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Afzal Guru's Execution

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Afzal Guru's Execution Contents ARTICLES - India’s Compass On Terror Is Faulty What Does The Chinese Take Over - Kanwal Sibal 3 Of Gwadar Imply? 46 Stop Appeasing Pakistan - Radhakrishna Rao 6 - Satish Chandra Reforming The Criminal Justice 103 Slandering The Indian Army System 51 10 - PP Shukla - Dr. N Manoharan 107 Hydro Power Projects Race To Tap The ‘Indophobia’ And Its Expressions Potential Of Brahmaputra River 15 - Dr. Anirban Ganguly 62 - Brig (retd) Vinod Anand Pakistan Looks To Increase Its Defence Acquisition: Urgent Need For Defence Footprint In Afghanistan Structural Reforms 21 - Monish Gulati 69 - Brig (retd) Gurmeet Kanwal Political Impasse Over The The Governor , The Constitution And The Caretaker Government In 76 Courts 25 Bangladesh - Dr M N Buch - Neha Mehta Indian Budget Plays With Fiscal Fire 34 - Ananth Nageswaran EVENTS Afzal Guru’s Execution: Propaganda, Politics And Portents 41 Vimarsha: Security Implications Of - Sushant Sareen Contemporary Political 80 Environment In India VIVEK : Issues and Options March – 2013 Issue: II No: III 2 India’s Compass On Terror Is Faulty - Kanwal Sibal fzal Guru’s hanging shows state actors outside any law. The the ineptness with which numbers involved are small and A our political system deals the targets are unsuspecting and with the grave problem of unprepared individuals in the terrorism. The biggest challenge to street, in public transport, hotels our security, and indeed that of or restaurants or peaceful public countries all over the world that spaces. Suicide bombers and car are caught in the cross currents of bombs can cause substantial religious extremism, is terrorism. casualties indiscriminately. Shadowy groups with leaders in Traditional military threats can be hiding orchestrate these attacks. assessed on the basis of the size of The involvement of state the armed forces, equipment and institutions through groups logistics available to the nurtured by them is on the basis of adversary. A militarily weak the practiced art of deniability. country would normally hesitate The international community to attack a stronger one as defeat cannot even agree on the is never honourable and the price definition of terrorism. The could be loss of territory. A casus extraordinary challenge that belli has to be established to terrorism poses to societies, has to negate any charge of unprovoked be dealt with at exceptional levels aggression; the laws of war are of alertness, discipline, training of applicable. The international personnel, technical capacity, community can intervene through policing and organisational the UN or otherwise against a response. state resorting to military aggression. India’s problem with externally supported terrorism is amongst Challenge the severest that any country faces. Our next door neighbour has Terrorism has a different logic. It been long using terrorism as an is asymmetric warfare by non- instrument of state policy. Even if * Kanwal Sibal - Member, VIF Advisory Board VIVEK : Issues and Options March – 2013 Issue: II No: III 3 some countries like Libya were Supreme Court, his review accused of supporting terrorism, petition was rejected by the same the acts imputed to them were not court and yet the government took so blatant, wide-spread and well over 6 years to decide on his persistent as those of Pakistan- mercy petition. To claim that this based terrorists against India. delay was not political in North Korea has been accused of character is being disingenuous. sporadic terrorist acts and Iran Because the delay was motivated has supposedly targetted political by political considerations, the opponents abroad and supported decision to hang him is being terrorist groups attacking Israel, inevitably attributed to political but the Israeli-Arab confrontation calculations. Action against has no parallel with the reasons terrorists should not be vitiated by for Pakistan’s animosity towards competition between government India. As for North Korea and and the opposition for political or Iran, they have no electoral territorial claims To meet the enormity of such a advantage. With that they seek to threat India needs political those responsible advance through consensus and cohesion within for killing Rajiv terrorism. Pakistan the country. We have, instead, Gandhi and Beant political bickering and confused supports terrorism thinking in the civil society and Singh escaping to destabilize India, sections of the media. hanging so far, the to make question of governance in Kashmir as difficult selective decisions arises. Sections as possible, to nourish separatism of our mainstream press consider there, and to cause a communal it appropriate to present Afzal divide in India. It is also a Guru as a victim of the Indian consequence of the deepening judicial and political system rather Islamisation of its society. than a brutal terrorist deserving condign punishment. To meet the enormity of such a threat India needs political Travesty consensus and cohesion within the country. We have, instead, The