Security

The non-visit of Salman Rushdie to the country – a big shame ..

Let me start with a quick point. I have not read the Satanic Verses, so I don’t know whether the book is as insulting to the feelings of Muslims as is made out to be. Let us assume that the book is incredibly insulting and hurts the feelings of Muslims p(with a slight Devil’s Advocate – I can bet most of the people who have been voicing their protest against the author and the book have not read the book, but have heard that the author denigrates the religion and the Prophet). So, ever since the emergence of the book, the author has been in hiding, with a death threat against him by the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, however, the administration of Khatami moderated this threat with the statement that the Iranian Government is not seriously expecting this fatwa to be carried out.
All this happened many years ago, so why is this issue coming up again ? Well, the author is of Indian origin, and having a PIO card, the author can come to India any time, without the need of applying for a visa. This made the promised attendance of the author in the Jaipur Literature Festival controversial. And what made it controversial ? This entire discussion is just like pulling a thread and seeing what emerges from the thread …
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The bomb blast in Delhi, and the rage in people about it ..

Slowly it seems that people in India are becoming insensitive to the problems posed by terrorism. This is a rather unfortunate statement to make, given the shock repeatedly administered to various cities through terrorist activities. As a manifestation of this, consider the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai, followed by the one in Delhi. All of these killed people and injured many others, but if you look within yourself, you would not really feel affected by it. If you are of the more concerned type, then you would be angry at what has happened, but you would forget about what has happened within a couple of days, and only get worried when the next one happens. Consider what has happened to some of the previous blasts.
Most of them do not have any sort of progress in terms of investigation, or finding the culprit, or finding the local support that are required to execute such blasts; yet it does not show up in media columns, or in TV debates, or in the concerns that people exhibit in various forum.
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Saffron Terror – Chidambaram jumped into some controversy

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has jumped right into a controversy by mentioning “Saffron Terror” in one of his speeches. While addressing a meeting of state IGS and IGPs on Wednesday, Chidambram has cautioned against the cross-border terrorism as well as the Saffron Terrorism. The Home Minister admitted that saffron terror is a new phenomenon and threat that security agencies should be aware of. His point was in the light of recent arrest of people affiliated to Sangh Parivar in several terror blasts including Ajmer Dargah, Malegaon and Mecca Masjid. Soon to jump in to score some political points was RJD spokesman and lawyer Shakeel Ahmed who used the same term and in turn criticized the Congress led government of giving patronage to the saffron brigade. The criticism of P Chidambram and Rashtriya Janta Dal Spokesman came pouring in from all corners with even the congress in no mood to take the side of its Union Minister.
Both Bhartiya Janta Party and Shiv Sena were quick to lash onto the opportunity with executive president of the latter demanding the resignation of the home minister. The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh who addressed the same audience next day chose to skip the term. The issue rocked the proceedings of Rajya Sabhha on Friday. Slogan like “Hinduon ka apman nahin chalega” thronged the house. The matters were not helped by Lok Janashakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan as he made reference to RSS’ association with terrorism which led to the adjournment of the house for the day.
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