At last tonight we can make the greatest declaration we might ever make: India is free from terror. There will never be a heinous vile terrorist attack on our national body every again... with the exception of those attacks that are guided by the state's nurturing hand. After sixty long years we have, in two days, mastered the art of defusing bombs. Twenty-one of them as a matter of fact. Inconspicuously hidden in branches of tall trees and elsewhere, but clearly not inconspicuously enough! Now they appear thick and fast: networks, threats, emails, outfits, borders, devices, plots, rumours. One recalls Francois Furet's dissection of the ‘revolutionary plot' (albeit in a different context.)

Must we become Israel? Are there no alternatives left in this world? America perhaps; except no one really needs to sell that p.o.v. Knee-jerk reactions to the loss of human life, calls for laws and CCTVs and better policing and harsher punishments, and greater militarization, and heightened vigilance. In short, a gradual drift into something other than democracy. Autocracy, or Utopia cleansed of terrorists, is nonetheless a utopia mired in violence. Just that this violence seldom goes by the name of terror. Instead, less colourful and more academic terms are deployed: ethnic cleansing, genocide, repression. The sheer horrific awe of Terror is missing. Partly because terror as we understand it today is a monopoly of one religion, one cause, one (ir)rationality.

Condemning is too easy. Of course the loss of human lives, in whatever situation, deserves to be condemned. Without doubt these attacks are cruel and heartless and eventually wreck more havoc even on those whose side they claim to be on. Yet, these attacks are responses: political responses. And we must not (as we only too often tend to) condemn without understanding. The swift march towards an all-encompassing Surveillance State, defended by CCTVs, lethal laws and armed militias, is a march of the defeated. Speeches about ‘proxy war,' and announcements of hefty rewards for informants, are games people play. This is how, even as enlightened television channels ask if the Chief Minister has done an about-face from 2002, the Chief Minister in question plays his ‘subjects' against one another. Development is evoked as a benign tumor disguised as a heart in perfect working condition. And the terrorists are positioned as anti-development. The subliminal message: seek out those who wish to stop our progress and you will be rewarded. This is no about-face, its simply a face more mature than the one we have seen before.

The only escape from these cycles of violence is to accept there is no escape. The best we can do is move on, again and again. Without desire for revenge, without calls for greater state-intervention. Acts of violence of this genre occur at molecular levels, under the radar (quite literally) of any mechanism of observation. That is why it is such a surprise to find that 21 bombs have suddenly been recovered without a single one going off over a period of two days. How did a state that has in 60 years never managed to foil the Big Attacks, suddenly become so competent in this case?

But let's leave one uncomfortable question and close with another: will dictatorship save us? And, more importantly, who is ‘us'?

1978, Francois Furet's blistering critique of revolutionary violence and ideology during the French Revolution. Let's return to a passage briefly, and substitute one word (Revolution) for another (State):

"Above all, it [plot] was marvelously suited to the workings of revolutionary consciousness, for it produced the characteristic perversion of the causal schema by which every historical fact can be reduced to a specific intention and to a subjective act of will; thus the crime was sure to be heinous, since it was unavowable, and crushing the plot became a laudable and purifying act. Moreover, there was no need to name the perpetrators of the crime and to present precise facts about their plans, since it was impossible to determine the agents of the plot, who were hidden, and its aims, which were abstract. In short, the plot came to be seen as the only adversary of sufficient stature to warrant concern, since it was patterned on the Revolution itself. Like the Revolution it was abstract, omnipresent and pregnant with new developments; but it was secret whereas the Revolution was public, perverse whereas the Revolution was beneficial, nefarious whereas the Revolution brought happiness to society. It was its negative, its reverse, its anti-principle."

It seems to me that it is precisely when our lives appear to be most fragile that we must protect their freedoms with a vengeance. Instead of summoning Great Powers to our rescue we must give power back to the everyday, we must protect those who become victims: the victims of the blasts themselves as well as those who are picked up without evidence. If we value the democracy we so fondly sing praises of, perhaps we ought to offer a more passionate defense of its principles.

