December 27th, 2008 – A year to her passing…

December 27th, 2007, the date on which Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. A year has passed since then and today is the first year of her death anniversary.

A year to her passing and democracy has supposedly returned to this country. Zardari is the President of Pakistan (Still with the ’sweeping’ powers that many had opposed for Musharraf). The PPP rules the day even thou the party is more or less hijacked by the president and his cronies. Pakistan is in a serious economic turmoil (The world is facing a global recession to be fair) and we have turned to our ‘last’ option of the IMF. The terrorist attacks have continued and operations in our northern areas are ongoing. Relations with our neighbors India are tense with activities along both sides of the border.

A year has passed with all of the above, and our country’s mindset is still stuck on the CJ, the investigation in Benazir’s assassination case and other political bickering.

A year has passed and corruption and poverty are still rampant in our country. If nothing else, it has increased.

And still, our country’s mindset is stuck on the same things. We are still caught up in the hysterical circus of who killed BB. We are still stuck up in the circus of the CJ. And now we are heading into the war hysteria following the ‘Mumbai Massacre’ or Carnage or whatever it is that you want to call that.

Bhutto’s PPP is no longer hers or her father’s legacy as they had left it. That legacy has been hijacked by her husband and his henchmen. Even thou shrewd President of Pakistan/ “Co-Chairman” of PPP , has learned his way with words, one still can tell from the look on his face which he does try and hide so well that he’s still busy counting the money in his head that’s being made. The money that’s still spilling over from the lottery ticket that he’s been awarded since last year. Many times in this past year have I heard people say that Zardari has surprisingly learned how to talk and what’s more, talk sense on occasion.

A year to her death and the fortunes of this land are still hanging by a thread. Aside from my own personal opinions on the character and ambitions of BB, I for moment thought that maybe , just maybe the PPP if they win the election, and since they were die hard Bhutto followers, would rise somewhat for the betterment of this country. I thought, as Bilawal said ‘Democracy is the best revenge’, the PPP would take it upon themselves to avenge her death by the best possible means to quash terrorism, corruption and steer this nation in the right direction. I was of course wrong and it was of course a fleeting thought in a mere micro moment of time.

That was not to be. The channels today looked like digital shrines of the Bhuttos with the constant show reels on the past and the present of the bhuttos. The documentaries on the assassination plot investigation by various channels added to it. And of course goes on to prove what I earlier said about our nations mindset.

December 27th, 2008….. a year to BB’s death……. and a year with nothing to show for her supposed ‘Democratic ambitions for this country and its progress’.

Indian View: Cover-up?

By

Sandhya Jain

1 December 2008

While stock-taking has only just begun, it already appears as if some things are being covered up. In these circumstances, the retention of Narayanan who was invisible during the entire crisis though he was too visible in the hated Indo-US nuclear deal does nothing to inspire confidence. In an atmosphere when media hype persistently reminds us of the Twin Towers tragedy in New York, one can only think of the success of Prince Bandar in escorting all well-connected Saudi youth out of America in the immediate aftermath of 11 September 2001.

Some things deserve an immediate answer – how many terrorists were there actually; how did they reach their respective destinations inland; and is it possible that “super-terrorists” simply walked out with the real survivors after having utilised the “mercenaries” to the hilt, just as they had murdered the navigators of the boats that brought them to Mumbai?

Current media reports and government sources say that the terrorists came by sea, landing near the Gateway of India or Colaba. This certainly explains the attacks on the sea front hotels like Taj, Oberoi and the Nariman House. But the question remains – how did they get to the CST station, Cama Hospital, and other places inland? Someone must have provided transport and back-up.

By no logic can anyone believe that nine separate sites in a city could be held to ransom by just 10 men. It is particularly difficult to believe that gigantic hotels like the Taj could be ruined and scores of guests killed or injured by just two men (sometimes the figure goes to six). Even two men per floor could not have caused the kind of death and destruction that did happen. A small place like Nariman House, yes, but Taj and Oberoi – I don’t believe it. And if there were six persons at Taj and at least two at Nariman House, that means only two persons destroyed the Oberoi?

