[R-G] TERRORISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

[DNRath]

TERRORISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
By- D.N.Rath

THE SILENCE AND OUTRAGE
Suddenly there is ambiguous  silence on GUJCOC  after the of arrest of 
Sadhvi Pragya Singh. The euphoria that was on wheel has come to a sudden 
halt, where one after another related to Ahmedabad serial bomb blast and 
Surat  are arrested. The ambiguous silence is very meaningful. The fate of 
the euphoria depends on the so called ATS's finding of the involvement of so 
called terror trio, Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt. Colonel Srikant  Purohit, self 
styled Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey and others in series of bomb blasts in 
different parts of the country which has been castigated as  UPA's 
vilification campaign" to "malign" Hindutva and vowed to counter "attacks on 
Hindu seers and Indian soldiers" Panipat Conclave with a -"inspired by 
political motives".which  was attended by BJP President Mr. Rajnath Singh, 
RSS chief Mr.K C Sudarshan, VHP International President Mr.Ashok Singhal, 
VHP general secretary Mr. Praveen Togadia, Shankaracharya of Nirmal Peeth, 
chief ministers of BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, among others. 
In Rajnath Singh's opinion, "It looks like part of a larger conspiracy. It 
is sending a wrong message to our brave Army, which is in the forefront of 
fighting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast." There by a ploy 
to  politicise  by claiming to speak on  behalf of Army. The Sangh Parivar 
has raised the issue that the Saints and the Sadhvis with the saffron 
clothes cannot be terrorist.

Is it the so called plank on terror for election has been lost ? And are 
they again trying to seize the opportunity to communalise the whole issue as 
an attack on Hindutva and create a communal divide?

 The Gujarat Connection-The Military Camp in Gujarat

Gujarat is not free from the terror link. The military training in Bhat in 
Gandhinagar on the bank of Sabarmati which resembles Chambal by the 
controversial Lt. Colonel Srikant Purohit to 500 youths has come   to light. 
The camp took place in an ashram between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. which 
belongs to the controversial Dayanand Pandey, who has five ashrams in 
Ahmedabad.

 The close proximity of the trio, Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt. Colonel Srikant 
Purohit and Dayanand Pandey has become an open truth. It has also come out 
during the bomb blast that Sadhvi Pragya Singh as well as Dayanand Pandey 
were present in Surat, where 29 unexploded bombs recovered with the stamp of 
ordinance factory of Madhya Pradesh. Again Sadhvi Pragya Singh's association 
with Swami Asimanand of Dang from 1998 and the arrest of Sunil Dahade close 
associate of Swami Asimanand from Vapi has raised questions about the 
Malegaon link to Gujarat. Swami Asimanand the main architect of Dang's anti 
Christian drive in 1998 and reconversion  resulting waves of attacks on 
Christians through out the country,  gruesome killing of Fr. Graham Stein 
with his sons in Orissa, is  now hiding and skipped to attend the much 
publicised Ram Katha in South Gujarat. Earlier there were instances of 
encounter deaths  including Sohrabuddin in the state.
 The Gujarat Police gave a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh but as  the 
Gujarat links are revealed, now  they want to question all the accused which 
the Nasik court denied and directed the Gujarat Police to follow official 
procedure
.
LEGACY OF NATHURAM GODSE

Himani Savarkar who said  " If we can have bullet for bullet why not blast 
for blast." She   gave a clean chit to Lt. Colonel Srikant Purohit and 
Sadhvi Pragya Singh and collecting funds for trial, and held meeting in Pune 
praising the martyrdom of Nathuram Godse and praising Lt. Colonel Srikant 
Purohit as Mangal Pandey of 1857and advocated for Hindu Rashtra and declared 
second class citizens those are against it.
The sudden visit of Ms. Himani Savarkar of Abhinav Bharat, the niece of 
Nathuram Godse to Baroda and the sudden appearance of poster pasted on the 
statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Baroda, saluting the martyrdom of Nathuram Godse 
to commemorate his martyrdom year. The gist of the poster is,  "If 
dedication  to the country is a sin I owe that sin, if it is holy, I  have a 
right to  claim it." Nathuram Godse is dead but his legacy of hatred still 
thrives on. He is the martyr! But not a terrorist!

