Can India afford to remain frozen in inaction?

Rajiv Dogra

Finally it is out in the open. The Indian defence minister, A.K. Antony, has said that war with Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack is not an option. And once again we find ourselves trapped in a dead end.

No one wants a war, especially a war where objectives are unclear and prospects uncertain. We should have learnt this lesson after we lined up our troops along the border like NCC cadets during Operation Parakram, which took place following the attack on the Indian parliament by terrorists Dec 13, 2001. In the end we were both unwilling and unable to cross the Rubicon. After posturing impotently we withdrew.

It is said that wise men keep the threat of an arrow leashed in the quiver, because once you've released it the arrow's potential as a threat is over. But this is exactly what we did when we called our own bluff during Operation Parakram. Now we don't even have a bluff in our quiver.

One wonders therefore what the recent hullabaloo was about.

Even as the terrorists were engaged in mayhem in Mumbai, the prime minister addressed the nation and said: 'We will go after the individuals and organisations and make sure that every perpetrator, organiser and supporter of terror, whatever his affiliation or religion may be, pays a heavy price'.

Since Pakistan will not extract that heavy price, it may be reasonable to assume that India may have had under consideration the option of direct action. Such an action, in the unlikely event that it actually happened, would have been violative of the sovereignty of another country leading possibly to a war.

So, in effect, what we are witnessing now is the formal withdrawal of our notice to make the terrorists pay a heavy price for having killed around 170 people between Nov 26 and 29.

Sadly, when the history of mayhem in Mumbai is written our inaction might be projected as vacillation and a sign that we did not have the stomach for confrontation.

Second, as any mafia don would advise, you must not permit what can only be called 'successful defiance'.

Unfortunately our inertia may be interpreted by the terrorists and their masters as confirmation that we are incapable of retaliation, emboldening them to greater dramatic action.

There was some hope that it might be different this time, that for once we will not be found running where we started from. But we were quick to expose all our cards, a daily flurry of bellicose statements and threatening rhetoric followed. But throughout, there was no sign of any concrete action against the perpetrators of terror or their masters, none at all. It will be hard to find an example elsewhere in the world where after such a wounding strike the nation remains frozen in inaction.

Instead, there were ponderous debates about the degree of instability of the civilian government of Pakistan. Sadly, we ignore the reality of politics in Pakistan. Rarely has any government there been powerful enough to stand up to the army. As Benazir Bhutto was fond of asserting, there are only two political parties in Pakistan - the PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) and the MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movemment) ; all the rest are the army's creation. What remained unsaid was that even the PPP ended up compromising with the army. The Zardari government is no different, nor any weaker than its predecessors. We will therefore do well by not indulging in worried star gazing on his government's behalf.

In so far as the army is concerned I am reminded of an incident in Karachi. Once at a dinner a young man was introduced to me. He said he had graduated from the Pakistan Naval Academy earlier that day. After I congratulated him, he asked me when the bilateral tensions would cease. I gave him the sunny side response, at which he looked surprised and said, 'What will happen to our pledge then?'

It was an inadvertent slip of tongue by a young man and he moved away quickly. Later I gathered that the pledge he was referring to is taken by every Pakistani military officer on graduation, and it is to avenge the 1971 war leading to the formation of Bangladesh.

With such mental conditioning it will be naïve to expect a change of heart. This should also explain the practised ease with which Pakistan played its cards following the terror strike. As long as the world was watching the horror unfold on TV screens, Pakistan played the role of an anguished neighbour.

Meanwhile it gained time to let global tempers cool. Later when the world leaders came calling, as they did during Operation Parakram, it had its agenda clearly chalked out. It was a mixture of threats and demands as usual. First it declared that it might withdraw its forces from the Afghan border to its eastern frontier, conveying thereby that NATO action against the Taliban could become that much more difficult. A few days later there were attacks, conveniently spread over two days, on a NATO storage depot near Peshawar which destroyed over 200 vehicles.