Media has definitely played its part in hyping the issue but I believe it has become a boon in this case. The government rose to the occasion and tightened up all the screws and prevented blasts of high intensity in Surat. Coming to government, why are only the states ruled by BJP targeted!!? Does one see any reason for it? I go with co-incidence till I find something concrete to blame someone.

The blasts might have created fear in people's minds and hearts but for how long ? The last blast in Bangalore took place in the afternoon and the life was back to normal by evening. There was definitely a little fear somewhere in some corner of the mind but then you cannot sit idle waiting for some maniac to blast something. The people who plant bombs are losers. What are they trying to achieve? If they think they can imbibe fear into people's minds by blasting few bombs, their thought process needs an overhaul. They think they've won a war by killing few people but the truth is they've won nothing. Nobody fears a person they've never seen. You'll not be able to even convince a kid to get to bed by telling him 'soja beta warna bomb uncle aajayenge'. In matter of weeks, the whole bombing episode is going to become a laughing stock in shows like laughter challenge.

I take this opportunity to condemn the attacks and pray for the people who've succumbed to such hideous acts of crime.

The statements above looks like a statement cut from a politician’s speech but trust me; I don't have a spokesperson to make such bold and beautiful statements

A few crude bombs can never stir a country of the stature like India. The life in Bangalore returned to normalcy the day after and the news channels told us that the life was normal in Ahmedabad by Sunday evening. We even worked full time here on Friday which goes to show the effect t hat the bombs had on us.

It’s quite evident that India's shaken but it’s all the more evident that it’s not stirred. Yenna Rascala... Mind it... :D

While taking strong action against the terrorists, whoever they are, it is important to address this perception that our criminal justice system is unfair to Muslims.

"The blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad reek of a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash for vote allegations and also to bring back the Muslim vote which the Government has lost due to the nuclear deal,... The attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA Government winning the confidence vote has some meaning and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence,..." [IBN Live]

Well, Sushmaji you are laying too big and extraordinary a charge that demands an extraordinary evidence. Talking about circumstantial evidence, they indicate far more probable reasons for these attacks. If there is anything you have proven today, it is that, for now you should better watch your words or still better, shut your mouth for the good of BJP and the nation at large.

When are our politicians going to start using their intellect (if there is one) and energy at tackling the issues of people rather than getting involved in mindless blame games?

That 19 people would take over four civilian airliners and then steer three of them into buildings loaded with thousands of innocent people was, I confess, outside the boundary of my imagination. The World Trade Center is not the place where our intelligence agencies failed. It is the place where our imaginations failed. [The New York Times]

Something similar happened with us over the weekend. Who would have expected that in the wake of supposed heightened security and alertness after the Bangalore serial blasts that the very next day someone would actually attempt to carry out a more dreadful wave of blasts in Ahmedabad, killing 46 and injuring hundreds? Still worse who would have expected that these heartless demons to have saved the most powerful bombs to have gone off on that fateful day for the two nearest hospitals treating injured (from the other blasts), killing the injured & good samaritans who had come to aid the injured? The motive clearly was to kill as many as possible. Never in the annals of terror attacks in India, have there been attacks on successive days and nor have we seen bombing of Hospitals which treat the injured. This is the place where our imagination failed us.

It is time to expect the worst, the unexpected and the most perverse. These are the most evil, shrewd and the vilest demons driven by an equally fundamentalist ideology waiting to prey on innocent lives in order to achieve their evil objectives.

The Taboos on Imagination

Now this has happened we can acknowledge our failures and move on to ensure better precautionary measures. But what about closing your minds? What if it came across your mind that these demons could bomb the hospital, yet you chose to ignore it, you chose not to think about it, not to reason? In any other domain you could forgive yourself of this mistake, but when it is a matter of life and death of innocent children, and other civilians it is tantamount to sin. Yet many of us would do it every time there is a terror strike, even take a false sense of pride for upholding our so called secular heritage, not knowing, we could never forgive us of what we have done in some distant future.

