Terror - Unintelligent Before, Unintelligent After

By now most people in the world are familiar with the story of the ‘News Of The World’ (NOTW). This tabloid is a grand example of sleazy journalism. Sex, celebrity scandals, phone hacking, sensationalism, rumour mongering – you name it and this tabloid would have it every day. The newspaper wound up July 10 following revelations that their associates had hacked into the voice mail of a murdered teenager. Their CEO and former editor, Rebekah Brooks, who has now been arrested had also admitted to bribing police officials for leaks. Following these events the media empire of Rupert Murdoch (whose group also owns Star TV) has been hit quite badly. While the misdeeds of NOTW are excessive there is no reason not to believe that a good chunk of the Indian media indulges in similar practices, perhaps to a lesser scale. A scoop, a sensational story are dreams of every journalist to achieve stardom. But that is about the NOTW and media corruption. In a grave turn of events the London chief of police, Sir Paul Stephenson, has resigned. Why? There are questions over his links to various journalists and the police bribery scandal. Ring any bells? Anyway, let's get back home.

So given the latest terror attacks in Mumbai how has our media really conducted itself during and after the incident? In a good departure from the past the government and investigating agencies had maintained they would not disclose any information till they have full details and investigations are complete. The news media also patted itself on the back for behaving more responsibly than in the past. They had now turned intelligent enough to have learned from past mistakes. P. Chidambaram stated there was no ‘intelligence’ on this particular attack so it was not an ‘intelligence’ failure. Alright, so we were unintelligent before. What about after? Well, this is where our media starts to replicate NOTW!  

PC and the government steadfastly refused to name Pakistan or any particular group till the investigations are over. So who is the first person our media runs to? You guessed it! Digvijay Singh, the Chief Congress Investigator, who possesses intelligence on every terror attack in the nation that nobody else does. He delights the media by suggesting RSS hand cannot be ruled out to vaguely imply a lot of things. If you know a dog to be infected by rabies would you deliberately feed it and risk your hand being bitten? Well, our media would! So they get a few bites out of DS and allow his ‘dance on the blood floor’. To hell with dead bodies, to hell with grieving families, to hell with the injured, to hell with those who will be disabled for life, to hell with general public sentiments – let’s have some fun and sensational crap from DS. That’s our responsible news media.

Alright, let’s sample a few headlines:

Sify- July 15: Mumbai blasts, first suspects spotted?

TOI-July 17: Police prepare suspects sketch……

TOI-July 16 – Indian Mujahideen duo in focus….

The Hindu-July 17: Police prepare sketch of suspect…

Deccan Chronicle – July 17: Nationwide hunt for IM suspects behind blasts…

India Today-July 17: Mumbai serial blasts: Terrorists rented rooms near targets

TOI – July 17: Mumbai blasts: Cops unmask suspected Opera House bomber

TOI – July 17: Terror chatter intercepted after Mumbai blasts?

I could go on and on and on. All the headlines and the reports in the media clearly indicate the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen. Well, strangely neither the central government nor the ATS have actually named IM. The last headline on ‘terror chatter’ is quite interesting. It has supposedly come from police sources in Delhi. So you see while the official line is no one will named before investigations are complete there are police sources who keep revealing bits and pieces to our media. That’s the strict policy not to disclose anything till investigations are done with. Are police sources in the payroll of our media?

Rakesh Maria, the ATS chief in Mumbai, in his press briefings keeps throwing crumbs to the media to keep them happy. Mind you, he has only given out general information and is doing a decent job in these meetings. His only mistake is taking questions from the hungry wolves. In such situations it is better to make press statements and not take questions. Why? Most questions are likely to be leading questions and invariably a slip or two will result which will then be twisted and sensationalised by the media. Our Police Chiefs are certainly not trained press spokespersons.