Meanwhile its propaganda machinery was in an overdrive drumming up the threat of war. First there was a hoax call from our foreign minister to President Zardari. Then, allegations about air incursions by the IAF (Indian Air Force) followed. All these were conveniently timed before or during a visit by Western leaders.

Once again Pakistan has succeeded in temporizing. It is unlikely that it will take any action. And it will be futile to hope that good sense will prevail.

But the fault is ours. After every terror strike Pakistan insists on receiving evidence from India. Each time we fall into the trap. Should it be our responsibility to provide evidence, when all the proof is available in Pakistan? Moreover evidence is never provided to the perpetrators of a crime.

Unfortunately, like a bad rash terrorism will not go away. But the next time we should not wait till we dig up the absolute truth. Broad facts are sufficient in this global age where the focus on an event lasts till the next breaking news. And we shouldn't expect the US to wield the sword on our behalf. The US supports a country only as long as it suits its economic and strategic objectives. Pakistan still scores higher there.

Essentially, we are alone in this battle. The world may sympathize, it may nod in approval if we take action, but it will not come forward to help if we falter. Therefore, let us not engage in knee-jerk rhetoric that takes us to the edge of the abyss. Like dead-ends, they too are dangerous.

(Rajiv Dogra is a former ambassador and the last Indian consul general in Karachi. He can be reached at ambraja@yahoo.co.uk)

All terrorists in Mumbai attack identified

Mumbai, Dec 9 (IANS) All 10 terrorists who struck at Mumbai last month have been identified, police officials said here Tuesday.

Mumbai Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria released eight photographs of the terrorists and their identities in the evening.

One picture was not released since the body of the terrorist - involved in the attack at the Taj hotel - was burnt beyond recognition. His name has been given as Umar and his body was thrown down after the gun battle with the National Security Guard (NSG) commandos Nov 27.

The lone terrorist captured alive, Mohammed Ajmal Amir, was initially identified as 'Kasab,' and he quickly became the face of the Mumbai terror attacks.

His associate, now identified as Ismail Khan, was shot dead by the police near Chowpatty in south Mumbai during the early hours of Nov 27.

Ismail Khan's picture and actions were also captured on some closed circuit TVs installed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) before he escaped with Amir to the nearby Cama and Albless Hospital, then to Metro cinema hall, from there to Nariman Point and finally to Chowpatty.

The three who laid siege at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel were: Bada Abdul Rehaman, Abu Ali and Abu Soheb. The Taj operation was the longest and bloodiest of all at the 13 sites which were attacked during the terror strike.

The duo killed at Nariman House in Colaba, where they laid a bloody siege to a Jewish place of worship, necessitating airdropping of commandos, are identified as Nasir alias Abu Umer and Babar Imaran alias Abu Akasha.

The two terrorists killed in the attack at the Oberoi Trident Hotel have been identified as Fahad Ullah and Abdul Rehaman Chhota.

Further investigations are underway to get the full background details of the nine killed terrorists, their associates and probably local support.

Total terrorists 10 - nine killed, one arrested:

They are: Bada Abdul Rehaman, Abu Ali, Abu Soheb - all involved in the attack at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in south Mumbai;

Abdul Rehaman Chhota, Fahad Ullah - both involved in the attack on the Oberoi Trident Hotel at Nariman Point;

Ismail Khan - the terrorist involved in the attack at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus along with his associate Mohammed Ajmal Amir, (who was nabbed alive by the police);

Nasir alias Abu Umer and Babar Imaran alias Abu Akasha - involved in the siege at Nariman House at Colaba, where they attacked a Jewish place of worship.

Top Bengal Maoist leader in police net

A top Maoist leader of West Bengal has been arrested by sleuths of the state's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from a railway station near here, police said Sunday.

Somen, whose real name is Himadri Sen Roy, is the state secretary of Communist Party of India-Maoist, police claimed. He was held Saturday evening and his associate Deba was also arrested simultaneously, said Rajiv Kumar, CID deputy inspector general (operations).

