Hunting Season - Phase 2

The origins of dirty tricks go way back to the 18th century during American presidential elections, including Thomas Jefferson. Even back then it was a journalist who was involved in the slandering. Any surprise? However, the modern-day DTD (Dirty tricks dept.) owes its evolution to Richard Nixon. Most would frown if I said the infamous Watergate scandal had precious little to with the Watergate burglary but that is the truth. The real thing was the massive DTD operation that included the White House, the intelligence agencies, the FBI and also some parts of the media. In short, Nixon corrupted the entire establishment for his political benefit. Nixon’s DTD used campaign money to destroy opponents. A part of the infamous DTD operation was called “RatF***ing”. Under this programme fake letters and documents were created to tarnish Nixon’s opponents. A famous letter being the ‘Canuck’ letter which falsely discredited Edmund Muskie who pulled out of the 1972 presidential race. Canuck was meant to be a racial slur for Americans of French-Canadian origin. All these operations were funded by Nixon’s campaign funds. Does all this ring a familiar bell in India? Here’s more from the Watergate days, something even more dangerous:

 

George Wallace who was campaigning in the presidential race was shot by one Arthur Bremer. Nixon & Co. wanted to discredit George McGovern (another Democrat presidential-race candidate) by planting his campaign literature in Bremer’s house so that McGovern could be linked to the shooting of Wallace. This and many other such dirty tricks are what Watergate is all about and not much to do with the break-in at the building itself. The Watergate burglary was a mere cover-up and distraction. In the end Nixon won the 1972 election but had to resign in August 1974. For a decade now, this is what is going on in India to discredit one single man; Narendra Modi. And when the chance presents itself to discredit other BJP or Opposition members. As with Nixon, the entire establishment in India is put to work for this singular goal.

So what exactly does the DTD do? A) It discredits the opponent to an extent that his supporters withdraw their support. B) Even if it doesn’t discourage the supporters it pushes them into apathy so that they don’t vote and there’s a low voter turn-out. C) Phenomenal amount of money is poured into the Mainstream Media so that they are co-opted into the DTD and gladly indulge propagating lies and D) Encourage all NGOs, Activists and sundry crusaders with money to indulge in mud-slinging and spurious court cases.

You can keep expanding this list. Where the media is concerned DTD is also used to black out important news items on corruption of the ruling party or other news damaging to them.

Almost everybody is aware of the Teestas, Shabnams, Mallikas, Tehelka Sisters, Top Cops, Rajdeeps, Barkhas, Sanghvis, Sreenivasans, Arnabs, Nidhis and assorted side-kicks who have been in the business of targeting Modi. But in the last few months, with general elections approaching, the MSM has become even shriller in this campaign of DTD. The TOI group has been leading from the front with many spurious articles about Modi starting with the “Rambo Act” story for which they apologised. Then another writer of TOI wrote nonsense about Arun Jaitley and apologised. A few days back they ran another fake story about BJP spokie Smriti Irani walking out of a programme in the US because of a snub to Modi. There was nothing of that sort. It was pure unadulterated lie. Take a look at these two tweets:

In the first one on top Smriti proves with a letter from the US organisers of the programme that the TOI report was bogus. Alright! What happens later? Rahul Kanwal allows Abhishek Singhvi to repeat the nonsense on his programme knowing well that the story was bogus but later replies to Smriti that the charge seems bogus. How clever, isn’t it? First he knowingly allows the bogus charge on his show and doesn’t call it a lie but later tweets that he is aware it was bogus. Lie BIG, Retract SMALL! That’s a rule under the DTD.

Prior to this, for 10 days the media was busy chasing Asaram Bapu over a molestation case. They shouted rape even when the case wasn’t about rape. The MSM desperately tried to link the Asaram witch-hunt to Modi but failed to get a connection. The witch-hunt was similar to those of Nitin Gadkari and N. Sreenivasan. We have to wonder what the media was covering up in this non-stop screaming and chasing. After that died down, on September 3 morning, Ajay Maken held a presser screaming his head off over a suddenly discovered CD which claims BJP spokie Prakash Javdekar and some other BJP members were trying to cover up prosecution of the encounter case relating to Tulsiram Prajapati. The sting was reportedly made some 10 months ago and the CD suddenly surfaces with the Congress on September 3. That took up the first part of the day and then died when another blast came up suddenly. This was accused Gujarat IGP D. Vanzara’s resignation letter complaining against Gujarat govt, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi for not protecting the cops involved in encounters.