 On the other hand Mr.Pravin Togadia is very active in defending those 
accused, "A Hindu by definition cannot be a terrorist." "describing a sadhvi 
as a terrorist sin" Mr. Narendra Modi  too said, that the Army officer were 
doing their duty for the sake of  motherland and he charged the UPA Govt. 
deliberately  attempting  to demoralise the security forces, suspecting them 
to be behind terrorist activities.

On one hand VHP, BJP and RSS are sharing   one platform, rousing patriotic 
frenzy and on the other hand Narendra Modi's Govt. is dissociating from VHP 
for obvious  reason known  to himself. A phony war between Modi and VHP is 
going on where Mr. Ashok Singhal has come to take charge against Modi's 
Govt.It is a manoeuvre trick  by Modi to camouflage his relations with VHP 
and remain insulated from any eventualities. Of course RSS repeatedly 
reiterate that it would not campaign for BJP.

The link of terrorism  is spreading the span from Malegaon to Nanded, 
Kanpur, Jammu, Samjhauta express and so on. More over there are series of 
accidental bomb blasts here and there in different parts of the country with 
the recovery of unexploded bombs. Are these incidents  isolated ones as was 
told about the blast in Kanpur in last August where two activists of Bajrang 
Dal  died while making bombs?

The elections are going on  in six states. These issues may have some impact 
on vote bank for both Congress and BJP. Sadhvi Pragya Singh has already 
become the Poster girl for BJP in the election. The BJP never lost any 
opportunity to clamour for stringent POTA like law, whenever there was any 
bomb blast.

 EUPHORIA FOR GUJCOC AND ZERO TOLERANCE
Gujarat has been demanding for GUJCOC which is denied by Congress led UPA 
Govt. at Centre .
The GUJCOC was passed in Gujarat Assembly in April-2003. It was returned by 
the NDA Govt. The GUJCOC was  again sent back for approval on June 19, 2004 
. The Gujarat government again passed resolution to give consent to GUJCOC 
in last September, 2008. The similar kind of law MOCOCA is operating in 
Maharashtra led by UPA, But MOCAO was introduced in Maharashtra when NDA was 
in power. A euphoria had been created centering round GUJCOC and Modi 
appeals the people, NRIs, to write postcards, send e-mails to P.M.  He 
appealed to make it a peoples' movement. Modi said "those who are less for 
terror and more for terrorists are the one who opposes GUJCOC and POTO". A 
war hysteria like atmosphere was created against the UPA Govt. As if there 
is a warring situation between Centre and  State.
In absence of GUJCOC or POTA the accused can be booked under Indian evidence 
act as now many are arrested as terrorist in Gujarat. But Modi wanted MOCOC 
and POTA like act.  Mr. L.K.Advani goes to the extent "This is a war against 
Nation and not against any particular party" . He called for zero tolerance 
towards terrorism. Of course during the regime of NDA, when POTA was very 
much operative, there were attacks on Parliament, Akshardham and incident of 
going to Kandahar to negotiate with the terrorists and so on.  As soon as 
POTA was scraped, by the UPA Govt. just before one month of its lapse UPA 
was promulgated with provisions of POTA except the clause on confession 
before police.

A case was filed in Gujarat High Court against UPA Govt. on consent to 
GUJCOC. The UPA government in its reply in Gujarat High Court said since 
GUJCOC is similar to POTA the Indian government is bound by its electoral 
promises, so it can not  allow it. Where as Modi says "Without a tough law 
like GUJCOC I feel helpless in dealing with terrorism".

