. We have to clean it. let me assure you, I will not run away this time. Career, money , fame is all meaning less. I want to do it because my father, grand father , siblings all did their duty quietly. only diffeence is i will not do it quietly.
Shiv, You are a media person and you must speak for people who cannot voice their feelings- The armed forces! The media goes on a witch hunt every time someone tells them to do an introspection. The armed forces in this country are not perfect just like every other organization in the country which is far worse. However, this country’s armed are amongst the finest in the world who continue to perform for an ungrateful nation. The morale of the forces is perhaps at its south pole and the media is doing little to make it better.
Isn’t it time that some regulation started off not to publish things which are of secret nature. Who will take the responsibility? Will the Media do Self Regulation or the Government should take a hard line to stop all these? Does the official Secret Act is not applicable for the Media
Isn’t it time that some regulation started off not to publish things which are of secret nature. Who will take the responsibility? Will the Media do Self Regulation or the Government should take a hard line to stop all these? Does the official Secret Act is not applicable for the Media?
these media channel even sell this country just to gain the TRP. the same NDTV always used to show pgme on army life. now for the last two months when time came to support defense forces on 4 core issues they never gave even a single minute.
I had good chat with you on Pakjabi and Pak issue.
I would not like to comment on the Internal political issues specefically about party but share some of your common perceptions.
It is abosolutely true that the more educated and high status a man has in India, the more Castist, communal, ill mannered, indisciplined, regional, corrupt, insensetive and obsurenist he is. You talk to a well educated man man, he is starkingly casiest and regional…abolutely closed minded. Perticularly the leftist and Congress types..who belch out something and practice all bad things of bhadraloka culture including untouchability.
Indian society and perticularly its lower middle and poor classes, its rural society, agrerian poors have been badly let down by its petty bourgiouses…the Babus of all hues starting from Patwari to DM to Secretaries. They are the invisible but the most harmfull termites of Indian society. Look at the Computerisation of reservation in railways, some of it is overcome. Babudom was such a bane once for that system. The worst about this institution of Babudom starting from Babu in a school to the Cabinet Secretary is that they fit in all system. This damn fellow can supercede all Priciples and teachers in the school and all specialists in the ministries and deptts. Basically Babu in a hospital / village school and Babu in Ministry are essentailly same.
Articles 310 and 311 of the Indian Constitutions continue to remain there. These provisions were introduced by our Masters, the British, in 1935, when Provinical Govts statrted functioning in India. That time the willy Brits did not want their ICS to be troubled by the Indian Kalu Ram heading Provincial govts. After Independence Articles 310 and 311 have been retained under which the state govts can not take disciplinary proceeding against IAS Babu. Even for central govt it is a tedious proceedure. These provisions have become refuge of the IAS scoundrals. Kindly educate people. Article 310 and 311 need immidiate revision or deletion. The steel frame of India is rusty and spreading cancerious infections.
There must be a clear cut method of establishing administrative accountability and heads must roll more often than not.
Similarily Policing in India continue to represent ” state symbol (vardi)” and “Danda (fear)”. Weare no longer a colonial govt where symbol and fear of state is the prime requirement. The requirement of the day is Policing, prevention of crimes, establising administrative writs and rule of law. For that Vardi and Danda is not required. Booking or those who break law, bringing them to justice and creating conditions of peace in society is the job. Vardi and Danda are required to establish Political Control and Colonisations. free socities and democracies do not use Police to generate fear but confidence. However our Political class continues to use Police as Political instrument of repression and subjugation.
Therefore, the first thing that is required is to Decolonise and Debrutalise Police. Uniform (vardi) and Danda must be taken away from them and they need to be armed with Note Pads, Pistols, Communications and Vehicles. They must look like citizens having only an ID for Police. They must gain confidence of people rather than lord over them with Vardi and Danda. Their craze for stars is psychopathetic. They need to completely change their mindset.
These are some basic, simple and doable things which we can begin with. These will have long impact. Babudom means, dealy, obsurity, uncalled for secrecy, domains, ownership of files and info. RTI is correct step in lessoning impact of Babudom. But much needs to be done in this domain.
Dear Chandrabhan I fully endorse your views that, We have to take the lead. The smallest of idea if pursued with necessary zeal would make a difference. I am with you . You can depend on me, that is all I can say at this stage. Thanks and regards Pat
Check out that obese HinduSthan Times + Brunch Editor’s raves on beef quality. There are nice veggie and nonveggie Gujaratis and lousy ones. Gd – Gandhi, Patel, Ly – Jinnah, Veerji Singhvi
Dear All; There are several major publishing groups in India , the most prominent among them being the Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, The Hindu group, the Anandabazar Patrika Group, the Eenadu Group, the Malayalam Manorama Group, the Mathrubhumi group, the Sahara group, the Bhaskar group. Let us see the ownership of different media agencies.
NDTV: A very popular TV news media is funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain Supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan . Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist party of India .His wife and Brinda Karat are sisters.
India Today which used to be the only national weekly which supported BJP is now bought by NDTV!! Since then the tone has changed drastically and turned into Hindu bashing.
CNN-IBN: This is 100 percent funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annually allocates $800 million for promotion of its channel. Its Indian head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
Times group list:
Times Of India, Mid-Day, Nav-Bharth Times, Stardust, Femina, Vijay Times, Vijaya Karnataka, Times now (24- hour news channel) and many more.. Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. `World Christian Council?
does 80 percent of the Funding, and an Englishman and an Italian equally share balance 20 percent. The Italian Robertio Mindo is a close relative of Sonia Gandhi.
Star TV: It is run by an Australian, who is supported by St. Peters Pontifical Church Melbourne.
Hindustan Times: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collaboration with Times Group.
The Hindu: English daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne , Switzerland . N. Ram`s wife is a Swiss national.
Indian Express: Divided into two groups. The Indian Express and new Indian Express (southern edition) ACTS Christian Ministries have major stake in the Indian Express and latter is still with the Indian counterpart.
Eeenadu: Still to date controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao. Ramoji Rao is connected with film industry and owns a huge studio in Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Jyothi: The Muslim party of Hyderabad known as MIM along with a Congress Minister has purchased this Telugu daily very recently.
The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of India.
Kairali TV: It is controlled by Communist party of India (Marxist)
Mathrubhoomi: Leaders of Muslim League and Communist leaders have major investment.
Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J. Akbar.
> > Gujarat riots which took place in 2002 where Hindus were burnt
> > alive,
Rajdeep Sardesai and Bharkha Dutt working for NDTV at that time got around 5 Million Dollars from Saudi Arabia to cover only Muslim victims, which they did very faithfully. Not a single Hindu family was interviewed or shown on TV whose near and dear ones had been burnt alive, it is reported.
