A Milestone Judgement against AFSPA!

The spotlight is back on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act with a milestone judgement from our judicial system!

Based on two PILs on fake encounter killings and withdrawal of AFSPA from Manipur, the Supreme Court had commissioned a probe into the actual situation in the state. In January 2013, a three-member panel was set up to look into the incidents and for the first time in the history of AFSPA, a court-appointed panel has held security forces guilty of killing seven persons, including a 12-year-old boy in six fake encounters during 2009-10!!

The Hegde Panel as it is called, comprised of retired Justice Santosh Hegde of the SC, former CEC J M Lyngdoh and former Karnataka DGP Ajay Kumar Singh, is the first official panel to endorse the charge of GROSS VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS by the security forces operating under the hated and reviled AFSPA. For those, who have never heard of the act before and do not know what it is about, here’s a brief summary:

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, comes into force as soon as the Govt. declares a state to be ‘Disturbed’ and gives blanket powers to the forces to ARREST anyone merely on suspicion without requiring a warrant; pick people up for questioning; put them in remand and use any kind of force even if it causes DEATH!!! 

There can be NO prosecution, suit or ANY legal proceeding whatsoever, against ANYONE acting under this Act. Nor is the government's judgment on why an area is found to be disturbed subject to judicial review. Are we living in a democratic state or a dictatorship???

 

Not surprisingly, the honorable court observed that security forces have conducted raids and resorted to FIRING merely on the basis of source information WITHOUT bothering to cross-check the authenticity of the ‘source’. This implies, anyone could complain to the Army about another person (even if it is just for the sake of settling a personal score) and the forces, without authenticating the complaint, can barge into a person's home, pick them up for questioning, use all the force they want, kill one or two people in the process and STILL not come up with ANY ACTUAL information!

The report says that forces are allegedly responsible for 1,528 extra-judicial killings in the past 30 years! Anyone with common sense would understand what our high ranking officials in the army and the government don’t and what was surmised for them by the justice bench, “This is not the best way to integrate (north-eastern) people. It is the best way to alienate them!”(Courtesy TOI Report).

Shocked by the report, the Justices reviewing the petition, Aftab Alam and Ranajana Desai, said the forces and police threw caution to the wind while following guidelines in conducting such “operations” and put a major portion of the blame on the Union government. They also observed, that elaborate guidelines laid down by Supreme Court, guidelines issued by Army headquarters, NHRC and Manipur government have all been confined to the papers. NOTHING is followed in practice by armed forces and police while carrying out the operations!!

This just goes to demonstrate what we have been saying all along, All is NOT Well with the security forces in troubled states. On 31 March 2012, the United Nations itself had asked India to revoke AFSPA saying that such a law had no place in a democracy!

 Protests against the AFSPA in Manipur and Delhi

Many human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) have condemned human rights abuses in Kashmir and North-East by forces in the form of ‘extra-judicial executions’, so called ‘disappearances’, and torture using electrocution, beatings and sexual humiliation against hundreds of detainees! {Check the post The Kashmir Conundrum for the situation in Kashmir}.

Irom Sharmila, a civil rights activist, political activist, and poet from Manipur, has been on a hunger strike since 2 November 2000 (!!) to demand that the Indian government repeal the AFSPA which has devastated her state. 

She has been christened the ‘World's longest hunger striker’ and is currently under trial for attempted suicide under ANOTHER outdated and draconian law!! She has been forcefully fed through a naso-gastric tube for thirteen years as the state does not want her to die and unfortunately, does not want to do anything to resolve the issue as well!
 

In 2004, tired of the repeatd abuse and rapes, Manipuri women took out a NUDE PROTEST to condemn the alleged rape and custodial death of 32-year-old woman Thangjam Manorama by Assam Rifles personnel. Compare it with the media coverage that Delhi Rape case got, and you'll realize we don't have the slightest clue about the condition of women in Manipur!