Narendra Modi spoken to the Prime Minister in person in Ahmedabad: 'I am 
anguished to note that the government of India has not given any serious 
thought to any of my suggestions. Let not another city be added in the list 
of terrorist attacks. Let not more people lose their lives and limbs..' At 
one point it appeared that UPA Govt may concede  to GUJCOC.

In the National Integration Council held on 13th October, the issue of 
terrorism was forced by the BJP leaders side tracking the issue of 
communalism in Kandhamal and Karnataka. Advani had declared BJP's poll 
agenda, NDA will enforce POTA if elected at centre.

 Whereas Congress advocates for  Federal Investigating Agency which will 
contain terrorism more stringently. It is clear that "More draconian anti 
terrorist law" are in card whether it is a UPA or NDA led Govt.  in coming 
days.
MODERN TERRRISM GIFT OF AMERICA
The modern terrorism is associated with liberalisation, globalisation and is 
a gift of American Imperialism. The U.S. Patriotic Act followed by the 
United Nations Security Council's resolution 1373 against terrorism after 
9/11 catastrophic incident in America,  resulted endless bombing and 
devastating the whole Afghanistan to end the  centre of terrorism and flush 
out Osama Bin Laden in the name of War on Terrorism. As the junior partner 
of the U.S. Imperialism, the then NDA government held the joint session of 
Lok Sabha-Rajya Sabha which   was only the third time in the history of the 
Indian Parliament that the extraordinary measure of calling a Joint Session 
was taken. POTA became law with 425 votes for the Act and 296 against, after 
a 10-hours debate.
Ironically the then Jansangh and later BJP opposed D.I.R., MISA during 
emergency by Indira Gandhi. Advani pleaded to enact it as a 'duty to 
International community." Ram Jethmalani, who was Union Law Minister at the 
time POTA was passed, told the media later that he deeply regretted it 
afterwards. "I supported it only because it was done in obedience to United 
Nations Security Council resolutions," he said.
And the present Chief Justice of  Supreme Court of India Mr.Balakrishnan 
says a draconian law is likely to be misused. But all the ruling parties in 
this capitalist society are fond of draconian acts in the name of ensuring 
rule of law.
DRACONIAN ACTS IN INDA
Though India attained freedom in 1947 , number of draconian colonial laws 
are still operative in our country. Soon after the Indian constitution was 
accepted in 1950, the Indian government Promulgated PD 
(Prevention-Detention) Act: which lapsed finally in 1969 and paving path for 
MISA. About 1, 11,000 people were detained under MISA during emergency by 
Ms. Indira Gandhi.
There are a number of oppressive laws passed in the name of curtailing 
"terrorist" activities. At the Central level, there is,
1 The Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act 1911,
2 The Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958,
3 The Disturbed Areas Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967,
4 The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling 
Activities Act 1974,
5 The Disturbed Areas Special Courts Act 1976,
6 The National Security Act 1980,
7 The Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential 
Commodities Act 1980,
8 The Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982,
9 The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act 
1982,
10 Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA) 
[Because of pressure of people's movement it  was scrapped , but remained in 
force  till May 1995]
11 The Religious Institution (Prevention of Misuse) Ordinance 1988,
12 The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic 
Substances Act 1988,
13 The Indian Telegraph Act,
14 The Information Technology Act 2000,
15 The Prevention of Terrorism Act, (POTA) 2002 [The government was forced 
to repeal the law on September 21, 2004] and so on.
The list of State-specific legislation includes
1 The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978, the Jammu and Kashmir 
Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 
Act 1988
2 The Assam Preventive Detention Act 1980,
3 The Maharashtra Prevention of Communal, Anti-Social and other Dangerous 
Activities Act 1980,
4 The Bihar Control of Crimes Act 1981,
5 The Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, 
Bootleggers and Drug Offenders Act 1981,
6 The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug 
Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum Grabbers Act 1982 and 
others like this.
7 The Gujarat Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act 1985,
8 The Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug 
Offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-Grabbers 
Act 1985,
9 The Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, 
Dacoits, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Land 
Grabbers Act 1986.