Tarun Tejpal of < Tehelka.com regularly gets blank cheques from Arab countries to target BJP and Hindus only, it is said.
The ownership explains the control of media in India by foreigners.
The result is obvious.
PONDER OVER THIS. NOW YOU KNOW WHY EVERY ONE IS AGAINST TRUTH, HOW VERY SAD.
With due regards to all concerned parties Namely The Electronic media, the Navy, R&AW and the Police, I have the following points to share with you.
There are two very important questions raised, by the electronic media, in the recent past , One is that Why no terrorist attack took place in USA after Sept.11 and why India is being subjected to such attacks repeatedly? the other is, in reponse to Indian Navy's stand that there was no actionable intelligence made available to them – Defining the Actionable intelligence in their own myopic way, the R&AW supported by media states that if exact date, time & place was known, then two policemen could have gone & arrested the terrorists, where was the need for the mighty Indian Navy. On the face value these two remarks seems logical and have left one speechless when confronted to ,but, a little application of common sense reveals that how naive these questions are.
The answer to the first question, lies in the basic skin & cultural difference of the continents involved. Mostly a Pakistani or an Indian, or an Orientalist dressed like an American or a European can be differenciated on face value, without going through there passports. Armed with this basic difference between the so called terrorists from the other continent, America or the European countries have the advantage of focussing only on thirty percent of the population, visiting or staying with them from the other continenet, in order to keep track of the terrorists. Even though they have no past experience of terrorism. Lessons are learnt in the first time itself and communities involved brought under a magnifying scanner and will remain so till these communities prove worthy of trust. A job much easier than faced by the Indian Govt/IB/Security agencies. Although Indian ntelligence agencies, at times, based on the past patterns, also, try to reduce their focus from similar looking hundred percent of the Orientalist to thirty percent. For which the politicians have to do lots of diplomatic explaining to the old and the young, innocent, enthusiastic and alert Indian Media. Who needs to be reminded, at times, about the common country's interest. The answer to the second question lies in understanding that Even five hundred commandos were considered inadequate when the exact date ( 26 Nov), time( 9PM)and place(TAJ Hotel, Oberoi Hotel , CST) of handfull of terrorists were known, not only to the security agencies, but to the whole Nation, on the indian soil. Where were these two brave policemen, capable of capturing the terrorists based on such knowledge, the experienced R&AW and young electronic media was talking about, when running down there own Indian Navy & the Coast Guard. What does the young and the naive media (Guided by the real & hidden masters e.g. the Secretaries/ Beurocrats in the name of the politicians) expects when poses such questions not to the rulers of this country but to their instruements.
It is like blaming the Hand ( The Security Agencies)for missing the target when the eyes ( Informers, R&AW/IB) & the brain (The Govt) fails to percieve the target clearly.
For one, the Navy chief made a lot of sense when he talked about tv BEING A “DISABLING FACTOR” during his press conference. It’s just that Indian Express and Hindustan Times preferred yellow journalism to hit at him. HT, after all, had to justify the “scoop” planted by RAW on Vir Sanghvi about how it had done such a wonderful job. Sad, that there is so much infighting and “cover-my-ass” action in the indian govt.
I think we need to change our thinking… Still we are talking of setting marine police stations, better weapons, bullet proof jackets for our forces, better intelligence…. all this is fine… but do we have a target in front of us…like 2 years, 5 years etc?? how much time do we anticipate to put a full stop against terror? Nobody is talking about it? everybody knows pakistan will not help us in this? then whom are we fooling around with? we should set a target first, say 3-4 years and then start working backwards in order to achieve it… does any political party in this country has enough guts to announce a 3-4 year target as apart of election manifesto for putting a full stop against terror??? answer is NO… So forget it, people like u and me will keep dying and all these politicians will keep enjoying the cat Z and VIP security. I sincerely pray to lord krishna to take avtar now he said in Geeta ..Yada Yada he dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata, abhiutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham… I have no faith in the politicians… Oh lord please come and save us…
@ Anon 1:08 PM Fully agree with u. In our country it takes peanuts to get an authentic photo ID made. Most of us who can throw money know it… How many of us made our driving licences through proper procedure i.e. by giving proper test or ration cards or PAN cards…there is a problem?? here we can get any documents required to clear security checks for peanuts… so how can one identify that a person who is having a valid ID card is a terrorist?? the job is not easy?? lot of work is required to be done…it requiers the overhauling of complete govt machinery… question is who will do it and how??
Hi, The ownesrship of the papers as given by Indian is almost 100% foreign(white skinned) . I donot know it is true.But The people working are Indians.Are they ALL UNPATRIOTIC? Our NSG got delayed due to IL76 being in chandigarh due to some reason.But IL76 standby for ARC is provided by Airforce which has enough aircrafts.ARC could have used An32s instead. Naval chief was right in not sending OSCAR force to break the Taj seize by terrorists as it was not fit for that role.But by succumbing to political pressure and committing his OSCAR , he exposed to ridicule due to its unprofessional operation for which it is not trained in the first place and speaking to press with covered face with transparent silk black cloth!!!.
Top police officials under fire for errors of judgment
Praveen Swami
Leadership lapses marred response to Mumbai terror attack
MUMBAI: Errors of judgment and top-level leadership lapses marred the Mumbai police’s management of the first, critical hours of last month’s Lahskar-e-Taiba attack — errors that are now driving calls from for a full review of the force’s crisis response system.
Mumbai’s top police officials, highly placed government sources said, failed to take charge of the Police Control Room, the nerve centre of the city police’s overall command structure. Nor did they use the force’s wireless system to rally their men demoralised by the loss of several of officers, notably the heroic joint commissioner of police and chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare. Instead, one top official chose to station himself and two aides inside a bullet-proof vehicle parked at the National Centre for the Performing Arts Building near the Oberoi Hotel, thus cutting himself off from the broad flow of operations.
Coordination at the Police Control Room fell to a committee of three joint commissioners of police — Crime Branch chief Rakesh Maria, his Law and Order counterpart, K.L. Prasad, and Administration head Bhagwantrao More. Without authority over subordinates outside their own chain of command, the control room team achieved little. Mumbai’s police failed to initiate a thoroughgoing lockdown of major roads, to block the potential movement of the terrorist groups. Nor were teams of police personnel dispatched to other potential targets. Worst of all, police and Special Reserve Police personnel stationed in the suburbs were not rushed to reinforce the small, ill-armed groups engaged in the early fighting.
In some cases, an officer present in the control room told The Hindu, requests for assistance were ignored. “A couple of people didn’t even pick up their mobile phones,” he said. Mumbai has 25 Deputy Commissioners of Police, spread out across its headquarters and 12 district zones. Just six, the officer said, played a significant role on November 26. “Had there been more groups of terrorists in the city,” a senior officer commented, “or had the Lashkar fidayeen attempted to break out of the hotels along with groups of hostages and head towards the sea, we would not have been in a position to respond.”
