B.RAMAN
Four Indian women journalists ---Barkha Dutt and Maya Mirchandani of the well-known NDTV,Suhasini Haider of the equally well-known CNN-IBN and Anjali Kamat of the US-based "Democracy Now"---- have distinguished themselves in covering the current on-going conflict situations in Egypt and Libya.
2. The NDTV and the CNN-IBN are well known in India. It is, therefore, not necessary for me to give their background. "Democracy Now", while well known in the US, is not that well known in India. Its web site says as follows : "Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 900 television and radio stations in North America. Time Magazine named Democracy Now! its “Pick of the Podcasts,” along with NBC’s Meet the Press. "
3.Barkha, Maya and Suhasini are well-known to audiences in the sub-continent and hence need no introduction. While Anjali is becoming well-known, there may still be people in India who are not yet acquainted with her background. For their benefit, I am giving herewith her bio as taken from the web site of "Democracy Now" : "Anjali is an independent radio and print journalist from south India. She has lived in Egypt and Jordan and reported on movements for justice across the Middle East and South Asia. Her work has appeared in Corpwatch, Left Turn, and Samar magazine, and national newspapers in India and Egypt (The Hindu, Frontline, Outlook, and Al-Ahram Weekly). In addition to producing Democracy Now!, she co-hosts and co-produces a weekly radio show on WBAI called Global Movements Urban Struggles. Anjali is also the managing editor of the book review section of Arab Studies Journal, a peer-reviewed independent publication. She has an MA in Near Eastern Studies from NYU and a post-graduate diploma from the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai."
4. Many men journalists from the Indian print and TV media---'The Hindu", "Headlines Today", "News x" and "Times Now"--- had also covered the massive protest movement in Egypt and some are now covering the civil war in Libya. I am focusing on the coverage of the four women journalists from India not because it was International Women's Day on March 8, but because in my view the coverage by the four women journalists stood apart from the coverage of their male counterparts----barring Atul Aneja of "The Hindu", who covered Egypt on the spot, but has been covering Libya from his field headquarters in Dubai. The coverage by the four women journalists was professional and substantial and of high quality. I had a feeling---I may be subjective---that the coverage by their male colleagues has tended to be more drama than substance barring the exception of Atul.
5. It would be unfair to compare the performance of our journalists in conflict situations in foreign territory with that of their counterparts from foreign media outlets such as the "Guardian" of the UK, the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" of the US, the CNN, the BBC, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. The kind of material and human resources which journalists of such foreign media outlets can mobilise are not within reach of Indian journalists -- men or women.Foreign media outlets have a long tradition of foreign news coverage and have a permanent presence in many countries of the world. This is of great advantage to their journalists from headquarters venturing out into foreign territory to cover conflicts. The local staff do the spade work and then the journalists from headquarters follow. We saw that even in East Libya. Some of the Western journalists to reach the conflict area first were from their Cairo offices or from their offices located in the Middle East. Others based in the headquarters followed them later.
6. Journalists of Indian media outlets---excepting possibly "The Hindu" and the "Times of India" --- do not have this advantage. This is particularly so in the case of the TV media. None of them, to my knowledge, has any permanent presence abroad staffed by people from their homeland. They just can't afford them. So, when a conflict as in Egypt and Libya suddenly breaks out journalists such as Barkha, Maya and Suhasini have to literally grope their way in from New Delhi without the advantage of any spadework having been done by others based in the field. This requires tremendous courage and initiative for which we must salute them instead of indulging in petty-minded snide remarks.
7. Some of my readers have asked me: Your focus is mostly on the coverage of Barkha and Maya from the NDTV. You have never referred to the coverage of Suhasini and Anjali. Let me answer in the case of Anjali first. It is true that I do not pay the same attention to her coverage as I do to the coverage of women journalists who go out into conflict situations from India. There are two reasons. Firstly, Anjali covers from the US perspective. I am more interested in the coverage from the Indian perspective. I want to look at what has been happening in Egypt and Libya through Indian eyes keeping in view the Indian interests. Barkha, Maya and Suhasini provide those Indian eyes. Secondly, Anjali, I notice, has been living in Egypt and Jordan off and on. I also notice ---I will be happy to stand corrected if I am wrong--- that during her first foray into East Libya she was accompanied by two Egyptians. Her local knowledge and local assistance give her an advantage which none of the Indian journalists going out from India has.
8.Even at the risk of being considered unfair, I would like to make a distinction between the coverage of rebel-controlled East Libya by Barkha and her NDTV team consisting of Ruby Dinghra and Manoj Thakur, and the coverage of Government-controlled areas from Tripoli, the capital, by Suhasini Haider. Travel to rebel-controlled areas and reporting from there without any back-up support, when needed, by Indian diplomatic missions requires greater courage and initiative.
9.Indian journalists are not strangers to conflict situations. Barkha made her name with her brilliant coverage of the Kargil conflict. Many Indian journalists did equally brilliantly in covering conflict situations in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. However, not many have ventured into the Taliban-controlled territory in Afghanistan where even not many Western journalists go because of the unacceptable risks involved. To my knowledge, this is the first time that Indian journalists have ventured into conflict areas in foreign territory far away from India without the advantage of any local assistance.
10. The rape of an American woman journalist in Egypt highlighted the extra dangers faced by women journalists volunteering to cover conflict situations. In this context, the action of Barkha and her team in volunteering to to go into the epi-centre of the Libyan civil war showed remarkable courage and needs to be applauded. There is a need for journalism institutions in India to make case studies of the coverage of conflict situations by our journalists---particularly women--- in order to see what lessons could be drawn.
