Your comment below on Commissions of Inquiry in India are correct .
Knowing the serious deficiencies of the Commissions of Inquiry and being
aware that the corporate media was blacking out the truth of the pogrom and
killings in Mumbai , with all political parties in Maharashtra having
capitulated on the issue , we went before the Sri Krishna Commission, to use
the truth of the unfolding evidence of the poorest of the poor minorities ,as
a frontline for the struggle against the 'Mussolini Fascist Business Model'
which had begun its agenda for India , as an integral part of this policy was
to scapegoat the minorities for total control over economic and political
policy .It was the beginning of the War on Terror on minorities with attacks ,
encounters and false arrests from state to state with Anti-Terrorist Squads
manned by hand picked fascist appointees with few exceptions such as the late
Hemant Karkareji and you know what happened to him . Until the truth of his
killing is revealed there will be no closure for the Police Force of
Maharashtra , no matter how many so called ' Kasabs' are hanged , they are
available in the jails and detention centers , some of them well in advance of
events.
To-day even police officials cannot protect their own daughters in the wave of
criminalization of political life across the country, the consequence of
neo-liberal economic policy and animal spirits being unleashed in the economy
with commodification of women by the media, advertising , film and cosmetic
industry, in an already patriarchal society , a lethal and poisonous mix
endangering everyone of the female gender from children to adult with no
intervention by society or the state to prevent what is happening . Women are
definitely an endangered specie in India with no 'Save Women' activity which
will probably require a social and political revolution like the one led by
Mahatma Gandhi for a complete overhaul of the institutional system which kills
and mauls brutally.
Hillary Clinton has announced that they have backed Wal-Mart in India and will
be batting effectively for Boeing and the entry of all their Corporations
everywhere. One good aspect of the United States is that they always publicly
proclaim their positions and which country is targeted for attack militarily or
by economic and financial means.Similarly from BBC one can easily conclude
which society is to be taken over militarily, attacked by hired terrorists , or
by coloured revolutions.
Syria is targeted so the propaganda on " Chemical Weapons for Mass Destruction'
like in Iraq even as hired mercenaries overrun that country which resists
occupation .
To assess the voting , all that we have to do is to observe the political
nominees of all business houses and of FDI or global capital . In opposition
of course some sing a different tune . The result would have been the same had
the BJP led NDA been in power . 70 % of goods as a consequence of this policy
will be sourced from out of India and 30 % preferably from India . The word
'Preferably' means nothing in law it is merely discretionary .
Livelihood without which the right to life is superfluous , is not considered a
human right , except by the International Convention on Political and Economic
Rights.
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: gajendra singh
To: gajendra singh
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 10:19 PM
Subject: Babri Masjid Demolition: A Look Back from Ankara
Babri Masjid Demolition: A Look Back from Ankara
by K. Gajendra Singh
While posted at Turkey’s capital Ankara, I was playing a few hands of
bridge with friends at the Indian embassy residence, a few days after the 6
December, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India. The friends
were; head of Turkey’s Foreign policy think tank, Seyfi Tashan and his wife and
Prof Okyar and his wife. Prof Okyar’s father Fethi Okyar was close friend and
early mentor of Turkey’s founder Kemal Ataturk. Quite often, diplomats relax
playing bridge or golf as in East Asia, where serious business is often
transacted. During the 1991 US led coalition war on neighboring Iraq, while
posted at Amman, Jordan’s capital, the British Ambassador or someone else would
come over for a spot of bridge. Just to take our minds off the tensions.
But in Ankara, after a few hands, I went over to the next room to take
up a telephone call. It took me some time to return to the bridge table. I
tried to look as normal as possible and continued playing and sipping whiskey,
but my friends sensed something was amiss. So I told them that a small bomb
placed under the car of my second secretary had exploded. But there were no
injuries. The car was parked in front of the block of flats where he resided. I
made sure all necessary action had been taken like calls to the police station,
the ministry of Foreign affairs and no one was to go near the car. My friends
apologized and left expressing their sympathies.
On 6 December itself, as per routine I had switched on CNN and BBC
before lunch and felt somewhat uneasy at the huge crowd which had been allowed
to collect around the Babri Masjid perimeter in Ayodhya. A few hours later when
I switched on the TV again, I was stunned at the news and graphic scenes of the
demolition with kersewaks (voluntary workers) having climbed up the mosque,
dismantling it brick by brick. And then that empty feeling after the
demolition. The TV channels also showed Indian Prime Minister Narsimha Rao, as
if he was fiddling and did little to stop the demolition.
The demolition was bound to have repercussions, especially in Muslim
countries, although in Turkey being a secular state, Muslim extremists were
kept under control. In fact the violence and killings in Turkey were being
carried out since 1984, in a rebellion by Abdullah Ocalan led Marxist PKK
(Kurdish Workers Party) for autonomy for Kurds in South and East of Turkey,
where they are concentrated. The bloody rebellion and counter measures had
already cost over 35,000 lives, mostly Kurds but over 5000 soldiers too.
Thousands of Kurdish villages had been bombed, destroyed, abandoned or
relocated and millions of Kurds were moved or migrated to shanty towns in
South, East and West wards.