Inspite of all this, not only central government , many state governments 
want more and more stringent law. The Rajasthan Control of Organised Crime 
Bill, 2006 . A draft of the Madhya Pradesh Control of Terrorism, Unlawful 
Activities and Organised Crime Bill: A draft of the Andhra Pradesh Control 
of Organised Crime Bill are awaiting the clearance of the Central Government 
since 2006.  There is   Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act 2002 in 
Karnataka. As a matter of fact MCOCA, KCOCA all these were came in effect 
during NDA rule and states were also ruled by BJP led NDA.

The Violation of  Human Rights in India
 The misuse of the draconian acts and violation of human rights in India in 
past  has remain a major concern for all democratic loving citizens.. The 
Terrorist And Disruptive Activities (TADA) - Act in 1987 was one of the most 
draconian acts in India. TADA remained in force for 10 years (up to 1995) 
Due to country wide protest it was dropped in 1995.During this period. 
77,500 people were arrested. Only 19,000 people were arrested in Gujarat 
alone, where there was no militant activities. Out of this only 8000 cases 
were tried and 725 persons were convicted with the percentage of 0.81%.

On POTA Justice A.S. Anand the chairperson of NHRC said, "It did have some 
provisions to safeguard against its misuse though those provisions may not 
be enough. Care has to be taken to see that the provisions of POTA are not 
abused. There are apprehensions that POTA can be misused. Any law can be 
misused. What we have to see is whether there is an inbuilt mechanism to 
safeguard the Act from being misused. But more safeguards are required to be 
provided against its abuse. The rights of a person in uniform are equally 
important as those who belong to civil society and a balanced approach to 
both was necessary. No civilized country could allow terrorism to flourish, 
but one has to differentiate between a criminal and a terrorist. While all 
terrorists are criminals, it does not necessarily mean that all criminals 
are terrorists."
The NHRC warned that " if enacted, would have the ill-effect of providing 
unintentionally a strong weapon capable of gross misuse and violation of 
human rights which must be avoided particularly in view of the experience of 
the misuse in the recent past of TADA and earlier of MISA of the emergency 
days.-" and stressed for proper investigation of crimes, efficient 
prosecution of criminal trial". It again said it was not for any lack of 
laws but for lack of the proper utilisation of this laws, lack of proper 
investigation, prosecution and lack of adequate number of courts for trial 
of offense .
As mentioned above the TADA was grossly misused  in Gujarat and so also POTA 
which was targeted particularly against the Muslim community. It was first 
used in Godhra riot case and the confession was derived by the police by 
applying usual inhumanly torture. The blind, disabled, youths & minors were 
not spared from being arrested under POTA. Despite the recommendations by 
the POTA Review Committee headed by Justice Jain they were not released. On 
Godhra train Tragedy , the Jain Commission found that, "there was no 
evidence to suggest that the so-called conspiracy was allegedly hatched with 
an intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India 
or to strike terror in the people or any section of the people to qualify as 
a terrorist act, as defined under Sub-section 1(a) of Section 3 of POTA." 
Though the Supreme Court has asked to drop the cases as per the 
recommendation of POTA Review Committee, they are yet to be released.
 The figures of POTA detainees in Gujarat and all over the country will 
speak itself how it has been misused and how many are still in prison under 
TADA and POTA  though  these acts are lapsed. Justice Rajendra Sachar 
criticised the  UPA Govt. for  it's failure to repeal POTA retrospectively. 
In June 2005 the POTA Review Committee reported that there were 11,384 
persons wrongfully charged under POTA who should have been charged under 
regular law. According to Ministry of Home affairs , the NHRC recorded 6923 
cases against the police, 35  against armed forces, and 39 against 
Paramilitary Force for violence against human rights in 2006 &  NHRC  has 
received 82,000 complaints of human rights violations during 2007.
Violation of Rights in Gujarat
According to Government of Gujarat figures, 223 persons remained "missing" 
after the 2002 violence, a majority of whom were Muslims. As per the version 
of  family members and NGOs many were killed and their bones were found in 
mass graves. In December 2005 and August 2006, two such mass graves came to 
light in Kidiad town and in the Panam river bed near Lunawada town.
The Gujarat Government claimed that police initially arrested 5,384 persons 
in the city of Ahmedabad and 24,683 persons in the state as a whole and a 
very few number of these investigations actually led to convictions.. There 
was continued concern about the failure of the Gujarat government to arrest 
and convict those responsible for the 2002 violence. Convictions of Hindu 
perpetrators of the violence were minimal, while acquittals were common. 
According to an October 2006 report submitted by the federal government to 
an UN agency, six cases resulted in convictions, whereas 182 cases were 
aquittals. After agreeing to re examine the closure of 1,600 complaints as 
per instruction of the Supreme Court, Gujarat police concluded that a 
majority of cases could not be reinvestigated due to lack of witnesses. 
Empowered with POTA, there was ghettoisation of Justice in Gujarat .