Can you believe the media’s luck? Even on a bright day they would be delightfully climaxing if they could lay their hands on something small to target Modi with and here they had two in a day. Call it multiple…? Now, I have not known this Vanzara to be so fluent and poetic in the English language to write a 10-page resignation. Who in hell writes a 10-page resignation letter anyway? Never mind that. But it does seem that the letter was dictated or drafted by someone else and signed by Vanzara. That should be enough, even if Vanzara didn’t write it he signed it so he owns it. He also sends a copy to the CBI “for information”. What the media fails to tell you is that if Vanzara has complained so much it clearly means that the Gujarat govt or Modi are not protecting any of the accused cops or interfering in the investigations. This disproves the entire theory so long held by the Congress, the propagandists in the media and sundry bootlickers like Tehelka and others. But Maken wanted Modi to resign because the CD (made by a fake-sting specialist called Pushp Sharma who has been arrested before for such fake stings) to avoid interference in the investigations. 

Naturally, I had to tweet and ask this question that given the logic that Maken applies who should be the people who should really resign? A CBI officer wants to even examine the PM on the Coalscam but the boss says ‘not now darling’. The current DTD works a two-way street. First, the media desperately wants to slander Modi and BJP, led by the TOI group, and second cover-up all the bad news for and about the Congress party.

In the last few days there wasn’t one single mention of a Delhi court ordering an FIR against CM Sheila Dikshit for misuse of public funds in her 2008 election campaign. The Delhi Lokayukta has already indicted her for this. Yet, not one news channel carried the news or reported it. When they finally reported on September 4, the report lasted all of 2 seconds. Flash! And gone! Here is where the people get luckier. Although the court ordered an FIR the Delhi Police doesn’t want to file one. It obtained a stay against the lower court order. Oops! This is a lot like that Imam Bukhari who hasn’t been arrested for many zillion years despite a non-bailable warrant on his head. And they will tell you the law is equal for all. The justice-loving folks at NDTV, CNN-IBN, TimesNow and others don’t even have the guts to talk about Bukhari. Of course, they are scared of the swords that might smite their necks and bodies and the raids that will burn their offices down. Applause! Sheila Dikshit stays on despite being indicted but Modi should resign because every Soma, Salma, Sabrina, their aunties and uncles make allegations.

Then the other important thing that is being covered up is the Telengana mess. For over 30 days there are strikes, bandhs and some riots continuously on in Andhra Pradesh. The national MSM has completely blacked out the news. From what I hear the News Broadcaster’s Association (NBA) which I call the Union of Snakes has decided not to broadcast any news about the Telengana-Andhra agitations and strikes. Do you need a govt censor anymore? When the poodles in the media themselves decide to censor news you know they are part of the DTD and not entitled to call themselves editors and journalists. Timesnow, NDTV, CNN-IBN, HeadlinesToday and the rest only have “self-styled” editors who do the bidding of Bharat Nirman. For over a year the Thorium scam was being relayed on Twitter but no one in the MSM paid attention. Suddenly TimesNow scored it as ‘Breaking News’ with 60-lakh crore ‘Nuclear fuel scam’ and now it has been put back in the closet again. 60-lakh crores? That would be the greatest scam in the history of the world. But you won’t hear much about it any further from the MSM. Cover-up!  