Yes, I am talking about our desperate attempts to sound politically correct every time these terror attacks occur. Yes, I am talking about our futile and desperate attempts to convince ourselves and others with self-proclaimed axioms like “religion has nothing to do with terrorism”, “terrorists have no religion” and all such sooth saying to please whom? Worse still, I am talking about the taboos on our imagination.

The moment some one tries to find or hint a religious motivation for these acts of the demons, the person himself is demonized, vilified and termed racist and is accused of Islamopohbia, one of the most brilliant terms to have been concocted to stifle criticism of Islam in any form. I call it a brilliant term as it deceptively camouflages any criticism of Islam with a genuine concern of discrimination and hatred against muslims.

Mainstream media epitomizes this taboo, the private news channels which are hailed as refreshing change from the monotonous state run Doordarshan and a symbol of modern India, have also failed to shed light on this issue. The most the so called expert panels in their talk shows can agree upon as a cause for extremism is poverty, corruption, apathy of the government to the situation of the oppressed (by no means I claim this list as exhaustive due to my fallible memory and inability to watch every single talk show out there), never is religion seen as one.

I fail to understand what kind of poverty drove the Bangalore born Indian engineer Kafeel Ahmed to turn himself into a suicidal mission to attack the Glasgow International airport or what kind of poverty has driven the well educated engineers arrested for plotting terror and for being activists of the banned organizations of SIMI. I don’t for a moment believe, that the poverty isn’t a cause, we have the red terror brigade, which openly proclaims so. In a sense they are far better that they wage a war against the system they see as oppressive and not against innocent civilians. But on the other hand we have these Islamic terrorists who (claim to) vow by the name of allah & their prophet, quote the quran and the hadiths to justify their perverse acts and draw inspiration from them, yet we ignore their claims. We try to convince ourselves that their self-proclaimed motives are not really motivating them, we just prefer to call them terrorists, heartless demons, but rarely expound these obscure terms, rarely do we exert ourselves to find what has turned them into these heartless demons? How ingenious?

While the few of those in the mainstream media who raise this point are snubbed & cut short by politically correct zealots and faith heads (the channels themselves don’t like having these few, for the fear of backlash) as bigots and islamophobes. On the other hand one is free to state anything in the way of apologetics, even misinformation such as muslims can’t be terrorists because Islam means peace (which it is not, it means submission or surrender, even well informed muslims agree, also see here). A certain S M Murshid, who was an advisor to the governor of J&K wrote in the Times of India, that people have misunderstood Jihad and went to the extent of falsely claiming that the word Jihad in the quran can never be construed to be an exhortation to war. While we can find such opinions occasionally in the mainstream print and visual media, never have I found a single opinion expressing the contrary, as though not a single person worthwhile has such an opinion.

The defense is almost always that such arguments will further isolate minorities and push them towards extremism, with no regard for truth. If so, isn’t it an exhortation against any criticism with a threat similar to those of the terrorists? Is it the best free media in the worlds largest democracy has to offer? While the Govt. thinks it can lecture the hindus what their religious texts actually teach and go to the extent claiming that the religious texts have no historical basis. Our media and Government are somehow extremely shy of even considering that the terrorists are motivated by "Radical Islam".

In this article I didn’t intend to show beyond any doubt that these terrorists are also motivated by the teachings of their religion rather, all I want to convey was there is strong case for it, which we are ignoring at our own peril. Whether one is right or wrong in having such an opinion should be decided by a rational discussion and not placing taboos on the thought process.

Sun Tzu, a 6 century BC Chinese General, military strategist, and author of The Art of War, famously wrote:

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.

We neither know our enemies, neither do we know our own selves and how we are going to handle the threat. We will loose this “War on Terror” until we learn.

It is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained. Muslims aren’t our enemies; there are many patriotic and peaceful ones out there, who would have none of this. Our war is with political and extremist Islam that we can’t afford to lose. We need to create a consensus among ourselves, to shun radical Islam, this can't be done without the muslim community disowning allegiance to Radical Islam.

In the course of this struggle, we may occasionally afford to be let down by our imagination, but never by the taboos on imagination.