The movement, spearheaded by 32 social organizations became violent after a student leader Pebam Chittaranjan immolated himself on the Independence Day in 2004. Pebam left a suicide note before putting himself to fire, which said: "It is better to self-immolate than die at the hands of security forces under this Act. With this conviction I am marching ahead of the people as a human torch." He ran for about 100 metres with his body in flames before falling to the ground in Bishenpur Bazaar!!
 

Manipuri women protest against Indian Army 

What shocks you more.. the desperation of these people, or that you haven’t heard any of this ever before?? The only memory of Manipur you might have is the name of Mary Kom, who won the bronze medal for India in 2012 Olympics. Yet, what we do not know is the harsh conditions she has faced to be where she is today!!

Taking into account the state's geographical location, Manipur can actually serve as the perfect Gateway to South-East Asia! A Trans-Asian Railway Network (TARN) which was proposed ages ago, if constructed, could connect India through Manipur to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and even Singapore and ensure development and prosperity throughout its route!

Instead, we are involved in a vicious cycle of subjugation and retaliation of our own citizens! It is hard to visualize the army and forces as anything short of heroes as they are people from our own families/friends/acquaintances whom we have known for ages. But, what is important to remember is that in such extreme conditions, away from their families for long, abused and subjugated by the superiors, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, having the unlimited powers that AFSPA provides, these same people have been raping/kidnapping/extorting/beating up and (as the court declared above), murdering people in cold blood! 

It may not be prudent to COMPLETELY revoke the Act given that there definitely is a resurgence issue in Manipur but there is a dire need to revise it and add some accountability to the people enjoying immense powers under it! 

To be fair, not everyone abuses the power, but those who DO NOT stop their colleagues from doing so, are equally responsible and so is the media that does not bring this issue out in the open! Should we just sit and watch what’s happening till the same situation happens in our own state or city? Shouldn't the law be the same for every citizen including the Army and the Police?

The court has sought responses from the Centre, the Manipur government and the National Human Rights Commission within five days. Till then, let’s do OUR bit to stop this injustice on citizens of our OWN country by those who have more power than us and DO NOT hesitate to misuse it!! 

Spread the word and make people aware of the realities our fellow citizens are facing

Jai Hind!

Skeptics please check out the following links as an eye-opener:  

India: Army Killings Fuel Insurgency in Manipur | Human Rights Watch 

Seven, Including 12-Yr-Old Boy Killed In Cold Blood: SC Panel  

MANIPUR ON FIRE". Frontline. September 2004

Ray-of-hope-for-manipur-afspa-victims 

History of AFSPA in Manipur 

 

The Kashmir Conundrum

Was reading an extremely interesting article today that said - 'Trauma in Kashmir is like a heritage building. They want the wound of Kashmir to endure because the wound is what indicts India for the atrocities of its military.. If the wound vanishes, does India simply get away with all those rapes, murders and disappearances?'

The words hit a chord in my heart. How indeed would India get punished for the sins of its forces? Judging by the news splashed all over the papers today, it won't be long before the condition again turns volatile! Whenever there is a case of misuse of power in the valley, the protesters no longer rally against the Army or the notorious AFSPA. The protests are against the INDIAN STATE now.

They burn the Indian flag, abuse the motherland, call Indians dogs.. yet, can we Indians keep putting the blame on Pakistan forever and wash our hands clean of all responsibility??

  

 

I had a harsh argument with a Kashmiri friend living in Delhi. He had posted an anti-India status on FB and I could barely restrain myself from retorting that if he had so much problem with India why the hell was he living here??

As Indians we can't see our motherland being rubbished because of what some trigger-happy morons are doing in the valley! But, for an average Kashmiri, the forces and politicians are the only face of India and we all know how clean their record is..