Here is something even more dangerous that is not being reported or discussed on any news channel. A serious election roll fraud was being perpetrated with fake lists and ID cards. This is in Delhi with the elections just around the corner. The report was carried in MailToday which is a foreign-collaboration outlet. This is a pic from the article that summarises the scam:

It’s not just Delhi but we are nearing a general election. The question is why are these electoral or document frauds happening in Congress ruled states? Our media is not interested in finding out who is behind this fraud and who should be resigning. Ajay Maken obviously won’t ask that question. Surprisingly, even the Opposition is not making any noises about it. This fraud is prevalent in many states where illegals are being given ID cards, passports and legalising their citizenship. The MSM covers up these crimes. Money can buy anything now; it can buy fake allegations and witch-hunts and it can buy silence. There’s another thing about DTD. One must not miss how the language and terms used by the MSM are indistinguishably uniform in nature. “Self-Styled Godmen”, “Letter-Bomb”, “Fascist”, and more! This is called “Dog-whistle politics”. Under dog-whistle politics the terms are handed out to the media to repeat over and over again till the wrongful perception is entrenched among the masses. Keep calling the BJP “communal” every day is a message handed out to the MSM and you can see the usage and the effects. Keep repeating “Self-styled Godmen” as a campaign to tarnish all Hindu spiritual leaders in one stroke, even if only one or a few are accused of wrong doing. Don’t miss this “dog-whistle” trick.

Vinod Mehta writes in Times of India (where else!) in defence of Sonia Gandhi: “I have not in the last ten years at least, witnessed one individual being subjected to this kind of concerted assault”. Really? This big Luknowi Moron must either be blind, deaf or stoned. In the history of India there isn’t one single politician as vilified, maligned without evidence and held guilty without any trial as Narendra Modi. This is what slavery does to “Self-styled” judges in the media. Hunting season has entered Phase-2. Welcome back!

Note: In case you missed ‘Hunting Season – Phase1’.

The Batla House Deception

Yesterday evening, after the Batla Encounter verdict, Congress spokie Abhishek Singhvi came out and stated the verdict should not be politicised. Ahem! He demonstrated the hypocrisy of his party like no one else could have done. For 5 years some Congressmen have done nothing but politicise it. Digvijaya Singh called the encounter fake many times and even visited Azamgarh to rake up the issue politically. Salman Khurshid during the UP 2012 campaign said there were tears in SoniaG’s eyes on seeing Batla House images. All of them thoughtlessly tarred the reputation of a police officer, Mohan Chand Sharma, who was killed in the encounter. This continued even after former Home Minister P. Chidambaram maintained the encounter was not fake and even NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) shared their agreement on it.

So let me lay out the story which I presume the hacktivists and professional agitators would have us believe. On the fine morning of September 19, 2008 Mohan Sharma and members of his Special Unit were at their station chatting over tea. For days they were idle with nothing much to do. One wiseguy suggested “why don’t we go kill some people, we need to test our guns”. Another guy said “we haven’t got medals for a long time it’s time we did something”. So they wrote the names of 5 localities with some addresses in pieces of paper and one of them picked the lucky draw. Well, the unlucky winner in the draw was ‘108 Batla House’. So the guys strapped their guns in the holsters and drove up to Batla and stared shooting and killed a few and some escaped. They were smart not to arouse suspicion this was a fake encounter. So Mohan Sharma took his gun, stretched and turned his arm 180 degrees and shot himself in the back; twice. This is the story the hacktivists would have you believe. The only change they offer is that another cop shot Sharma. So you have two options on how Sharma died.

I remember a scene from the movie “Analyse That” where the shrink asks the mafia wiseguy how he got out of jail and what happened to the strong witness. The wiseguy explains to him: “Oh the witness, he was frustrated… he stabbed himself in the back, twice, and then threw himself over a bridge into a river”. Yeah, frustrated people do stab themselves in their own back, not once but twice, and jump off a bridge. Quite plausible, isn’t it?

Arnab Goswami, in his usual style, let out a tirade against certain Human Rights hacktivists on their wrongful defence of potential and actual terrorists who shot dead a cop. On Times Now Ravi Shankar Prasad made an important and startling comment. He stated that some Delhi cops of the special unit mentioned to him that if Mohan Sharma hadn’t died they would have all been in jail because of the highly connected HR hacks claiming fake encounter and the Jamia Milia agitators. Does that shock anyone? It is probably true if you can see shades of the Ishrat case where the cops are in jail or on bail. Yes, if Mohan Sharma hadn’t died the cops would have been charged for a fake encounter by certain activists, bounty-hunting lawyers and political bitches. That is the level and reality of how the Congress-UPA has brought the country’s fight against terrorists. And they’ll scream “don’t politicise” when they have egg on their faces. It’s a very dangerous sign.