One-third of Turkish army was tied up in South East, the cost of
countering the insurgency amounted to $6 to $8 billion per year. It had
shattered the economy of the region and brought charges of police and military
brutality and human rights violations in the West to which Turkey is linked
through NATO, OECD and associate EU membership. But most of the violence was
confined to South and East of Turkey, and sometimes in Istanbul, which because
of the migration had a very sizable Kurdish population, next only to the
Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
Majority of Kurds in Turkey would be satisfied with cultural autonomy
but their aspirations were dashed time and again. Till 1986 even to claim to be
Kurd was a crime and their language could not be used. Since 2002 some progress
has been made. Kurdish is quite different from Turkish and belongs to the
Iranian language family. The Kurdish nation totaling over 25 million straddles
the mountainous regions of Turkey (14 in 70 million), Iran (8 out of 70
million), Iraq (4 out of 20 million) and with more than half million each in
Syria and another half million in Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. But
Kurds have been abused by the neighbors and exploited by big powers throughout
history. Somewhat like the Kashmiris now. Despite everything Kurds remain most
well integrated in Turkey and have occupied the highest official positions.
Salahaddin remains their greatest medieval hero.
Kurds are an Iranian Aryan people caught up in ethnic upheavals and
intermingling of Aryan, Turkic and Semitic races going on since 2nd millennia
BC from the Eurasian steppes to the Mediterranean, the Gulf and the Indian
Ocean. But the Kurds have lived in the region since they shifted from the
steppes in 2nd millennia and were mentioned as the Kurduchoi who had harassed
Xenephon and his Ten Thousand retreating towards the Black Sea from Babylon in
401 BC.
It was difficult to organize serious terror attacks in well policed
Ankara. My own assessment was that some extremist Muslim elements had organized
the explosion as an expression of anger and a warning. To the best of my
knowledge the perpetrators of the bombing were never traced or captured. The
government of India did not compensate the officer for the loss of his damaged
car. Obviously he had not anticipated any such contingency while insuring his
car. This is typical of Indian establishment. Legitimate grievances are not met
but crooks get compensation, even pensions as freedom fighters to fraudsters.
The concept of rule of law, which evolved in Europe after centuries of warfare
and bloodshed, is alien to Brahmanical perspective.
Naturally I went to the Turkish foreign office and we briefed media
explaining that the demolition was the work of extremists and cranks and not
approved by the majority of India’s population. I also traveled to Istanbul,
Turkey’s commercial, cultural and media centre to explain the unfortunate
events specially to right wing religious media, which Pakistan exploited. This
was the only time in my four years tenure when security forces shadowed me in
the city. One morning there was a security flap when without informing the
security I went for my morning walk and even dropped at friend nearby for a cup
of coffee.
Unlike many Muslim countries after Turkey’s revolution in 1920s and
modernization and westernization most educated Turks wear European trousers and
jackets. Islamist party leaders and commercial and media supporters are highly
educated like President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan and
others. They are computer savvy.
Ataturk had closed all Sufi and other Tarikas /schools (whirling
dervishes now mostly delight tourists), declared Aya Sofia as museum, which was
converted from a magnificent Basilica into a mosque when Sultan Fethi the
Conqueror took over Constantinople, naming it Istanbul.
Prophet Mohammad’s hair, footprints and other relics, swords of first
four Caliphs etc can now be seen in Topkapi (palace) museum in Istanbul. In
spite of electoral hints and promises that the Islamist government, which has
now ruled Turkey since 2002, would convert back Aya Sofia and some other old
churches into mosques, no such attempt has been made in a country which is 99%
Muslim.
There is a lesson in it for India specially Hindus.
The matter of the Ayodhya mosque and the Ram Janambhumi temple is now
sub-judice. Any way this has at least stopped some in the lunatic fringe of
Hindu hardliner family like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to soft pedal
demands for handing over the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura and the Gyan Vapi
Masjid in Varanasi so that temples could be built on these sites.
That the demolition was not condoned by a majority of Indians was
proved when elections were called in four states ruled by Hindu hardliner
Bhartiya Janata party (BJP) including in Uttar Pradesh (UP), where Ayodhya is
located after their governments were dismissed for the party’s unconstitutional
actions. Except for Rajasthan, where, in now accepted dynastic syndrome, too
many near relatives of the Congress party chieftains were given tickets, the
electorate defeated the BJP in other three states including UP. But the state
leaders declined to have Prime Minister Narsimha Rao, for electoral
campaigning, his reputation having been tarnished by allowing the demolition
under his watch. According to a poll at that time, majority of Hindus expressed
unhappiness at the demolition of the mosque.
The demolition was allowed to take place by the BJP Chief Minister of
UP Kalyan Singh, after he had given an assurance to the government in Delhi and
also to the Supreme Court of India that no harm would be done to the Masjid and
the surrounding structure under dispute. BJP leaders like LK Advani, whose
chariot rides across India polarized Hindus and Muslims, created communal
disharmony and inspired and encouraged the demolition were present and appeared
to acquiesce and even actively encourage the demolition. Clearly it was well
planned and the leaders were in the know of the conspiracy.