My friend stated that Indians don't stand with the Kashmiris and support them but my point is, how many Indians ACTUALLY know what's going on in Kashmir??? Blame it on our busy lives; blame it on our short attention spans or blame it on the media that seldom (if ever) presents the citizens' point of view from Kashmir, the truth is that an average Indian has NO CLUE what the real state of affairs in Kashmir is. 

It is next to impossible today to make a common man on the streets in India aware of what really is the ground reality on the streets of Kashmir.

 

Almost a lakh people have disappeared in Kashmir over the past two decades which saw first the genocide and eviction of Kashmiri Pandits, then Pakistan sponsored bloody terrorism followed by Indian army-managed fake encounters! 

Human Rights Watch has documented many cases of misuse of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir, such as the killing of human rights lawyer Jalil Andrabi in 1996 and the student Javed Ahmed Magray in 2003. In both cases, when police inquiries identified the perpetrators as members of the armed forces, they were shielded by the impunity offered by the AFSPA.

When my friend told me that Indians never support them in their rightful protests I accepted that but there are two sides to this question. When have Kashmiris supported people in the rest of India? 

The entire country was rocked by a series of protests against the rampant corruption and innumerable graft scams; yet, Kashmir chose NOT to participate. There were people on the streets in Delhi demanding better treatment of women in the society which is as much an issue in Kashmir as elsewhere, yet they did NOT participate. It has to be a two-way street!

If Kashmiris come forward and raise their voice against these issues with the rest of India, people would definitely help them in their fight against injustice!

NO DOUBT, there is an element of cross-border state-sponsored terror machinery waiting to up the ante in Kashmir; true there are elements that nudge the Kashmiri youth at the slightest provocation to erupt against the Indian state; true the Kashmiris have never felt a part of India.. BUT, what is EQUALLY true is that the Indian Govt. and Military have failed to build the credibility with Kashmiris and more often than not, there is a grievous, unheard, unresolved complaint when the protests turn violent in the valley. We ourselves are creating the circumstances that outsiders especially Pakistan can take advantage of!

When Kashmiri Pundits were thrown out, it was the RESPONSIBILITY of the Govt. to make sure they were safe in their own homeland. Instead, lakhs of people had to flee in the middle of the night, hounded by Pakistan backed extremists, turning up in different parts of the country as homeless refugees. Today, the same Govt. is stifling the basic rights of Kashmiri Muslims and justifies any strong action by playing the 'Pundit' card.

But two wrongs DO NOT make a right! 

We still remember the protests in 2009-10 when this madness started and their shoddy handling by both the Central and the State Govts. {Read Human Rights Violations in Kashmir} for more on what happened in Kashmir then}. All that was needed to set things right was to punish the guilty and things would have returned to normalcy. instead, what followed was a systematic subjugation of valid protests much like we saw in Delhi recently where protesters were roughed up and the guilty were not even identified!

Unlike Delhi though, the protests in Kashmir turned violent and anti-India rhetoric was heard and this gave another pretext to the Govt. to use firearms for the safety of its own forces which ended up in the deaths of 15 more protesters! Within a span of few months, all the goodwill gestures by earlier Govts., millions of rupees spent in subsidies, and the GENUINE efforts of security forces in protecting our Nation were rendered useless.

We have to accept the fact that the people in our forces are NOT angels who have dropped from heaven above! They are as much human as us, and can also give in to anger, lust, greed, avarice like any one of us.

In any other profession this is what would normally happen - a cricketer who is not performing is thrown out of the team, a doctor whose negligence leads to patient's death is barred from practice, an accountant who screws up his company's financials is given the boot. WHY not the same treatment with the forces?

Such a blunder, that could have been easily avoided simply by apprehending the guilty and punishing them in front of the people of the country so that everyone knew what was happening in Kashmir. 

One simple step would have brought the situation from the brink of destruction back into the fold of normalcy and united the people of Kashmir with the people in rest of India who undergo the same high-handedness by forces every single time they come out to protest!

