Good Cop, Bad Cop

It can’t be bigger than Bofors due to the sheer value, financial as well as regarding security measures, attached to the gun deal. However, the scam regarding bullet proof vests is itself a big deal.

The CBI has arrested three people, including one bribe-giver, for exposing an officer of the home ministry for taking Rs. 10 lakh.

R.K. Gupta’s company manufactures defence equipment and he feels he is being targeted because he exposed the cartel:

“This is an act of revenge. I and my wife studied at IITs. We are paying the price for blowing the lid off the scam. This is bigger than Bofors. We will have more (Hemant) Karkares if such elements are allowed to have their say in the decision-making process.”

Surprisingly, the CBI prosecutor investigating into the case, instead of expressing any views on the officials, said:

“We are not a puppet investigation agency. The CBI does not work under the MHA, and it carries on the probe independently. We have a CD of their taped conversation and this court can hear it. The accused is saying he is a whistleblower, but at the same time he was bribing the accused official.”

He could well be both. In fact, if he is the briber, then the case gets more credence. The problem is that everyone wants to sound holier-than-thou. The bullet proof vest controversy came to light after the killing of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, and more so after his widow filed a PIL.

No one can deny that those jackets were not upto the required standard, if any such standard is laid down at all. There weren’t sufficient numbers. If we want our police force to be ready and do not want a blockbuster where we have to bring in commandos, then we have to make them feel empowered.

There are, no doubt, instances of cops being the bad guys, several instances. But, there are many who want to do their jobs as best as they can. We have seen photographs of them in makeshift tents, where they did not have basic facilities and had to use the local shauchalaya even to bathe.

Just harping on coast guards is not going to take away the terror that exists everyday for the ordinary individual, especially the vulnerable segments.

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Talking of which, it was wonderful to read about Parivartan, an initiative by the Delhi Police, that has only women beat constables. A report in The Hindu quoted Sagar Preet Hooda, DCP (North), who is responsible for this:

“Police can't be everywhere, this is a mechanism to help us prevent crime against women, not just in public places but in their homes too. The beat constables are in constant touch with the colony women, they share their mobile numbers with them so that they can contact them in trouble. Women bond easily with women and that they know someone in the police gives these vulnerable women a sense of confidence to fight crime not just for them but for the neighbours too. We have cases where people complained against domestic violence in the neighbourhood and we have intervened.”

There are NGOs, but they too have to report to the police. In this case, there is direct contact and the very presence of the cops can act as a deterrent. Even more heartening is that it concentrates on the poorer localities and conducts workshops to train women in self-defence.

Let me play devil’s advocate for a bit: are these cops given the licence to shoot? Bonding is good, having authority figures around is better, but will these female constables act if necessary? Do they have weapons that work? We are informed that crime rate has reduced. Have there been any concrete examples of a rape being prevented? These vigils are in colonies and colonies have hierarchies. Do the cops get to choose their beat?

Despite these nitpicking queries, I think it is an important move, especially since domestic cases can be solved at the ground level rather than being dragged to court.

This sounds like real fast-track justice rather than the trumped up ones that the courts flaunt in celebrity cases.

News meeows - 23

Tony Blair’s sycophancy towards the US is well-known. He is now defending himself before the first official grilling of sending 45,000 troops to Iraq in 2003. That is six years too late.



His remarks are completely off:

“This isn’t about a lie, or a conspiracy, or a deceit, or a deception, this is a decision. And the decision I had to take was, given Saddam’s history, given his use of chemical weapons, given the over 1 million people whose deaths he caused, given 10 years of breaking UN resolutions, could we take the risk of this man reconstituting his weapons programme? I believed ... that we were right not to run that risk.”

Was this his decision or his Party’s? Or was it prompted by America? Had Saddam caused deaths outside his country? Did anyone in Iraq seek western intervention? Now that no WMDs have been found, he is talking about the threat of Saddam reconstituting his weapons programme. Does the West not have the technical arsenal to know about such earth-shaking occurrences? Aren’t they warning the rest of the world about imminent attacks? Weapons programmes do not just drop from certain skies or sprout from the soil of selected nations. It takes some work and that can be traced.

The more amazing comment is Blair being concerned about Saddam breaking UN resolutions. Apparently he had already promised Bush his support to get to the weapons for, “If we tried the UN route and that failed, my view was it had to be dealt with.”

So, the possibility of the UN route failing was there. Could not Saddam have utilised those same loopholes and tardiness?

And then he has the gumption to state that the post-war planning was flawed:

“The planning assumption that...everybody made was that there would be a functioning civil service. Contrary to what we thought ... we found a completely broken system.”

