The factory setup continues

Immediately after the London Bomb blasts, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf came on TV and offered words of advice to Tony Blair and declared that there were no terrorists in Pakistan. He also issued an order to crackdown on terrorists, if there were any. Now this dance routine, which follows every terrorist act in the world has become so perfect that it can be turned into a broadway musical. Sadly no one takes him seriously. The editorial in LA Times notes

Yes, there’s a pattern here. To be clear, it is not that Pakistanis are more inclined toward terrorism than are citizens of any other country. It is that Musharraf is unable, or unwilling, to confront the terrorists in his midst. Musharraf has even had the gall to say that while, yes, Pakistan has a problem with Islamic extremism, so does Britain and the government there needs to address it.
Pakistan has arrested hundreds of suspected terrorists, including top Al Qaeda operatives. For his efforts, Musharraf has twice been the target of assassins. But terrorist training camps can still be found in Pakistan, and the army cracks down on infiltration into India only under foreign pressure.
But Musharraf could direct his underlings to crack down harder. When outside pressure reaches a boil, he reacts. When the pressure eases, so does he. That’s not good enough[Pakistan’s problem

The conveyor belt which leads to the terrorist camps requires as its input some fertile minds which are stuck in the the 7th century and as Tavleen Singh notes, there is whole region where they are bred.

After last week’s bombings in London our friendly neighbourhood military dictator went on international television to aver, as he usually does after an act of terrorism, that Pakistan would never allow itself to become a breeding ground for terrorists. What he did not mention was that he has little control over the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government in his Northwest Frontier Province which just passed (July 14) the Northwest Frontier Province Hisba Act, 2005 which will effectively set up an Islamic government of Taliban genre. When it becomes law, one of the first things that will happen is the creation of a governmental department to ‘‘discourage vice and encourage virtue’’. Sound familiar? A mullah will be appointed to head it and his job will be the protection of Islamic values and traditions according to the rules laid down by the Prophet 1400 years ago[Madrasas can only breed fanatics]

Thus as the front-end is busy denying everything, the back-end is busy setting up the factory for future terrorist activities.

How many more should die?

Cynthia McFadden of Nightline was allowed unprecedented access to Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf after the London Bomb blasts. Through her report we come to know that everyday morning he has breakfast with his mother and she gives no advice to him since he requires none. Then he goes about the daily job of making sure Pakistan is run properly. During the day, Musharraf turns to McFadden and describes all the things he is doing and produces sound bites for the media. So he innocently asks why Pakistan is being blamed for all the bomb blasts in London and tears start rolling out of our eyes.
Here is a gentleman, who has breakfast with his mother regularly being accused of breeding terrorists. What a sacrilege. That whole report (available via iTunes Podcast) reminded me of Suketu Mehta’s glorifying tribute to the gangsters of Mumbai in his excellent book Maximum City. But now the Pakistani connection is turning up at every single terrorist activity in the world whether it be the murder of school children in Kashmir, innocent civilians in London or tourists in Egypt

“Al-Qaeda does not exist in Pakistan any more,” he told reporters in Lahore, after unconfirmed reports Pakistanis were being sought over bombs in Egypt.
President Musharraf said al-Qaeda “sanctuaries” in Pakistan had been over-run, and that Pakistani security forces had arrested 700 of the movement’s fighters.[Al-Qaeda ‘destroyed in Pakistan‘]

There is no reason to suspect this man’s statement. After all he is the ally in the war on terror. If he says Al-Qaeda does not exist in Pakistan, it certainly does not. Only some people may disagree with Musharraf – people who actually attended the terrorist camps, like the young man from Lodi, California.

Although Pakistani officials insist they’ve cleaned out al-Qaida training camps in their country, a young Lodi man told FBI agents in June he spent six months in such a camp near Rawalpindi in 2003-04, according to federal court documents.
Hamid Hayat said he “observed hundreds of attendees from various parts of the world at this camp,” his FBI interrogator wrote in the documents.
But Hayat, 22, and his father, Lodi ice cream vendor Umer Hayat, told the FBI of a half-dozen other young Lodi men who received jihadi training in Pakistan, the documents state. Umer Hayat, 47, also said he toured several other training camps and observed training in weaponry and urban warfare, says an affidavit filed in the case.[Pakistan a hotbed for terror recruits]

The graduates of these camps and the associated madrassas are wreaking havoc around the world. Some of these graduates have been streaming into India like ants, to face bullets from the Indian Army. When the Indian Prime Minister spoke that such acts of terror could destabilize the peace process, they were dismissed as allegations. But even as the body count and the number of countries looking for Pakistani suspects are increasing, these Pakistani denials are being taken as the final word.
How many more people should die before Musharraf is asked to clean up his country?

