B.RAMAN
The authorities of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, who are responsible for internal intelligence, internal security and law and order, seem to be increasingly concerned over the tendencies of sections of the population to defy the measures taken by the authorities to enforce law and order.
2. Instances of such defiance have come since the beginning of this month from the Tibetan areas of the Sichuan Province and from Guangdong on the sea coast from where the Chinese economic miracle started in the early 1980s and then spread to other parts of China.
3. Buddhist monks in the Sichuan province continue to protest in public over the illegal detention of about 300 monks of the Kirti monastery in a military detention centre to subject them to what the Chinese call “legal education” following their demonstration of their solidarity with a 16-year-old monk who committed self-immolation in March to protest against the continued Chinese rule of the Tibetan areas. The protest has since spread to other Tibetan areas.
4. Tibetan monks and nuns in Kardze, also in the Sichuan province, have stepped up protests against Chinese rule despite being beaten up and detained in military camps by the authorities.
5.The Chinese authorities are going ahead with their plans for a major celebration in July in the Tibetan areas to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 60th anniversary of the occupation of the Tibetan areas by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
6. In view of the continuing protest movement of the monks, the Chinese authorities apprehend that attempts could be made to disrupt the special events planned to be held in July to mark the two anniversaries. They have, therefore, stopped issuing visas to foreign nationals for visiting Tibet till the end of July. However, there will be no restrictions on the visit of Chinese nationals to Tibet for domestic tourism.
7. The unrest in the Guangdong province has been over what is alleged as the unfair treatment meted out to migrant Chinese workers from other parts of China, who have been allowed to work in the manufacturing industries of the province.
8. Through strict control of the Internet, the Chinese authorities have sought to prevent details of the protest movement of the monks from reaching the outside world. However, they have not been able to prevent the details of the unrest of the migrant workers of the Guangdong Province from spreading to other parts of China and the outside world.
9. Protesting migrant workers are managing to send out messages through Chinese blogging sites, but the use of the blogging sites to spread messages of the protest has not been as extensive as during the Jasmine Revolution earlier this year in Tunisia and Egypt.
10. One message thus sent out through a Chinese blogging site reads as follows: “As far as the police and army are concerned, they may crush the current rioting, but the fundamental problems will not have been addressed. As China’s income gap has grown, many people are forced to live in remote cities year-round to make ends meet as migrant workers. But they suffer discrimination and maltreatment from everyone around them: their bosses, landlords, and even local residents. They are treated as second or third class citizens. The ‘iron fist’ policy is not the way to deal with them. You can quell the riot in Xintang, but it will just happen somewhere else.”
11. Xintang has been the epi-centre of the protest movement of the migrant workers. Security troops of the Ministry of Public Security, backed by armored vehicles, fired tear gas shells at thousands of rioters on the streets of Xintang township in the Zengcheng prefecture on June 23.Scenes of the firing of tear-gas shells have appeared on many blogging sites. Xintang is about 40 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Guangzhou.The protest movement began spontaneously on June 10.
12.In an incident reminiscent of what happened in Tunisia, the protest movement was triggered off by a dispute between security guards and a migrant couple, including a pregnant woman, who had set up a stall at the entrance of a supermarket. When the security guards tried to confiscate their earnings on the ground that they were running the stall without prior permission, a tussle ensued and the security guards allegedly pushed the pregnant woman who fell on the ground. The security guards arrested the couple, but other migrant workers prevented them from taking the couple to the Police Station. The riots started and it has been continuing off and on since then despite the arrival of security reinforcements. The migrant workers are demanding the arrest and prosecution of the security guards who pushed the pregnant woman to the ground. (15-6-11)
( The writer 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 )
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
A READER'S COMMENT FROM US WHICH MADE ME FEEL LIFE IS STILL WORTH LIVING
I have been reading your Blogs for the past three years and as an Indian I feel very happy for my country to have a person like you with such a great insight in to the startegic issues.I would say that many of your articles had helped us to analyse the strategic issue in a perspective that may not be possible for a ordinary citizen with very minimal worldly/startegic knowledge.Recently I happened to read few pages of your book Kaoboys of RAW and was very happy to know the achievements of you and the organization.Then I realized that we are not worthy enough to criticize you for any of your opinions or your preference.I have vocally cricized you in many forums for your support of certain journalist but realized that its your preference and every person is entitled to their friendship and opinion.I sincerely apologize for my actions earlier and others who still rant on your blogs without understanding your stature.They still havent realized that they are reading the opinion of a great man who was part of the wonderful turn of events in my nations history and whose analysis were opened only for handful people till some years ago.The general public always tend to succumb to their emotions and may not think before they speak.So i request you to consider the some of the the harsh comments of the general public as a collateral to discussions in public. As a fan,Indian I thank you for all your educative analysis and pray to god that he bestow you with a long life and a good health....Thanks so much.