Rediff.com has interviewed the doctors who conducted the post-mortems on the dead hostages and terrorists, and it is their expert opinion that a battle of attrition took place over three days at the Oberoi and Taj hotels. The mutilation of the bodies was unlike anything they had seen in their careers in forensics.

For one, the bodies of the victims bore horrible signs of torture. Now this is understandable if the victims are being tormented by half-human beasts, but it seems strange that two terrorists could simultaneously fight and keep Indian commandos at bay for 62 hours, and also have the time to torture their victims. Yet the doctors were emphatic that:
“It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood.”

To my mind, it seems apparent that the terrorists who kept the NSG commandos engaged and those who tortured and killed the hotel staff and guests were two separate groups.

This suspicion is intensified by the startling revelation that the terrorists also did not meet a clean death. Doctors who conducted the post-mortem said the bodies of the terrorists – especially their faces – were beyond recognition. The security forces identified the bodies as those of terrorists [on TV they said it was because of the presence of weaponry near the bodies].

One terrorist was shot through either eye (i.e., both eyes!!!). As the NSG commandos never got to such close range with the terrorists, and nobody commits suicide by shooting both his own eyes, it follows that the killers were somebody else. Since none of the hotel guests could have the kind of weaponry used in the conflict, this suggests the presence of a mysterious third party, making the terrorists the victims of a classic double-cross – the stuff of spy thrillers. Actually, it reminds one of the convenient murder of the alleged killer of President John F. Kennedy.

Hence it would be entirely in order to closely interrogate each and every guest, especially the foreign guests, before allowing them to leave the country. Without false emotionalism, we should also fingerprint them for the future; who knows what Interpol cooperation may throw up.

Top Russian counter-terrorism expert, Vladimir Klyukin, an Afghan war veteran, opines that the Mumbai attackers were not “ordinary terrorists” and were probably trained by the special operations forces set up in Pakistan by US intelligence prior to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. In his view, the nature of the Mumbai events suggests the signature of the ‘Green Flag’ special operations forces created by the Americans in Pakistan, just a year before the Soviet withdrawal.

Guerrilla operations of the Mumbai kind require at least two-three years of preparatory work with experienced instructors. Raw trainees cannot hold four huge complexes in a city to ransom for so long. The Russian Interfax news agency reported the former KGB veteran as surmising the involvement of at least 50 terrorists, given the geography and sheer scale of the attacks. This seems like a legitimate estimation.

What is more, the only way 9 coordinated attacks can occur simultaneously is by using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) or live maps for communication and control. These are not normally owned by private parties. Initial investigations also suggested that as many as seven terrorists included mostly British-born Pakistanis, and one does hope that these leads are not covered up. The reports also suggested some gunmen were captured, but later media reports highlighted that only one terrorists was caught alive at the railway station. So there is a lot of confusion here that needs to be cleared up.

Certainly the hints about British involvement, openly asserted by the outspoken Lyndon LaRouche, need investigation.

Media has been heavily criticized in some quarters for airing visuals of NSG commandos dropping on the hotel roofs from helicopters, and thus giving operational secrets away to the militants watching TV inside. If the criticism is to be valid, however, we will have to accept that the terrorists had more men inside who could be deployed to watch TV and give information which would enable them to react and rebuff the aerial assault. There is no way 2 to 6 terrorists could torture victims sadistically and kill them brutally, watch TV, fight and keep the security forces at bay for 62 hours, and then kill themselves or each other in impossible ways.

The death of terrorists points to a clear double-cross and also the possibility of the involvement of more than one religious denomination. That the terrorists did not prepare for death by carrying potassium cyanide is well known; nor did they simply intend to blow themselves up like the usual suicide bombers. The surviving terrorist has revealed that they were told of an escape plan – and no doubt that plan was used by those who killed their fellow terrorists and walked out free!