Prevention of Anti Social Activity(PASA) is very much operative in Gujarat 
to control anti social activities. 40% cases lack evidence. In last two 
years , out of 3085 cases  of PASA ,  the Review board has released 1175 
due to lack evidence. In Ahmedabad alone out of 956 held under PASA,  236 
released and similarly 246 out of 659 in Surat, 112 out of 429 in Baroda , 6 
out of 6 in Gandhinagar. The use of PASA is more political than criminal or 
to enhance the figure of arrest for the sake of police record.


NECESSARY SAFE GUARDS
In the wake of violation of Human Rights related to terrorism the Amnesty 
International, UN Special Rappoprteur for Terrorism and Human Rights, Human 
Rights Watch and many others have always expressed concern that the human 
rights should be protected while combating terrorism. They have said laws 
against terrorism are ineffective and creating counter terrorists. They 
emphasised that the rule of law should be the bedrock of global fight 
against terrorism. The Amnesty International asked the Government of India 
to enact legislation to protect the Human Rights as per International 
Covevant on Civil and Political Rights and reform all Penal Code.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan  has warned  compromising human 
rights while fighting terrorism.

Even Supreme Court of India said in 1996, "Experience shows that worst 
violations of human rights take place during the course of investigation, 
when the police with a view to secure evidence or confession often resorts 
to third degree methods including torture and adopts techniques of screening 
arrest by either no recording the arrest or describing the deprivation of 
liberty merely as a prolonged interrogation"

Supreme Court also said terrorism thrives when human rights are violated. 
Justice Rajendra Gadkar expressed anxiety about the extra ordinary powers 
and warned the detrimental effect long back. He said, "freedom of the 
citizens cannot be taken away". Justice Jain said every terrorist may be 
criminal but every criminal cannot be labelled as a terrorist to set the 
motion the more stringent provisions of anti- terrorist law.

The True Colour of UPA Govt.
But Mr. M. Verrapa Moily, the Chairperson of Administrative Reform Committee 
too favours stringent laws like POTA or TADA and says UAPA has no teeth in 
comparison of TADA and POTA where there are provision for designated courts 
and special courts.  The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has, however, 
have no provision for special courts. Moily says,"There is ample evidence to 
indicate that terrorists have been able to escape the law either by 
exploiting the loopholes or by intimidating witnesses to subvert justice,". 
This reflects the attitude of Congress led UPA Govt. on Anti Terror Act.