NDTV, true to their profession, were asking if encounters were justified and if the Batla verdict would impact other encounter cases pending in courts. This was a programme by Sunetra Chaudhury in the evening on July 25. What particular case could NDTV be referring to? Umm… Let’s see! If I were to make a wild guess I’d say the Ishrat case on which another political campaign of the Congress and assorted hacktivists rests heavily. The Ishrat verdict is not likely to come any time soon so Singhvi can hold the “don’t politicise” Ishrat verdict for the future. On TimesNow a certain Mrs. Ramalingam, another of those HR hacks, screamed “What about the rights of the common man”? Well, even if there are police raids I wonder if common men pull out guns and start shooting. I tweeted stating I would rather see people like Shahzad dead. They are not common by any stretch of imagination. If terrorists shoot and are caught the courts exist to deliver justice and it doesn’t go by the frivolous opinions of these HR morons.

Now, since the verdict held Shahzad, the lone captured terrorist, guilty of killing Sharma the hacktivists and his lawyers started a new tune. They claimed the court did not judge him as an IM (Indian Mujahideen) terrorist nor has it judged the encounter to be genuine. Okay, weeping venals, we will get to that part soon! There is something shocking that I learned only yesterday. It seems ANHAD (Act now for harmony & Democracy) the NGO run by Shabnam Hashmi and Harsh Mandar had filed a petition in the SC through lawyer Prashant Bhushan to seek a judicial probe as the Batla encounter was against a particular “Community”. Wow! So hate-engineer Shabnam Hashmi thought terrorists shouldn’t be countered if they are from a particular community. The SC naturally dismissed this bogus petition and even admonished the gang for trying to link the case to a particular community. They didn’t say it and the SC didn’t say it but ANHAD is clearly implying the Muslim community is being victimised. I call ANHAD: “Act now for hatred and disharmony” and I make no bones about it.

Now that the verdict is out the hacks, the defence lawyers and sundry agitators from Jamia Milia claim the court had neither judged Shahzad to be an IM terrorist nor has it called the encounter genuine. This is the deception that they are peddling to fool the nation. Here are a couple of tweets that @Spread_Law made on the case:

Mind you, I am only quoting SpreadLaw, a helpful handle which tweets on legal issues and provides clarity on judgements, and it is not part of any debate or controversy in the Batla case. So the question is why would a court pass a judgement on whether Shahzad is an IM, LeT or JuD terrorist when there was no such specific petition and no one asked the court for such a judgement? The case before the court was whether Shahzad killed Mohan Sharma in the encounter and the circumstances leading to it and not the flavour of his terrorist connections. Secondly, there was no petition in the court challenging the genuineness of the encounter except probably in the defence of Shahzad by his lawyers, so the court also did not have to adjudicate on that. The murder of the cop was the key issue in the prosecution. So the claims that the court did not pass judgement on these issues are frivolous and meant to deceive the public. Fact is there was no legal challenge on the encounter being genuine and therefore the court does not need to rule on it.

Courts usually rule on the petition before them. They don’t have to rule on petitions that were never made. And until someone specifically challenges Batla as fake, as the hacks have done in the Ishrat case, the encounter will stand as genuine. Period! As SpreadLaw points out, the court has made an “observation” which is substantial but even that was not necessary. Shahzad is indeed a terrorist of IM and the encounter is genuine unless someone legally challenges that position. If Digvijaya Singh felt the encounter was fake he and his gang should have challenged it in the courts. They did not because they too know there is no merit in their claim which is only for “political” gains.

The fake claims of the hacktivists are equivalent to claiming Al Capone was never a bootlegger and never a murderer because no court has ever pronounced him so. He was sentenced to prison for tax evasion which is the case the prosecution brought against him. That’s the nature of law. But everyone knows Capone was a mass murderer and a bootlegger. The campaign of lies and deception by the HR hacks and some politicians is not out of any sympathy for the likes of Shahzad. It is a larger design to weaken the country politically and compromise its security for enemy forces. These people and their deceptions are as dangerous as the terrorists themselves. 