Premzji's Crazy Talk

In his rare public comments involving a rival, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji on Friday said his company’s organisation structure was “superior” to that of Infosys Technologies.
“I think, our structure is superior to the Infosys global delivery model,” Premji told reporters here in response to a question on how Wipro’s organisation structure compared with that of Infosys’ global delivery model.[Our structure superior to Infy: Premji]

But then, immediately he said

“Frankly, I have not fully understood the Infosys global delivery model.

How do you comment on something you don’t understand? But that was not the punch line.

“It’s not for me to comment on somebody else’s structure,” he added.

Maybe this is the reason why Vivek Paul quit. 🙂
Update: Smiley added for people who take things seriously.

Rediff's juvenile reporting

I couldn’t believe I was in the same room as Ted Kennedy, the legendary United States Senator from Massachusetts, whose volume of legislation dwarfs anything his brothers John and Bobby did for the American people.

Did Rediff send some fifth grader (no offence to fifth graders) to cover Manmohan Singh’s visit to United States ? Here are some more gems.

While I spotted hotelier and Clinton pal Sant Singh Chatwal and Republican Indian-American stalwart Dr R Vijayanagar in the same gallery, I couldn’t keep my gaze off the gallery to our left which had some of the Indian members of the CEOs Forum, set up on Monday.
The other person I kept returning to was Gursharan Kaur, dressed in a nice cream Kanjeevaram sari with a red border. Like her husband, her face rarely registers any emotion. But on Tuesday, one saw a trace of nervous anticipation before Dr Singh began speaking, and then more than a hint of pride as the gathering richly applauded his speech. Occasionally, she turned to K Natwar Singh, our flamboyant foreign minister, who was always willing to provide amplification. I can wager the erudite Kunwarsaab knows the process of the US Congress better than some of those who adorn it.[Dr Singh wows Congress]

This man, Nikhil Laxman seems to be amused by everyone and everything as if he has been released from prison after a long term. I am sure he spent the whole night staring at the Washington Monument.

Blair, Deport all terrorists

Tony Blair said yesterday that he was shocked to learn that the terrorists (or bombers for BBC folks) were actually British nationals and we were shocked that Blair, a British national, lacks general knowledge. British born Omar Sheikh is in a Pakistani jail for murdering Daniel Pearl. Richard Reid is in an American jail for trying to see how a 747 would look when it explodes. Saajid Badat was the co-conspirator of Reid. Assaf Mohammed Hanif who blew himself up in a Tel Aviv pub in 2003 was carrying a British passport.
As Steve Emerson noted on Fox News

Not only disrupt but here is the ultimate irony. Britain invited this. Britain created conditions in London that now host more radical Islamic groups and cells, and leaders, that is, than any other capital in Europe or even in the Middle East, outside the Middle East that is. And the fact of the matter is open immigration, a very liberal asylum policy and they still continue to embrace and empower radical Islamic groups. For example, in Prime Minister Blair’s comments right after the attack he praised the Muslim Council of Britain. That is an organization that is directly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood that believes in carrying out suicide bombings, that has been linked directly to Hamas and to other jihadist organizations.[Steven Emerson on British permissiveness towards Islamic radicals & on sleeper cells in U.S.]

All those British nationals did not commit acts of terror on British soil and so that does not count. For years Britain has hosted LTTE and Khalistanis involved in terrorism against people of Sri Lanka and India and since they were law abiding British nationals committing acts of terror in other countries all was well and good. These liberal minded British allowed those preaching hatred to work in mosques and did nothing against them and the leader of the terrorist-camp land was treated as a statesman.
Atleast now, Blair should wear a fake beard and walk around the Bethnal Green Underground station like Evan Kohlmann and see for himself what is happening in his island.

Perhaps what disturbed me the most about Faisal’s desperate words was searching around the room and seeing dozens of eyes diligently trained on him–the eyes of young, impressionable Muslim kids. It is common in this modern era for Western youths (of all backgrounds) to worship popular rock stars or Hollywood actors and aspire to become them. Yet, for many years, the radical religious fringe has preached a consistent countermessage to young Muslims: “by virtue of your heritage alone, you are different from your peers and ‘we love death as they love life.'” A minority of these youths have been raised to idolize Usama Bin Laden and Mohammed Atta in the same way that many Americans follow Johnny Depp and Bruce Springsteen. With disastrous “Muslim wars” ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of those brainwashed into following Al-Qaida now see a unique opportunity for themselves to step forward from obscurity and become famous, heroic “martyrs” of the Islamic nation, much like the 9/11 hijackers. Let noone be mistaken: the deluded suicide bombers responsible for the carnage on 7/7 are far from alone. The age of the “human cruise missile” is now fully upon us and it is likely only a matter of time before this problem crosses the Atlantic and reaches the shores of the American homeland. [Where do Homegrown British Suicide Bombers Come From?]