In fairness to the top official who was in the bullet-proof vehicle — he did not respond to text messages and calls from The Hindu requesting an interview for this story — the Mumbai Police had never rehearsed for a large-scale terror strike. Nor was the force armed or trained to deal with the situation they encountered. However, according to former Punjab Director-General of Police K.P.S. Gill who led the State police during its decisive campaign against Khalistan terrorists, the absence of rehearsal was not an acceptable excuse. “If a crisis ever plays out in the way you had rehearsed,” he argued, “it wouldn’t be a crisis at all.”
I was a witness to a similar event in drass during kargil war….more than fifty artillery guns including bofors were firing at tiger hill…artillery was not using MBRL (multi barrel rocket launcher) because of its short range and strong signature on enemy computers (bofors shells can not be traced to their origin. in any case bofors can shoot and scoot)…however a MBRL firing is a beautiful visual..i was standing with the brigadier who was leading the attack…suddenly he shouted ” who the hell ordered MBRL”..MBRL had been fired..the enemy read the signature and fired back with in half a minute..MBRL had moved by then but three soldiers were still there including captain sumit roy who had just returned after winning three-pimples…they all died…reason :our celebrity lady reporter had persuaded a non- artillery colonel to order firing of MBRL for a beautiful shot….the colonel was later taken to task and, if i remember right, cashiered, but our lady is still active making similar mistakes in Mumbai…
what a shame on media. for them money is more valuable than a soldiers life.
Thu, 27 Nov 2008 at 22:39 • Chyetanya Kunte • Filed under India , Moods and Blues
Appalling journalism. Absolute blasphemy! As I watch the news from home, I am dumbfounded to see Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the Mumbai meyhem. Take a couple of instances for example:
In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor guy adds in the end about where she was last hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring this bit of information.
In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our herione of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.
You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of hostages and people stuck in buildings. Imagine you’re one of those sorry souls holed-up in one of those bathrooms, or kitchens. A journalist pulls your kin outside and asks about your last contact on national television, and other prying details. In a bout of emotion, if they happen to reveal more details, you are sure going to hell. Remember these are hotels, where in all likelihood, every room has a television. All a terrorist needs to do is listen to Ms. Barkha Dutt’s latest achievement of extracting information from your relative, based on your last phone-call or SMS.
And you’re shafted—courtesy NDTV.
If the terrorists don’t manage to shove you in to your private hell, the journalists on national television will certainly help you get there. One of the criticisms about Barkha Dutt on Wikipedia reads thus:
During the Kargil conflict, Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel that she was giving away locations in her broadcasts, thus causing Indian casualties.
Looks like the idiot journalist has not learnt anything since then. I join a number of bloggers pleading her to shut the f*** up. Update: In fact, I am willing to believe that Hemant Karkare died because these channels showed him prepare (wear helmet, wear bullet-proof vest.) in excruciating detail live on television. And they in turn targeted him where he was unprotected. The brave officer succumbed to bullets in the neck.
— Regards
Gaurav Gupta Director, Sadhna TV
Are our media really patriotic as claimed by mr captainjohann. i dont thik so. shoddy journalism. just for money. they do not care common man’s lives or security aspects. fot them how much they can cash on an event that only matters.
AND LIFE GOES ON…….. @chandrabhan and Indian I appreciate your point. But I am more worried and pained at the state of our security apparatus and the mindless finger-pointing that goes on. I may be condemned for saying that we had to wake up to this horror while has triggered the chatteratti into taking up the issue of national security so stronly. I am ashamed on my PMs shame for his lapse. Is he not ashamed for the death of 16,632 farmers(correct me if I am wrong). Is he not ashamed when bombs ripped through New Delhi, Mombay, Assam and so many other places? Is it only when the intelligensia get whacked that we wake up to the horrors of terrorism? What happened to kabul? Why backpedal on your intended angry ourpourings? Why did we as a nation not act more decisively? Why did we need to go through a mumbai? I may be chastised for thinking that it is pure hot air that is being blown around in parliament. I dare not think that the political elite will use the military option against terror targets- lest it lead to a nuke fallout. I mean not the real war but, the loss of 123… which has been bargained through much of wheeling and dealing. I feel it is only posturing for the imbeciles like the common man who will be befooled by seeing such pronouncements timed before the elections which is aimed more at hijacking the issue of national security from the other opponent who is equally discredited. The cartoons know very well that this country is filled with people who suffer from acute amnesia and will forget the events in a few months time. Do we allow it to be a game to be played around. Thankfully the media is going along with this tomfoolery that very soon we will find that things are back to usual. It is no wonder that with such eminent sponsors of the media as described by Indian –do we need any more terrorists who are out to run down the institutions which are not- ‘media savvy’. Let us not allow the self-appointed intelligensia who go around as fourth column (sorry, Fifth column) who play into the hands of our enemies by their insensitive reporting. Even if you do not paint a rosy picture of the nation, atleast do not brandish to the world at large your dirty stinking undergarments. It only shows your maturity-or rather the lack of it. War is not an option-it may be the last. But a decisive action, perhaps a covert annihilation of the terror targets is what is the need of the hour. We may not be able to get away –given the pressure from the world powers by launching a punitive strike, but a dedicated mission which is well planned and co-ordinated and precise will be a possible option. We need to be willing as a nation – as one voice to do so. Are we capable? Yes, we are! But, are we bold enough- perhaps doubtful. If you do not confront terror at their own lair It may confront you in your territory. I wish the media focuses on such issues and not on another election time tehelka!- Humbly- A Common man
remember Kandahar – IC Hijack. NDTV sensationalisation capaign made the govt to handovr terrorsts to free the passengers. if i remmebder right, Mr. Pronnoy Roy apologised to th nation after the episode and said v will use discretion in future. still no remorse – and see the mumbai coverage and the defence of that. “THERE WERE No RULES, SO WE DIDNOT BREAK ANY!!!!. Mr. Pronoy Roy , does it ring any bell? or did u also think that public would have forgotten everything? Or only TRP and personal fame of a journaist matters
It is impossible to rule out that the terrorists who struck Mumbai’s Taj hotel were privy to watching what was being shown and listening to what was being said by different channels.
It is also as difficult to rule out that the battle could have been prolonged because the terrorists were being kept informed by their controllers based on TV coverage.
As for the lady journalist and Mr Roy’s anger, one needs to introspect whether such coverage is needed when a counter-terror operation is in progress.
Did one ever see the coverage of the counter-terror operations in the Underground in UK?
Did one see the commander of the counter-terror group speak about the operations while it was in progress?
Keeping you and me is appreciated but so is using wisdom and editorial prudence.