Monday, June 13, 2011
IT IS TOO LATE
( A Song by Georges Moustaki, a French singer of Greek origin )
While I was asleep, while I was dreaming
The needles have turned, it's too late
My childhood is so far behind, it is already tomorrow
Time has passed away,it is already too late.
While I loved you, while I had you
The love is gone, it's too late
You were so pretty, I'm alone in my bed
Time has passed away, it is already too late
While I sing for my dear liberty
Others have already chained it,it's too late
Some fought, I never knew how to fight
Time has passed away, it is already too late.
Yet I still live, yet I want to love
I even want to sing on my guitar,it is too late
For what I was, what I became
Time has passed away, it is already too late
While I was singing, while I loved you
While I dreamed there was still time,
Time has passed away, it is already too late
http://www.wat.tv/video/il-est-trop-tard-georges-moustaki-3big5_2jwj1_.html
While I was asleep, while I was dreaming
The needles have turned, it's too late
My childhood is so far behind, it is already tomorrow
Time has passed away,it is already too late.
While I loved you, while I had you
The love is gone, it's too late
You were so pretty, I'm alone in my bed
Time has passed away, it is already too late
While I sing for my dear liberty
Others have already chained it,it's too late
Some fought, I never knew how to fight
Time has passed away, it is already too late.
Yet I still live, yet I want to love
I even want to sing on my guitar,it is too late
For what I was, what I became
Time has passed away, it is already too late
While I was singing, while I loved you
While I dreamed there was still time,
Time has passed away, it is already too late
http://www.wat.tv/video/il-est-trop-tard-georges-moustaki-3big5_2jwj1_.html
MURDER OF A CRIME JOURNALIST IN MUMBAI
B.RAMAN
I have been in receipt of some requests from my readers asking for my comments on the murder of Jyotendra Dey, senior investigative journalist of “Mid-Day”, the Mumbai daily, on June 11,2011. He was reported to have been shot dead near his residence in a Mumbai suburb.
2. Dey specialised in investigative reports on the criminal activities of various mafia groups operating in Mumbai. The case is still under investigation by the Mumbai Police and from the scanty details available through open source information, one could make only some tentative observations.
3. Since he was shot dead near his house, he evidently did not fall into a trap or ambush while doing field investigation. It was a case of planned, pre-meditated killing. Three motives are possible:
(a).He was killed in order to prevent his doing a fresh investigative report on a new piece of information received by him, but in an interview to a TV news channel, his Editor said that to his knowledge he was not doing any new investigation. According to the Editor, Dey would have kept him informed if he was doing a new story. If what the Editor says is correct, this possibility would not be high.
(b). He was killed to punish him for a story which he had already done. If so, he must have done this investigation in the recent and not distant past. A study of his reporting during the last six months should enable the police to prepare a short list of likely suspects who could then be questioned.
( c ). He was killed out of personal enmity either by a police officer about whom he was investigating or by someone else. A discussion by the police with his colleagues and relatives should enable them to prepare a similar short list of likely suspects.
4. The killing would appear to have been done by a hired killer who apparently killed him for mercenary reasons. If so, the mafia group or person who got him killed would have taken the precaution to maintain the deniability of its or his involvement.
5.Forensic evidence in the form of the bullets fired and the empties should be available. One does not know whether the police have been able to recover the weapon used. Search for finger-prints could provide an important initial piece of evidence.
6. The killer had taken the precaution of not killing Mr. Dey at his residence. That might have enabled the relatives to provide identifying particulars of the killer. Now the police would have only the details provided by the passers-by.
7. In the absence of sufficient forensic evidence and eye-witness accounts, the success of the investigation would depend on the careful preparation of the short-lists of suspects and their thorough interrogation.
8. To reduce the dangers of similar attacks on crime journalists in future, the police should periodically organise briefings on security for them as is done by the security division of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Intelligence Bureau for Indian diplomats posted abroad. This would strengthen their security-consciousness and enable them to take evasive measures. They should also be encouraged to report to the police any threats apprehended by them.