11.The coverage by these women journalists and the remarkable feed-back to their coverage from viewers in India clearly show a growing interest in foreign news coverage---particularly in conflict areas--- from the Indian perspective. How to encourage this interest and cater to it on a permanent basis and not in an ad hoc manner is a question that needs attention from our news channels. (9-3-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG
This is my most favourite song. Of 1971. I love Roberta Flack's version best. Heard it for the first time over the radio at 3 AM at Hotel Du Rhone in Geneva in 1975.Had gone there to assist a team of officials that had come from New Delhi for secret talks with Laldenga, the head of the Mizo National Front. Couldn't sleep at night. Switched on the radio. This song was on. What a beautiful song! Have heard it being sung by others too.Roberta's is the best. She haunts me. I also love it being sung by a Filipino music group in a bar in Bangkok.I read about the bar in the International Herald Tribune in 1992. Visited it. It was lovely. And decent. But they didn't have a music group at that time.Used to play recorded music. Three or four years ago, they hired a music group from the Philippines. One of the girls in this group sings this song beautifully. Whenever I go to Bangkok, she sings it for me. The last I heard her sing it for me was on September 26,2009. A few days later, I was diagnosed with cancer. The bar supervisor is an old Thai who had worked as a batman to US soldiers in Vietnam. Whenever I went to that bar, he used to give me a chair in a special corner. We used to discuss about his experiences during the Vietnam war. Some days ago, I got a message from him asking why I have not come back again. I wrote to him, I was under treatment for cancer. He has replied back: "Please do come when you feel better. I have kept your chair vacant for you. I do not let anybody sit there. Come and sit in your favourite chair and listen to your favourite song." I was touched.Suddenly, I feel as if my cancer has been cured by his kind thoughts and words. Am singing this song again and again since this morning.---B.Raman
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, to listen for a while
And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarassed by the crowd
I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there
But he was there, this stranger, singing clear and loud
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, to listen for a while
And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarassed by the crowd
I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there
But he was there, this stranger, singing clear and loud
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Thursday, March 3, 2011
INDIA, CHINA & THE INDIAN OCEAN
B.RAMAN
The following are my answers to some questions on the above-mentioned subject received by me by E-Mail from an Italian journalist:
Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Akyab Cheduba and Bassein in Myanmar, to Chittagong in Bangladesh: India is afraid of the Chinese invasion of the Indian Ocean?
I will not use the word "invasion". India ought to be worried about the Chinese acquiring a power projection capability onshore and offshore in the Indian Ocean area.Gwadar, Gambantota etc are only one aspect of it. A more worrisom aspect, I feel, is the increase in the political and economic influence of China.India has the capability to counter the Chinese effectively on the sea---by itself as well as in co-operation with the US. Its ability to counter the Chinese influence onshore is very weak.The present Government headed by Dr.Manmohan Singh believes in maintaining a silence on this issue. Its silence will prove counter-productive.The rapidity with which the Chinese have evacuated their nationals (30,000) from Libya speaks very highly of the assets---political and strategic---that they have built up for themselves in the Indian Ocean and other far-flung areas.The slowness of the Indian evacuation machinery stands in sharp contrast.Our crisis management capability in far-flung areas came in for praise during the Tsunami of December 2004. Compared to our response in December 2004, our response this time has been found wanting.
The US-India alliance can be explained as an anti Chinese alliance?
There is no alliance presently. There is only talk of an alliance. What we need is not an alliance against China, but mutual co-operation to protect the onshore and offshore interests--- political, economic and strategic--- of India and the US in the Indian Ocean region and in North Africa. There has been no thinking on this subject. We wait for ideas to come from the US and then react to them. Instead we should take the initiative in strategising and then find ways of making the US part of this strategy born in the Indian brain.That kind of strategic thinking on what India and the US can and should do individually and jointly has not been there.
Most of the imports and exports pass through the Straits of Malacca. This is one of the weaknesses of the Asian giant? As China moves to overcome this weakness? The stability of Asia could be jeopardized by the Malacca dilemma?
The Malacca Dilemma worries China. We have no Malacca Dilemma at present beccause very little of India's energy supplies come from the region to the east of India. Our energy supplies still largely come from the West.China's Malacca Dilemma provides strategic and tactical opportunities for us to see that it is not able to address this dilemma effectively. Identification of these opportunities and thinking of ways of exploiting them should engage the attention of Indian strategic thinkers and planners.You are asking whether China's Malacca Dilemma could destabilise Asia. I don't think so in a strategic sense. On the contrary it could add to the vulnerabilities of China. In addressing this dilemma, Beijing has been putting many of its eggs in the basket of the military regime in Myanmar just as the US put many of its strategic eggs in the basket of the Suharto regime in Indonesia. Military regimes don't last for ever. The Myanmar military regime is bound to collapse one day just as the Suharto regime collapsed in Indonesia. The US, being a super power with vast resources and capabilities was able to quickly come out of its difficulties when the military regime in Jakarta collapsed. Will China be able to come out of its difficulties without serious damage if and when the military regime collapses in Myanmar? That question needs examination.
The missions in the Gulf of Aden of the Chinese navy what kind of information they give us about the military power of China?
It shows that China has still gaps in its power projection capability. The Chinese Navy has vast financial and technical resources, but it is not yet in a position to project China's power in far-flung areas. The US and Indian Navies will continue to maintain their off-shore pre-eminence in the short and possibly medium-terms. Can they do so long term? The US Navy is multi-dimensional in its thinking. The Chinese and Indian Navies are uni-dimensional--- with the Chinese naval thinking still focussed on the Pacific and the Indian Naval thinking on the Indian Oceam region. China is now trying to emulate the US by developing a multi-dimensional thinking. It is in the common interests of India and the US to keep the Chinese thinking unidimensional.