Religion and Terrorism
Is there any link between Terrorism & religion ? Though this question 
surfaced in 2006 blast in Nanded it has come out again centering round the 
arrests of Pragya Singh, so called Shankaracharya - Dayanand Pandey. So long 
there was no problem when terrorism was associated with Muslims but as soon 
as Hindu terrorism is used, it has become difficult to digest.
The type of terrorism are different from place to place. The terrorism in 
Assam or the terrorism in Kashmir or in North East or previously in Punjab 
are different in nature and objective. The terrorism of PLO or the Irish 
freedom fighters are also different. There are 100 types of terrorism as per 
the definition of U.S. A. The Supreme Court of India also tried to define 
terrorism in a limited sense but there is no single definition on terrorism.

Face less Terrorism-
The terrorism is faceless and has no religion but the face was given to 
Islam after the 9/11 creating a Islamophobia through out the globe . The war 
on Terrorism was targeted towards Muslim. Of course the American society has 
tried to unmask the design of Bush of his War on Terror. The Oscar awarded 
film Farrenhit 9/11 by Michael Moore has raised the question on the so 
called War on Terror. A section in U.S. A. also believes that the attack on 
WTC was self implicated injury by Bush.

Prior to giving a name to the terrorism  a conducive mind was prepared 
through world wide  debate on the  book  'Clash of  Civilisations & the 
Remaking of World Order '  written by Huntington  funded by C.I.A. and the 
opinion was created all over the world that Islamic world is barbaric .The 
fingering on Islam was so deep that one after another films were  produced 
on Islamic terrorism and media was in sway. Film "Wednesday" is just an 
example in India.

Between 2004 and 2008, India has witnessed at least 25 major bomb blasts , 
in which 717 people were killed and hundreds injured. In all 8 Mosques and 2 
temple were attacked. But all the time it was painted as the act of Muslim 
Terrorism. But why the Muslim would attack their own place of prayers - the 
Masjid ? The answer was that the Muslims are doing so to provoke the Muslims 
against the Hindus and all believed it because the propaganda machinery as 
well as the administration were hammering the mind of people continuously.

Undoubtedly both the BJP and the Congress are trying to garner votes in the 
present state assembly election and ensuing Lok Sabha poll centering round 
terrorism.  When BJP term it as a political conspiracy and Congress accuses 
in the words of  Abhishek Sanghvi  as an attempt to  "infiltrate, influence 
and convert" our institutions including the Army. Truly , the issue of 
Terrorism is lost in this electoral battle.
Infiltration of Militant Majoritism in Administration
It can be brushed aside that the Militant majoritism is  being practiced for 
last twenty years and
entrenched into the  govt. administrations. The film "Shaurya' has tried to 
just give a hint of the attempt of safronisation of Army. Are the retired 
Military officers giving training to the Hindu militants in Bhosle Military 
academy in Nasik, which was founded by Munje in 1930s? The link of Military 
personnel, Sadhus, Sadhvi, Abhinav Bharat, Bajarang Dal, Durga Vahini and so 
on is an alarming signal. The involvement of captain Purohit is now an open 
truth.


.The Genuineness combating Terrorism
The Nanded Bomb blast which took place in 2006 was dropped in a hush hush 
way but why and under whose hidden instruction. And now on the eve of the 
election the UPA appears to be  over enthusiastic to pursue the cases of 
bomb blasts one after another creating a shadow of doubts.   Can it be ruled 
out that after so much   exercise of the ATS and shadowing it's web of 
enquiry  length and breath of the country, creating so  much hype with 
shocking news everyday would again be dropped out  because of lack of 
evidence? In India many cases were dropped because of lack of evidence. Even 
the Muslims are suspicious about the time chosen by Congress led  UPA 
Govt.to create such hype.  Jain Hawala is just one to mention among many 
where from Advani was implicated