Ungrateful People

Namak Haram is a Hindi phrase which means "one who is treacherous" or "one who cannot be trusted" while Deorhi is a word in Hindi which means "gate". So the total sums up to "the gate to him who cannot be trusted". The gate in the image is called the “Namak-Haram gate” or the ‘Traitor’s gate”. It’s the place where Mir Jaffar lived in Murshidabad in Bengal. India’s history is replete with such traitors. It’s not just history but even now there are many in our politics, NGOs, media and other domains who may someday earn such an epithet. There are anti-nationals who roam around as intellectuals. There are Fai Fighters who still remain untouched by any process of investigation of their activities. This has become a country where, to some people, calling oneself a ‘Hindu, a nationalist and patriot’ is deeply offensive. We should continue to offend such people. Someday, there will be a gate built in their memory too. But let’s move on to a different story. 

Shoma Chaudhury is angry. She tweeted on July 18 that her “fearless” journo Rana Ayyub who dabbles with the Ishrat encounter case and “gets” juicy papers from CBI is being slandered. Shoma doesn’t admit that none of the crap of “Black beard-White beard” forms part of the CBI charge-sheet which her yellow pages and Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV so touted. Rana must be like Nadia, the fearless ‘Hunterwali’. Coming from a Congress poodle who has slandered quite a few as alleged editor that is surprising anger. She doesn’t name the ‘slanderers’ so you can guess where her fingers are pointed because the article linked in her tweet pertains to one who she despises with unbridled hatred. Maybe she should read the media guy’s post: ‘Pissy Poodles Can’t Be Angry Journalists’. First slander others and then play victim. It comes naturally to some people.

Many are convinced that the CBI has simply concocted a political-vendetta case under pressure by the Congress and some of its own officers have been stating the whole case is based on hearsay. A former Home Ministry official also claims he was pressurised to provide signed statements. Naturally, I had to ask the poodles at Shoma Chaudhury’s yellow pages why they don’t get any CBI papers when it comes to Congress members:

The Ishrat case will be blaring till Elections 2014 and then none of these champions are going to bother about it. That much is certain. But here is something that is being discussed in certain groups and circulated on mails. It’s a long mail and I have reproduced it with minor editing to shorten the article without taking away any of its essence. You read, you decide (This is from a Pan-IIT group on Yahoo).

Quote:

-----------------------------

The on-going ‘trial by media’ of the Gujarat Police Officers, subsequent to the filing of the ‘first’ charge sheet by the CBI in the ‘Irshat Jehan Encounter Case’ is disturbing. One writer went to the extent of a vicious calumny that “The police in Gujarat wear lawlessness as a badge of honour,  …”  and  another branded the Gujarat Police as “KHAKI DEATH SQUADS” .

The ferocity of the nearly unprecedented and allegedly unprincipled inquisition of the Gujarat Police, has raised counter-allegations that the Central Govt’s mechanism for investigation and litigation is disproportionately focused against the Gujarat police and also has led to a confrontation between the two central agencies (one for Investigation and the other for ‘Intelligence’). This allegedly is being orchestrated and the attendant attrition has led to the crossing of a Rubicon, wherein the functioning of the apex national Intelligence agency has been severely compromised.

“The spat between the CBI and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has become so openly unseemly that it can only hurt the Indian state’s long-term  interests. The IB argument, and a fair one at that, is that its officer exercised his judgment in evaluating certain intelligence inputs; in retrospect one can question or disagree with that judgment but it is an altogether different matter to insist that the IB officials were a party to the Gujarat Police’s cold-blooded conspiracy. Now, out of a sense of organisational loyalty, the IB finds itself having to reveal its hand; reporters are being allowed to “access” the armoire of intercepts, reports”  - Harish Khare

To place the current goings on in a historical perspective, it is essential to go back in time to a not dissimilar crisis which confronted the Punjab Police wherein also, a vicious campaign of calumny, hostility and the litigation route was adopted as the most convenient strategy for vendetta against the police. This occurred after the Punjab Police had contributed in significant measure towards the latter part of the Punjab crisis of the 1980’s and  ‘peace’ was ‘restored’ in that state.