Even today, there seem to be no efforts towards this and it may perhaps already be too late! But whether it brings the Kashmiris back into the mainstream or not, a heart-felt sincere APOLOGY and PUNISHMENT to all those who have abused the draconian AFSPA in Kashmir (AND other disturbed states), would go a long, long, long way in bringing peace to the hearts and minds of every citizen.

The sensible conclusion to the Kashmir conundrum would be holding a plebiscite involving all the people of Kashmir right from Ladakh, Kargil, Kashmir, Jammu, Poonch and other far flung areas and ALSO taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri Pandits who were forcibly thrown out of their land earlier. Only that can bring closure to ALL the people involved in this issue.

We agree the problem is complex and there is no simple solution, but sincerely hope and pray there is someone in the center who can actually take this difficult step for the sake of the future of both the citizens of Kashmir, as well as those living in the rest of India. Otherwise, both sides will continue on this long, winding, bleeding pathway to destruction..

Hoping Peace will get a chance in Kashmir

JAI HIND!


Skeptics, please check these links to read for yourself the situation in Kashmir:

India: Repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act; 50th Anniversary of Law Allowing Shoot-to-Kill, Other Serious Abuses. Human Rights Watch

WikiLeaks cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Kashmir's extra-judicial killings
Behind the Kashmir Conflict - Abuses in the Kashmir Valley

Delhi, the Rape Capital!!

A 23 year old girl is brutally raped by 6 hooligans in a private bus she boarded with her friend from Select City Walk, one of the most posh malls of Delhi! Her male friend is stripped and beaten by an iron rod. The rod is shoved INSIDE the unfortunate girl and her intestines rupture! Both of them are stripped and thrown off the Mahipalpur Highway to die in the bitter cold!

Are you still able to breathe properly??

The Delhi Police have revealed in a report that a woman is raped every 18 hours or molested every 14 hours in the Capital. If that's not shocking enough, most of the attackers fall under the below 25 age bracket!!The latest rape statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has once again put Delhi on top of the shame table. 

According to a Times Of India report, Delhi registered 568 cases of rape, compared to 218 in Mumbai in 2011 according to NCRB records. In the 2007-2011 period, Delhi topped the chart, followed by Mumbai, Bhopal, Pune and Jaipur. 

Protest Update 1

The seething outrage over the case spilled on to the Rajpath on Saturday as a large number of youth, in different groups, descended to protest in front of the Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking justice for the victim. 

Around 8 a.m. the youth started converging at India Gate demanding death penalty for the rapists. As the crowd swelled, it began moving up on Rajpath towards Rashtrapati Bhavan. Overshooting police anticipation, students and young professionals — who primarily relied on social media and SMS communication to muster support — began screaming their lungs out against what they described was utter complacency and lip service by the government and the police in the matter. 

Delhi Women on streets protesting against the Rape Culture

 

The police, however, blocked the path of the protesters with barricades and buses parked at the footsteps of Raisina Hill and as new groups kept merging with the protesting crowds, their FIRST FACE-OFF with the police happened around 11 a.m. To disperse them, the police trained a water-cannon on them and lobbed a volley of tear-gas shells. 

 Police high-handedness at fore again in Delhi!

What followed was a brief spell of violence by some protesters who targeted police buses, accusing the police of unnecessarily using force on unarmed protesters who included girls and women. On at least six occasions, the police resorted to caning the young protesters, who hurled stones, shoes and water bottles at them in retaliation.

Around 5.30 p.m. when hassled senior police officers were busy negotiating with a group to defuse the prevailing situation and manage the leader-less crowd, the LATHI-WEILDING security personnel in riot-gears AGAIN CHARGED at the protesters driving them away. The aggressive response from Delhi Police, left 125 tear-gas shells lobbed and at least 35 protesters injured!

Shame on Delhi Police!

The protesters tried to reorganise at the nearby Vijay Chowk where they were attacked again, this time from all the directions!