The Double Standard of Advani
On one hand there is a demand for stringent law against the terror and on 
the other hand the high profiled leaders like L.K. Advani , Rajnath Singh 
are vocal fuelling Hindu anger with a threat of civil war by Rajnath Singh 
which clearly exposed  the narrow sectarian attitude of Sangh Parivar 
combating the terrorism. Tackling terrorism should be uniform and there 
should not be any discrimination between the religion. But unfortunately the 
whole Sangh Parivar has come out nakedly opposing the investigation of the 
Terror Trio and others by ATS. The judicial enquiry should be applicable to 
all the accused irrespective of caste, creed, position, religion, region 
where human rights be the  core of  concern for not only the human right 
activist but all ruling parties and Citizens . But it is absolutely missing 
from the so called aggressive protagonist of POTA, GUJCOC  Mr. L.K.Advani, 
is very partisan. His utterances may give wrong signal to the investing 
agencies of the Govt. The leading News Papers of the country have cautioned 
BJP and Advani for the irresponsible outrage and to mind his words.
Extra-constitutional means to defame Terror probes
Advani who tried to remain aloof from the whole issue and was in dilemma to 
own or disown Sadhvi Pragya Singh, now  he  has opened his mouth, when 
Pragya Singh alleged in her affidavit that she was , "physically and 
psychologically tortured and abused in obscene language "in custody. At this 
the heart of Advani melted and  outrageously said,  "barbaric treatment" 
meted out to a "spiritual person". Advani who had so far taken the "terror 
is terror" line, maintaining that the BJP has nothing to do with Pragya 
Singh and, if found guilty, she should be punished. The Prime Minister of 
India Mr. Manmohan Singh called Mr. L.K. Advani to allay the fear on 
investigation  by ATS and sending the National Security Advisor Mr.M K 
Naryanan to meet the BJP leader on Friday to discuss the ongoing ATS probe 
where Intelligence Bureau ChiefMr. P C Haldar will also be present.To this 
Advani reportedly told the Prime Minister, "They are welcome. But no one can 
restrain me from reacting to such barbaric treatment to a sadhvi, sanaysin." 
It is  yet to be  seen what is going to happen after the 26th. November 
Religious  meet in Delhi which was decided in Panipath Conclave.

All the  accused under POTA in Godhra cases like Maulavi Umarji were 
similarly treated. Blind and boys  of minor age were not spared.Their 
affivavites were not admitted or read.The tearsof the  family members never 
moved the heart. Of course there is "No Remoarse". Though  POTA review Panel 
recommended to drop the cases due to lack of evidences. The Supreme Court 
has also asked to drop the cases but the Godhra accused are still 
languishing in prison and never Advani or his comrades in arms expressed any 
concern for them. Now the MCOCA has  been invoked on all ten accused as a 
part of an organised crime syndicate where  the confession  before the 
police is considered valid.. This MCOCA was made applicable in Delhi through 
a Home Ministry order of February 1, 200 by N.D.A. Govt.

What MCOCA  can be?Death sentence or life term and a penalty of Rs 10 
lakh,Special courts to try terrorism cases in time-bound manner,Bail 
provisions tougher than those in CrPC,Attachment of property bought by 
terror funds,Cops can intercept, record electronic & oral communication, 
Statements given to police admissible as evidence in court.

 The ATS finding can be questioned.  Even the Narco test is a human right 
violation. But, Justice Manmohan of  Delhi High Court has upheld the 
validity of Narco analysis in view of  "growing terrorism and heinous crime" 
and emphasising the Constitutional rights remain infringed and thorough and 
proper investigation  be under taken.
 Compensation  are declared  for the alleged accused arrested in Hyderabad 
bomb blast by Andhra Pradesh Govt. Will the same will be followed in Gujarat 
and other states?