9. A short-list should be prepared of all the telephone calls received by Mr.Dey in his mobile telephone and the holders of numbers, who were not Mr.Dey’s relatives, friends or colleagues should be questioned. ( 13-6-11)
( The writer 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 )
I have been in receipt of some requests from my readers asking for my comments on the murder of Jyotendra Dey, senior investigative journalist of “Mid-Day”, the Mumbai daily, on June 11,2011. He was reported to have been shot dead near his residence in a Mumbai suburb.
2. Dey specialised in investigative reports on the criminal activities of various mafia groups operating in Mumbai. The case is still under investigation by the Mumbai Police and from the scanty details available through open source information, one could make only some tentative observations.
3. Since he was shot dead near his house, he evidently did not fall into a trap or ambush while doing field investigation. It was a case of planned, pre-meditated killing. Three motives are possible:
(a).He was killed in order to prevent his doing a fresh investigative report on a new piece of information received by him, but in an interview to a TV news channel, his Editor said that to his knowledge he was not doing any new investigation. According to the Editor, Dey would have kept him informed if he was doing a new story. If what the Editor says is correct, this possibility would not be high.
(b). He was killed to punish him for a story which he had already done. If so, he must have done this investigation in the recent and not distant past. A study of his reporting during the last six months should enable the police to prepare a short list of likely suspects who could then be questioned.
( c ). He was killed out of personal enmity either by a police officer about whom he was investigating or by someone else. A discussion by the police with his colleagues and relatives should enable them to prepare a similar short list of likely suspects.
4. The killing would appear to have been done by a hired killer who apparently killed him for mercenary reasons. If so, the mafia group or person who got him killed would have taken the precaution to maintain the deniability of its or his involvement.
5.Forensic evidence in the form of the bullets fired and the empties should be available. One does not know whether the police have been able to recover the weapon used. Search for finger-prints could provide an important initial piece of evidence.
6. The killer had taken the precaution of not killing Mr. Dey at his residence. That might have enabled the relatives to provide identifying particulars of the killer. Now the police would have only the details provided by the passers-by.
7. In the absence of sufficient forensic evidence and eye-witness accounts, the success of the investigation would depend on the careful preparation of the short-lists of suspects and their thorough interrogation.
8. To reduce the dangers of similar attacks on crime journalists in future, the police should periodically organise briefings on security for them as is done by the security division of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Intelligence Bureau for Indian diplomats posted abroad. This would strengthen their security-consciousness and enable them to take evasive measures. They should also be encouraged to report to the police any threats apprehended by them.
9. A short-list should be prepared of all the telephone calls received by Mr.Dey in his mobile telephone and the holders of numbers, who were not Mr.Dey’s relatives, friends or colleagues should be questioned. ( 13-6-11)
( The writer 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 )
Sunday, June 12, 2011
CHINA’S GUANTANAMO BAY FOR BUDDHIST MONKS OF KIRTI
B.RAMAN
All right-thinking persons of the world have spoken for a decade against the military detention centre set up by the US in the Guantanamo Bay area of Cuba for detaining and interrogating all Al Qaeda suspects arrested in different parts of the world. There have been many views on the legitimacy of this centre. There have been many criticisms of its inhumanity.
2. No one is talking of the new Guantanamo Bay type military detention centre which has reportedly been set up by the Chinese authorities under the supervision of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to interrogate and subject to so-called legal education an estimated 300 Buddhist monks--- young and old.
3. They are not Al Qaeda suspects. They are not terrorism suspects. They are not ordinary criminals who have committed murder, rape or any other common law crime.
4. They are just religious people who have remained steadfast in their adherence to the Buddhist religion and in their support and loyalty to his Holiness the Dalai Lama. Their only crime was to refuse to eat in solidarity with a 16-year-old monk who committed self-immolation on March 16 last to protest against the Chinese colonisation of Tibet. He belonged to the famous Kirti monastery in the Aba County in the Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of the Sichuan province.
5. Since then, the Chinese authorities of the Ministry of Public Security have started a demonization campaign against 300 monks of the monastery who expressed their solidarity with the young monk. They have been accused of various petty crimes such as visiting prostitutes or inviting prostitutes into the monastery.
6. Initially, the Chinese authorities had them confined in the monastery, reduced their daily rations and forced them to attend so-called re-education classes. When they could not break the protest movement of the monks, they reportedly shifted them to a special military detention centre that they have set up in the Sichuan province.
7. At least so long as they were detained in the monastery itself, the world was getting some news of them, but since they were shifted to the military detention centre the flow of information has come down. International human rights activists have been treating these monks as missing persons and asking the Chinese for more information on them. They are demanding that human rights activists should be allowed to visit the detention centre and meet the monks. The Chinese have refused to allow any humanitarian visit as provided for under international humanitarian laws.
8. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei claimed on June 8 that there had been no "enforced disappearances" at the Kirti monastery. He said the local authorities had taken some monks for "legal education".
9.The same day, UN officials asked China for details of the whereabouts of the monks. "We encourage the authorities to undertake full investigations into the ongoing practice of enforced disappearances," said a statement from the UN's working group on enforced disappearances.
10.But in his weekly news conference, Mr Hong told journalists that no such thing was happening in the monastery. “The relevant local authorities are conducting legal education for the Kirti monastery monks in order to maintain religious order there. There was no question of forced disappearances," he said. Mr Hong added that "relevant organisations" should "abandon bias and be objective and fair".
11. In the meanwhile, there are indications that the protest movement by the monks has spread to the Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) region, including Kardze town. No details are available.
12. The Chinese authorities have imposed such an effective control on the use of the Internet by the Tibetans that much information is not coming out through micro-blogging. While the rest of the world is benefiting from the relaxation of restrictions and the greater transparency as a result of the Jasmine Revolution sweeping across West Asia and Africa, the Chinese have denied these benefits to the Tibetans and their monks. They have sought to crush the Tibetan jasmine even before it can bloom.
13. It is time for the world to raise its voice and demand more information on the Chinese military detention centre and its Buddhist inmates. ( 13-6-11)
( The writer 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)
All right-thinking persons of the world have spoken for a decade against the military detention centre set up by the US in the Guantanamo Bay area of Cuba for detaining and interrogating all Al Qaeda suspects arrested in different parts of the world. There have been many views on the legitimacy of this centre. There have been many criticisms of its inhumanity.
2. No one is talking of the new Guantanamo Bay type military detention centre which has reportedly been set up by the Chinese authorities under the supervision of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to interrogate and subject to so-called legal education an estimated 300 Buddhist monks--- young and old.
3. They are not Al Qaeda suspects. They are not terrorism suspects. They are not ordinary criminals who have committed murder, rape or any other common law crime.
4. They are just religious people who have remained steadfast in their adherence to the Buddhist religion and in their support and loyalty to his Holiness the Dalai Lama. Their only crime was to refuse to eat in solidarity with a 16-year-old monk who committed self-immolation on March 16 last to protest against the Chinese colonisation of Tibet. He belonged to the famous Kirti monastery in the Aba County in the Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of the Sichuan province.
5. Since then, the Chinese authorities of the Ministry of Public Security have started a demonization campaign against 300 monks of the monastery who expressed their solidarity with the young monk. They have been accused of various petty crimes such as visiting prostitutes or inviting prostitutes into the monastery.
6. Initially, the Chinese authorities had them confined in the monastery, reduced their daily rations and forced them to attend so-called re-education classes. When they could not break the protest movement of the monks, they reportedly shifted them to a special military detention centre that they have set up in the Sichuan province.
7. At least so long as they were detained in the monastery itself, the world was getting some news of them, but since they were shifted to the military detention centre the flow of information has come down. International human rights activists have been treating these monks as missing persons and asking the Chinese for more information on them. They are demanding that human rights activists should be allowed to visit the detention centre and meet the monks. The Chinese have refused to allow any humanitarian visit as provided for under international humanitarian laws.
8. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei claimed on June 8 that there had been no "enforced disappearances" at the Kirti monastery. He said the local authorities had taken some monks for "legal education".
9.The same day, UN officials asked China for details of the whereabouts of the monks. "We encourage the authorities to undertake full investigations into the ongoing practice of enforced disappearances," said a statement from the UN's working group on enforced disappearances.
10.But in his weekly news conference, Mr Hong told journalists that no such thing was happening in the monastery. “The relevant local authorities are conducting legal education for the Kirti monastery monks in order to maintain religious order there. There was no question of forced disappearances," he said. Mr Hong added that "relevant organisations" should "abandon bias and be objective and fair".
11. In the meanwhile, there are indications that the protest movement by the monks has spread to the Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) region, including Kardze town. No details are available.
12. The Chinese authorities have imposed such an effective control on the use of the Internet by the Tibetans that much information is not coming out through micro-blogging. While the rest of the world is benefiting from the relaxation of restrictions and the greater transparency as a result of the Jasmine Revolution sweeping across West Asia and Africa, the Chinese have denied these benefits to the Tibetans and their monks. They have sought to crush the Tibetan jasmine even before it can bloom.