Several of them sustained injuries but they decided to stay put with YOUNG GIRLS FORMING A CHAIN AROUND THEIR MALE COUNTERPARTS to stall the police advance. Hats off to the brave girls of Delhi! Also kudos to the men who came out in large numbers to support their female friends and brave Govt. high-handedness to reclaim their rights.

A defiant India reclaiming its rights

Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Gopal Rai, Manish Sisodia and Kumar Vishwas, who also participated along their supporters, addressed the crowd later in the evening. The day culminated in a meeting of one of the groups with Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who assured them of fast-tracking the trial in the case and a “sea-change” in policing through implementation of long-term reforms.

Protest Update 2

This morning while Sheila Dikshit was condemning the force with which Delhi police acted yesterday, its lackeys were busy dragging protesters and pushing them into buses to take them away from India Gate!

The buses took away the protesters and dumped them at far-off places so that they would not be able to reach India Gate again! EIGHT METRO STATIONS ARE SHUT to prevent people from reaching the venue! Where the hell are our FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS?? Where the hell is DEMOCRACY?

Empty words yet again

Later, Baba Ramdev was arrested and Arvind Kejriwal picked up from Hyderabad House where he was protesting. After clamping down Section 144 on the city today, the Govt. again resorted to lathicharge and water cannons.. The manhandling of girls, old ladies and even old men has left people dumbfounded! Many people including some constables got injured but this time public anger seems difficult to control.

These are the people who are supposed to protect us!

 Shame on this manhandling by Delhi Police

 

Shame on Delhi's Security Agencies which let such incidents keep repeating! Instead of hitting the protesters and turning them more violent, they should do THEIR JOBS better and grab hold of criminals and culprits! You don't need to be a woman to realize how unsafe Delhi and NCR has become for its citizens. And sadly, a similar trend is visible right from Assam to Tamil Nadu and Bihar to Mumbai! 

Please start a peaceful protest in your city today. DO NOT get into violent mode and DO NOT destroy public property. Spread this for your Nation and participate to make INDIA a better place for all irrespective of religion/caste/gender/language! This time, let's not rest until we CHANGE our destiny.

May the Force be with Us All! 

Jai Hind! 

 

Satire or Sedition???

So finally the high profile drama over the arrest of a political cartoonist comes to an end. Aseem Trivedi accepted the bail and was finaly released from Arthur jail earlier in the day while the charges of sedition against him are still being mulled over. 

Aseem Trivedi, a political cartoonist charged with sedition

The entire episode smacked of unusual high-handedness of the Govt. followed by a change of stance as soon as outrage registered from domestic as well as international intelligentsia. Typical behavior one might say based on similar episodes we have observed in the past couple of years.

Trivedi was arrested on Saturday for a series of cartoons lampooning politicians and the Parliament. He refused to apply for bail at Monday's hearing declaring that if telling the truth made him a traitor, he was happy to be described as one.

And the truth is out for everyone to see - from the shoddy handling of Kashmir protests, to the  Commonwealth Games scandal to the massive looting of food stocks to the latest Coalgate, there has been a string of scams in the past few years, each bigger than the other and ALL of them involving one or the other departments of Govt.!!!

 Aseem's cartoons

Enough has been said FOR and AGAINST the contentious cartoons so we won’t venture into that territory here. But what came to fore yet again was the really really low threshold our Govt. has for criticism of any form. It was visible in the demeanor of the police who, after the order, roughed Aseem up and literally pushed him into the van as if he is a dangerous criminal!

Swati Deshpande of TOI succinctly summarizes, ‘Intolerance has become Infectious’ in our country. The week long police custody for the cartoonist is the latest in the long line of crackdown seen this year on any form of criticism of the establishment.

Mahesh Jethmalani, the criminal lawyer, adds, “Trivedi is not dishonoring anything, he is expressing his ideologies and viewpoints through his cartoons. Only people of low intellect don’t understand that. His arrest is a complete curb on freedom of expression,” Several cartoons get printed everyday lampooning the government and top ministers, but they do not attract legal cases because most sane people understand that a cartoon is a humorous comment on a political event or situation, and is not meant for causing serious offense.