So, we didn’t have intelligence before the attacks. But after the attacks the media has more or less connected the dots except actually naming the criminals. And here is the best piece in the whole episode:

Hindustan Times: “ A police constable has been suspended ……for ignoring a 'tip-off' by a citizen over Mumbai serial blasts that killed 19 people and injured over 130, a senior officer said….According to the officer, one Abdulla Latif Rauf Shaikh from Kurla approached Mahatma Phule police station after the blasts claiming he had overheard four persons discussing about the terror plot two days before the incident…..However, constable Prabhakar Bagrao ignored him….”

So we were ‘unintelligent’ before and now we are ‘unintelligent’ after as well.

Make Mumbai A Separate State

"Maharashtra crime rate has increased in the last 10 years. Examine from where the people perpetrating the crimes come from. We have blamed police and intelligence enough in all these years, now it is time to check on the migrants." - Raj Thackeray.

The above statement has been categorised as one of the most stupid ones coming out after the latest Mumbai terror attack. Many people have reacted to the statement with condemnation. The Shiv Sena and the MNS are known for their historically anti-migrant stand, especially in recent times this being against migrants from Bihar and UP. The Shivsena, in fact, was born as an anti-migrant movement (then against South Indians). Therefore, for that reason such a statement from Raj Thackeray is viewed politically. Had it come from someone else and had the term used been ‘illegal migrants’ it would not have caused so much offence.

In an unrelated topic, on the night of the recent blasts on NDTV’s Left, Right and Centre someone called Jerry Pinto (I think it was him) lashed out at Nidhi Razdan. His rant was excessive but the point he was making was that each time these attacks happen, Mumbai is usually being discussed by people sitting in Delhi or other places. He had a valid point which he delivered a bit too harshly. Also, on TV you usually find panellists, even from Mumbai, who usually do not face the brunt of these incidents. Unless you wish to refer to the attacks on five star hotels. The attack on Zaveri Bazar wasn’t just on the diamond market. The diamond business is largely populated with Gujaratis. There hangs a tale.

Most of us would have been in Mumbai at some point or the other for some reason. I can make the safe assumption that the ones who criticise and rant against the ‘migrant’ theory the most are the ones who have never been in Mumbai or have very limited knowledge about the place. I was born in Mumbai. I have lived there. I have worked there and I still spend a good deal of time in Mumbai. My mother’s home is a few hundred yards away from Kabutar Khana at Dadar where one of the serial blasts happened. Let’s examine some facts about Mumbai:

India Today: “ (Mumbai) A 468 sq-km linear city, it is less than a third the size of Delhi's 1,483 sq km. But it is the country's most densely packed metropolis. It has 29,042 people per sq km to Delhi's 9,294 people per sq km, making policing difficult for its 60,000-strong force. Its local trains carry 69 lakh passengers every day….. The buses in Mumbai carry 45 lakh passengers every day….Its coastline is open to attack, as 26/11 proved. Its water pipelines are susceptible to sabotage. The pipelines are surrounded by around 35,000 shanties and shockingly, the BMC does not have a record of people staying there. Security experts have often warned that anti-social elements can break the water pipelines and contaminate the water. The Bombay High Court in 2009 had rapped the BMC for compromising citizens' health by allowing slums around water pipes…… The BMC started a demolition drive after that but could not clear the slums completely. Former IPS officer Y.P. Singh says, "Mumbai is the perfect advertisement for any terrorist organisation that wants to make an impact. Seasonal downpours, which come in the way of effective policing, present the best opportunity."

Mumbai population explosion (Source: India Online) : 29 lakhs (1901), 12.5 Million (1991), 18 Million (2006) and 21 Million (2011)

 

(Rediff): In terms of illegal immigrants in Mumbai, Bangladeshis alone account for between 3.5 lakhs according to a minister and 16.0 lakhs according to Kirit Somaya, a former MP.  What would you say about a government that can’t even get its numbers right on such matters? This is in no way to suggest that any of this population is involved in crimes but the possibilities that some may be cannot be discounted. But it sure is a matter of serious concern.