The case of the then SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu of the Punjab Police (somewhat reminiscent of Mr. Vanzara of the Gujarat police, now) and the classic statement of the then Punjab Police chief KPS Gill, unknown to most Indians, require to become a subject of national debate in the context of the “current trial by media”.

SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu, during the 1980’s, was perhaps the police officer most dreaded by terrorists in Punjab, after K P S Gill. A. S. Sandhu came into limelight for liquidating some top terrorists and restoring peace, particularly in the once terrorist hotbed of Tarn Taran police district in Punjab.

In 1997, nearly a decade after normalcy was restored in Punjab, Punjab Police personnel and especially A.S Sandhu began to be probed by the National Human Rights Commission and the courts, for their alleged excesses during the militancy. What were once touted as ‘achievements’ suddenly became ‘excesses’? Reportedly, SSP A.S. Sandhu faced more than 40 cases of alleged excesses, killings and ‘stage-managed encounters’.

On 23 May 1997, at about 11.05 AM, SSP A.S. Sandhu (52), threw himself in front the Kalka-bound `Himalayan Queen' and committed suicide; 20 km from Chandigarh. He left behind two daughters and a son besides his wife.

The police recovered a suicide note written by the deceased declaring: "Jalil ho ke jeen to changa hai mar jana'' (It is better to die than to live a life of humiliation).

By citing the above, no case is being made out for ‘immunity’ for any member of the Gujrat Police. Nor is it being suggested that there will take place any ‘suicides’. It is only to iterate that the investigations and trials be held, according to the laws of the land, and also considering the special circumstances that prevail in dealing with “Terrorism”, while applying the statutes and also that trials should not proceed according to the processes that are seemingly being improvised on a day to day basis to implicate the Gujarat police personnel.

Two points before going on to KPS Gill’s statement .

1. In 1997, when KPS Gill gave the u/m statement, “Low Intensity Wars” were being fought only in Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura. Having somehow dealt with the ‘Punjab Crisis’, the national leadership should have taken note of the existing pattern of the “Low Intensity Wars” in the country, that could only be expected to grow in the future. Unfortunately, they did not and continued to dismiss them as ‘non-military threats’ and the ill equipped police of the states and the Home Ministries (both of the states and the centre) dealt with them. The  result is that at present, the “Low Intensity War” Zone has got extended to an area stretching right from W Bengal, through Bihar, Odisha, Chattisgarh right down to Andhra and even Kerala( Maoists) ! But that is another subject all together. 

2. In 1997, when KPS Gill gave the statement, he spoke of “We are not far from the edge of the abyss”. But, presently, we are perhaps in a state of free-fall in that abyss. That too is another matter altogether.

Now on to “Is namard desh mein paida mujhe kyon kar diya'' [ Why was I born in this country where there are no men?] which is an excerpt from the classic statement of former Punjab Police chief KPS Gill  on the death of AS Sandhu.

Every word in the statement of KPS Gill, made way back in 1997 is very relevant and significant even. Those of ‘US’ who were young Captains’ and Majors’ during the peak of the ‘Punjab Crisis’ and were involved with it in one way or the other, would be able to better connect with the words of KPS Gill.

HERE'S THE CLASSIC STATEMENT OF FORMER PUNJAB POLICE CHIEF KPS GILL. READ IT AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF.

 I have not called this press conference to express my grief at AS Sandhu’s death. My feelings on this count are between his family and myself. What I have to say today is that we have already given up most of this country to criminals, to corrupt politicians, and to unscrupulous lobbyists who will work with any cause that serves their personal ends, whether criminal, political or secessionist.

Nonetheless, in a country dominated by those who prefer to criticise from the safety of their homes, or the comfort of air-conditioned debating societies at Delhi and Chandigarh, there are still a handful of people who are willing to risk everything including their lives and the lives of their family to protect the unity and integrity of their nation, and the lives of citizen’s terrorised by an utterly unprincipled and merciless enemy. I can say without reservation that AS Sandhu was one such man.

Tarn Taran, at the height of terrorism was sometimes spoken of as the rocket that would propel Punjab out of the Indian Union. The terrorists influence was absolute; for years, it was virtually out of the control of the civil administration, and even the police had no more than a nominal and symbolic presence there.