The demolition and the consequent violence in India created a small
problem. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and supposed end of the Cold
War, I was keen to establish military to military relations between India and
Turkey, since Turkish armed forces are protector of secularism. Having met with
the Turkish Chief of General Staff a few times at receptions, I wrote to
External Affairs ministry to look after him during the technical halt in Bombay
on his way to Kuala Lumpur in January 1993. The Turks are fascinated by
Bombay’s coastline and glitter as it reminds them of the Bosporus in Istanbul
separating Asia from Europe. On his return the General told me laughingly that
he could not go to the city as people were throwing stones at each other, an
euphemism for the communal carnage following the demolition. (However I did
succeed in sending to India his successor Gen Ismail Haqqi Karadai, 3 years
later, the first ever visit of a Turkish Chief, who came back impressed and
thus began military to military relationship between India and Turkey)
After the demolition, a one man Commission of Enquiry was set up under
Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan to submit a report on the events leading to the
demolition of the Masjid. However he took 17 years, was given over 40
extensions at a cost of Rs 8 crore (80 Million) and finally produced a 1,029
page report.
Verdicts and inquiry commission reports are lengthy, obscure and very
boring. Such commissions are generally a ploy to evade decision making or avoid
accountability. They are often granted extensions from a combination of
political expediency and pliant judges eager to prolong their sinecures of
privilege in retirement. It makes justice convoluted, time-consuming and
expensive.
Justice Liberhan was asked to inquire with respect to the following
matters:
1.. The sequence of events leading to, and all the facts and
circumstances relating to, the occurrences in the Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid
complex at Ayodhya on 6 December 1992 involving the destruction of the Ram
Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid structure;
2.. The role played by the Chief Minister, Members of the Council of
Ministers, officials of the Government of Uttar Pradesh and by the individuals,
concerned organizations and agencies in, or in connection with, the destruction
of the Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid structure;
3.. The deficiencies in security measures and other arrangements as
prescribed or operated in practice by Government of Uttar Pradesh which might
have contributed to the events that took place in the Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri
Masjid complex, Ayodhya town and Faizabad on 6 December, 1992;
4.. The sequence of events leading to, and all the facts and
circumstances relating to, the assault on media persons at Ayodhya on 6
December, 1992; and
5.. Any other matters related to the subject of Inquiry.
Justice Liberhan’s conclusion is unsurprising but unequivocal and bold:
the demolition was part of a well-thought out plan — a “joint common
enterprise” — hatched by the top leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the
last organization correctly described as a “front organization” of the RSS.
Wrote Sidharath Vardrajan in ‘Hindu’ that “Unfortunately, the
recommendations which emerge out of his daring excavations are so mousy that
they bear no resemblance whatsoever to the forthright conclusions which precede
them. After having indicted 68 individuals for bringing the country to the
brink of communal disaster, Justice Liberhan doesn’t call for the filing of
charges against those that have escaped being arraigned so far in the
demolition case, nor does he speak of expedited criminal proceedings. This is
surprising given his repeated use of the phrase “joint common enterprise” to
describe the conspiracy.
Ever since the 1999 Tadic judgment of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, international criminal law has developed
the notion of ascribing liability for mass crimes to those who might not have
been direct participants but who willingly facilitated the commission of
criminal acts through the positions they occupied in the hierarchy of the
organization involved.
“Had Justice Liberhan developed the concept in his recommendations and
pushed for an end to the pervasive impunity enjoyed by politicians, police
officers and bureaucrats, he would have earned the gratitude of the nation. But
he has done nothing of the sort. Other than calling for the separation of
religion and politics and making some other tepid suggestions, the report
steers clear of recommending either short-term steps to ensure justice in the
demolition case or long-term measures to protect the country from a repeat of
the tragedy."
The leakage of the report in the Indian media on November 23, 2009
opened a Pandora’s box with News channels and media carrying on endlessly
discussions and talks, with scoring of debating points but without much clarity
or accountability. One thing is clear; the rule of law in India appears to be
outside the comprehension of Brahmanical ordained understanding of law.
Poet AK Ramanujam said that Indians don’t seem to have a sense of
absolute. They place everything in some context or another. And, depending on
the context, what the rest of the world would regard as being wrong in absolute
sense becomes quite all right in India.
Thus Indians in general have no sense of rule of law. Show me the man
and I will show you the law. All this is even supported by our epics; Ramayana
and Mahabharata. Trickery by Lord Rama in killing Bali or the apostle of truth
Yudhishter proclaiming the death of Aswathama (elephant) for military gain are
lauded, accepted and readily employed in daily life.
Rule of Law or equality of all before the law is a European evolution,
alongwith the concept of a modern state and nation, which emerged after
centuries of wars between the emperors and kings and the Pope and other
religious leaders, barons and common people fighting for equality and rule of
law. Kings were guillotined, hanged or killed or expelled in France, Russia,
Turkey, China and other countries, before the concept of nation and equality
before law emerged and took hold. India has not gone through such a
metamorphosis as yet.
K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to
Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served
terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of
the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies.
28-Nov-2009
More by : K. Gajendra Singh
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