The migrant issue should be viewed not in the light of politics or vote-banks but in the light of the fact that the city of Mumbai simply cannot absorb any more population explosion. It might also be worth understanding that except for some parts of South Mumbai and some parts of the Western suburbs, most parts of Mumbai have simply become un-liveable. It is not long before the whole city is turned into a shanty.

If you happen to work in Mumbai and have to get to the railway station and catch a train you would have to navigate your way through enormous crowds right through your path to the station. Much of these crowds surrounding most of the suburban stations are either unemployed or daily wagers. And mostly migrants. And yes, currently most of them are from Bihar and UP.  Both sides of many suburban stations are practically informal ‘employment exchanges’. The crowds at the station and on the trains are equally daunting. You need to have eyes in your feet. Add to this the fact that much of Mumbai’s infrastructure is already creaking. The less said about the traffic and roads the better.

A large number of the people migrating into Mumbai every day are not ones who have proper jobs or residences before they land there. They are poor migrants seeking a livelihood to escape the poverty and strife back home. They usually end up with relatives in slums or shanties or on the pavements. In it’s current state Mumbai simply cannot absorb more people without proper jobs or residences. It does not have water or sanitation resources to cater to even the existing population in proper residences.

When was the last time you heard the central government or any state government talk about population? Have you seen any population control campaigns in the last few years? The 1.2 billion talk sounds like something to be very proud about but fact is as the population grows uncontrolled it also increases the absolute number of people below poverty line or lower middle class in far higher proportion than the ones who are becoming wealthy. The government of the day doesn’t really mind! The population increase is clearly largely in its own vote-banks.

Apart from being the financial hub of the nation Mumbai is also geographically strategically located. There are pockets in South Mumbai with the mafia, places like Mumbra and other places like Nalasopara, Vasai etc. which have the potential to become criminal hubs. All of these suburbs have many illegal constructions, slums and shanties.

Mumbai cannot be managed the way it’s been done for the last two decades. Change is desirable and dramatic change is required. Mumbai needs to be a separate state.

1.   Migration must be controlled. I am not talking about migration from North, East or South but migrants without proper place to live in must be curbed.

2.   Remove all illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan or any other country on a war footing.

3.   Illegal slums and newer slums be cleared and those jobless in these illegal slums must be sent back if they do not have alternative residences.

4.   All illegal pavement kiosks, businesses and squatters must be removed. Rehabilitate them while curbing newer migration. If the CM wants to de-congest, start with illegal encroachments.

5.   Despite the Slum Rehabilitation Authority’s (SRA) work to rehabilitate slum-dwellers many of them are unwilling to move. Pack them up if they don’t move and send them back.

In 2010 Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games. In the course of beautifying the city for its foreign guests Delhi cleaned up the city. Many slums, pavement dwellers, shanties, pavement eateries and shops and many illegal constructions disappeared. Where did they go? What do you think happened? If that was possible in Delhi it is possible in Mumbai. Why should we wait for some international event to clean up our metros and clear illegal dwellings?

Following the recent terror attacks many media persons and many commentators asked one of the most thoughtless questions: “If Mumbaikars are not happy with their government’s efforts on security why don’t they throw them out? Why did the South Mumbai voters go on a holiday during election-day? They all had the chance in 2009, didn’t they?”

The answer to that stupid question is simple – Mumbaikars really count only marginally when it comes to formation of the Maharashtra government. Remember, it’s the Maharashtra govt. not the Mumbai govt. There are 288 assembly seats in the state of which only 26 are in Greater Mumbai. That is less than 10%. So what logic tells these pundits that 10% gets to decide what 90% votes for? Naturally, Maharashtra governments rely heavily on the votes from the rest of Maharashtra and not so heavily on Mumbai. This is not to suggest that South Mumbai residents can afford not to vote. It is natural that most of the ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet are unlikely to be from Mumbai. So how do you really get the focus on Mumbai and how do Mumbaikars really get to decide what government they want? Right now they cannot!