Dear Shiv,
Whenever I watch any news, I see outraged faces, some numb, others shouting profanities against the politicians. I can understand the anger, gone through it lot of times but it is time for calm head and ask some relevant questions. Well they are small yet profound.
1. How did it come to this? The nation with the sinews of steel and Vedanta for wisdom suddenly turns chicken in the past 5 years. Why? We have fought Christian insurgency in North east, Fought Hindu(ULFA) insurgency again in North east, Sikh insurgency in Punjab and exported muslim insurgency in kashmir. Suddenly what happened.
I think the answer lies in the victory of BJP in 1998-99.With their victory and the fear mongering of the congress and Pseudo-secular media along with the communists Indian muslims got really insecure as they have always been voting en-mass for congress as an alternative to RSS Politics. Moreover with the introduction of laws like POTA, a huge hue and cry was raised regarding their misuse and this further alleviated muslim fears. To the shock of many, congress came back to power in 2004, which they themselves could not believe and thus started the demise of idea called India. They were worried by the defection of their traditional vote bank and to get it back they repealed POTA and rendered the state toothless wherein their own state government in Maharashtra continues to use a law that is replica. Result – 4000 deaths in 4 years in blasts and no convictions while we feed the culprits with tax payer money.
2. What re our intelligence agencies doing? They are supposed to be one of the best? They were created by the hard work of 'The sardar' who refused to divide it with Pukistan. They are supposed to be guarding this Idea called India, what happened and why is so much of turf war going on? ,/b>
To understand we need to go back in 1966. A worried Indira Gandhi calls up the IB chief and askd him to track the whole sale food grain prices in the country as she is worried that inflation may cost her elections. Cut to MMS and 'The Incompetent'. Shivraj 'The incompetent ' patil wants to know what article is getting published about him n tomorrows news papers. he calls up the IB chief to send men to spy. Who is guarding India? some 14% officers only. so who will analyse the sea of data generated?Sorry, Ramvilas paswan also wants to know the chances of Mayawati in his state of bihar as Laloo wnats to know the discontent against Nitish but off course – IB has to find the answers. Complete political subjugation.
Raw has become a joke, so no comments.
3. Why is government in a denial mode about local complicity?
Again, we have to go back to 1947 in the Era of Sardar. he has just withdrawn his name after 'bapu' asks him to do so even if congress men elected him the leader 12 votes to Sardar vs 0 for Nehru.
There is a cabinet meeting going on after a few weeks. Nehru walks in and says " Vallabh Jabbar( or jawahar) bhai Patel, Why are the properties evacuated by muslims not going to muslims only? This is my order and I am the prime minster." Sardar listens and says, " This country belongs to all, There are hindus and sikhs too who have lost properties in now pakistan land, they have a first right on this. Moreover , I don't want to make many small pakistans on this land. Population must stay mixed." Result Nehru complaints to Gandhiji who refuses to interfere after Sardar tells him that Local muslims are attacking Indian officials in Aligarh and Junagarh and he will not see symbols of state representing people's power being attacked like this.
Then was that 'sardar' and there is this! Thoo !!! what pity my motherland?
4. What can be done now? How do we win this war that is being fought for 26 years? Why does not Sonia and her bandicoots bring back POTA under any name? what other solution
There is only one way to fight terror. As KPS Gill puts it , " You can never out run them, you just have to take out eye for an eye. Infact 2 eyes for one and every one of your teeth , take out their whole jaw along with their parents." I have always said that Terror can only be fought with greater terror. How do we do it? Bring back POTA but UPA can't do it as they are looking at muslim votes . Moreover they have been opposing it for past 5 years now if they get it back they will have to admit their mistake. They are going in knots and so is the country.
Second thing urgently -please put all these Bhai- Bhai idiots, specially the ones born in Pukistan, in Jail, specially the Kuldip nayyar types who continue to burn candles. They have made the state complacent. I remeber , how the cops who gave punjab back to India, died fighting human rights cases and in penury. These Dhoti roy( that opiumated anaemic porn writer) and barkha dutt types should be put behind bars and executed. These people are dangerous along with the whole gang of Pronoy, Rajdeep, Vikram and others along with these NGO's.How dare these guys kall Northern areas of Kashmir as Azad Kashmir, It against an act of parliament and a fit case for onvoking NSA. Let me tell you , fighting terror is dirty business, if you harrase the fighter like this, you are condemned as a nation to die like this. complete immunity for the security forces is the only solution.
Please bring POTA back and appoint fast track courts for speedy justice and free the IB and put under the supervision of this court.
5. Why so much of hue and cry this time
This answer is that for the first time the rich and mighty have been affected directly. How shamefull it is to see Channels talking about Taj Hotel as if it was mahatma gandhi's Samadhi. They have completely forgotten CST. Why? It 's because their advertisers don't travel by trains, they dine in luxury hotels. There was a bomb blast in Assam yerterday, 5 people killed. how many people talked about it, none. How many people have died in the carnage at jaipur, delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai trains before? where were these Channels? The answer is, there is no value of to the life of 'Stupid common Men'. After he elects a govt he himself just becomes a number. This common men whose forefathers fought for this nation(While most of today's elite were busy licking Brit balls except for Birla, Bajaj Modis and few others) and holds the ideals of this country together has just become a number.
This common men who teaches their children to join the forces and love the country more than their own life. This common men whose son's and daughter are fighting to save this idea called India on the icy peaks of Himalayas , deserts of Rajasthan, Jungles of Mizoram, waters of Cochin does not even know if he will come back home, safe in the evening. He is still doing it because he still have faith in the wisdom and knowledge of his elite brethren who got educated in the colleges subsidised by his income. faith, that his brethren will create a just society where he will have his share on resources.
His offsprings are being denied the basics – a meagre raise of Rs1400 per month for jawans while we give 3 crores to one Olympic shooter.The politicians he elected to serve him have become the masters and the new rulers. They fly around in the planes bought by his tax money while he is dying on railway platforms waiting for his soldiers to reach him as they are delayed as they dont have their won plane. Jawan keeps on struggling for his pension, job after his retirement at age 35, food, education for kids. You name it. Stiil, He has faith but now he is loosing patience and his dreams are watching this fallacy of democracy narrowly.
India, is badly let down by the educated. They abdicated their responsibility so that they can continue their hold on resources and exploit them. The people who owe 100's of crores in debt to public sector banks but dine and wine in Taj and Oberoi, who are giving qoutes and are planning to flee the country to UK/ US. This stupid common men can not even reach his home.
There was a 'Sardar' who created nation out of 565 riyasats and then we have this Sardar.
Who are the keepers of idea called India?
@Chandraban
Good overall coverage. But I dont think legislation alone is enough to handle this crisis.