13. It is time for the world to raise its voice and demand more information on the Chinese military detention centre and its Buddhist inmates. ( 13-6-11)
( The writer 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)
Saturday, June 11, 2011
THE CASE AGAINST RANA
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO 726
B.RAMAN
US District Judge Harry D Leinenweber was reported to have ruled at Chicago on June 9,2011, that Tahawur Hussain Rana, of the Chicago cell of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), was guilty of supporting the LET and plotting to bomb Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper which had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
2.A 12-member jury reached a split verdict after two days of deliberations and ruled that Rana was not guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people, including six Americans.
3.No date has been set for the sentencing. Rana could face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison on the two counts combined.
4.The Indian Government has expressed "disappointment" over Rana's acquittal on charges of plotting the Mumbai attacks and said it will soon take a decision on filing a charge sheet against him and his accomplice David Headley in an Indian court.
5. Explaining the verdict, US Justice Department spokesman Randall Samborn said: "A Federal Court jury has convicted defendant Rana on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Denmark terrorism plot and one count of providing material support to LeT, and not guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terrorist attacks."
6. Rana’s lawyers have said they would appeal against the ruling as there was an "error" in the trial. US Attorney Patrick J Fitzgerald has said the acquittal of Rana, who was a co-accused in the Mumbai attacks with Headley, of charges that he was involved in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai was disappointing. At the same time, he said they were "gratified" that the jury found Rana guilty of involvement in plotting a terror attack in Denmark and providing material support to LeT, designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organisation.
7. When asked what went wrong on the 26/11 charges, Fitzgerald said:"We put our evidence forward and the jury found that we did not meet the burden (of proof) there. But they did find we made our burden proving material support to Lashkar and they found that we met our burden with regard to attack on Denmark."
8. Rana had been cited as a co-accused in respect of two charges "Conspiracy to provide material support to Terrorism in India" and the planned attack in Denmark. In respect of the planned Denmark attack, Ilyas Kashmiri and Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha were also co-accused (in absentia). A supplementary indictment had been filed on April 25,2011, against Sajid Mir,Abu Qahafa, Mazhar Iqbal and Major Iqbal citing them as co-accused along with Rana in respect of the 26/11 strikes.
9.Since the six Pakistanis cited as co-accused along with Rana are in Pakistan, the evidence against them was not considered and referred to the jury, which was called upon only to give its opinion on the charges against Rana. Since Rana had not been found guilty of any involvement in the 26/11 terrorist strikes, the Justice Department is unlikely to move for any action against the six Pakistani nationals absconding in Pakistan, of whom Ilyas Kashmiri was reported to have been killed in a recent Drone strike. The Pakistanis cited in the indictments as the co-conspirators would be the beneficiaries of the acquittal of Rana in respect of the charges relating to the 26/11 terrorist strikes.
10.Since Rana has been found guilty of involvement in the plan to carry out a terrorist strike in Copenhagen, the US Justice Department can still press Pakistan for action against Ilyas (if his death is not confirmed) and Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha, both of whom have been cited as co-accused along with Rana in respect of the Copenhagen plot. It remains to be seen whether the Justice Department will do so.
11.It is surprising that the jury found Rana not guilty of involvement in the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai. There was a wealth of circumstantial evidence to show that he had knowingly allowed Headley to pose as an employee of his Chicago-based immigration consultancy service for his visits to India to assist the LET in its plans, that he had prior knowledge of the impending terrorist strikes and that he had knowledge of the LET’s plans to carry out fresh strikes in 2009 including in the National Defence College in New Delhi. Headley had discussed these plans with Rana.
12.Moreover, Rana was totally in the picture about Headley’s contacts with the LET as well as Ilyas Kashmiri.
13.I am told US laws do not permit an appeal against an acquittal by the jury. This would leave the Government of India with only one option. Try to get Rana extradited to India to face trial before an Indian court on charges different from those for which he was tried in the US. Since Rana was not the beneficiary of any plea bargain, extradition should be possible if the US is prepared to co-operate.
14. Both Headley and Rana are equally important for the Indian and US investigators to reconstruct the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai, to identify the entire network set up by them in India and the US and neutralise the members of the network still remaining undetected and to unearth the future plans of the LET and the 313 Brigade. The National Investigation Agency of India and the FBI should set up a joint team of senior officers to collate and review all the evidence on record so far and get a complete picture of the conspiracy.