 

However, this is not the first time a cartoonist has been dragged to court on alleged defamation charges.In the 70s, Cho S. Ramaswamy a political commentator was charged with similar cases (but not sedition) in the Indira Gandhi era. In his own words -   

“One unforgettable episode relates to the Thuglak cartoon on the Kuo oil scam in 1976, when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. I made a cartoon showing Mrs Gandhi picking up a can of tar with ‘Kuo Oil’ written on it and throwing the contents on the national flag, blackening it. The idea was to show that the Prime Minister had shamed the nation, bringing it disrepute. But a Tamil Nadu Congressman filed defamation cases against me and I was forced to go to the magistrate’s court repeatedly for hearings till they decided to discontinue the case."

It would be prudent to point out that the only time emergency was declared in our country with all constitutional rights outlawed was during the reign of Mrs. Gandhi. The Milwaukee Journal even came out with a cartoon depicting the state of affairs in the country which seems eerily similar to where we are headed right now!

Newspaper headlines the day Emergency was declared

Milwaukee Journal Cartoon on Indira Gandhi

Not surprisingly, the opposition BJP has accused the authorities of imposing "an undeclared emergency in the country". The media also weighed in, with the Indian Express newspaper describing the moves against Trivedi as like using "an H-bomb to slay a rabbit".

Rama Lakshmi of the Washington Post writes - "Trivedi’s arrest is the latest in a series of clampdowns against dissenters across India in recent years, as an increasingly nervous government battles rising public anger over corruption and what many perceive as misrule."

Earlier public outcry against corruption 

Senior counsel Yusuf Muchala, however says, "No writer or cartoonist can consider themselves to be above the law. If they have insulted the national emblem as alleged, they must face the law but it is not that grave an offense that requires arrest and custody." In the same vein, he also points out quite pertinently that there are cases where someone making hate speech have not faced the law!

Indeed the recent riots in Mumbai were incited by hate speeches that resulted in hooligans snatching rifles from cops and breaking the Amar Jawan Jyoti {Check the previous post - From Assam to Azad maidan} Have any of those speakers or those rioters that broke the Amar Jyoti at Flora Fountain been charged with sedition???

 Mobs attacked National monuments as well as police personnel

Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director of Human Rights Watch says,“Instead of trying to silence dissent by wrongly accusing people of sedition, the authorities would do far better addressing the reasons causing concern among citizens.”

India's sedition laws date back to the Raj, and were used for imprisoning Mahatma Gandhi, along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak and other freedom fighters. Our first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, called the same law "objectionable and obnoxious". The use of the law occurs despite a 1962 Supreme Court ruling that states that prosecution under this law requires evidence of incitement to violence and there is no evidence that Aseem Trivedi’s drawings have led to any violence. 

Yet such laws have survived for years. Why? 

The simplest reason is that these laws allow the government to gag any sort of opposition without going to the trouble of preparing a proper case! A very dangerous trend for the so called the biggest Democracy and a sure shot way of turning it into a Despotic Dictatorship!!

Kavitha Rao of the Guardian rightly points out - Trivedi is no Gandhi. But his fight, and our right to free speech, is Gandhian. He may have ridiculed national symbols but those in power have done far worse. To illustrate her point, let us look at another image of the national symbol that has surfaced on the net because of the current furor.

Should this be tried for sedition now?

A clear case of double speak by the party concerned. In the face of all such criticism, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil finally declared there were no grounds for the police to arrest the cartoonist. "The police investigation was complete. There was no need to seek police custody. I am looking into the matter. We will say so in court," Patil said.

Too little too late??? There already are more cartoons out in the cyberspace that take a potshot at this entire episode and we can expect more to come.