What did he expect? After decimating a country pretending to help it, there would be a system that would work so that the West could arrive to the sound of bugles and put up a puppet regime?

This war was a lie and deceit. And there ought to be international legal provisions to try leaders of countries that use the UN as their toad.

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Can Shahrukh Khan please thank the Shiv Sena? Or has he already done it much before the ‘controversy’? I hate to revisit the IPL saga, but when the first bits of news trickled in I did not read a single comment by the actor. He came in later to say that the Pakistanis and Australians must be allowed to play. Now, the Shiv Sena has asked its party’s loyal workers to tear posters of the not-yet-released film My Name Is Khan.

Last night I was watching a discussion between a SS guy and an activist, Gerson da Cunha. We know what the SS guy must have said, but Mr da Cunha wondered why the Shiv Sena has not done anything about ‘Bombay’ Port or the ‘Bombay’ Times. I found the latter bit intriguing. The gentleman, although among the few truly genuine people as per my instinct, is pretty much visible on Page 3. It was, therefore, a bit surprising that he brought this up. Also, he made a specific reference to the TOI “at Bori Bunder”! As many of you might not be aware, that stretch was called that, the Bori standing for the Bohris – a sect of Muslims. I think he was trying to make a point.

Anyhow, after that I changed channels and there was Sharukh on a news programme talking with Karan Johar and Kajol and they did their hokey-pokey routine. Is anyone from the SS objecting to the promos, the interviews on TV, in the newspapers?

No. Because the SS needs to be in the news and so do the people “in trouble”, especially if the trouble is going to get them the attention they need at the moment.

The Shiv Sena is a public service organisation that keeps our celebrities in fine fettle. The film is to release only in the second week of this month. Our Home Minister P. Chidambaram has come out and spoken about how he would like to see the Pak players in action. He said it was his personal opinion. The Home Minister cannot appear before the media and give his personal opinion on a subject that has the nation in thrall and is already a diplomatic disaster. No one asked him what his favourite video game was.

So, Shahrukh gets Congress support but being a good Maharashtrian he will also be nice to the SS…maybe an apology, maybe a special meeting with the Supremo where ‘the matter will be resolved’? And then a special screening with buttered popcorn?

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How important is it for anyone to have news channels discuss Sania Mirza’s broken engagement? We know that the media is intrusive and we are. If it has to be reported, fine. Be done with it. But, no. They were playing Hindi film songs in the background and brought in the third party factor, too. Worse, her publicity-hungry father was telling media persons about “incompatibility”, and one anchor in the studio said how can they now become incompatible when they were compatible when they got engaged?

Clearly, this woman has no idea. Did the media ask them whether they planned to get married because they were compatible? It could have been that he liked watching her play.

This has given enough grist for the glossies and sundry snippets to debate the issue about women’s achievement and men’s insecurity. Ten people are asked ten questions in ten places and they give ten answers which effectively say nothing that we don’t already know.

For the 'don’t already know' and my views, watch this space. (Hah, isn’t that how the media keeps you hooked? I am just tryin’ my hand at it too!)

Ajmal, Advani, Antony

Did any of you expect Kasab to tell the truth and admit to his role in the 26/11 attacks? No one did. Not even the prosecution or the judge. This was routine they had to go through and they did. Reports say that Kasab had come prepared. Of course, he would. And he did what he is best at – acting.

Do remember that he has been in prison with no access to handlers. His lawyer was forced to quit. For him to alter his statements must take a good deal of confidence or he knows that, as I have said often before, this case will be kept alive for a long time. And now with Headley and the FBI, he can take big risks. Either go down and become the lone martyr and keep the case simmering or get saved and keep the case simmering.

Simmering is the operative word. More trials. More questions. More paranoia.

He now says that it was the other terrorist who looks exactly like him behind the killings. The cops saw the bodies and unless they are badly disfigured this could be verified.

Unfortunately for us, the statements may appear like “tall claims” according to the prosecution, but he has got our law down pat.

• His earlier confession was made due to fear
• Witnesses can be tutored
• Cops are not supposed to be present at the identification parade
• Anyone could have identified him because that picture was published all over the world

He is smart. Newspaper reports are not:

The core of Kasab’s implausible story was that he had been first picked up by the “local police at Juhu Chowpatty’’. “I had a passport and a Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Many youth from my village in Pakistan had earlier come to Mumbai. I was roaming around, thinking of going for a movie and looking for a place to stay. The policemen saw that I was a Pakistani and took me to a police station and later handed me over to the Crime Branch,’’ he told the judge.