All the following are required:
1. A central body to co-ordinate actions and share intelligence across the country – an improvised ATS for the whole country.
2. Better equipment for local police – both for surveilance and attack/defense. Semi/fully automatics, infrared sensors, better communication equipments, bullet proof vehicles and vest
3. The IB and RAW officials should be let loose – more powers, more money, more men and more jurisdiction. More operatives should be prepared to infiltrate these terrist organizations.
4. Political approval should NOT be required for fighting grassroot terrorism. Too much red tape currently exists in this area.
5. UNBIASED red tape on any journalist/TV channel who is giving out strategic and tactical information through their media. More intelligent use of the media by manipulative and suggestive mis-information should be priority.
After fighting insurgency for years, and listening to Miss Dutt and party’s homilies I heaved a sigh of relief when I learn’t that the two 5 star hotels have been targeted. Things MUST even for all. I only wish more of the chaterrati got whacked. I feel sorry for Sandeep. Sorry not for that he died in battle – but that he did for people who are unwilling to put their young men. along him.
@dear chandrabhan…
simply gr8 ..hats off to u
@ Chandrabhan, Excellent article! Wish we had some more people of your type.
Shiv,
I am a proud indian (and so are you as is evident) and I feel pained at the way the media deals with the Indian Armed Forces. You fellows can hold the mike and say whatever crap you want and get away with it, because there is nobody to audit your stuff. That’s both good and bad, but remember every time the media makes statements loosely, your own armed forces and in turn the country suffers.
I have the following points that one might like to ponder upon(hope you project it appropriately- after all you have the power)-
(a) Do you seriously think that the Indian Navy or the Coast Guard would not have taken any action, if they had the information? Most of the time the intelligence that you get is sheer bullshit! and let me tell you that it is practically impossible to pick up and identify a trawler unless you have pointed intelligence to that effect. Shit served on platter serves no purpose cause its still shit. The problem is the intelligence agencies are full of people without any experience of the armed forces. Does anyone in RAW or IB understand nuances of Naval Operations Analysis, Search Patterns, Engagement matrices, ROE’s, Time on task etc? Might make a lot of sense to have the armed forces handling the country’s intelligence agencies.
(b) Let me assure you and promise you that such an incident will occur again in a few months time because we are completely wrong in our conclusions. Firstly, You just cannot carry out surveillance without the introduction of surveillance equipment in large scale (such as AIS, satcom, datalinks etc. Secondly, we still do not know who is in charge. Unless the Command and Control of all agencies are well defined, it is impossible for information and decisions to flow.
(c) Where is it written that the NSA must be a bureaucrat? Why can’t we have a ex army chief etc as one? Believe me a service officer will do a great job!
(d) Nothing is going to change unless there are major changes carried out in our bureaucracy and administration.
(e) Its fashionable to criticize armed forces these days (kudos to shekhar gupta and other clowns like him). Remember this hurts the people who are going to fight for you. The way things are going on, there are not going to be very many left.
(f) What happened to the pay parity issues? With out a concrete and clear arrangement in place all this talk is a non starter!
Bulls eye chandrabhan. There are 100 *****rds per square yard in this country to devide the country in the name of religion, caste, region, language etc. After 9/11 not even a single incident took place in USA. That is security. Here in India every second day u will find min of 30 to 50 people dying as a routine. Even then every voice makes its openion as per its own convenience. The people of this country lack in basic disipline, ethics and nationality feeling. All they do is lighting up candles and shouting slogans.
All u need in this country is conscription to service at the age of 17-18. Then only the next generation can fight any terror.
I felt the same when you opened the news of IN chasing ships in high seas.
Bub, I watched that coverage. She had this to say:
Last messages has come half an hour ago. She is in room (cant remember the number but she gave the number), SHE IS HIDING UNDER HER BED!
Can a terrorist receive any more clear info than that?
Shiv and fellow friends,
I am just a stupid common man. Too common to be noticed and counted for. Just one more number who got fed up of the system and left the country.
But I will be back now.I can't run away form my destiny and that is tied to this nation. I do write on and off about my pain ans dilemna.
I am thankfull to shiv for allowing the expression of emotions on his blog. Please read the genesis of this nonsense that is ailing India in the following
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=646883451&ref=profile#/note.php?note_id=47459542645
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=646883451&ref=profile#/note.php?note_id=47664592645
and most important
http://www.aryaninvader.com/2008/09/liberal-or-bigot.html
I don't want to paste them here as it will divert the issue.
with deep anguish
Chandrabhan
Hats off to you Chandrabhan. I totally agree with you that, this hue and cry is only since rich amonst the poors of the nation were forced to come to terms with the naked face of our polity. No one including our politicians ever cared for people getting killed in terrorist bombing all over India. Even our media has remained happy reporting soldiers dying by each day in J & K as a clipping of news in a few sentences. Having spent 30 yrs in Army I indeed felt very sad to read Shri Mukesh Ambani's suggestion of conscription for the youth of the country. The timing of suggestion makes me very sad and tells us their commmitment for the country.
The main problem with us is lack of discipline in small little things that we do in our daily life. For people of India including media, politician etc discipline is a word reserved for armed forces only. Let me tell you any amount of efficient policing and security cover can not improve the situtation.
Look at what has happened in AP assembly yestarday. MIM chief fights for the terrorist who injured the policeman on duty and says it was wrong to term him terrorist. I am sure none of us have forgotten what happened in the aftermath of Batla house encounter and the position taken by our politicians.
I many times wonder as to whether it has been worth it to have given my youth and energy for an ungreatful lot?
Look at what is being done to our Naval Chief who tried to showw mirror to these newswallas! One must read their reactions. They dont have the moral courage to even admit their failings.
I see very little hope for the country. Creating additional agencies with hands tied on their back would not be able to bring about the desired change.
Thanks
Pat
Check this disgusting column by Vir Sanghvi-
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=9e30ef67-5834-4c1a-ac8d-9015b3fd416c
Pat sir,
We just can’t give up. We are keepers of this Idea and we will prevail , come what may, whatever cost we may have to pay, we will pay.
We are to be blamed for this mess as we abdicated oursleves from the responsibility by paying taxes and hands off policy from govt. We have to clean it. let me assure you, I will not run away this time. Career, money , fame is all meaning less. I want to do it because my father, grand father , siblings all did their duty quietly. only diffeence is i will not do it quietly.
chandrabhan
read media & me on sysavur.blogpsot.com.
You'll find it hilarious but ironically tragic.
Shiv,
You are a media person and you must speak for people who cannot voice their feelings- The armed forces! The media goes on a witch hunt every time someone tells them to do an introspection. The armed forces in this country are not perfect just like every other organization in the country which is far worse. However, this country’s armed are amongst the finest in the world who continue to perform for an ungrateful nation. The morale of the forces is perhaps at its south pole and the media is doing little to make it better.