Somen was arrested from Hridaypur railway station in North 24 Parganas district, about 25 km from here. The Maoist leader had tried to break free but was finally captured with the help of local people and tea stall owners.

Police recognised him from his stammering, a speech disorder about which they had prior knowledge.

He would later be produced in Barasat special court, while Deba would be produced in Chandannagore court in Hooghly district.

Somen has been charged with waging war against the state and plotting the killings of several Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders and police officers of West Bengal.

A Maoist since the 1970s, the 52-year-old had been on the run for years but has never been arrested before, police said.

'This is a breakthrough in our war against the Maoists,' said Kumar, who led the team that caught Somen.

CID officers said Somen had masterminded the killing of CPI-M leaders Rabi Kar and Mahendra Mahato in Purulia, Barikul officer-in-charge Prabal Sengupta in Bankura and Bandwan Officer-incharge Nilmadhab Das in Purulia.

Reports said he had ordered the murder of CPI-M leader and school headmaster Karamchand Singh in West Midnapore's Belpahari on Feb 22.

Officers said they had received a tip-off that Somen would meet an associate on platform No.2 of Hridaypur railway station.

The Maoist leader arrived at Hridaypur station at around 5 p.m. and began talking to the associate. Immediately, two disguised CID officers approached him and struck up a conversation.

'We wanted to verify his identity. We knew Somen stammered,' an officer said. 'As soon as he began speaking, we knew we had our man.'

The two officers grabbed Somen. His associate Dilip Mandi alias Deba was chased and caught.

According to a report, in a recent article in CPI-Maoist organ Biplabi Yug, which Somen edits, the rebel leader had said his outfit had formed the front line in the Nandigram land war.

'We were in Nandigram right from the beginning,' he wrote. 'We led the movement at every step.... We were in Nandigram, we are in Nandigram and we will continue to remain in Nandigram.'

Somen, who is from Suryanagar in Khardah, North 24-Parganas, joined the Maoist Communist Centre in the '70s and later the People's War Group.

Since the CPI-Maoist was formed a few years ago, Somen has been overseeing its West Bengal operations.

Report: Nissan, Renault to build $1 billion auto plant in India

Nissan Motor Co. and its affiliate Renault SA will build a $1.1 billion plant in India, Bloomberg News reported today.

The companies have reached an agreement with the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the project, they said today in a joint release in Chennai, the state's capital. The plant will have a capacity of 400,000 cars a year.

The factory will also help the companies, which will have equal stakes in the project, to ship cars to overseas markets. "We see India as another export base," Nissan's Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares said in the release.

The automakers are looking for sales growth in emerging markets to make up for stagnating demand in their home countries, and the dollar's decline against the yen, which undermines the value of Nissan's North American earnings.

The India car plant will make its first car by 2010 and will manufacture four models, Nissan spokeswoman Pauline Kee said in an interview in Chennai today.

Six-year-old Indian boy eyes 100-car 'limbo-skate'

A six-year-old Indian boy, Aniket Chindak is hoping to enter the record books after 'limbo-skating' under 57 cars in less than a minute.

Aniket has already created an unofficial world record by squeezing himself under a row of 57 four-wheel drive cars in 45 seconds.

With legs split, chest bent forward and chin almost skimming along the road, Aniket is no more than eight inches above the ground when he vanishes under the vehicles in Belgaum, India.

The wonder-kid, who started skating when he was 18-months-old, is now training for four hours a day and plans to break his world record of 57 cars with a 100-car skate in New Delhi.

"I first saw a girl skate under a car on television two years ago and decided to learn how to do it myself. It took three months before I could get my body in the right position," the Daily Record quoted Aniket, as saying."Since then, I have skated under lots of cars and have never hurt myself.

"The hardest thing is to go fast enough before I bend down because that's how you can skate under so many cars at once. I think it will be very difficult for anyone to beat 100 cars," he added.