When it comes to Mumbai alone it is not the Congress but the Shiv Sena that is in charge of the Municipal Corporation. The current mayor is also a Shiv Sena member. But Mumbai security is not under the BMC. Therein lies a small story of how Mumbaikars would vote if they really wanted a different government. This is not a story the media will tell you or the pundits would even want to talk about.This is also not about Congress, BJP or Shivsena.

P.R. Chavan the CM is now on record saying “Mumbai is not equipped to tackle terror…”. He appears to a sensible and reasonable man. But seriously, with all the problems of Mumbai that he faces do you really think he will do justice to the rest of Maharashtra or vice versa? Isn’t that one reason why we turned Delhi into a state? We did turn other places like Puducherry or Goa into states for administrative efficiency. We carved out Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Uttarakhand. It is an irony of coalition compulsions I suppose that the same guy, R.R.Patil, who had to quit as Home minister after the 2008 attacks was the Home minister during these attacks too. If it were a Mumbai State Assembly I doubt R.R.Patil would even be in that assembly. There is no way Mumbaikars would vote for that man.

If you take any commercial or corporate organisation they would have divided Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra (ROM) into to two distinct territories for their operations. Most telecom companies treat Greater Mumbai as a separate circle from Maharashtra. It all makes sense.

The creation of Mumbai as a separate state needs to be done without the emotion and sentiments attached like with Telengana. The population of Mumbai is larger than half the population of some states in India. It is larger than some countries in the world. The first step to a higher level of security is manageable territories, infrastructure and population with a greater focus by its government. Mumbai needs to be a separate state. 

Note: I have made the best attempt to quote accurate numbers and statistics. Even if they aren't exactly 100% accurate they are meant to serve the context of this discussion as this is not an exercise in statistics.

You Are Only One Percent Dead

So it appears on the day after Mumbai serial blasts on July 13 the investigators haven’t found too many clues about the perpetrators. Our media had a terrific time covering the attacks as usual. The rains added additional natural effect to the reporting. Once in a while your prayers are answered. I am referring to the prayer in the post titled “Indian Media’s Top 5 Prayers”

Well Barkha Dutt (NDTV) was there in a black jacket and wet hair, Arunoday Mukherjee (CNN-IBN) was there with an umbrella and then there was Sreenivasan Jain (NDTV) narrating the story of Tushar and Asghar, both victims of the blasts, both unconnected and how “their paths never crossed”. Jain’s narrative sounded more like “communal harmony” during distress. Almost all of them gave us a history lesson on Zaveri bazar. I guess that helps. This time around the panellists on various shows, especially those from Mumbai, were simply angry. Very very angry!

And for comic relief the duo of Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh were quick to enlighten us. DS mentioned we were better off than Pakistan when it came to terror attacks. Be grateful. RG, with his usual intellectual insight, came up with 99% attacks prevented and how 1% attack might get through. You’re lucky, you’re only 1% dead. How he came up with such silly statistics is anybody’s guess.

There is simply a marked unwillingness on the part of the Central government to take proactive measures to prevent such acts. P. Chidambaram seems to talk a lot after each attack but appears to have done precious little to strengthen internal security. The inaction is explained quite well in an article in Outlook magazine, “Four questions for the home minister”. I guess it is now time to separate the home ministry from the responsibility of internal security and have a completely new ministry for Internal Security. Who knows we might even need a ‘ministry for terror’ if this situation continues. For consolation PC repeatedly mentioned that this Mumbai attack came after 31 months. There are reports on various intelligence agencies, like the NIA (National Investigation Agency) lacking trained staff or Counter terrorism policy not in place. Even if the national intelligence agencies were to be networked well I wonder how many people in those agencies can even solve a Crossword puzzle.