4-3-11
( The author is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
The following are my answers to some questions on the above-mentioned subject received by me by E-Mail from an Italian journalist:
Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Akyab Cheduba and Bassein in Myanmar, to Chittagong in Bangladesh: India is afraid of the Chinese invasion of the Indian Ocean?
I will not use the word "invasion". India ought to be worried about the Chinese acquiring a power projection capability onshore and offshore in the Indian Ocean area.Gwadar, Gambantota etc are only one aspect of it. A more worrisom aspect, I feel, is the increase in the political and economic influence of China.India has the capability to counter the Chinese effectively on the sea---by itself as well as in co-operation with the US. Its ability to counter the Chinese influence onshore is very weak.The present Government headed by Dr.Manmohan Singh believes in maintaining a silence on this issue. Its silence will prove counter-productive.The rapidity with which the Chinese have evacuated their nationals (30,000) from Libya speaks very highly of the assets---political and strategic---that they have built up for themselves in the Indian Ocean and other far-flung areas.The slowness of the Indian evacuation machinery stands in sharp contrast.Our crisis management capability in far-flung areas came in for praise during the Tsunami of December 2004. Compared to our response in December 2004, our response this time has been found wanting.
The US-India alliance can be explained as an anti Chinese alliance?
There is no alliance presently. There is only talk of an alliance. What we need is not an alliance against China, but mutual co-operation to protect the onshore and offshore interests--- political, economic and strategic--- of India and the US in the Indian Ocean region and in North Africa. There has been no thinking on this subject. We wait for ideas to come from the US and then react to them. Instead we should take the initiative in strategising and then find ways of making the US part of this strategy born in the Indian brain.That kind of strategic thinking on what India and the US can and should do individually and jointly has not been there.
Most of the imports and exports pass through the Straits of Malacca. This is one of the weaknesses of the Asian giant? As China moves to overcome this weakness? The stability of Asia could be jeopardized by the Malacca dilemma?
The Malacca Dilemma worries China. We have no Malacca Dilemma at present beccause very little of India's energy supplies come from the region to the east of India. Our energy supplies still largely come from the West.China's Malacca Dilemma provides strategic and tactical opportunities for us to see that it is not able to address this dilemma effectively. Identification of these opportunities and thinking of ways of exploiting them should engage the attention of Indian strategic thinkers and planners.You are asking whether China's Malacca Dilemma could destabilise Asia. I don't think so in a strategic sense. On the contrary it could add to the vulnerabilities of China. In addressing this dilemma, Beijing has been putting many of its eggs in the basket of the military regime in Myanmar just as the US put many of its strategic eggs in the basket of the Suharto regime in Indonesia. Military regimes don't last for ever. The Myanmar military regime is bound to collapse one day just as the Suharto regime collapsed in Indonesia. The US, being a super power with vast resources and capabilities was able to quickly come out of its difficulties when the military regime in Jakarta collapsed. Will China be able to come out of its difficulties without serious damage if and when the military regime collapses in Myanmar? That question needs examination.
The missions in the Gulf of Aden of the Chinese navy what kind of information they give us about the military power of China?
It shows that China has still gaps in its power projection capability. The Chinese Navy has vast financial and technical resources, but it is not yet in a position to project China's power in far-flung areas. The US and Indian Navies will continue to maintain their off-shore pre-eminence in the short and possibly medium-terms. Can they do so long term? The US Navy is multi-dimensional in its thinking. The Chinese and Indian Navies are uni-dimensional--- with the Chinese naval thinking still focussed on the Pacific and the Indian Naval thinking on the Indian Oceam region. China is now trying to emulate the US by developing a multi-dimensional thinking. It is in the common interests of India and the US to keep the Chinese thinking unidimensional.
4-3-11
( The author is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
NEED TO GO INTO ROLE OF SONIA GANDHI IN DECISION-MAKING
B.RAMAN
Sonia Gandhi can do no wrong.
2, That seems to be the basic assumption in the current debate on the various decisions of a very controversial nature made by the Government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since the present Government was formed after the elections of 2009----whether the decisions related to the questionable functioning of the Ministry of Telecommunications or the wrongful appointment to the high-pedestal post of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of someone facing an enquiry into a charge, which could cast a shadow on his integrity if proved or other serious matters of public interest.
3. In all the debates in public---whether in the media or by political parties---- the focus has been on the role of the Prime Minister and other concerned Ministers as well as bureaucrats. I watched with interest the debate in the various TV channels this evening on the adverse judgement of a bench of the Supreme Court delivered earlier in the day in the case regarding the procedure followed for the appointment of Shri P.J.Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner.
4. The eminent personalities, who participated in the debates, as well as the TV anchors focussed only on the role of the various personalities in the Government from the Prime Minister downwards. Not one of them mentioned even in passing the possible role of Sonia Gandhi as the leader of the Congress (I) in these controversial decisions. Even the spokespersons of the opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), did not even mention her name in their interventions.
5. Does this mean that all these controversial decisions were taken only by the Government with the Congress (I) leadership playing no role in it? Any objective analyst would find it difficult to accept this. We have been under a peculiar system of governance since 2004 in which real power seems to be wielded by Sonia Gandhi in her capacity as the head of the Congress (I) with the Prime Minister as the head of the Government exercising only seeming power.
6.There has been an unseen, but unquestioned power which has been exercising a compulsive influence on decision-making in important matters. This compulsive influence is quite evident in the case of the appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Whether in matters relating to his appointment despite his facing an incomplete enquiry or the defence of his appointment before the Supreme Court everyone from the Prime Minister downwards has been acting as if they were acting at the instance of an invisible force that could not be resisted. Such an invisible force could be only that of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.