According to his father, Ramesh, the skating marvel covers 60-miles twice a week in practice and sulks when he is told to finish.

"Aniket was always very flexible but for limbo-skating you need strength as well," Ramesh said. "It took him a while to condition his body to hold the correct position. Now his battle is to get the speed and control for 100 cars.

"He wants to set a world record no one can beat for a long time," he added.

Terror attacks in India, 2007

TERROR ATTACKS IN INDIA, 2007


if the idea of a photograph, capturing a little boy brandishing a bunch of flowers to halt a convoy of armoured tankers bang in the middle of their tracks, splashed across the media all around the globe, can summarise the power of the media, it's the idea of terrorist attacks and bomb blasts destroying the lives of unsuspecting people that has in many ways come to define the concept of Breaking News; bright red alert sign, big bold lettering, urgent, shrieking voices, snugly in tag.

In 2007, terror came in the form of unexpected attacks in cinema halls, popular eateries and even at prayer hours. From mass killings of Hindi-speaking folk in Assam, to the Hyderabad spate of attacks and of course, the bombings on board what is soon becoming the easiest target across the country: The Indian Railways.

As we step into 2008, the fact remains that an idle walk in the park no longer remains as safe as we once assumed. With terror alerts sounded across the country, it is probably second nature to get on with life, taking many a lesson from the average terror-stricken Mumbaikars' lives. Are we only getting more vulnerable to such attacks?

Are we doing enough to make sure such 'elements' stay away from our everyday lives? Well, here's the icing on the cake: The Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in December 2007 admits that the government has a case of money being invested in the country's stock market from people suspected of having links with a terrorist organisation.






THE SAMJHAUTA BLASTS

Close to midnight, most of the passengers on the Delhi-Attari special train were fast asleep when the blast triggered a fire, leaving at least 68 people dead.
Survivors say the doors of the two bogies that erupted in flames near Panipat got jammed, and that passengers were hopelessly trapped inside. Travelling on the train in the dead of the night and deep in sleep, many mistook the sound of explosions as having been caused by a short circuit and ignored them. Others thought it was a robbery attempt.

All the unidentified bodies of the victims of the twin blasts on the India-Pakistan peace train were buried near Mehrana village, near Panipat. Muslim religious leaders, and relatives of the 'missing' passengers from both India and Pakistan were present during the mass burial. Some bodies were also taken back to Pakistan through the Wagah joint border check post.

TERROR STRIKES IN HYDERABAD

May 2007: Mecca Masjid blast.

August 2007: Twin blasts at Lumbini Park, Gokul Chat eatery. Two bombs ripped through Lumbini Park and a small restaurant, killing 43 people, many of them children and youth, three months after a bomb went off at the historic Mecca Mosque.
Police believe that both the Mecca Masjid blast and the August 25 twin blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar are the handiwork of Bangladesh-based terrorist organization Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HuJi), and that its activist Mohammed Shahed alias Bilal, a native of Hyderabad, was its mastermind.
Bilal is believed to have triggered the blast from Bangladesh as a very sophisticated technology was used to detonate the improvised explosive device (IED), filled with a mixture of RDX and TNT. A phone call from anywhere in the world to a mobile attached to an IED is enough to trigger the blast.
THE AJMER DARGAH BLAST

October 2007: Terror struck the highly-revered sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer when a bomb went off inside the complex, killing at least two people and injuring 28 as thousands of Muslims were breaking their day-long Ramzan fast.

LUDHIANA CINEMA BLAST

October 2007: At least six people are killed injured as a powerful blast goes off inside the Shingaar cinema hall, crowded with a Sunday evening audience, in the industrial city of Punjab. The blast goes off slightly before 9pm when the evening show of Hindi movie Bhool Bhulaiya is in progress at the cinema hall located near the busy Samrala crossing area.

