Rooting For The Enemy - Part-1

On the morning of September 12, 2001 the prominent French newspaper Le Monde headlined “We are all Americans”. This was to show solidarity, share the grief and anger over the 9/11 attacks on the US. Two years later when George Bush decided to attack Iraq, the French strongly opposed the US and weren’t part of the coalition that launched a war on Iraq. Protesting the French, two Republican Representatives ordered “French fries” in the canteens at Capitol Hill be renamed as “Freedom fries” (see pic of the menu). Soon the term “Freedom fries” became pop culture and a symbol of boycott of French products. That was jingoism at its best. By 2006 the stupidity was reversed and Americans were back to “French fries”. But the US and France have a long history of friendship. The French fought on the side of Americans for their independence from the British. It was the French who gave America the ‘Statue of Liberty’, which stands as a symbol of freedom. The statue holds a tablet in one hand with the date of American independence, July 4, 1776, inscribed on it. Friends often have minor tiffs but good friendships aren’t broken. Friends don’t go to war or attack each other.

When bimbos from Bollywood lament cancellation of shows of Pakistanis over the latest beheadings they reflect poor understanding of friendships. Blunt Truth: We DO NOT have a history of friendship with Pakistan. Period! NDTV reports Javed Akhtar (who else?) and Prasoon Joshi lamenting the situation about arts suffering. They don’t understand India, they don’t understand Pakistan and most of all they don’t understand friendship. India and Pakistan share a history but have never shared friendship and I dare say, they never will. Pakistan was created on the concept and in the belief that Muslims can’t live a just life with Hindus. Many of their leaders have vowed a 1000-year Jihad on India. So, for many “useful idiots” who keep thinking arts and sports should be kept out of the equation one can only imagine these idiots can’t see what ordinary Indians can see. Unfortunately, these useful idiots also happen to be prominent public celebrities. Seriously, what kind of morons worry about arts and sports when their soldiers are being beheaded? Only some in Bollywood and some in our MSM!

When your team plays you scream yourself hoarse supporting them, cheering them even against friendly opponents. A certain level of jingoism is not bad when it comes to backing your troops confronting an opponent who has sworn to treat your country as a ‘permanent’ enemy. In such a case anyone who professes deep yearning for Pakistani artists, their cuisine and all kinds of nonsense is bound to be seen as an oddball with suspicion. Why do we need Pakistani artists or anything from that country at all? We are much richer in every aspect of culture, creativity and productivity whereas Pakistan has been on a downward spiral to nowhere since it was born. Those who keep ranting about arts, sporting ties, trade ties, people to people hugs and kisses are almost a fifth column for the enemy. In the previous post I mentioned Shahrukh Khan flying the flag upside down. It’s no coincidence. This pic from a BBC report of 2009 (Thanks to @Ecophilo) showing a Muslim rally to protest torture of terror suspects tells a story. Sure, by all means protest, scream as hard as you want but why fly the national flag upside down? France may not have supported the US in the Iraq war but can you imagine France ever supporting a war against the Americans? If another country were to wage war against India which side do you think Pakistan will be on? Sorry! No prizes for guessing right.

Considering we may have many enemies within the country to first deal with, Pakistan should hardly be a priority for us. I repeat what I have said many times before; we need not seek war with Pakistan but at the same time we need not foolishly seek peace and friendship with them. They best belong in a cold storage till they make genuine efforts to stop terrorism, punish terrorists and set their house in order first. If Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi miss Pakistani artists so much they are welcome to go to Pakistan and make their films. These “useful idiots” only help to derail our army and our national pride. We first need to deal with the ones who fly our flags upside down and wage war against India from within. Bollywood bimbos aren’t the only ones who selfishly make strange statements. Our MSM can beat them at that game any day.