7. She has been conducting herself as a neutral, disinterested by-stander, who had nothing to do with any of these decisions. She has not spoken on any of these decisions in any great detail, nor has she been questioned.Everyone, including the media and even the opposition, has been behaving as if like the British monarch she is above and beyond all controversies and, hence, her role cannot be questioned.
8. If one has to find out the real truth behind the recent controversies it is as important to go into her role as it is to go into the role of others. The assumption that Sonia Gandhi can do no wrong has to be challenged by the public as well as the media and the political class. She must be made to face the fire of criticism and questioning like any other leader. She should no longer be treated as if she is a morally superior person whose good faith and integrity have to be implicitly accepted.
9. It is important for the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) now being constituted to summon her and question her in detail on the various controversies. It is equally important for her role in decision-making to be debated in Parliament, in the media and elsewhere. She should herself welcome a greater public focus on her role and influence in decision-making. ( 3-3-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Sonia Gandhi can do no wrong.
2, That seems to be the basic assumption in the current debate on the various decisions of a very controversial nature made by the Government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since the present Government was formed after the elections of 2009----whether the decisions related to the questionable functioning of the Ministry of Telecommunications or the wrongful appointment to the high-pedestal post of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of someone facing an enquiry into a charge, which could cast a shadow on his integrity if proved or other serious matters of public interest.
3. In all the debates in public---whether in the media or by political parties---- the focus has been on the role of the Prime Minister and other concerned Ministers as well as bureaucrats. I watched with interest the debate in the various TV channels this evening on the adverse judgement of a bench of the Supreme Court delivered earlier in the day in the case regarding the procedure followed for the appointment of Shri P.J.Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner.
4. The eminent personalities, who participated in the debates, as well as the TV anchors focussed only on the role of the various personalities in the Government from the Prime Minister downwards. Not one of them mentioned even in passing the possible role of Sonia Gandhi as the leader of the Congress (I) in these controversial decisions. Even the spokespersons of the opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), did not even mention her name in their interventions.
5. Does this mean that all these controversial decisions were taken only by the Government with the Congress (I) leadership playing no role in it? Any objective analyst would find it difficult to accept this. We have been under a peculiar system of governance since 2004 in which real power seems to be wielded by Sonia Gandhi in her capacity as the head of the Congress (I) with the Prime Minister as the head of the Government exercising only seeming power.
6.There has been an unseen, but unquestioned power which has been exercising a compulsive influence on decision-making in important matters. This compulsive influence is quite evident in the case of the appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Whether in matters relating to his appointment despite his facing an incomplete enquiry or the defence of his appointment before the Supreme Court everyone from the Prime Minister downwards has been acting as if they were acting at the instance of an invisible force that could not be resisted. Such an invisible force could be only that of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.
7. She has been conducting herself as a neutral, disinterested by-stander, who had nothing to do with any of these decisions. She has not spoken on any of these decisions in any great detail, nor has she been questioned.Everyone, including the media and even the opposition, has been behaving as if like the British monarch she is above and beyond all controversies and, hence, her role cannot be questioned.
8. If one has to find out the real truth behind the recent controversies it is as important to go into her role as it is to go into the role of others. The assumption that Sonia Gandhi can do no wrong has to be challenged by the public as well as the media and the political class. She must be made to face the fire of criticism and questioning like any other leader. She should no longer be treated as if she is a morally superior person whose good faith and integrity have to be implicitly accepted.
9. It is important for the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) now being constituted to summon her and question her in detail on the various controversies. It is equally important for her role in decision-making to be debated in Parliament, in the media and elsewhere. She should herself welcome a greater public focus on her role and influence in decision-making. ( 3-3-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
A LONER ATTACK IN FRANKFURT KILLS 2 US AIR FORCE PERSONNEL
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO. 706
B.RAMAN
Preliminary evidence in the case relating to the death due to shooting at the Frankfurt airport on March 2,2011, of two US airmen, one of them a bus driver, indicates that it might have been the act of an angry loner and not that of any jihadi organization such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) or the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) or the so-called German Taliban, which refers to a group of German converts to Islam trained by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
2. It was known in the past that these organizations had been focusing on German as well as US military targets in Germany, but the German intelligence and Police had managed to detect and neutralize their plans in time before the conspiracy could be carried out.
3.The German intelligence and police, who are generally well-informed and alert, seemed to have been taken by surprise on March 2 because the assailant came from a community which had in the past not come to notice for association with any of the organizations mentioned above. The 21-year-old suspect, whose name has been given as Arid Urka, is an Albanian Muslim from the town of Mitrovica in the Kosovo area, who had reportedly been living in Germany. He held a German passport in addition to an old passport of undivided Yugoslavia.
4.According to media reports, the two US airmen killed belonged to the military police of the US Air Force and were part of a unit generally stationed in the UK which was being moved either to Iraq or Afghanistan for deployment via Germany. It is not clear whether it was merely an opportunistic attack by the gunman on a group of US airmen boarding a bus at the airport without his being aware of the fact that they were bound for Iraq or Afghanistan or whether it was a targeted killing of US military personnel going to Iraq or Afghanistan.
5. Germany plays an active role in the NATO operations in Afghanistan and the conspiracies detected in the past were triggered off by anger over the role of Germany and the US in Afghanistan. The German authorities initially treated the incident as an act of anger following an altercation between the US airmen and the gunman as they were boarding the bus. They subsequently started looking into the possibility of its being an act of terrorism because of some evidence of the gunman allegedly visiting jihadi sites in the Internet.