BLASTS IN GORAKHPUR, UTTAR PRADESH

May 2007: Uttar Pradesh gets on edge with communally sensitive towns across the state under high alert, as three low intensity blasts rip through Gorakhpur town. Alerts are sounded in Varanasi, Mathura and Ayodhya - all three towns are home to disputed religious structures - the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, the Krishnajanmabhoomi temple in Mathura and the
Babri mosque in Ayodhya.


VIOLENCE IN ASSAM THROUGH THE YEAR

In one of the most shocking incidents of the year, ULFA and Karbi Longri National Liberation Front extremists jointly raided Dehori village under Howraghat police station, called out the family members of Hindi-speaking folk, and gunned them down.
Soon after, hundreds of Bihar migrant workers fleed Assam to escape the bloodbath unleashed by militants in the northeast state. The ULFA militants went on to shoot dead more than 60 migrant workers from Bihar in a spate of attacks in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts.

After a spate of horrible bombings in cities, smaller towns and even villages despite a military offensive that officials claim is 'massive', no one could be sure of when or where the Assamese separatists would strike next. And in summary, a startling report claims that Assam has earned the infamous distinction of being the new leader in civilian casualties of terror strikes, surpassing Jammu and Kashmir in the latest figures.

Neo-natal mortality high in India, says UNICEF

Neonatal mortality or death within 28 days of birth is high in India, according to the latest UNICEF report.

According to the UNICEF's statistical review 'Progress for Children-A World Fit for Children,' out of the estimated 2.1 million child-mortality (death of children in their first five years of life) in India, one million are during the neonatal period (within 28 days of birth).

The neonatal deaths could be due to lack of any of the key survival interventions, such as skilled care at birth, initial breastfeeding within one hour of birth, care of low birth weight babies and keeping baby warm.

"One of the cost effective and feasible interventions to improve the situation, include initiating breastfeeding within one hour of birth," the report suggested.

However, malnutrition underlines up to half of under-five deaths globally, followed by neonatal causes in 37 per cent of cases, pneumonia (19 per cent), diarrhoea (17 per cent), malaria (8 per cent), measles (four per cent), injuries (three per cent), AIDS (three per cent) and other reasons (10 per cent).

Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness - more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Around one in every five under-five children globally die from the disease. India has the largest number of deaths due to pneumonia.

In 2006, for the first time in the world, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday fell below 10 million to 9.7 million, the report said.

India with 2.1 million under-five child deaths, contributes to about 21 percent of the global burden of child deaths.

About 25 percent of children under-five world-over are underweight. One-third of the world's underweight children in under-five age-group are in India.

The states with the highest number of children underweight are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, followed by Gujarat, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya.

India has the largest pool of 9.4 million children, who have never been immunised in the world.

A UNICEF representative said, "Immunisation in the 80s and 90s was shining in India. After that it has seen a progressive decline. While in the weaker states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan the immunisation programme improved, in the well-performing states, such as Gujarat and Maharashtra they showed a decline. So, the overall decline,"

The representative suggested the need for strengthening the immunisation system, which includes preservation of vaccine at right temperature, distribution of vaccines from the Centre to States, and education of health workers.While safe drinking water is essential for child survival, the world is on the track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on safe drinking water. With 84.5 percent rural and 95 per cent urban population having sustainable access to safe drinking water, India is also on the track to meet this goal.

The report acknowledges that progress of India, which is one of the largest countries of the world, is key to achieving the MDGs.

"With 20 per cent of the world's children under age of five years, India needs at least 20 per cent of the world's attention. And, it is getting it," said UNICEF India representative Gianni Murzi. (ANI)

Travelling to seven countries through photographs

New Delhi, December 5 : Still blue waters kissing the beaches of the Maldives, lush green Sri Lanka and the rough terrains of Bhutan. The pictures taken by 120 people who participated in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) car rally tell the tales of their unique journey through the region.



The people who participated in the rally, which kicked off in Bangladesh with much fanfare on March 15, travelled 8,200 km through Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka to reach the Maldives on April 14.