What Mr. Advani and his colleagues  should learn from this Malegaon Sadhvi 
episode that draconian laws, like POTA. MCOCA or GUJCOC can back fire. 
There should be a general consensus for judicial enquiry and  criminal 
Justice  and respect for  human rights and democratic rights. The emergence 
of extra constitutional power based religious  fundamentalism has to be 
contained to safeguard the multiculturalism tradition of our country. But 
Kandhmal is  still on boiling pot. As per the Chief Minister of Orissa  the 
normalcy is yet to be restored. All Orissa Bandh call has been given again 
this year on 25th. December. The tribal organisation headed by Kui Samaj has 
given a fresh call demanding the with drawl of Military force from Kandhmal. 
More over sordid tale  of the gang rape of the nun which shocked the Nation 
is facing now public rape in the name of defaming Hinduism.


A Fatwa against Terrorism
All the human rights organisations of  our country and the world have 
expressed concern for the detainees  and the accused and raised voice 
against the abuse of power which must be honoured. Here the Sangh Parivar 
has absolutely failed to rise above their narrowness.  How far it is 
advisable to use extra-constitutional means to defame terror probes. The 
core of the all religion is peace. Recently the Muslim clerics gathered in 
Hyderabad and condemned terrorism and are out  to spread the message of 
peace throughout the country. They have declared Fatwa against Terrorism. In 
contrast the Hindutva forces are spreading the hatred without having a scant 
respect for Multi Culturalism, endorsing the Golwalkar's dictum who said, 
that Hindus could profit from the Nazis who raised race pride by purging the 
Jews. He said the foreign raiders of Hindustan , the Muslim and the 
Christians must accept Hindu Culture or subordinate to Hindu Nation claiming 
nothing, deserving no privilege.

Custodial Deaths -Alarming
 Once one is in police custody, the hell fall on the accused. There are many 
custodial deaths in the country, and the third degree method is applied to 
derive confession with utter disregard to  the  warning from Supreme Court, 
NHRC and other human rights organisations. The statistics of NHRC shows that 
in the last five years 7,468 persons at an average of 1,494 persons per year 
or four person in a day died in police and prison custody in India from 2002 
to 2007. However, these figures represent only a fraction of the actual 
cases of torture. Cases of torture not resulting in death are not recorded. 
But once one is accused as a terrorist, there is absolute rationalisation of 
violation of all kinds of human rights. This is case in Guantanamo or the 
Iraqi prisoners treated by the  U.S troops.
Under these circumstances can we distinguish between their terrorist and our 
terrorist?  Let the law take its course. Let the investigation on  terrorism 
be meticulous, impartial and transparent.

Resist Fascist onslaught
  The fundamental rights of the citizens are inscribed in our Constitution. 
But it takes no time to trample them in the name of country's security. Due 
to bad governance there are communalism, casteism, parochialism, 
regionalism, terrorism and to control them draconian laws are enacted.  The 
power has been concentrated in the hand of bureaucracy. The rule of law 
replaced by rule through draconian laws.
There is a competition between the ruling parties who can provide  stable 
govt. to keep growth rate of  the economy in the name of globalisation and 
liberalisation unchecked so there is a peculiar combination of  development 
with the  violation of human rights in the name of  war on terrorism. In the 
present neo liberal economy and the issue of terrorism is taking centre 
stage and the mind of the people is diverted towards communalism and ethnic 
conflict.
There is a competition between main ruling parties Congress and BJP who can 
be more effective, soft or hard towards terrorism. In this conflict the core 
issue of terrorism is lost and the human right is crucified. Under this 
circumstance when there is Kandahmal and the serial bomb blasts across the 
country, the implication of draconian acts of  POTA or GUJCOC has to be 
grasped.

A true religious person can never support terrorism on behalf of his / her 
religion. The self proclaimed appointee of these terrorist organisations 
operating in the name of religion must be combated and isolated not only by 
a political will of the govt. but by creating a strong socio political 
cultural  movement    involving the broadest section of the people infusing 
the spirit of religious tolerance and secularism. More the secularism is 
strengthened in the society the religious fundamentalism and terrorism is 
defeated. Terrorism should be dealt firmly involving the whole society, by 
de-communalisation and de-criminalisation of police and the administration.

Date- 20-11-8.