15.The details of the circumstantial evidence available against Rana in respect of the Mumbai as well as the Copenhagen cases are given in the Annexure. ( 11-6-11)
( The writer 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 )
ANNEXURE
DETAILS OF THE EVIDENCE AVAILABLE AGAINST RANA
David Coleman Headley originally known as Daood Gilani and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, members of the Chicago cell of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), operated in concert from Chicago. They were in personal, telephonic and E-mail contact with each other. They even took a drive in a car together on September 7, 2009, when they discussed their future operational plans in India and Denmark at the instance of the LET and the 313 Brigade headed by Ilyas Kashmiri .The LET had four future targets in India----the Somnath temple, the National Defence College in New Delhi, and the film world and the Shiv Sena office in Mumbai. The 313 Brigade's target was the Copenhagen office of the Danish newspaper, which published some cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
2. Headley undertook his two visits to Denmark and five pre-26/11 visits to India posing as a representative of an immigration consultancy service, which Rana ran from Chicago. He had kept Rana informed of his posing as the representative of the consultancy service and asked him, after a visit to Denmark, to corroborate the statements made by him to his interlocutors in Denmark regarding his links with Rana's service. The fact that Rana agreed to this shows his concurrence to Headley using the cover of being a representative of his service for his operational visits to Denmark and India to collect pre-attack information. Rana booked the air tickets for Headley for his two visits to Denmark.
3. There is no information or evidence to indicate that Headley and Rana travelled to India together or were in India at the same time and were in touch with each other during their stay in India. According to Indian media reports, during a visit to Kerala, Rana had published an advertisement in a local newspaper offering the services of his company for intending Indian applicants for a US visa. Neither Headley nor Rana would seem to have indicated in any way that the immigration consultancy service in Chicago for which they claimed to be working was one and the same.
4. According to the FBI's first affidavit against Rana, on or about September 25, 2009, Rana spoke by telephone with the Consul General at the Pakistani Consulate-General in Chicago in an effort to obtain a 5-year visa for Headley to travel to Pakistan. It was clear from email traffic unrelated to terrorist plotting that the Consul- General knew Rana and Headley personally as all three attended the same high school. However, the Consul General knew Headley as Gilani. He was not aware that Gilani, his old schoolmate, had become Headley since February, 2006. In seeking a visa for Headley, Rana stated that he wished to obtain the visa for a white American named Headley who did not have any Pakistani background at all. When the Consul-General suggested that Rana send this white American to the consulate, Rana explained that he had sent his friend elsewhere to take care of some unspecified business so that someone else would visit the consulate. The FBI told the court in its affidavit that "It is clear from the foregoing conversation that Rana was attempting to deceive the Consul- General into granting a visa for Headley without the Consul- General knowing for whom the visa would be issued."
5. According to the second report against Rana filed by the FBI in the court, he was in India in the third week of November, 2008. He flew from Mumbai to Dubai on a flight of the Emirates Airlines on November 21, 2008. He flew from Dubai to China by the same Airlines on November, 24, 2008, and from there returned to Chicago via Seoul on November 26, 2008, by the Asiana Airlines.
6. There is no reason to believe that Headley was in India during this period. The last of his five pre-26/11 visits to India was in July, 2008. It is not clear when did Rana arrive in India in November, 2008, which places he visited and whom he met. It is also not clear which city he visited in China, what was the purpose of his visit to China and why his visit to China was so short.
7. Rana had admitted to the FBI that during his visit to Dubai from November 21 to 24, 2008, he met Maj. (retd) Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha who was in touch with Ilyas Kashmiri on behalf of Headley and that he came to know from Pasha about the impending terrorist attacks by the LET in Mumbai. Rana sought to convey an impression that his visit (or visits?) to India had nothing to do with the 26/11 attacks and that he came to know of the planned attacks only from Pasha in Dubai a few days before the attacks. He did not alert the FBI about the impending terrorist attacks
8. At the same time, it is clear from the papers filed by the FBI in the court that Rana personally knew both the handling officers of Headley in Pakistan---- Maj (retd) Abdur Rehman of the 313 Brigade and Sajjid Mir of the LET. It is also clear that Rana was fully aware at least on September 7, 2009, if not earlier, of the LET's plans for future attacks on four targets in India.
B.RAMAN
US District Judge Harry D Leinenweber was reported to have ruled at Chicago on June 9,2011, that Tahawur Hussain Rana, of the Chicago cell of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), was guilty of supporting the LET and plotting to bomb Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper which had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
2.A 12-member jury reached a split verdict after two days of deliberations and ruled that Rana was not guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people, including six Americans.
3.No date has been set for the sentencing. Rana could face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison on the two counts combined.
4.The Indian Government has expressed "disappointment" over Rana's acquittal on charges of plotting the Mumbai attacks and said it will soon take a decision on filing a charge sheet against him and his accomplice David Headley in an Indian court.