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had mooted the idea of the rally to foster brotherhood and overall economic development of the Saarc fraternity. The purpose was well served as participants savoured the distinct beauty of each nation, drove on varied terrains, interacted with different people, and experienced various cultures.



In each country, locals and heads of state gave rally participants a rousing welcome.



Among the most colourful pictures displayed at an exhibition at the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) in the national capital, were those of the rally entering Indian from Pakistan via the Wagah border.



It was for the first time in history that a rally of vehicles was crossing over from Wagah in Pakistan to Attari in India and the moment, as was evident from the photographs, was coloured with the beating of drums, dancing, and a lot of mirth.



Some of the other photographs at the exhibition, such as the one taken in Bangladesh showing burq-clad women lined on one side of the road along with their children waving at the rally, were quite striking.

India stops further trials of HIV vaccine

New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) Human trials of a US-produced HIV/AIDS vaccine have been halted in India after it was found to induce poor immune responses.



The vaccine, developed by the US-based Targeted Genetics Corporation, uses the adeno-associated virus (AAV) as a vector to deliver an AIDS vaccine against subtype C, the dominant HIV subtype in India, Scidev.net reported.



India's National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) tested the vaccine on 30 volunteers and announced its decision in November.



'The vaccine met safety criteria, but did not induce immune responses in a sufficient number of the volunteers to meet the criteria for advancement. At present there are no plans to test it further,' Pat Fast, executive director of medical affairs at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), told SciDev.Net.



Fast said the vaccine showed a 20 percent immune response in the phase I trials - IAVI generally looks for 60 percent immune response before moving on to phase II. The vaccine has shown a similar response in trials in Belgium and Germany.



The halt comes at a time when animal studies of AAV are suggesting that the virus may pose a risk to human health.



A study, led by the University of Pennsylvania and published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI), reports that AAV affects the ability of a crucial group of immune cells - CD8 cells, a type of T cell - to proliferate in vaccinated mice.



CD8 cells play a key role in the immune response to HIV infection, killing the infected cells.



'I am relieved that the trial is halted in India. Although our work centred on mice we cannot rule out a similar impairment in human vaccine recipients,' said Hildegund Ertl, professor at the university's Wistar Institute and one of the authors of the JCI study.



In July 2007, a study published in the journal Science showed links between a disabled AAV vector and tumour growth in mice. It concluded that further research into AAV is needed to determine its long-term safety in humans.



However, Fast points out there are fundamental differences between the immune responses of mice and humans, particularly with regards to HIV. Additionally, the mice received a very high dose of the vaccine - which is known to impair immune response.



India's hopes for a HIV vaccine now rest on an ongoing trial at the Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) in Chennai, on a modified vaccinia Ankara virus, one of the pox viruses, as a vector.

2-yr-old conjoined twin's spines separated

Bangalore, November 7: Doctors at a superspeciality hospital here, who have commenced a complicated surgery on two year-old Lakshmi, a conjoined twin, Wednesday successfully separated the spines. "The condition of the child is stable," doctors said.

A team of neurosurgeons have completed their part of the surgery, separated the spines, which the doctors described as "most critical" part of the 40-hour operation that began at 7 am Tuesday.

Dr Sharan Patil, the orthopaedic surgeon who heads the five-member core team performing the operation at Sparsh Hospital, told PTI the separation of spines has been smooth without any complications.

"Paediatric surgeons are now operating and trying to separate the organs and then orthopaedic surgeons will try to reconstruct the pelvic ring," he said.

"With the reconstruction of the pelvic ring, the first stage of the surgery will be completed," Patil said.

He expressed hope that the team will be able to complete the first stage of the operation tonight.

Lakshmi arrived at Sparsh Hospital, a part of Narayana Health city on October three from a village in Araria district in Bihar and underwent a series of medical tests.

Parents of Lakshmi, Shambhu, a daily wage labourer and Poonam have come with great hopes to the hospital and have reposed complete faith in the team, Patil said.