For those who still don't understand the imagery and the inherent message in Aseem's cartoons, there is a need for a refresher course in the symbolism of Art! A popular tweeter Ramesh Srivats sums up the attitude with: "{We want to) screw the nation, cherish the symbols."

Jai Hind! 
.

From Assam to Azad Maidan

Its been a week now that a rally to protest the killing of ethnic minorities in Assam and Myanmar went out of hand and held Mumbai to ransom on Saturday afternoon. 

The rally at Azad Maidan, held jointly by three Muslim organizations had attracted a crowd of nearly 20,000 people. Raza Academy was the chief organizer while the Awami Vikas Party (AVP), a political outfit floated by former police officer Shamsher Khan Pathan, also took part in the protest.

There is nothing wrong with organizing a peaceful protest against alleged outrages of a humanitarian nature. But, what is defintiely NOT RIGHT is the arson and stone pelting and molestation of women that happened under the garb of this protest!

Arup Patnaik, commissioner of police, Mumbai said, “Around 2.30 pm, some men pulled out provocative pictures of people being killed in Assam”. The protesters suddenly turned unruly and set afire vehicles, damaged buses and pelted stones. Police opened fire in the air and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the mob, said a policeman deployed at the Azad Maidan.

As per official reports, Maulana Gulam Abdul Kadri has been named the main Culprit for Mumbai menace on 11/8 Mumbai riots, whose inflammatory speech changed the situation so virulent. During his speech, a mob became agitated and came out of the Azad Maidan with banners, flags and bamboos in their hands and raised slogans. They were joined by a group of 1,000 young men who came out of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station. They raised slogans, used abusive language, and soon turned violent despite the police’s appeals for peace, the report stated. 

In the 45-minute violence, two persons died, over 65 were injured — 56 of them policemen — and vehicles were torched. Three media OB vans, three police vehicles, two motor -cycles and a public transport bus were set on fire. Forty BEST (civic) buses, two four-wheelers and five two-wheelers were damaged in stone pelting.

The camera footage also shows the mob molested women, including cops. Three police weapons - two rifles and a pistol - were stolen at the time of the clashes. The mob stole two self-loading rifles and a pistol from the police along with 160 rounds of ammunition. While the two SLRs were found in damaged condition, the pistol is yet to be recovered.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Press Club, quoting eyewitnesses, said the trouble started when a cleric criticised the media for not adequately highlighting "atrocities" in Assam and Myanmar. This angered some in the crowd who turned against TV crews and photographers present in and around Azad Maidan. 

The crime branch, which is investigating the incident, has recovered a country-made firearm (katta) from the spot. Where did all these weapons come from?? How was the police caught so unawares??? The same police, that sometimes goes overboard in controlling peaceful crowds couldn't really handle an armed crowd when needed!

Perhaps, the most shameful act was the DESECRATION of the Amar Jawan Memorial dedicated to the martyrs at CST station!

What were these protests against though?? Why would people who are fasting for the Holy month of Ramzan suddenly turn out on the streets armed with swords and knives and thrones and in one instance even a hand-made revolver!

You would be surprised to know, that the protest wasn't against any injustice to Muslims in India or the desecration or insult of Islam in any way.. it was staged against the alleged killings and riots against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (who are the illegal Muslim populations in Myanmar migrated from Bangladesh) and the Bangladeshi Muslims in Kokrajhar, Assam!

One might wonder, what the protesters in Mumbai had to do with these groups??? The answer is manifold and has deep layers to it:

• One, there is a huge chunk of ILLEGAL Bangladeshi migrants throughout India and the protesters more likely than not had representatives from the same group amongst them. 

• Secondly, there has been a continuous bombardment of social media with MORPHED images and clips showing alleged violence against these populations especially in Myanmar.

• Thirdly, the ethnic issue has been given the garb of RELIGION and the conflict has been turned into a war between Muslims against Hindus/Christians in Assam and Buddhists in Myanmar while the truth is that it is an issue of illegal immigration!