6. The investigation seems to be presently confined to examining whether the attack could have been Afghanistan-related. There is no indication of any suspicion of its being Libya-related. The Libyan intelligence and terrorists linked to the Libyan intelligence had operated in Germany in the 1980s as indicated by an explosion in a West Berlin discotheque in 1985 that killed some US military personnel and the bombing of a Pan-Am aircraft originating from Frankfurt in 1988 ( the Lockerbie incident). The West Berlin incident led to the US bombing of Libya in 1986 and the Lockerbie incident to the arrest and trial of suspected Libyan intelligence officers and the payment of huge compensation by the Libyan Government to the relatives of the passengers and crew killed.
7. Since the 1990s, Libya had totally cut off its past links with terrorism----either of the Palestinian or Al Qaeda kind --- and had effectively kept Al Qaeda and its allied organizations out of its territory. It is very unlikely that at a time when the Gadaffi regime is facing mounting international pressure because of the uprising against it in Eastern Libya, it would add to the anger of the West by dabbling in terrorism once again.
8. Muslims of Kosovo origin had not come to notice in the past for association with Afghanistan or Iraq based organizations because of their dependence on the US for making themselves free from Serbia. The act of the lone gunman of Kosovo origin would require detailed investigation before satisfactory conclusions could be drawn. For the present, it could only be characterized as a possible terrorist incident of unknown inspiration. (3-3-11)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
B.RAMAN
Preliminary evidence in the case relating to the death due to shooting at the Frankfurt airport on March 2,2011, of two US airmen, one of them a bus driver, indicates that it might have been the act of an angry loner and not that of any jihadi organization such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) or the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) or the so-called German Taliban, which refers to a group of German converts to Islam trained by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
2. It was known in the past that these organizations had been focusing on German as well as US military targets in Germany, but the German intelligence and Police had managed to detect and neutralize their plans in time before the conspiracy could be carried out.
3.The German intelligence and police, who are generally well-informed and alert, seemed to have been taken by surprise on March 2 because the assailant came from a community which had in the past not come to notice for association with any of the organizations mentioned above. The 21-year-old suspect, whose name has been given as Arid Urka, is an Albanian Muslim from the town of Mitrovica in the Kosovo area, who had reportedly been living in Germany. He held a German passport in addition to an old passport of undivided Yugoslavia.
4.According to media reports, the two US airmen killed belonged to the military police of the US Air Force and were part of a unit generally stationed in the UK which was being moved either to Iraq or Afghanistan for deployment via Germany. It is not clear whether it was merely an opportunistic attack by the gunman on a group of US airmen boarding a bus at the airport without his being aware of the fact that they were bound for Iraq or Afghanistan or whether it was a targeted killing of US military personnel going to Iraq or Afghanistan.
5. Germany plays an active role in the NATO operations in Afghanistan and the conspiracies detected in the past were triggered off by anger over the role of Germany and the US in Afghanistan. The German authorities initially treated the incident as an act of anger following an altercation between the US airmen and the gunman as they were boarding the bus. They subsequently started looking into the possibility of its being an act of terrorism because of some evidence of the gunman allegedly visiting jihadi sites in the Internet.
6. The investigation seems to be presently confined to examining whether the attack could have been Afghanistan-related. There is no indication of any suspicion of its being Libya-related. The Libyan intelligence and terrorists linked to the Libyan intelligence had operated in Germany in the 1980s as indicated by an explosion in a West Berlin discotheque in 1985 that killed some US military personnel and the bombing of a Pan-Am aircraft originating from Frankfurt in 1988 ( the Lockerbie incident). The West Berlin incident led to the US bombing of Libya in 1986 and the Lockerbie incident to the arrest and trial of suspected Libyan intelligence officers and the payment of huge compensation by the Libyan Government to the relatives of the passengers and crew killed.
7. Since the 1990s, Libya had totally cut off its past links with terrorism----either of the Palestinian or Al Qaeda kind --- and had effectively kept Al Qaeda and its allied organizations out of its territory. It is very unlikely that at a time when the Gadaffi regime is facing mounting international pressure because of the uprising against it in Eastern Libya, it would add to the anger of the West by dabbling in terrorism once again.
8. Muslims of Kosovo origin had not come to notice in the past for association with Afghanistan or Iraq based organizations because of their dependence on the US for making themselves free from Serbia. The act of the lone gunman of Kosovo origin would require detailed investigation before satisfactory conclusions could be drawn. For the present, it could only be characterized as a possible terrorist incident of unknown inspiration. (3-3-11)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
BARKHA & HER NDTV TEAM’S DASH TO LIBYA & HER TWITTERATI
B.RAMAN
There was a beautiful despatch by Barkha Dutt of NDTV from Cairo on March 1 as to how the Twitter had played a role in facilitating the evacuation of a group of stranded Indians from Eastern Libya through Egypt and the humanitarian assistance which they had received from the Pakistanis living in East Libya. One of the Indians from Kerala stranded in East Libya had tweeted the Foreign Minister, the Foreign Secretary, Shri Shashi Tharoor, MP, and Barkha seeking assistance. This set in motion the train of events that led to their crossing over into Egypt from East Libya and safe evacuation to India, thanks to the tremendous work put in by the Indian Embassy in Cairo ably headed by Shri Swaminathan, the Ambassador. Barkha and two of her technical crew from NDTV (Manoj and Ruby Dingra) were in Cairo to cover the event for NDTV.
2.After doing their reportage from Cairo, they decided to try their luck and make a 700-km, 15-hour dash to the Libyan border in order to enter the country with the help of one of Barkha’s contacts in the anti-Gaddafi rebel set-up in East Libya with its headquarters at Benghazi . The NDTV team, headed by Barkha, had two options---either enter Libya legally via Tripoli with valid visas or enter clandestinely via Egypt without visas despite the warning issued by the Libyan Government that anyone entering via East Libya without visas would be considered an “outlaw” .