Metropolitan areas of India were on high alert Sunday after a wave of synchronized bombs that hit the western Indian city of Ahmedabad killed at least 49 people and wounded more than 114, police reported.

The streets of Ahmedabad were calm, with anxious residents staying indoors and the Indian Army marching through parts of the city to instill a sense of security among residents.

"There hasn't been any outbreak of violence," said Ahmedabad police Cpl.-in-charge M.N. Raghela. "The army, police and paramilitary forces are patrolling the city, and residents are being very supportive."

By 4:15 p.m. Sunday (6:45 a.m. ET), the death toll had climbed to 49. The official number of wounded is 114, according to Ahmedabad police, but Raghela said the number of injuries surpassed 200.

The serial blasts occurred barely 24 hours after nine similar explosions rocked Bangalore, known as the Silicon Valley of India. Two people were killed and six injured in those explosions.

In both cities, bicycles, bags and lunch boxes were repositories for the bombs, authorities said.

The stupidity and cruelty of terrorist acts counters every claim made by the criminal perpetrators. There is nothing gained except hatred and contempt for their cause - in return.

Self-defeating politics, the ideology of idiots!

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mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one's environment.

Intelligence, as shown by our ministers after the blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad:

Shivraj Patil
'Anti-national elements have been trying to create panic among the people of our country. [The] blasts in Ahmadebad seem to be part of the same strategy,'

Narendra Modi
"Terrorists are waging a war against India. We should be prepared for a long battle against terrorism,"

LK Advani
It seems that our anti-terrorist legal framework has loopholes. It also seems that the kind of activities to stop terrorists have not being implemented properly. We have been informing the Prime Minister that our country's anti-terrorist legal framework is loose.

CPI (M)
Coming soon after the Jaipur blasts, it confirms that terrorist groups are still active.

The mismatch is quite obvious. Our ministers come up with such 'intelligence' every time we are bombed. The unfortunate fact is that their intelligence guides our national security plans. It's no surprise then that terrorists are bombing our cities as and when they like it.

Of course, their intelligence does not stop at that. They also make sure that any reforms directed at checking the situation are appropriately opposed.

Highly placed sources said that in the aftermath of the two incidents in as many days, the Centre will again push for such an agency, in line with the suggestions made by various police reforms panels.

They said efforts should also be made to elicit views of all Chief Ministers, MPs and MLAs for evolving a consensus, but maintained that many states were not very forthcoming.

These police reforms have been suggested more than a year ago. But even after seven bombings, our ministers are yet to come to a consensus on the issue. The reason? These reforms will take away some powers from the state governments in dealing with incidents that have an effect beyond the border of one state.

The intelligence of ministers works only when power over their domains is concerned. But why talk, be worried or be angry about it? Hasn't this always been the case?

Strategic analysis expert B Raman says that the blasts seem to be directed against the BJP-ruled states.

"The next series of blasts could possibly be carried out in Madhya Pradesh. It is no coincidence that SIMI cadres were arrested in Indore and Ujjain recently," he says. Earlier blasts this year were carried out in Rajasthan and Karnataka, both BJP-ruled states.

Five minutes before Saturday's blasts, a television channel received an email from a terror group claiming to be Indian Mujahideen.

In the past one year, this group has owned responsibility for several other strikes. They seem to nurse a grudge against the country's criminal justice system.

"The innocent Muslims arrested in the (Mumbai) bomb blast case are being tried for years and years," it says. There is no reference to Kashmir in the email.

According to Ajai Sahni, executive director, Institute for Conflict Management, the blasts do not reflect any dramatic augmentation in the strike capacity of the terrorists.

"We must not forget that the terrorists have only been able to hit at soft targets since the Parliament attack in 2001. And every soft target cannot be secured." However, he adds: "If the Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts are co-related, then it reflects a greater central coordination."

Sahni is of the view that the material damage wrecked by terrorism is limited. "But the psychological impact is much more. And this is what needs to be controlled," he says.

He feels there is an urgent need to shore up the national security apparatus also points out the roadblocks in the way.