Isn’t it time that some regulation started off not to publish things which are of secret nature. Who will take the responsibility? Will the Media do Self Regulation or the Government should take a hard line to stop all these? Does the official Secret Act is not applicable for the Media
Isn’t it time that some regulation started off not to publish things which are of secret nature. Who will take the responsibility? Will the Media do Self Regulation or the Government should take a hard line to stop all these? Does the official Secret Act is not applicable for the Media?
these media channel even sell this country just to gain the TRP. the same NDTV always used to show pgme on army life. now for the last two months when time came to support defense forces on 4 core issues they never gave even a single minute.
Dear Cahndrabhan,
Nice to see you back.
I had good chat with you on Pakjabi and Pak issue.
I would not like to comment on the Internal political issues specefically about party but share some of your common perceptions.
It is abosolutely true that the more educated and high status a man has in India, the more Castist, communal, ill mannered, indisciplined, regional, corrupt, insensetive and obsurenist he is. You talk to a well educated man man, he is starkingly casiest and regional…abolutely closed minded. Perticularly the leftist and Congress types..who belch out something and practice all bad things of bhadraloka culture including untouchability.
Indian society and perticularly its lower middle and poor classes, its rural society, agrerian poors have been badly let down by its petty bourgiouses…the Babus of all hues starting from Patwari to DM to Secretaries. They are the invisible but the most harmfull termites of Indian society. Look at the Computerisation of reservation in railways, some of it is overcome. Babudom was such a bane once for that system. The worst about this institution of Babudom starting from Babu in a school to the Cabinet Secretary is that they fit in all system. This damn fellow can supercede all Priciples and teachers in the school and all specialists in the ministries and deptts. Basically Babu in a hospital / village school and Babu in Ministry are essentailly same.
Articles 310 and 311 of the Indian Constitutions continue to remain there. These provisions were introduced by our Masters, the British, in 1935, when Provinical Govts statrted functioning in India. That time the willy Brits did not want their ICS to be troubled by the Indian Kalu Ram heading Provincial govts. After Independence Articles 310 and 311 have been retained under which the state govts can not take disciplinary proceeding against IAS Babu. Even for central govt it is a tedious proceedure. These provisions have become refuge of the IAS scoundrals. Kindly educate people. Article 310 and 311 need immidiate revision or deletion. The steel frame of India is rusty and spreading cancerious infections.
There must be a clear cut method of establishing administrative accountability and heads must roll more often than not.
Similarily Policing in India continue to represent ” state symbol (vardi)” and “Danda (fear)”. Weare no longer a colonial govt where symbol and fear of state is the prime requirement. The requirement of the day is Policing, prevention of crimes, establising administrative writs and rule of law. For that Vardi and Danda is not required. Booking or those who break law, bringing them to justice and creating conditions of peace in society is the job. Vardi and Danda are required to establish Political Control and Colonisations. free socities and democracies do not use Police to generate fear but confidence. However our Political class continues to use Police as Political instrument of repression and subjugation.
Therefore, the first thing that is required is to Decolonise and Debrutalise Police. Uniform (vardi) and Danda must be taken away from them and they need to be armed with Note Pads, Pistols, Communications and Vehicles. They must look like citizens having only an ID for Police. They must gain confidence of people rather than lord over them with Vardi and Danda. Their craze for stars is psychopathetic. They need to completely change their mindset.
These are some basic, simple and doable things which we can begin with. These will have long impact. Babudom means, dealy, obsurity, uncalled for secrecy, domains, ownership of files and info. RTI is correct step in lessoning impact of Babudom. But much needs to be done in this domain.
Let us start with simple and effective things.
Jai Hind.
Do you want to see corruption at the worst – come to Karnataka.
If you want to see some worse than worst (sorry English grammarians) corruption come to Bellary district.
Everyone takes money – politician, police, IAS, petty babus, Forest officials – for doing illegal things, protecting outlaws, breaking rules, granting exemptions whatever else.
What can you expect from such people? Law and Order? Administration? Fairness?
Come Mr lal Krishna Advani – your BJP rules Karnataka and is sending the corrupt JD (S) into second place in the race for the most corrupt.
How can you fight foreign terrorists who are faceless when you cannot fight these INDIAN anti-national elements whose identities you know?
Dear Chandrabhan
I fully endorse your views that, We have to take the lead. The smallest of idea if pursued with necessary zeal would make a difference.
I am with you . You can depend on me, that is all I can say at this stage.
Thanks and regards
Pat
@anon at 12.11
Check out that obese HinduSthan Times + Brunch Editor’s raves on beef quality. There are nice veggie and nonveggie Gujaratis and lousy ones.
Gd – Gandhi, Patel,
Ly – Jinnah, Veerji Singhvi
Dear All;
There are several major publishing groups in India , the most prominent among them being the Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, The Hindu group, the Anandabazar Patrika Group, the Eenadu Group, the Malayalam Manorama Group, the Mathrubhumi group, the Sahara group, the Bhaskar group. Let us see the ownership of different media agencies.
NDTV: A very popular TV news media is funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain Supports Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan . Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist party of India .His wife and Brinda Karat are sisters.
India Today which used to be the only national weekly which supported BJP is now bought by NDTV!! Since then the tone has changed drastically and turned into Hindu bashing.
CNN-IBN: This is 100 percent funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annually allocates $800 million for promotion of its channel. Its Indian head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh.
Times group list:
Times Of India, Mid-Day, Nav-Bharth Times, Stardust, Femina, Vijay Times, Vijaya Karnataka, Times now (24- hour news channel) and many more.. Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. `World Christian Council?
does 80 percent of the Funding, and an Englishman and an Italian equally share balance 20 percent. The Italian Robertio Mindo is a close relative of Sonia Gandhi.
Star TV: It is run by an Australian, who is supported by St. Peters Pontifical Church Melbourne.
Hindustan Times: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collaboration with Times Group.
The Hindu: English daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne , Switzerland . N. Ram`s wife is a Swiss national.
Indian Express: Divided into two groups. The Indian Express and new Indian Express (southern edition) ACTS Christian Ministries have major stake in the Indian Express and latter is still with the Indian counterpart.
Eeenadu: Still to date controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao. Ramoji Rao is connected with film industry and owns a huge studio in Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Jyothi: The Muslim party of Hyderabad known as MIM along with a Congress Minister has purchased this Telugu daily very recently.
The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of India.
Kairali TV: It is controlled by Communist party of India (Marxist)
Mathrubhoomi: Leaders of Muslim League and Communist leaders have major investment.
Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J. Akbar.