3. The Libyan Government had initially banned all journalists from entering Libya. After some journalists belonging to the “Guardian” of London, the CNN and the BBC had clandestinely entered from Egypt, it relaxed the ban and decided to issue visas to journalists from the BBC, the CNN, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya only. Since Indian journalists were not covered by this relaxation, Barkha and her team decided to try their luck from the Egyptian border and enter without a visa with the help of Barkha’s contact in the rebel set-up.
4. Barkha and her NDTV team made their way through nearly 700 kms of beautiful desert made famous during the second World War by the epic tank battle at El Alamein between the allied forces commanded by Field Marshal Montgomery and the Nazi German forces commanded by FM Rommel. Barkha has over 200,000 followers in her Twitter site. I am one of them. I keep exchanging Tweets with her from time to time on current developments.
5. On March 1, as the whole of India was still engrossed in watching the TV coverage of the Central budget, I and many others were excitedly keeping track of the team of Barkha as it made its way through the desert. The Twitter enabled us to follow Barkha and her team for nearly seven hours of their 15-hour journey. We kept encouraging her through Tweets and E-mails and advising her and her team to take good care of themselves and not to walk into a trap. I was touched by the gesture of even some critics of Barkha in praying for the safety of the team. One of her critics tweeted her: “May not agree with her opinions on matters ..but safety is paramount ..I pray for her safety”. There were so many others who prayed for their safety.” I tweeted Barkha: “ U see how many well-wishers U have in the sub-continent.”
6. Even people in Pakistan tweeted her “good luck.” Ms. Munizae Jahangir, a journalist, who is the proud daughter of Mrs.Asma Jahangir, the famous Pakistani human rights activist, tweeted Barkha to say that she was E-mailing to her the telephone numbers of some Pakistanis in Libya whom she could contact if she needed any assistance.
7. One of the constant worries of Barkha’s Twitterati was about the reliability of their communication equipment. Was it reliable? Was it good? Was it strong enough for its signals to reach India. One of the Twitterati, probably based in the US, asked Barkha what communication set she was carrying. Barkha tweeted back: “vodaphone. Don't know how much longer phones will work.”
8. There were so many Tweeters who were wanting and willing to help in whatever way they can. I tried to collect some topographic data about East Libya from the Internet so that I could tweet it to her. I could not get much. I tweeted my exasperation. One of the tweeters, who saw my tweet to Barkha, asked me : “what kind of information you are looking for.” I tweeted to him: “Looking for alternate ways of reaching Benghazi from Egyptian border---distances involved etc.” After a few minutes, he tweeted back URL details of sites containing Libyan maps.
9.In the meanwhile, Barkha tweeted to all her friends: “Leaving behind last city of marsa matrouh.libyan border 100kms away.ravaged nation on other side.” I collected some details of this city from the Wikipedia and tweeted them to her. The person, who had collected details of sites carrying Libyan maps, tweeted to Barkha with copy to me: “Go to el salaum , its between Libya & Egypt, you will get a Bus for Benghazi from there . Still working , am told.” He subsequently tweeted the telephone number of a border post where Barkha could any assistance she wanted.
10. At around 10 PM on March 1, we lost all contact with her. I don’t know why. Before this communication black-out occurred, I managed to send two Tweets to Barkha. In the first Tweet, I told her she should remain in touch with the Indian Ambassador in Cairo. I tweeted: “ He is a nice guy, am told. People talk highly of him.” Barkha tweeted back: “yes he is very nice.”
11. An Indian lady living in Egypt, who had seen my Tweet to Barkha about the Ambassador, tweeted Barkha with copy to me: “Mr. Swaminathan is really a gem of a person , I agree. I live in Egypt , am constantly in touch with him.”
12. My last Tweet to Barkha read: “Conserve your battery.Good night.” She did not acknowledge it. I was not sure whether it reached her. I was very tense. I couldn’t sleep. Every 60 minutes or so, I would get out of bed, go online and check whether there was any message or Tweet from Barkha. Nothing. From around 10 PM to 5-40 AM, no communication with her. I really got worried. As I got out of bed at about 5.40 AM to check once again, I told myself that I would alert the Foreign Secretary and the Ambassador if there was still no communication from her.
13. As I went online, my heart jumped with joy. There was an E-mail from Barkha: “We made it. We have entered Libya.” I E-mailed her: “Am thrilled. And worried. Take good care of yourself .”
14. And, I went to sleep after remaining awake the whole night. (3-3-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
There was a beautiful despatch by Barkha Dutt of NDTV from Cairo on March 1 as to how the Twitter had played a role in facilitating the evacuation of a group of stranded Indians from Eastern Libya through Egypt and the humanitarian assistance which they had received from the Pakistanis living in East Libya. One of the Indians from Kerala stranded in East Libya had tweeted the Foreign Minister, the Foreign Secretary, Shri Shashi Tharoor, MP, and Barkha seeking assistance. This set in motion the train of events that led to their crossing over into Egypt from East Libya and safe evacuation to India, thanks to the tremendous work put in by the Indian Embassy in Cairo ably headed by Shri Swaminathan, the Ambassador. Barkha and two of her technical crew from NDTV (Manoj and Ruby Dingra) were in Cairo to cover the event for NDTV.