"India's police to population ratio is one of the lowest in the world, barring the poorer African countries. There is a high deficit of personnel in intelligence gathering. The IB has barely 3,500 field officers. We need to address these shortcomings," Sahni says.

Security expert Prakash Singh, however, feels that the successive blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad show the overconfidence of the terrorists.

"They have no fear of being detected, arrested or prosecuted," he says.

Affirms PR Chari, research professor, Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, "The blasts were a demonstration of their capabilities and a terse reminder of the state's helplessness."

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source:TOI

The injured are admitted in several hospitals including Vadilal Sarabhai Hospital, Civil Hospital and LG Hospital.

Terrorists triggered 16 serial blasts in a span of 60 to 70 minutes on Saturday evening in crowded market areas of the city leaving at least 38 dead and over 90 injured.

The areas where the blasts occurred were at Maninagar, Isanpur, Narol circle, Bapunagar, Hatkeshwar, Sarangpur bridge, Sarkhej, Odhav, Sardar Patel market, Civil hospital, Juhapura, Ambur tower building, Raipur and Gowribhadi.

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• Ahmedabad Blasts,29 killed several injured
• Bangalore Blasts, the first serial killer
• Bombs rock Ahemdabad as terror strikes twice

Lets do our bit for all those people who have lost their lives, their loved ones and have suffered unimaginable sorrow and pain.

Please do your bit by expressing your views by writing to the Prime Minister:

manmohan@sansad.nic.in

Or

By expressing your views to the Prime Minister here:

http://www.pmindia.nic.in/write.htm

Or by making your disapproval known to the representatives of your constituency or the state government or the appropriate ministry by sending in your grievance here

Below is the letter I sent to the Prime Minister of India.

Respected Prime Minister,

It is in the context of the trouble created by the serial blasts at Bangalore and Ahmedabad in consecutive days, I write to you with concern and deep sense of hurt. I seriously want to ask you, "How much is enough?" Those 2 dead in Bangalore didn't wake us up, nor is the 39 dead in Ahmedabad going to (?), so when are we going to wake up? Can we ever do anything more than merely condemning the attacks and calling for peace & calm?

It was great to see your stubborn & unrelenting stand on the nuclear issue because you supposedly saw it was in the best interest of the nation. But can't you see there are more issues that needs equal resolve and tenacity? We have for long taken this nonsense, not any more please. Can you and your government rise above petty politics of minority appeasement and whims of your coalition partners, and stand for tougher laws against terrorism & Terrorists? India has lost most lives to terrorism but our laws to tackle this menace are as outdated as bell-bottom pants. When are we ever going stop deluding ourselves with politically correct statement like terrorism has no religion? While successive attacks not only in India but around the world have shown that they do have a religion. Setting aside question of whether the interpretation of their religion is right or wrong. Just give it to me straight, how does your government plan to tackle Islamic Terrorism?

In the wake of the Kabul blasts, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan said a few days ago, "The ISI needs to be destroyed. We made this point, whenever we have had a chance, to interlocutors across the world." But seriously, have we made it a point ourselves? Do we have the resolve to destroy ISI? I seriously doubt it! There is no use in convincing the world of something, unless we are able to convince ourselves. It is not that we didn't have our chances, we had enough chances. We have had the upper hand against  our deranged neighbor at a number of times in the past. If only your predecessors were as farsighted as you were on the nuclear issue we wouldn't have had this situation. Well, those are the things of the past, what is your government going to do now? As your own National Security Adviser, said: "The people of this country deserve to know the facts rather than being carried away by people who make statements that these are insinuations. There are no insinuations. I think we need to pay back in the same coin. We are quite clear in our mind," Doesn't your government have the resolve of your NSA? When are we going to walk the talk Mr. PM?

There is a talk about modernizing the security forces to enable them to handle terrorism better, but if anything has improved in our security apparatus it is their slothfulness, their apathy. Every time, these blasts occur the most they can do is postulate who could have carried out these attacks and are left high and dry of any actionable leads within a couple of days of the act.

When is this going to change? The Nation deserves an answer.

With Regards,
An patriotic Amm Admi