Why is any of this implausible? People can get picked up at Juhu Chowpatty by the cops, especially if they look aimless. He says the police saw his passport and a mobile phone. If there was a real passport and he had not yet reported himself to the nearest police station then he would get arrested.

The law says that giving false accounts cannot implicate him. But the Crime Branch knows whether there was a passport and cellphone, and the External Affairs Ministry can clearly come out with the assertion that India, like Pakistan, does not issue tourist visas to the citizens of the other country.

Of all the major issues, the judge told him that a 10-year-old girl who had been shot at CST had identified him in court. To which Kasab shot back, “She’s just a kid; whatever they tutor her to say, she will repeat in court.”

What did you expect? What did anyone expect from the final evidence?

The case is far from over.

Side lite: A few days ago a report mentioned that Kasab now eats vegetarian food and does not demand meat. The reason they say is he is now unsure whether the meat is halal. If a man can throw tantrums and make demands, he would jolly well ask how they butchered the animal.

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There is fresh news about the bullet-proof jacket.

Apparently the consignment was tested in 2002 from a 100 feet range by an AK-47 rifle. The bullet pierced the jacket but got stuck nicely inside causing only a dent on the steel plate. It was given the A-okay.

As reported in the TOI:

Col (Retd) M P Choudhary, a veteran of Operation Bluestar, who later trained Mumbai Police commandos, says this is misleading. “This jacket is unlikely to have a trauma pack to absorb the power of the bullet and in that case the ribs of the man wearing it would be shattered by the impact and the shock would kill him,’’ he said. In tests by the army, this is what has happened to goats strapped with such jackets.

However, police sources say, at the time when they were purchasing the jackets, they had no idea that one day they would be used against terrorists. “When Mumbai Police issued a tender for the jackets in December 2001, gangsters were on our mind,’’ said a senior police officer.

Even if one assumes that the Police Force did not think it would have to deal with terrorists, it still leaves the question about who can use what sort of arms. Gangsters have access to the best weapons. In fact, they sell them to terrorists. Also, does one assume that while militants were infiltrating India the Mumbai cops were supposed to believe that nothing would ever happen? It need not have been an attack. It could have been an encounter. We have had riots, we have had bomb blasts.

This attitude is way too laidback. Do we have the arms? Is our strategy one of defence or offence?

And why is there such a noise by the establishment about the BP jackets now when they say that ATS chief Hemant Karkare was shot at in the neck? Talk about obsessions.

Side lite: Defence Minister A.K.Antony has reportedly reduced the troops in Jammu and Kashmir because:

“Whenever we feel the situation has improved or is improving we will further reduce the visibility and presence of the Army in the state... it is because of the presence of the army that we have been able to counter terrorism in the state.”

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America, said:

“I really do believe that ‘de-tensioning’ of (Kashmir) border is absolutely critical to long term stability in that region. And it is going to take outreach on the part of both countries (India and Pakistan) ."

So, has the situation already improved or are we going to improve (de-tension) it by withdrawal of troops? Since when have the US military personnel got a say in these matters?

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On another note: Goodbye and Hello Again

The BJP, the party with a strict protocol, has changed its constitution and made place for a Chairman. L.K. Advani is now no more Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha; Sushma Swaraj takes over.

Advani will be mentor. They need him. He is the face of the BJP.

The party that has dissed everyone for pseudo-secularism will have to indulge in a bit of jugglery:

But with the leaders of Opposition in both Houses and BJP president being Brahmins, the party will have to work out its caste balance.

Here we are really talking. The BJP’s symbol, Lord Rama, was a Kshatriya. Ravana was a Brahmin.

Ahem.

The killing fields within America

Take this. An Army psychiatrist. Frustration. Opposes war in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was being sent off.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is not somebody one would have heard about. Today, as news comes in about him going on a shooting spree at the Fort Hood Texas Army base killing 13 people and wounding 31, his act is being called madness. Not any old madness, but with the subtext of madness with a method to it.

Retired Col. Terry Lee who had worked with him said:

“He would make comments to other individuals about how we should not be in the war in the first place.”

He also made “outlandish” comments:

“He said maybe Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor. At first, we thought he meant help the armed forces, but apparently, that wasn't the case.”

I am afraid but there are many soldiers and civilians who believe the United States of America should not be in this war. And no American officer would publicly sound so naïve as to suggest that a mental health professional would talk as a Muslim about fighting the aggressor and mean helping the armed forces. What aggression have Iraq or Afghanistan displayed towards the US, until provoked? Their lands are being occupied by outside forces.

If Hasan got poor reviews in his previous posting, had “difficulties” that “required counseling and extra supervision”, why was he in the army?