2.After doing their reportage from Cairo, they decided to try their luck and make a 700-km, 15-hour dash to the Libyan border in order to enter the country with the help of one of Barkha’s contacts in the anti-Gaddafi rebel set-up in East Libya with its headquarters at Benghazi . The NDTV team, headed by Barkha, had two options---either enter Libya legally via Tripoli with valid visas or enter clandestinely via Egypt without visas despite the warning issued by the Libyan Government that anyone entering via East Libya without visas would be considered an “outlaw” .
3. The Libyan Government had initially banned all journalists from entering Libya. After some journalists belonging to the “Guardian” of London, the CNN and the BBC had clandestinely entered from Egypt, it relaxed the ban and decided to issue visas to journalists from the BBC, the CNN, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya only. Since Indian journalists were not covered by this relaxation, Barkha and her team decided to try their luck from the Egyptian border and enter without a visa with the help of Barkha’s contact in the rebel set-up.
4. Barkha and her NDTV team made their way through nearly 700 kms of beautiful desert made famous during the second World War by the epic tank battle at El Alamein between the allied forces commanded by Field Marshal Montgomery and the Nazi German forces commanded by FM Rommel. Barkha has over 200,000 followers in her Twitter site. I am one of them. I keep exchanging Tweets with her from time to time on current developments.
5. On March 1, as the whole of India was still engrossed in watching the TV coverage of the Central budget, I and many others were excitedly keeping track of the team of Barkha as it made its way through the desert. The Twitter enabled us to follow Barkha and her team for nearly seven hours of their 15-hour journey. We kept encouraging her through Tweets and E-mails and advising her and her team to take good care of themselves and not to walk into a trap. I was touched by the gesture of even some critics of Barkha in praying for the safety of the team. One of her critics tweeted her: “May not agree with her opinions on matters ..but safety is paramount ..I pray for her safety”. There were so many others who prayed for their safety.” I tweeted Barkha: “ U see how many well-wishers U have in the sub-continent.”
6. Even people in Pakistan tweeted her “good luck.” Ms. Munizae Jahangir, a journalist, who is the proud daughter of Mrs.Asma Jahangir, the famous Pakistani human rights activist, tweeted Barkha to say that she was E-mailing to her the telephone numbers of some Pakistanis in Libya whom she could contact if she needed any assistance.
7. One of the constant worries of Barkha’s Twitterati was about the reliability of their communication equipment. Was it reliable? Was it good? Was it strong enough for its signals to reach India. One of the Twitterati, probably based in the US, asked Barkha what communication set she was carrying. Barkha tweeted back: “vodaphone. Don't know how much longer phones will work.”
8. There were so many Tweeters who were wanting and willing to help in whatever way they can. I tried to collect some topographic data about East Libya from the Internet so that I could tweet it to her. I could not get much. I tweeted my exasperation. One of the tweeters, who saw my tweet to Barkha, asked me : “what kind of information you are looking for.” I tweeted to him: “Looking for alternate ways of reaching Benghazi from Egyptian border---distances involved etc.” After a few minutes, he tweeted back URL details of sites containing Libyan maps.
9.In the meanwhile, Barkha tweeted to all her friends: “Leaving behind last city of marsa matrouh.libyan border 100kms away.ravaged nation on other side.” I collected some details of this city from the Wikipedia and tweeted them to her. The person, who had collected details of sites carrying Libyan maps, tweeted to Barkha with copy to me: “Go to el salaum , its between Libya & Egypt, you will get a Bus for Benghazi from there . Still working , am told.” He subsequently tweeted the telephone number of a border post where Barkha could any assistance she wanted.
10. At around 10 PM on March 1, we lost all contact with her. I don’t know why. Before this communication black-out occurred, I managed to send two Tweets to Barkha. In the first Tweet, I told her she should remain in touch with the Indian Ambassador in Cairo. I tweeted: “ He is a nice guy, am told. People talk highly of him.” Barkha tweeted back: “yes he is very nice.”
11. An Indian lady living in Egypt, who had seen my Tweet to Barkha about the Ambassador, tweeted Barkha with copy to me: “Mr. Swaminathan is really a gem of a person , I agree. I live in Egypt , am constantly in touch with him.”
12. My last Tweet to Barkha read: “Conserve your battery.Good night.” She did not acknowledge it. I was not sure whether it reached her. I was very tense. I couldn’t sleep. Every 60 minutes or so, I would get out of bed, go online and check whether there was any message or Tweet from Barkha. Nothing. From around 10 PM to 5-40 AM, no communication with her. I really got worried. As I got out of bed at about 5.40 AM to check once again, I told myself that I would alert the Foreign Secretary and the Ambassador if there was still no communication from her.
13. As I went online, my heart jumped with joy. There was an E-mail from Barkha: “We made it. We have entered Libya.” I E-mailed her: “Am thrilled. And worried. Take good care of yourself .”
14. And, I went to sleep after remaining awake the whole night. (3-3-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
WINDS OF HATRED CONTINUE TO SWEEP ACROSS PAKISTAN
B.RAMAN
At a time when winds of change have been sweeping across many Islamic countries with calls for greater freedom and democracy, winds of hatred continue to sweep across Pakistan.
2. Pakistan, which has become over the years a breeding ground of Islamic beliefs of the most irrational and extreme kind, is helpless in the face of these winds of hatred. These winds have distorted Islam beyond recognition and provided a breeding ground for Islamic extremism and jihadi terrorism of various hues.More murders and more crimes of various kinds are committed in Pakistan in the name of and for the sake of Islam than in any other Islamic country of the world.
3. Unless and until the breeding grounds of hatred from where these winds rise are eliminated, extremism and terrorism will continue to find nourishment in the soil of Pakistan. No amount of change in the other Islamic countries through which the winds of change have been sweeping would provide relief to the rest of the world from the scourge of Islamic extremism and jihadi terrorism. It is a plague over which the state of Pakistan has no control.