But now Blair seems to have retrieved his spine and decided to deport radical imams. By doing this Blair is following the Nut-War Terrorism Fighting Design Pattern in which even though we know there is a problem, we just wait till actual humans die. Blair should show more resolve than this and use this opportunity to cleanse England of all radical cells involved in terrorism not just in Britain, but in other countries around the world also.

Malayalees in slavery

Thanks to globalization of labor, many Malayalees work in the Islamic countries in the Middle East. Yale Global has an article on these people, who are the “invisible foot soldiers of globalization”

Blue-collar Indian workers in the UAE, including Dubai, amount to an exploited underclass with no rights, no unions, and no stake in country’s burgeoning wealth, say human rights groups. In neighboring Saudi Arabia, a recent Human Rights Watch report says many of the country’s more than one million Indian migrants live in “conditions resembling slavery.” The document highlights the widespread practice of forced, around-the-clock confinement of Indian maids, often in unsafe conditions. And a US State Department report on worldwide human trafficking faults the UAE and other Gulf states for commonplace labor abuses like withholding pay and passports.
Employers usually confiscate passports and residence permits when workers arrive at Dubai International Airport, making it virtually impossible for laborers to seek better jobs or quit and go home. Migrants typically cannot obtain exit visas without the approval of their sponsor or employer. The story of these faceless men and women, who live in labor camps and seedy apartments, is gaining attention in the usually self-censored UAE press, which now regularly reports on worker protests over delayed pay and substandard living conditions. [Dubai’s Kerala Connection]

Malayalees may be able to live without passports, but without unions and the rights to raise slogans, we are like President Bush on a bicycle. It is sad that Malayalees who raise slogans even in front of corpses, have to live like slaves away from their families.
Related Links: Globalization of ideas, Hinduism in Saudi Arabia

Waiting for an attack

Natwar Singh, who was here to attend a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the G4 countries, hoped the peace process with Pakistan would continue unimpeded, “unless there is a terrorist attack like the one witnessed in London.”

So that is the game plan. We just sit and wait for a new terrorist attack. All the old ones have been wiped clean and the scoreboard has been reset. All those families in Jammu and Kashmir who died at the hands of the Islamic terrorists exported from Pakistan have got justice with this one statement. You would think that this man, Natwar Singh has no clue on what is going on in Pakistan and you would be wrong.

India has said terrorist camps are still operating in Pakistan and New Delhi has photographic evidence to prove it.
“I have told the Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that the terrorist camps have not been dismantled. We have the photographs and I have told him that we can provide photographic evidence,” External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh told the BBC here last night. [Terrorist camps still operating in Pakistan: Natwar]

So what do you do with those photos, Natwar? Ogle at them before going to bed and dream of a day when those terrorist school graduates come and murder innocent Indians? Are you sure that unless people die, you won’t do anything? Do you have even a vague idea of what people do in a terrorist camp? Is your name actually Nut-war Singh?
Update: Thank god these “militants” were stopped, else Nut-war would have called off the peace process.

No terrorists please, we are British

BBC violated its policy of not calling terrorists as terrorists. It headlined its report of Thursday’s bombings in Londonistan as ‘ London rocked by terror attacks’. Its editorial guidelines state the following:

The word "terrorist" itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should try to avoid the term, without attribution.

BBC followed its policy when it reported the attack on the Ram temple at Ayodhya. Instead of placing a barrier to understanding the issue, it aided our understanding by calling the attackers as gunmen.

Indian police have killed five gunmen who attacked a flashpoint religious site in the northern city of Ayodhya.
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The Ayodhya complex is one of the most fiercely disputed religious sites in the world…

That was from the July 10, SABHA 4 M Report. There are some Indians too who think that the word terrorist should not be used to describe terrorists.

Update: BBC listens to Teesta. The word “terrorist” is erased and the barrier to understanding has been removed.

What do I call them?

Six armed gunmen tried to storm into the Ram temple in Ayodhya. One of them, a suicide bomber, rammed a jeep filled with explosives at the first barricade. The others hurled grenades and fired indiscriminately with AK-47s. Makes you blood boil doesn’t it?
But blood should not boil. That’s what Teesta Setalvad has to say.

Such an incident poses a challenge to the secular fabric of the country. Transparency needs to be followed in investigation. The media needs also to respond responsibly to information when labels like ‘terrorist’ and ‘jehadi terrorist’ are used intentionally by some organisations. Above all, this should not become an occasion for venom and hatred against minorities clouding our public sphere once again. [Press Release]

If we cannot call these terrorists, terrorists, then what do we call them Teesta? Can I call them Sabrangis?
Rajeev Srinivasan has more