Texas US Rep. Michael McCaul said that he “took a lot of advanced training in shooting”, and this helped him.

If he had made outlandish comments, had difficulties, and now they say he was a “devout Muslim”, which is enough to brand him, then who permitted him to get this training? What do the rule manuals say about it? Did he get a personal trainer as though this was some private gym?

It is clear that he opposed the wars, that is the reason he fired at his colleagues at the military base shouting out to civilians to move out of the way, something that the US establishment does not do when it uses drones.

His two handguns are said to be not “military-issued”, which raises the question about gun culture.

And what does President Barack Obama have to say?

It's "difficult enough to lose" soldiers in battles abroad, he said, but "it's horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil." The president promised a sweeping investigation of the worst soldier-on-soldier attack ever to take place on US soil.

He might like to consider trying to understand the thinking of his troops. The ones who kill at the army base on US soil or who abuse prisoners in lands they have been sent to under the guise of saviours.

I do hope Maj. Hasan survives (he is on ventilator), appears before the courts and is tried for his crime. There is no doubt about that. It will also open up a few cans of worms for this man dealt with the minds of soldiers. It must have affected him deeply.

The madness lies in the system. He is a cog in the wheel. It is unfortunate that he killed his colleagues. They probably hate the wars as much as he does. Though, one must ask: whose war is it anyway?

Rahul's Pakistan and Arnie's Sikhs

In recent times, Rahul Gandhi has made a few small strides in appealing to public sentiment for things other than the cuteness factor.

Now the cute boy is acting all grown up:

“India is giving too much time to its neighbour. It is not even half as important as we are making it. India cannot be compared to Pakistan in world affairs... India has a larger role and status internationally... Pakistan shall occupy a small piece of our diplomatic policy. I do not wish to talk even for five minutes about Pakistan,’’ he said, refuting the charge that Delhi faced embarrassment after the joint declaration at Sharm el-Sheikh.

He is right about us being obsessed with Pakistan. But why has he woken up now? How does pitting ourselves against that country, as he is in fact doing, make it less important? If you don’t think something is worth it then do not say that we are better. You can be better than something that occupies the same space – in real terms or in your mind.

To get to the more crucial aspect of diplomatic policy, this is a rather juvenile statement. The small part is enough to cause us untold agony. And this small part is more crucial than attending some G-string summit, because it has to do with a stretch of land more than anything else. Pakistan is not interested in how much we are shining and our GDP. Pakistan is interested in Kashmir; we are interested in Kashmir. And, guess what? Kashmiris are interested in Kashmir. So, we will have to spend more than five minutes on anything to do with Pakistan. I know it is a heck of a long time for someone who is busy tasting different kinds of Dalit cuisine, but tough luck.



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How many Sikhs do you know in your regular life who go around carrying kirpans?


California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a Bill seeking to educate law enforcement officers about the religious significance of kirpans, one of the five Ks that Sikh religion expects its followers to adhere to.

“This loss for the Sikh community is a reminder of our serious lack of political clout in this state. After months of hard work and 100 per cent support from our lawmakers, the Sikh voice was still not strong enough to overcome the whim of one man,” said Prabhjot Singh, chairman of the advocacy group Sikh Coalition.

Over the last few years, there has been a sudden rise in the arrests of Sikhs nationwide for carrying kirpans. In most cases, the Sikh Coalition said, the police take kirpans to be concealed weapons.

Like religious resurgence and identifiable marks in many societies, it is happening among the Sikhs too. This is not about clothes or beliefs. A weapon is a weapon. How would teaching the cops about its religious significance make it less worrisome? Would Sikhs in the US expect to board flights with their kirpans when people are not allowed to carry tweezers? I would be curious to know how many of them wear kachhas, the boxer shorts sort of undergarment. Is it feasible to wear it beneath tight jeans? These are supposed to be visible symbols to display faith, and the kirpan is to be used only as protection and self-defence.

When the Sikhs had to distance themselves after 9/11 from terrorists, they used their different faith. Now, it is their different faith that is being asked to follow what everyone considers mainstream norms of the United States of America, and it does have to do with security issues. American lobbies are pretty strong against the gun culture too.

So, does anyone have anything to say about Arnie and his move?

Gunning for whom?

On Dussehra it is customary to commemorate good over evil. I have seen pictures of the police placing flowers over weapons. Understandable. They are in a sense worshipping their job. Although it ought to be more than the use of weapons. If the armed forces do so, again fine. What is the chief minister of Gujarat doing bowed before guns?

He ought to be at his office offering prayers to all those musty files that have let him off. Or he should be arranging money to give as compensation.
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Image courtesy The Times of India