In this connection the riot situations have already taken place in Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh)! Roused by the same sentiment, a frenzied mob attacked vehicles, shops and public life in Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi on 10th August, just a day before the Mumbai riots. In Bareilly the clash happened over a Janmashtami  procession on 11th August where according to the eye-witnesses, speakers started provocation with the reference of Myanmar and Assam incidents.

 

Mr. Patnaik was on the spot within minutes of the situation turning violent. He addressed the crowd from the dais of the rally and appealed for calm, reminding people of the incidents during the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. The police chief told them he did not want any repetition of those ghastly memories, thus calming down the crowds.

Asked why force was not used earlier to control the rioters, he said the police showed utmost restraint. “Should I have fired, I don’t know. Would you have wanted to see 500 bodies? I was more afraid of the situation when 500 jawans were ready to fire, with hands on the triggers. I had to control them first, then turn to the protesters,”

Perhaps, the explanation he gives is right.. Teesta Setalvad, from an NGO called  Citizens for Justice and Peace also congratulated the Police Commissioner, for his mature handling of a potentially explosive situation on Saturday did ensure that matters were brought under control.

Muslim leaders apologized to the Commissioner on Monday and expressed their desire to help the injured police personnel. “All the Ulema had come to apologize. That is because they know that the police acted with equity and fair play,” he said.

In an effort to help the police, CJP has brought to their notice certain “morphed” images of “atrocities” on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar which were allegedly used to garner public support for the August 11 protest which turned riotous at the city’s Azad Maidan.

In the letter to Mr. Patnaik, the CJP has annexed a copy of the blog written by a Pakistani writer Faraz Ahmed on July 19, 2012, with the heading ‘Social media is lying to you about Burma’s Muslim cleansing'. I am attaching the link on the PAKISTANI DEFENCE Forum to show what is really happening!!! 

http://www.defence.pk/forums/bangladesh-defence/196614-social-media-lying-you-about-burma-s-muslim-cleansing.html

This is how Muslims in Kashmir were instigated to protest against Indian forces and the same strategy is taking shape again in different parts of India!! All the evidence points to a planned campaign, though its unclear who exactly is orchestrating it.

What is even more intriguing is that there are bloody riots in Assam, which in turn triggers violence at a rally in Mumbai, followed by attacks on students in Pune and stabbing in Mysore. The chain of events triggers a panicked stampede in Bangalore?

There seems to be a systematic campaign to create fear, using social media, SMSes, and regional media to spread rumors of attacks. It seems like a planned Jihad is underway with some covert organizations probably with foreign support seeking to destabilize the current harmony.

There are rumors of a planned “reprisal” from the Muslim community, as reported in the Indian Express: “Some employees referred to direct threats of violence after Ramzan being made to them, others referred to an alleged video of a brutal attack in Assam being circulated among Muslims for which reprisals are being planned, while still others referred to alleged warnings from the police itself.”

Is this the making of a NEW conflict where Muslims from the rest of the country are being pitted against the people from NORTH-EASTERN states????

The police have finally decided to charge the arrested persons with murder and 23 people have been booked on the basis of the video and camera footage. The man who snatched a police rifle has also been arrested and is a 23 year old salesman at an electronic store.

 

We wonder what direction these people want to give to their lives.. if there was a genuine grievance of ill treatment of Indian Muslims within India, the protest could have been justified.. but protesting and damaging national property and resorting to violence on an issue happening across the border can not be condoned!

The question that the protesters need to ask themselves is whether it is correct to hold your OWN Govt. and the PUBLIC at ransom based on half-baked HALF-TRUTHS about events happening in some OTHER country which in the first place, are a result of ILLEGAL immigration by the so called victims!! Unless these youth themselves understand the consequences of their actions, the police would have little success in limiting such protests in the future..

Hoping that Peace and Good judgement prevail

Jai Hind!