The media couldn’t help patting itself for conducting itself differently from the past or even patting the government for being calm and not panicking. Some tweets sent in by regular reader Free_Verse are truly amazing:

Rajdeep Sardesai: a word of praise for the maha cm prithvi chavan. was calm, composed and clear. not like the vilasrao-rr duo last time.
Barkha Dutt:- Some lessons have been learnt. Mumbai cops sent sms messages across city asking people to remain indoors and calm, updating on blasts
- Information flow out of both state and central govt so much better compared to 26/11. Chief Minister sounds controlled and measured.

Nikhil Wagle:Thanks to prithviraj chavan who acted swiftly n reminded us of sharad pawar after 93 blasts.
Rahul Kanwal:Must acknowledge govt's response much better than 26-11. Constant flow of information. Quick emergency response. No undue panic
Pallavi Ghosh:This time handling of post blast situation much better thn 26/11..regular briefings, pmo updating, chidam going to mumbai asap..

You’d have thought that all the calmness meant carefully calibrated action after the attack. You might even think all these journalists had done a careful analysis of Prithviraj Chauhan or the government at close quarters. It is fair for the media not to bash the CM or the government at such a time but praise is certainly uncalled for till the full story of the events have unfolded.

Seriously, this is what the Indian Express reports on the emergency response: “Bleeding victims put into taxis, trucks and private vehicles were the first to reach the hospitals, much before any ambulance, government or private, could reach the site of the terror attack… And it needed yet another terror attack to expose the gaping hole in the city’s emergency response system.” Well, for all the back-patting that the TV media gave the CM and the Maharashtra government, truth is that emergency systems aren’t really working as they should. There is a difference between staying calm and not panicking and being calm and fighting fire in an emergency. In times of distress calmness can only be half a virtue.

The CM himself confirmed on CNN-IBN today that for 15 minutes after the blasts the communication had completely broken down. Take that for the prompt and coordinated response. And the best note also comes from Chidambaram himself: "whoever has perpetrated the attacks has worked in a very clandestine manner". Really? Alright, in future are we going to expect terrorists to act in 'open' manner? Someone in the media surely needs to pull up PC and tell him that terrorists are expected to indeed act in "clandestine" ways. PC delivers that great piece of silly wisdom as an explanation which the media faithfully reports without question.

For good measure, the man who is forever lost for words had this to say: “I cannot find words to condemn the barbaric acts of terror that resulted in the senseless killing and injuring of innocent people in Mumbai yesterday…” The Prime Minister also stated the perpetrators of the terror attack would be found and brought to justice. More words! We are yet to see justice for past acts of terror. Kasab and Guru are living at the cost of taxpayer money. And the silly question some media pundits ask is if their hanging would prevent terror attacks. Well, not carrying out sentences passed on them doesn’t exactly send a great signal to future terrorists, does it? And keeping them alive and in luxury does send a message to the terrorists. "Go ahead, nothing will happen"!

We may not be able to do everything that the US does in pursuit of terrorists but the unwillingness to act is quite extreme. The government does not even declare a huge bounty/reward for informants who will lead to the terrorists. Surely, that is possible and better than spending crores on maintaining convicted terrorists in luxury. In an emergency a visit by a VVIP now is the biggest distraction and hindrance to relief work. Last evening someone on Twitter summed it up nicely:

Anushree Kothari : “So Sonia Gandhi passed by Worli Sea Face with an entourage of 56 cars! Police at every 10 steps all thru the way, both sides!”

“An ambulance was stopped (on the opp side of the road) to facilitate Sonia Gandhi's entourage! #*&^*&TheCongress !”

That is exactly what angers the victims and citizens even more. The government spends precious resources chasing a Ramdev or a Balkrishna and other individuals on frivolous grounds. It has the guts to attack and forcefully evict peaceful protesters while sleeping at night. That is your government’s will to fight terror. Strangely, a report that clearly establishes links between politicians and underworld is never being discussed. This article inOutlook will hardly encourage anyone’s belief in the government’s willingness to pursue justice. With corruption and politicians busy grabbing wealth, real estate or sports bodies one has to wonder when they even find time to discuss security.