> > Gujarat riots which took place in 2002 where Hindus were burnt
> > alive,
Rajdeep Sardesai and Bharkha Dutt working for NDTV at that time got around 5 Million Dollars from Saudi Arabia to cover only Muslim victims, which they did very faithfully. Not a single Hindu family was interviewed or shown on TV whose near and dear ones had been burnt alive, it is reported.
Tarun Tejpal of < Tehelka.com regularly gets blank cheques from Arab countries to target BJP and Hindus only, it is said.
The ownership explains the control of media in India by foreigners.
The result is obvious.
PONDER OVER THIS. NOW YOU KNOW WHY EVERY ONE IS AGAINST TRUTH, HOW VERY SAD.
Regards
Indian
Dear all,
With due regards to all concerned parties Namely The Electronic media, the Navy, R&AW and the Police, I have the following points to share with you.
There are two very important questions raised, by the electronic media, in the recent past ,
One is that Why no terrorist attack took place in USA after Sept.11 and why India is being subjected to such attacks repeatedly?
the other is, in reponse to Indian Navy's stand that there was no actionable intelligence made available to them – Defining the Actionable intelligence in their own myopic way, the R&AW supported by media states that if exact date, time & place was known, then two policemen could have gone & arrested the terrorists, where was the need for the mighty Indian Navy.
On the face value these two remarks seems logical and have left one speechless when confronted to ,but, a little application of common sense reveals that how naive these questions are.
The answer to the first question, lies in the basic skin & cultural difference of the continents involved. Mostly a Pakistani or an Indian, or an Orientalist dressed like an American or a European can be differenciated on face value, without going through there passports. Armed with this basic difference between the so called terrorists from the other continent, America or the European countries have the advantage of focussing only on thirty percent of the population, visiting or staying with them from the other continenet, in order to keep track of the terrorists. Even though they have no past experience of terrorism. Lessons are learnt in the first time itself and communities involved brought under a magnifying scanner and will remain so till these communities prove worthy of trust. A job much easier than faced by the Indian Govt/IB/Security agencies.
Although Indian ntelligence agencies, at times, based on the past patterns, also, try to reduce their focus from similar looking hundred percent of the Orientalist to thirty percent. For which the politicians have to do lots of diplomatic explaining to the old and the young, innocent, enthusiastic and alert Indian Media. Who needs to be reminded, at times, about the common country's interest.
The answer to the second question lies in understanding that Even five hundred commandos were considered inadequate when the exact date ( 26 Nov), time( 9PM)and place(TAJ Hotel, Oberoi Hotel , CST) of handfull of terrorists were known, not only to the security agencies, but to the whole Nation, on the indian soil. Where were these two brave policemen, capable of capturing the terrorists based on such knowledge, the experienced R&AW and young electronic media was talking about, when running down there own Indian Navy & the Coast Guard. What does the young and the naive media (Guided by the real & hidden masters e.g. the Secretaries/ Beurocrats in the name of the politicians) expects when poses such questions not to the rulers of this country but to their instruements.
It is like blaming the Hand ( The Security Agencies)for missing the target when the eyes ( Informers, R&AW/IB) & the brain (The Govt) fails to percieve the target clearly.
Talks, Talks and endless talks .
For one, the Navy chief made a lot of sense when he talked about tv BEING A “DISABLING FACTOR” during his press conference. It’s just that Indian Express and Hindustan Times preferred yellow journalism to hit at him. HT, after all, had to justify the “scoop” planted by RAW on Vir Sanghvi about how it had done such a wonderful job. Sad, that there is so much infighting and “cover-my-ass” action in the indian govt.
Dear All,
I think we need to change our thinking… Still we are talking of setting marine police stations, better weapons, bullet proof jackets for our forces, better intelligence…. all this is fine… but do we have a target in front of us…like 2 years, 5 years etc?? how much time do we anticipate to put a full stop against terror? Nobody is talking about it? everybody knows pakistan will not help us in this? then whom are we fooling around with? we should set a target first, say 3-4 years and then start working backwards in order to achieve it… does any political party in this country has enough guts to announce a 3-4 year target as apart of election manifesto for putting a full stop against terror??? answer is NO… So forget it, people like u and me will keep dying and all these politicians will keep enjoying the cat Z and VIP security. I sincerely pray to lord krishna to take avtar now he said in Geeta ..Yada Yada he dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata, abhiutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham… I have no faith in the politicians… Oh lord please come and save us…
@ Anon 1:08 PM
Fully agree with u. In our country it takes peanuts to get an authentic photo ID made. Most of us who can throw money know it… How many of us made our driving licences through proper procedure i.e. by giving proper test or ration cards or PAN cards…there is a problem?? here we can get any documents required to clear security checks for peanuts… so how can one identify that a person who is having a valid ID card is a terrorist?? the job is not easy?? lot of work is required to be done…it requiers the overhauling of complete govt machinery… question is who will do it and how??
Hi,
The ownesrship of the papers as given by Indian is almost 100% foreign(white skinned) . I donot know it is true.But The people working are Indians.Are they ALL UNPATRIOTIC?
Our NSG got delayed due to IL76 being in chandigarh due to some reason.But IL76 standby for ARC is provided by Airforce which has enough aircrafts.ARC could have used An32s instead.
Naval chief was right in not sending OSCAR force to break the Taj seize by terrorists as it was not fit for that role.But by succumbing to political pressure and committing his OSCAR , he exposed to ridicule due to its unprofessional operation for which it is not trained in the first place and speaking to press with covered face with transparent silk black cloth!!!.
Top police officials under fire for errors of judgment
Praveen Swami
Leadership lapses marred response to Mumbai terror attack
MUMBAI: Errors of judgment and top-level leadership lapses marred the Mumbai police’s management of the first, critical hours of last month’s Lahskar-e-Taiba attack — errors that are now driving calls from for a full review of the force’s crisis response system.
Mumbai’s top police officials, highly placed government sources said, failed to take charge of the Police Control Room, the nerve centre of the city police’s overall command structure. Nor did they use the force’s wireless system to rally their men demoralised by the loss of several of officers, notably the heroic joint commissioner of police and chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Hemant Karkare. Instead, one top official chose to station himself and two aides inside a bullet-proof vehicle parked at the National Centre for the Performing Arts Building near the Oberoi Hotel, thus cutting himself off from the broad flow of operations.
Coordination at the Police Control Room fell to a committee of three joint commissioners of police — Crime Branch chief Rakesh Maria, his Law and Order counterpart, K.L. Prasad, and Administration head Bhagwantrao More. Without authority over subordinates outside their own chain of command, the control room team achieved little. Mumbai’s police failed to initiate a thoroughgoing lockdown of major roads, to block the potential movement of the terrorist groups. Nor were teams of police personnel dispatched to other potential targets. Worst of all, police and Special Reserve Police personnel stationed in the suburbs were not rushed to reinforce the small, ill-armed groups engaged in the early fighting.