Here’s a tweet from Barkha Dutt. (Who else would this come from, eh?) To a rhetorical tweet by Shammy Baweja (Harinder), a journalist with the IndiaToday group, she responds, expectedly, with a nonsensical estimate about communal riots before war. A very insightful and observant Tweeter (@BhaskarChat) drew an “experience” from this tweet of hers. He mentioned that when India stacked up its army on the border after the December 2001 attack on Parliament it resulted in some “anti-India” elements igniting the incident at Godhra in February 2002. This resulted in the burning of a train and 59 passengers and then led to a backlash leading to communal riots. Is that what Barkha predicts? And what is all this hate about? Most of it is being fuelled by idiotic statements and actions by the media. What kind of people hold “Candle Light” debates immediately after news of the recent beheadings? Yeah, you got that right: only people from MSM and Bollywood. Who’s moderating the debate? A minister from the UPA govt which is struggling to handle the situation! And the lady has also handed ammunition to the Pakis to deny/defend the beheadings. It’s from a story that now needs a thorough investigation. I would even demand a military inquiry or an SIT.

One of Barkha’s favourite characters is Alice. Yep, that’s Alice from “Alice in wonderland” the famous fairy tale and one of great literary imagination. She often draws analogies to current situations and affairs from Alice. Barkha’s writings too are sprinkled with an abundance of literary flair and imagination. On January 17, Zafar Hilaly, a former Pak diplomat, held up a newspaper on Headlines Today and quoted an article by Barkha Dutt where she had mentioned Indian Army had beheaded a Pak soldier during the Kargil war. Now, this Hilaly has been on many TV channels for a week over the Pak beheading incident but it’s only on January 17 he claimed Indians too had beheaded Pak soldiers in the past. Where did he get his hint and inspiration from? Let me just reproduce this edited excerpt from Kafila (This is about BD’s program “Indo-Pak Tipping Point” on January 15 on NDTV)

Around 21:15 into the programme, Admiral Ramdas says, “Beheading of Troops has been going on from both sides has been for some time, I mean there is evidence of this…”

Barkha Dutt, eager to change the subject, nervously interjects and says ‘I want you to comment, Sir, on Sporting and Cultural ties, because that is what has been hit today…’.  

Gen. V.P. Malik says (around 24:40) “…And I don’t agree with Admiral (Ram) Das that both sides have been doing this, I would like to see anybody give me one instance where this kind of inhuman act has been done by the Indian army… I know that with great respect, we not only buried their bodies with great respect… we returned any body that they asked for.”

Barkha Dutt knows what Admiral Ramdas was talking about… she has written about it (the decapitation of Pakistani soldiers by the Indian army during the Kargil conflict in the summer of 1999) herself in Himal magazine (June, 2001).

I had to look three times to make sure I was seeing right. Balanced on one knee, in a tiny alley behind the army’s administrative offices, I was peering through a hole in a corrugated tin sheet. At first glance, all I could see were some leaves. I looked harder and amidst all the green, there was a hint of black—it looked like a moustache. “Look again,” said the army colonel, in a tone that betrayed suppressed excitement. This time, I finally saw. It was a head, the disembodied face of a slain soldier nailed onto a tree. “The boys got it as a gift for the brigade,” said the colonel, softly, but proudly.

So that is an instance where ‘this kind of inhuman act’ did happen. So why did she not say so to Gen. Malik. She is not ‘anybody’, she was there, and this is an issue that is being discussed on a show that she is anchoring. How long can it be before she gets called out for the gross irresponsibility of her reticence on this very crucial matter. Was she lying in 2001, or, is she concealing the truth now?

So when Admiral Ramdas brought up the issue what did Barkha try to do? She tried to distract him with the same Sports and Bollywood stuff that Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi wail about. As if that’s the biggest concern staring at us right now. So, did Barkha write a first-hand account of what she really saw? Is she telling the truth? Should we trust Admiral Ramdas or General Malik? More importantly, who do Barkha and NDTV trust? We’ll seek some answers in part-2.

Await Part-2.