Incredible India

Incredible India proved itself again. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week were well planned...

Incredible India proved itself again. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week were well planned, meticulously prepared over a period of time and involved the acquisition of large quantities of arms and ammunition and of a ship for transport from Karachi to Mumbai. Yet, incredibly, our intelligence agencies did not have a whiff of the planned attacks. If they knew about it and did not take urgent preventive steps, that is criminal negligence. Anti-terror legislation, however tough, will be ineffective unless our intelligence agencies are thoroughly overhauled and counter intelligence is perfected. National sovereignty will not be impaired if we take the assistance of US and Israeli counter intelligence. Dawood Ibrahim, an arch criminal who has wrought havoc in India, will not be extradited by Pakistan. If we want him lodged in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, the job of getting him should be outsourced to the resourceful Israelis. Undoubtedly there will be legal objections to this, but there are times when moral compulsion for a particular action in a particular context may outweigh legal considerations.

Another astounding revelation has been that our police are totally unequipped in terms of arms, clothing and other requisite equipment, which makes them easy prey to the superior arms and technology of the terrorists. This deficiency must be immediately redressed. It is the constitutional obligation of the State to properly equip its police force to enable it to protect the fundamental right of life and liberty of its citizens.

President Zardari’s attempt to absolve Pakistan by attributing the terrorist attacks to non-state actors in Pakistan does not wash. It is the responsibility of every state to curb the criminal activities of non-state actors operating within its jurisdiction. Pakistan has been repeatedly given a list of the sites where Lashkar-e-Toiba and other terrorist organisations are imparting training to people for carrying out attacks against India. It is high time Pakistan eliminated these training sites, which are the epicentres of terrorism. Pakistan also needs to ban immediately the Lashkar-e-Toiba and its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Failure to take these steps would betray its lack of sincerity and good faith in combating terrorism directed against India. In that event India may well consider the option of a surgical precision strike against these training camps. Sardar Patel, thou shuldst be living at this hour. The nation hath need of thee.

The good Book says, ‘good cometh out of evil’. The greatest good has been the spontaneous manifestation of solidarity across the board by all sections sharing the grief of the victims and their families with determination to wage the war on terror unitedly, without indulging in blame games. This indomitable spirit is our greatest asset. We must preserve it without giving way to despondency or defeatism. Then we can confidently say, we shall overcome and we shall prevail.

Yoga and Islam

Visitors to Malaysia, especially Kuala Lumpur, are rightly impressed by its progress and many aspects of its infrastructure, including its roads and airport. Purdah is not vigorously enforced. Therefore, the recent edict issued by the National Fatwa Council saying that ‘tomboyishness’ in girls was forbidden in Islam is surprising. Where is a ‘tomboy’ or ‘tomboyishness’ defined? Would it include a woman wearing pants? What about a woman with short hair or tattoo on her arms? This edict is an instance of selective targeting of women. Besides it gives a charter to informers to spy on women and empowers the police to make arbitrary arrests. And all that in the name of Islam.

Religion has again been invoked to ban yoga, which is practised across the world by people belonging to different communities and religions. Yet, Muslims in Malaysia are told by the National Fatwa Council that yoga involves worshipping and chanting, which are prohibited for Muslims and which could erode their faith. It is regrettable that instead of expounding the sublime thoughts and ethical precepts contained in the Koran, Islam is invoked to buttress idiosyncratic notions. In a modern progressive State like Malaysia, these developments are distressing.