dictum “better late than political bickering and confused never” would have provided thinking in the civil society and adequate social catharsis if the sections of the media. Afzal Guru delay in hanging was actually for was sentenced to death by the reasons beyond government’s VIVEK : Issues and Options March – 2013 Issue: II No: III 4 control. If some members of the religious extremism. His successor National Advisory Council could has scored a self-goal by speaking plead with the President to save of Hindu terrorism and RSS/BJP Kasab - a Pakistani who run training camps. The External personally killed hapless, innocent Affairs Minister, whose words Indians - from the gallows, one can have more echo outside because of imagine the resistance within the his position, has endorsed the system to hang Afzal Guru. If the Home Minister’s accusation, no milk of human kindness flows doubt adding to the confusion within our society for terrorists abroad about the ground realities. like Kasab, who were actually waging a proxy war by Pakistan There is no parallel between the against us, it is hard to imagine highly deplorable but isolated how we can steel our will and hone terrorist activity of vengeful our organizational responses to Hindus and the terrorist industry combat terrorism zealously. in Pakistan and the Islamic world sustained by oil wealth and Blunder pernicious religious thinking. There are no NGOs or Hindu We have voluntarily confused the preachers in India publicly debate over Pakistan’s culpability advocating religious violence for terrorism against us by against Pakistan on the basis of declaring that both countries are religious texts. There is no state victims of terrorism. We have support for such activities. If we damaged our case further by not think our domestic jockeying for resisting Pakistan’s attempts to political advantage can be equate the Mumbai terror attack insulated from the external with the attack on the Samjhauta dimension of the terrorist threat Express. By playing up of facing us, we are committing a disclosures about terrorist attacks costly error. We let the Kashmiri by right wing Hindu extremists we separatists, who are de facto are bracketting Pakistani abetted political accomplices of the terrorist attacks in India and local terrorists, travel to Pakistan to acts of terrorism that have nothing meet even the Army and ISI chiefs to do with Pakistani territory. The there without reaction. Our previous Home Minister blurred compass on terrorism is faulty. the focus on externally supported terrorism by highlighting domestic Back to Contents VIVEK : Issues and Options March – 2013 Issue: II No: III 5 Stop Appeasing Pakistan - Satish Chandra he anger in India at the aiding and abetting several recent mutilation of its terrorist outfits. Moreover, today T soldiers by Pakistani forces when the West needs Pakistan in in J&K is natural and order to facilitate its understandable. Quite disengagement from Afghanistan unwarranted, however, are the it is most unlikely that the calls for revenge and of international community will internationalisation of the issue as bestir itself in order to address our also our feelings of surprise. The concerns about Pakistan’s idea of a tit-for-tat response to the unacceptable behaviour, mutilations is an obvious non- particularly when we continue to starter given the Indian ethos engage it. which militates against such atrocities. Moreover, unlike the There is no reason for Indians to Pakistani Army which is be surprised at the acts of essentially a jihadi outfit in barbarism committed by the uniform the Indian Army is much Pakistan Army and its modus more professional with a code of operandi when confronted with conduct that makes such them. These have been committed reprehensible moves unthinkable. by it from time to time most notably in August 2011 and earlier Going by our historical experience, during the Kargil conflict. Its calls to haul Pakistan before the propensity to engage in them bar of international opinion, while arises from its affiliations to more meaningful, do not hold terrorist outfits since its very much promise. In this context, one inception. Its standard operating need only recall the manner in procedure when confronted with which the international its behaviour is to flatly deny the community failed to address same. Lies, deceit, and subterfuge Pakistan’s aggression in Kashmir, are second nature to it. This its blatant involvement with should only be expected of an nuclear proliferation, and its army and a nation that has * Satish Chandra - Distinguished Fellow, VIF VIVEK : Issues and Options March – 2013 Issue: II No: III 6 engaged in Mumbai like terror succeed and must go down as attacks on India for decades. grave errors of judgments. Quite clearly Manmohan Singh’s Engagement and generosity with policy of engagement with Pakistan have failed because its Pakistan has failed in reducing armed forces, which have all along the trust deficit with the latter called the shots, have had a vested and in securing India from the interest in maintaining an latter’s inimical designs.
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