5. Explaining the verdict, US Justice Department spokesman Randall Samborn said: "A Federal Court jury has convicted defendant Rana on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Denmark terrorism plot and one count of providing material support to LeT, and not guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to the Mumbai terrorist attacks."
6. Rana’s lawyers have said they would appeal against the ruling as there was an "error" in the trial. US Attorney Patrick J Fitzgerald has said the acquittal of Rana, who was a co-accused in the Mumbai attacks with Headley, of charges that he was involved in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai was disappointing. At the same time, he said they were "gratified" that the jury found Rana guilty of involvement in plotting a terror attack in Denmark and providing material support to LeT, designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organisation.
7. When asked what went wrong on the 26/11 charges, Fitzgerald said:"We put our evidence forward and the jury found that we did not meet the burden (of proof) there. But they did find we made our burden proving material support to Lashkar and they found that we met our burden with regard to attack on Denmark."
8. Rana had been cited as a co-accused in respect of two charges "Conspiracy to provide material support to Terrorism in India" and the planned attack in Denmark. In respect of the planned Denmark attack, Ilyas Kashmiri and Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha were also co-accused (in absentia). A supplementary indictment had been filed on April 25,2011, against Sajid Mir,Abu Qahafa, Mazhar Iqbal and Major Iqbal citing them as co-accused along with Rana in respect of the 26/11 strikes.
9.Since the six Pakistanis cited as co-accused along with Rana are in Pakistan, the evidence against them was not considered and referred to the jury, which was called upon only to give its opinion on the charges against Rana. Since Rana had not been found guilty of any involvement in the 26/11 terrorist strikes, the Justice Department is unlikely to move for any action against the six Pakistani nationals absconding in Pakistan, of whom Ilyas Kashmiri was reported to have been killed in a recent Drone strike. The Pakistanis cited in the indictments as the co-conspirators would be the beneficiaries of the acquittal of Rana in respect of the charges relating to the 26/11 terrorist strikes.
10.Since Rana has been found guilty of involvement in the plan to carry out a terrorist strike in Copenhagen, the US Justice Department can still press Pakistan for action against Ilyas (if his death is not confirmed) and Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha, both of whom have been cited as co-accused along with Rana in respect of the Copenhagen plot. It remains to be seen whether the Justice Department will do so.
11.It is surprising that the jury found Rana not guilty of involvement in the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai. There was a wealth of circumstantial evidence to show that he had knowingly allowed Headley to pose as an employee of his Chicago-based immigration consultancy service for his visits to India to assist the LET in its plans, that he had prior knowledge of the impending terrorist strikes and that he had knowledge of the LET’s plans to carry out fresh strikes in 2009 including in the National Defence College in New Delhi. Headley had discussed these plans with Rana.
12.Moreover, Rana was totally in the picture about Headley’s contacts with the LET as well as Ilyas Kashmiri.
13.I am told US laws do not permit an appeal against an acquittal by the jury. This would leave the Government of India with only one option. Try to get Rana extradited to India to face trial before an Indian court on charges different from those for which he was tried in the US. Since Rana was not the beneficiary of any plea bargain, extradition should be possible if the US is prepared to co-operate.
14. Both Headley and Rana are equally important for the Indian and US investigators to reconstruct the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai, to identify the entire network set up by them in India and the US and neutralise the members of the network still remaining undetected and to unearth the future plans of the LET and the 313 Brigade. The National Investigation Agency of India and the FBI should set up a joint team of senior officers to collate and review all the evidence on record so far and get a complete picture of the conspiracy.
15.The details of the circumstantial evidence available against Rana in respect of the Mumbai as well as the Copenhagen cases are given in the Annexure. ( 11-6-11)
( The writer 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 )
ANNEXURE
DETAILS OF THE EVIDENCE AVAILABLE AGAINST RANA
David Coleman Headley originally known as Daood Gilani and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, members of the Chicago cell of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), operated in concert from Chicago. They were in personal, telephonic and E-mail contact with each other. They even took a drive in a car together on September 7, 2009, when they discussed their future operational plans in India and Denmark at the instance of the LET and the 313 Brigade headed by Ilyas Kashmiri .The LET had four future targets in India----the Somnath temple, the National Defence College in New Delhi, and the film world and the Shiv Sena office in Mumbai. The 313 Brigade's target was the Copenhagen office of the Danish newspaper, which published some cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
2. Headley undertook his two visits to Denmark and five pre-26/11 visits to India posing as a representative of an immigration consultancy service, which Rana ran from Chicago. He had kept Rana informed of his posing as the representative of the consultancy service and asked him, after a visit to Denmark, to corroborate the statements made by him to his interlocutors in Denmark regarding his links with Rana's service. The fact that Rana agreed to this shows his concurrence to Headley using the cover of being a representative of his service for his operational visits to Denmark and India to collect pre-attack information. Rana booked the air tickets for Headley for his two visits to Denmark.