In some cases, an officer present in the control room told The Hindu, requests for assistance were ignored. “A couple of people didn’t even pick up their mobile phones,” he said. Mumbai has 25 Deputy Commissioners of Police, spread out across its headquarters and 12 district zones. Just six, the officer said, played a significant role on November 26. “Had there been more groups of terrorists in the city,” a senior officer commented, “or had the Lashkar fidayeen attempted to break out of the hotels along with groups of hostages and head towards the sea, we would not have been in a position to respond.”
In fairness to the top official who was in the bullet-proof vehicle — he did not respond to text messages and calls from The Hindu requesting an interview for this story — the Mumbai Police had never rehearsed for a large-scale terror strike. Nor was the force armed or trained to deal with the situation they encountered. However, according to former Punjab Director-General of Police K.P.S. Gill who led the State police during its decisive campaign against Khalistan terrorists, the absence of rehearsal was not an acceptable excuse. “If a crisis ever plays out in the way you had rehearsed,” he argued, “it wouldn’t be a crisis at all.”
DEAR ALL
[email protected]
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:19:24 +0000
I was a witness to a similar event in drass during kargil war….more than fifty artillery guns including bofors were firing at tiger hill…artillery was not using MBRL (multi barrel rocket launcher)
because of its short range and strong signature on enemy computers (bofors shells can not be traced to their origin. in any case bofors
can shoot and scoot)…however a MBRL firing is a beautiful visual..i was standing with the brigadier who was leading the attack…suddenly he shouted ” who the hell ordered MBRL”..MBRL had been fired..the enemy read the signature and fired back with in half a minute..MBRL
had moved by then but three soldiers were still there including captain sumit roy who had just returned after winning three-pimples…they all died…reason :our celebrity lady reporter had
persuaded a non- artillery colonel to order firing of MBRL for a beautiful shot….the colonel was later taken to task and, if i remember right, cashiered, but our lady is still active making similar mistakes in Mumbai…
what a shame on media. for them money is more valuable than a soldiers life.
regards
indian
Dear all,
http://ckunte.com/archives/shoddy-journalism
Shoddy journalism
Thu, 27 Nov 2008 at 22:39 • Chyetanya Kunte • Filed under India , Moods and Blues
Appalling journalism. Absolute blasphemy! As I watch the news from
home, I am dumbfounded to see Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the Mumbai meyhem. Take a couple of instances for example:
In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor guy adds in the end about where she was last
hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring this bit of information.
In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our herione of revelations
calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.
You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of hostages and people stuck in buildings. Imagine you’re one of those sorry souls holed-up in one of those bathrooms, or kitchens. A journalist pulls your kin outside and asks about your last contact on national television, and other prying details. In a bout of emotion, if they happen to reveal more details, you are sure going to hell. Remember these are hotels, where in all likelihood, every room has a television. All a terrorist needs to do
is listen to Ms. Barkha Dutt’s latest achievement of extracting information from your relative, based on your last phone-call or SMS.
And you’re shafted—courtesy NDTV.
If the terrorists don’t manage to shove you in to your private hell, the journalists on national television will certainly help you get there. One of the criticisms about Barkha Dutt on Wikipedia reads thus:
During the Kargil conflict, Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel that she was giving away locations in her broadcasts,
thus causing Indian casualties.
Looks like the idiot journalist has not learnt anything since then. I join a number of bloggers pleading her to shut the f*** up.
Update: In fact, I am willing to believe that Hemant Karkare died because these channels showed him prepare (wear helmet, wear
bullet-proof vest.) in excruciating detail live on television. And they in turn targeted him where he was unprotected. The brave officer succumbed to bullets in the neck.
—
Regards
Gaurav Gupta
Director, Sadhna TV
Are our media really patriotic as claimed by mr captainjohann. i dont thik so. shoddy journalism. just for money. they do not care common man’s lives or security aspects. fot them how much they can cash on an event that only matters.
thing to ponder
indian
AND LIFE GOES ON……..
@chandrabhan and Indian
I appreciate your point. But I am more worried and pained at the state of our security apparatus and the mindless finger-pointing that goes on. I may be condemned for saying that we had to wake up to this horror while has triggered the chatteratti into taking up the issue of national security so stronly. I am ashamed on my PMs shame for his lapse. Is he not ashamed for the death of 16,632 farmers(correct me if I am wrong). Is he not ashamed when bombs ripped through New Delhi, Mombay, Assam and so many other places? Is it only when the intelligensia get whacked that we wake up to the horrors of terrorism? What happened to kabul? Why backpedal on your intended angry ourpourings? Why did we as a nation not act more decisively? Why did we need to go through a mumbai? I may be chastised for thinking that it is pure hot air that is being blown around in parliament. I dare not think that the political elite will use the military option against terror targets- lest it lead to a nuke fallout. I mean not the real war but, the loss of 123… which has been bargained through much of wheeling and dealing. I feel it is only posturing for the imbeciles like the common man who will be befooled by seeing such pronouncements timed before the elections which is aimed more at hijacking the issue of national security from the other opponent who is equally discredited. The cartoons know very well that this country is filled with people who suffer from acute amnesia and will forget the events in a few months time. Do we allow it to be a game to be played around. Thankfully the media is going along with this tomfoolery that very soon we will find that things are back to usual. It is no wonder that with such eminent sponsors of the media as described by Indian –do we need any more terrorists who are out to run down the institutions which are not- ‘media savvy’. Let us not allow the self-appointed intelligensia who go around as fourth column (sorry, Fifth column) who play into the hands of our enemies by their insensitive reporting. Even if you do not paint a rosy picture of the nation, atleast do not brandish to the world at large your dirty stinking undergarments. It only shows your maturity-or rather the lack of it. War is not an option-it may be the last. But a decisive action, perhaps a covert annihilation of the terror targets is what is the need of the hour. We may not be able to get away –given the pressure from the world powers by launching a punitive strike, but a dedicated mission which is well planned and co-ordinated and precise will be a possible option. We need to be willing as a nation – as one voice to do so. Are we capable? Yes, we are! But, are we bold enough- perhaps doubtful. If you do not confront terror at their own lair It may confront you in your territory. I wish the media focuses on such issues and not on another election time tehelka!-
Humbly- A Common man
remember Kandahar – IC Hijack. NDTV sensationalisation capaign made the govt to handovr terrorsts to free the passengers. if i remmebder right, Mr. Pronnoy Roy apologised to th nation after the episode and said v will use discretion in future. still no remorse – and see the mumbai coverage and the defence of that. “THERE WERE No RULES, SO WE DIDNOT BREAK ANY!!!!. Mr. Pronoy Roy , does it ring any bell? or did u also think that public would have forgotten everything? Or only TRP and personal fame of a journaist matters