It was in such a situation that I was looking for an officer who had the courage to mount an effective campaign against militancy in this militant heartland. I spoke to several officers, and each excelled in the invention of ingenious excuses to avoid the responsibility. When I asked Sandhu if he was willing to go to Tan Taran to put down terrorism, he accepted without hesitation. Some will say that he went there to exploit and enjoy the “power of the state”.  But the state, when Sandhu went to Tan Taran, had no power there. I know that he was a hair's breadth away from death throughout his tenure in the district. I know he never compromised.  And yet, he achieved everything I could hope for.

Few, today, understand the significance of what happened in Tan Taran. Had we lost control over the district, Punjab's secession would have become an inevitability. Had we lost Punjab, Kashmir would certainly have followed. And once this process of fission began, every linguistic, ethnic and cultural group would have raised the standard of revolt. Pakistan would have been celebrating this 50^th year of its independence through the realisation of its dream of a balkanised India. Delhi and its “think tanks” would have no hinterland to analyse and exploit. The unending supplies of electricity, food, water, and a cornucopia of goods that keep Delhi’s elite in a state of luxury would have come to an abrupt end. And the Government and the Apex court of the land would probably have presided over a jurisdiction from “Delhi to Palam”. Judges may have still continued to write erudite and exquisitely worded judgements. But they would have no relevance for this country. This country, as we know it, would no longer have existed. The fact that this scenario appears incredible today is testimony to the achievements of men like Sandhu.

All men are heroes in a time of peace. But those who are heading the self-righteous witch hunt against the officers and men of Punjab police today should ask themselves where they were hiding for 10 years when terrorists roamed free, unchallenged by any but the Punjab police and their comrades in uniform from other services -  and a handful of courageous farmers who would not succumb to terror? For 10 years the judiciary remained in a state of unmitigated paralysis in Punjab. Where was their commitment to justice then? For 10 years, the press published on the terrorists’ diktat- with only a single exception that all of you know of. That is a long vacation for the ‘truth’.

I am not here to defend corrupt or venal policemen. But the distortion and manipulation of legal process that is being resorted to by an utterly compromised ‘human rights’ lobby cannot be supported. This lobby understands the nuts and bolts of the judicial engine, and knows every method of the orchestration of the media and the new tyranny of trial by the press. A police officer can effectively fight their designs only if he has a great deal of money to buy the best legal advice in the country – and only the corrupt have that kind of money.

A sustained campaign was carried out by the Human Rights lobby against A.S. Sandhu on the Goebbelsian Doctrine that an untruth repeated endlessly becomes the truth. He was supposed to have made a lot of money.

I do not, despite these circumstances, justify the action of a proud Jat Sikh committing suicide. But I understand the reasons. This is not the action of a coward unable to face the dangers of life. Sandhu faced more dangers during his tenure at Tan Taran than many brave men could in several life-times. It was not fear that drove him to death. I do not think that the man knew the meaning of the word – it was ingratitude.

It is not, of course surprising that having lost the battle for Khalistan through force of arms, the terrorists and their front men should have exploited the human rights angle to target men like Sandhu. What is unforgivable is that the nation he fought to defend, the people who he risked his life to protect, simply turned away in indifference or joined the crescendo against him, when such a plot was engineered; without checking the merits of evidence, without even giving him the opportunity of a fair trial. 

The Indian state must start educating itself on how it is to tackle individuals and groups trying to destroy the State. And it must learn how to arm and protect those who put their lives at stake in the defence of India’s unity and integrity.

We are not far from the edge of the abyss.  Let this nation beware of the hour when no man will risk his life to protect another or to defend the nation, Josh Malihabadi once wrote, “Buzdilon ke ishq mein, shaida mujhe kyon kar kiya. Is namard desh mein paida mujhe kyon kar kiya''. When men of courage begin to say this, all hope will die. No people who treat their heroes as we have done can expect to survive.

K P S Gill

Chandigarh

------------------------------

Unquote

Although the speech of KPS Gill has been reported in various sites, the full speech reproduced in the mail is not verified by me. Readers can make their own assessment and conclusions.