You are lucky,  you are only 1% dead.

TIMES NOW - 'Terror Jayanti'

Yesterday, 26/11, TIMES Now carried reports and discussions on the 2^nd anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks.  The headlines through the program were “India’s Open Wound” and “India Won’t Forget”. In addition they kept flashing “4 Reasons why Indians are outraged” .  These are sharp lessons on how to fool the Indian people, the victims, the martyrs by a media group that has really not reflected the people’s feelings appropriately.  I may sound unkind, but for some in our media 26/11 is as good as ‘Terror Jayanti’. The Times’ economy on journalistic ethics is by now well known so I won’t go into that.

For all the outpourings on their channel yesterday, the TIMES group is the very media house that ran the obnoxious “Aman Ki Asha” campaign. This was just after the first anniversary of 26/11. When the attacks happened in 2008 Times Now covered the entire situation under a byline “We will never forget”. Yet in just over a year they were preaching “Aman Ki Asha” with the terrorist state of Pakistan. And mind you, they even wanted children to participate in the campaign. Young, innocent kids who aren’t old enough to understand the underlying issues. I called it TOI’s ‘child abuse’! How to soak up business on your emotions.

My blogs on this ‘Aman Ki Asha’ crap can be read HERE and HERE.

It is this atrocious hypocrisy and double-speak of not only the Times group but also many of the Sec-Soc media channels that insults the memory of the victims and the soldiers who were martyred. When the AKA campaign was started a favourite blog of mine, PrudentIndian, raised all the right questions. 

I reproduce a piece from that blog (which quotes The Pioneer with its own inputs):

“There are three groups in India which are obsessed with friendship with Pakistan. The first group comprises elderly people born in that part before partition (Kuldeep Nayyar, Khushwant Singh Inder Kumar Gujaral just to name some yes, Manmohan Singh too) and who are nostalgic about Lahore havelis, halwa and mujra. The second group comprises Bollywood actors, directors and assorted outfits who look at Pakistan as a big market (Shahrukh Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Javed, Shabana and their ilk). Dawood Ibrahim’s gang has financed many of these useful idiots. ....The third group comprises bleeding heart liberals who hold candle light vigils and who cannot imagine India doing well without its ‘younger brother’ taken care of (almost all Sec-Soc MSM and their telesecularists). All three have been proved wrong a hundred times but they unfortunately play an important role in moulding opinion.

If we want the world to treat Pakistan for what it is, then we should start practicing it. We must always recognise it as the ‘Terrorist State of Pakistan’ and never have any illusion that it is going to be any different. 

We should completely and comprehensively cut off all relations with Pakistan — economic, cultural, sports and all other aspects. Dawood Ibrahim-funded Bollywood may weep....Unless we start completely boycotting the ‘Terrorist State of Pakistan’ we cannot ask others to do it..... If corporate India — including electronic and print media — starts practicing it, then we can see results in a few years. One hopes that India’s elite is listening and will not get carried away by asha for the demons.”

Read the full Prudent Indian article HERE.

TOI ad column on the left states "Love OVER Country....As opposed to supposed public and societal interests"... Well said indeed!

Now that ‘terror jayanti’ is over for some media groups, they will happily go back to doing business with Pakistan. The Times group’s thinning Matrimonial pages on Sunday can now get fatter again with Shaadi ads from Pakistan. Times sponsored Bollywood bashes and mujras can start all over again. Shah Rukh Khan is scheduled to do a special program for Pakistan (The friendly neighbour) Prime TV on November 28 in London.

Those who have never been to Bombay may like to ponder this one: The Times group’s head office in Mumbai is bang in front of the CST Railway station where the terror attacks first started. What if the terrorists had chosen to attack the TOI office instead of the CST station and if some of their dedicated employees had suffered? Would they still preach some crap called ‘Aman Ki Asha’? You try and  figure that one. “We won’t forget” indeed !