4. This plague claimed one more fatal victim on March 2,2011, when Shabaz Bhatti, a Christian belonging to President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), who was holding the Minorities Affairs portfolio, was shot dead by a group of unidentified assassins as he was being driven to work in Islamabad. Reports from Islamabad indicate that he was travelling in his official car without being escorted by a security team despite the fact that he was one of the most threatened members of the Council of Ministers because of his criticism of the blasphemy law which provides for a mandatory death penalty to anyone insulting the Holy Prophet. The law has come in for strong criticism from liberal elements in the rest of the world because the rules of evidence governing trials under it are so flimsy that anyone can accuse anyone of insulting the Holy Prophet and get that person convicted without satisfactory corroborative evidence.
5. Previously, only insulting the Holy Prophet was considered an act of blasphemy, now, even criticising the law is treated an act of blasphemy by extremist elements which do not hesitate to kill anyone criticising the law. This was the second high-profile assassination this year of persons criticising the law. In January, Salman Taseer, a liberal Muslim, who was the Governor of Punjab, was assassinated by one of his own security guards because he dared to criticise the law and visited in jail a Christian who had been convicted under the law. Death threats have reportedly been held out against Mrs.Sherry Rehman, a Member of Parliament belonging to the PPP, for allegedly suggesting a re-look at the law.
6. How can one save Pakistan from the clutches of Islam of the most extreme kind when the assassin of Taseer was not condemned as a murderer, but was hailed as a saviour of Islam by some sections of the population, including lawyers? Organisations such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has claimed responsibility for the assassination of the Christian Minister, and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ), the extremist Sunni organisation, look upon it as a God-ordained duty to eliminate anyone who is seen by them as insulting Islam even for criticising the obnoxious features of it in Pakistan.
7. One cannot hope for any salvation for Pakistan from these winds of hatred unless there is a mass uprising to break the stranglehold of these elements over the society and the State. Pakistan is a State governed by fear---not the fear of despots, but the fear of the irrational clergy and even more irrational extremist organisations. Unless the people are able to rid themselves of this fear and come out in the streets against these organisations, the winds of hatred will continue to blow across the country.
8. Unfortunately, Pakistan is a country where liberalism is merely a talking point in the drawing rooms of the elite and not a rallying cry for protests in the streets against the irrational and extremist elements. It is a gloomy situation from which no exit is in sight. ( 2-3-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
At a time when winds of change have been sweeping across many Islamic countries with calls for greater freedom and democracy, winds of hatred continue to sweep across Pakistan.
2. Pakistan, which has become over the years a breeding ground of Islamic beliefs of the most irrational and extreme kind, is helpless in the face of these winds of hatred. These winds have distorted Islam beyond recognition and provided a breeding ground for Islamic extremism and jihadi terrorism of various hues.More murders and more crimes of various kinds are committed in Pakistan in the name of and for the sake of Islam than in any other Islamic country of the world.
3. Unless and until the breeding grounds of hatred from where these winds rise are eliminated, extremism and terrorism will continue to find nourishment in the soil of Pakistan. No amount of change in the other Islamic countries through which the winds of change have been sweeping would provide relief to the rest of the world from the scourge of Islamic extremism and jihadi terrorism. It is a plague over which the state of Pakistan has no control.
4. This plague claimed one more fatal victim on March 2,2011, when Shabaz Bhatti, a Christian belonging to President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), who was holding the Minorities Affairs portfolio, was shot dead by a group of unidentified assassins as he was being driven to work in Islamabad. Reports from Islamabad indicate that he was travelling in his official car without being escorted by a security team despite the fact that he was one of the most threatened members of the Council of Ministers because of his criticism of the blasphemy law which provides for a mandatory death penalty to anyone insulting the Holy Prophet. The law has come in for strong criticism from liberal elements in the rest of the world because the rules of evidence governing trials under it are so flimsy that anyone can accuse anyone of insulting the Holy Prophet and get that person convicted without satisfactory corroborative evidence.
5. Previously, only insulting the Holy Prophet was considered an act of blasphemy, now, even criticising the law is treated an act of blasphemy by extremist elements which do not hesitate to kill anyone criticising the law. This was the second high-profile assassination this year of persons criticising the law. In January, Salman Taseer, a liberal Muslim, who was the Governor of Punjab, was assassinated by one of his own security guards because he dared to criticise the law and visited in jail a Christian who had been convicted under the law. Death threats have reportedly been held out against Mrs.Sherry Rehman, a Member of Parliament belonging to the PPP, for allegedly suggesting a re-look at the law.
6. How can one save Pakistan from the clutches of Islam of the most extreme kind when the assassin of Taseer was not condemned as a murderer, but was hailed as a saviour of Islam by some sections of the population, including lawyers? Organisations such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has claimed responsibility for the assassination of the Christian Minister, and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ), the extremist Sunni organisation, look upon it as a God-ordained duty to eliminate anyone who is seen by them as insulting Islam even for criticising the obnoxious features of it in Pakistan.
7. One cannot hope for any salvation for Pakistan from these winds of hatred unless there is a mass uprising to break the stranglehold of these elements over the society and the State. Pakistan is a State governed by fear---not the fear of despots, but the fear of the irrational clergy and even more irrational extremist organisations. Unless the people are able to rid themselves of this fear and come out in the streets against these organisations, the winds of hatred will continue to blow across the country.
8. Unfortunately, Pakistan is a country where liberalism is merely a talking point in the drawing rooms of the elite and not a rallying cry for protests in the streets against the irrational and extremist elements. It is a gloomy situation from which no exit is in sight. ( 2-3-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
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