3. There is no information or evidence to indicate that Headley and Rana travelled to India together or were in India at the same time and were in touch with each other during their stay in India. According to Indian media reports, during a visit to Kerala, Rana had published an advertisement in a local newspaper offering the services of his company for intending Indian applicants for a US visa. Neither Headley nor Rana would seem to have indicated in any way that the immigration consultancy service in Chicago for which they claimed to be working was one and the same.
4. According to the FBI's first affidavit against Rana, on or about September 25, 2009, Rana spoke by telephone with the Consul General at the Pakistani Consulate-General in Chicago in an effort to obtain a 5-year visa for Headley to travel to Pakistan. It was clear from email traffic unrelated to terrorist plotting that the Consul- General knew Rana and Headley personally as all three attended the same high school. However, the Consul General knew Headley as Gilani. He was not aware that Gilani, his old schoolmate, had become Headley since February, 2006. In seeking a visa for Headley, Rana stated that he wished to obtain the visa for a white American named Headley who did not have any Pakistani background at all. When the Consul-General suggested that Rana send this white American to the consulate, Rana explained that he had sent his friend elsewhere to take care of some unspecified business so that someone else would visit the consulate. The FBI told the court in its affidavit that "It is clear from the foregoing conversation that Rana was attempting to deceive the Consul- General into granting a visa for Headley without the Consul- General knowing for whom the visa would be issued."
5. According to the second report against Rana filed by the FBI in the court, he was in India in the third week of November, 2008. He flew from Mumbai to Dubai on a flight of the Emirates Airlines on November 21, 2008. He flew from Dubai to China by the same Airlines on November, 24, 2008, and from there returned to Chicago via Seoul on November 26, 2008, by the Asiana Airlines.
6. There is no reason to believe that Headley was in India during this period. The last of his five pre-26/11 visits to India was in July, 2008. It is not clear when did Rana arrive in India in November, 2008, which places he visited and whom he met. It is also not clear which city he visited in China, what was the purpose of his visit to China and why his visit to China was so short.
7. Rana had admitted to the FBI that during his visit to Dubai from November 21 to 24, 2008, he met Maj. (retd) Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha who was in touch with Ilyas Kashmiri on behalf of Headley and that he came to know from Pasha about the impending terrorist attacks by the LET in Mumbai. Rana sought to convey an impression that his visit (or visits?) to India had nothing to do with the 26/11 attacks and that he came to know of the planned attacks only from Pasha in Dubai a few days before the attacks. He did not alert the FBI about the impending terrorist attacks
8. At the same time, it is clear from the papers filed by the FBI in the court that Rana personally knew both the handling officers of Headley in Pakistan---- Maj (retd) Abdur Rehman of the 313 Brigade and Sajjid Mir of the LET. It is also clear that Rana was fully aware at least on September 7, 2009, if not earlier, of the LET's plans for future attacks on four targets in India.
Friday, June 10, 2011
MY SOLITUDE
(By Georges Moustaki—A French singer of Greek origin)
To have so often slept with my loneliness,
She is almost a friend, a sweet habit.
She is like a faithful shadow.
She follows me here and there, to the four corners of the world.
No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.
When she is in my bed, she takes all the space,
And we spend long nights, both face to face.
I really do not know how far this will go on, this complicity
No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.
Through her, I learnt as much as I shed tears.
If sometimes I try to put her away, I can’t.
Should I choose the love of another woman?
Possibly on my last day, my last girlfriend?
But I never feel alone with my loneliness.
No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvFLBs9S8FY&feature=share
To have so often slept with my loneliness,
She is almost a friend, a sweet habit.
She is like a faithful shadow.
She follows me here and there, to the four corners of the world.
No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.
When she is in my bed, she takes all the space,
And we spend long nights, both face to face.
I really do not know how far this will go on, this complicity
No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.
Through her, I learnt as much as I shed tears.
If sometimes I try to put her away, I can’t.
Should I choose the love of another woman?
Possibly on my last day, my last girlfriend?
But I never feel alone with my loneliness.
No, I'm never alone with my loneliness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvFLBs9S8FY&feature=share
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