This writer has consistently stated that modern, late 20th-21st century jihad is qualitatively different from the medieval jihad in which Muslim armies led by generals or kings ran over much of the world in Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Contemporary jihad is a mercenary tool of Western colonialism, serving a colonial intent with devout slavishness, and this seems borne out by the events of Mumbai.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether or not the Islamic world wakes up to the reality of its own self-enslavement. India on its part has demonstrated that no matter how long it takes to get operational, no matter the cost in terms of live and property, the territory of Bharat Mata will be protected.

It is more than likely that Pakistan was rebuked by its British and American ‘friends’ (read Masters) for agreeing to send the ISI chief to assist in the investigations, and forced to backtrack on a solemn assurance. The teams from Scotland Yard and America, ostensibly coming to assist India in the probe, are more likely trying to ascertain the extent of evidence with India.

It is pertinent that the recovery of a satellite phone from the trawler abandoned with the body of the Gujarati captain revealed that the trawler had been hijacked to Karachi Port, and while there, calls were made even to Australia (where the CIA has a famous outpost!)

Interestingly, General Leonid Ivashov, who was Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces when the Twin Towers tragedy happened on 11 September 2001, insists that there is no such thing as international terrorism and that “the September 11 attacks were the result of a set-up. What we are seeing is a manipulation by the big powers; this terrorism would not exist without them.” Instead of faking a “world war on terror”, the best way to reduce such attacks is through respect for international law and peaceful cooperation among countries and their citizens [http://www.voltairenet.org/article133909.html]

Globalization creates the conditions for the emergence of this terror. It seeks to design a new world geo-strategic map; appropriate the resources of the planet; erase cultural identities; and subjugate States before a global oligarchy. Thus, terrorism, according to Gen. Ivashov, is an instrument of world politics, “a means to install a unipolar world with a sole world headquarters, a pretext to erase national borders and to establish the rule of a new world elite. It is precisely this elite that constitutes the key element of world terrorism, its ideologist and its “godfather”.

Contemporary international terrorism combines the use of terror by State and non-State political structures to attain political objectives through intimidation of people, psychological and social destabilization, elimination of resistance inside power organizations, and the creation of appropriate conditions for the manipulation of the countries’ policies and the behaviour of people. Media complicity helps. But terrorism is not possible without the support of political and business circles that wield the funds to finance it – and Pakistan is notoriously bankrupt.

More pertinently, only secret services and their current or retired chiefs have the ability to plan and execute an operation of such complexity and scale. It is secret services that create, finance and control extremist organizations.

Is it possible that M.K. Narayanan has been retained by the current pro-Western dispensation to “help” the Western secret services (State actors) in the current mess, to facilitate their long-term agenda by manipulating and misleading the nation and the people? We deserve an answer; we demand to know.

The end of our journey – To all the Grads of ‘08, CBM

Well, yesterday we were all rewarded. Our hard work of over the past 4 – 5 years was rewarded. We all got our degrees. Some masters, some bachelors. But we all had that same feeling of saying ‘FINALLY!’

We all got bored by Dr. Shamshad, but then… we were also all reminded of all the times that we’ve spent in CBM by our valedictorian.

I want to elaborate on that. Since he probably couldn’t fit all of the memories in that short space of time. For he was smarter then the good doctor .

I remember my first day at CBM. I and my cousin started together. And unlike the new tradition, we had our orientation on the first day of our classes only and not on the Saturday before the first day of classes. Talib Karim – TK – promised us a lot. He promised a journey of academic enlightenment. Well, he half delivered … that too not because of his own doings. We had a journey alright. The academic bit, I would rather not start on. I got ragged, I made a new friend, and I even got the feel of how I would set myself in this new endeavor of life. And from that day on, it’s been a journey of never looking back, even for all the mistakes and mishaps in between. No regrets.

The next four years, I saw myself, and my friends, slaving over reports, presentations, quizzes, last minute assignments, mid-terms, finals etc. How we learned through the 4 years on how to master the reports that we are working no matter what the subject. We became well versed in the art of making a good report. Making it presentable. Putting in the right information whether copy pasted, or derived from interviews from various managers in various companies. We learned how to deal with different subjects differently. We learned how to plan out our group studies in order to do well in exams. We learned that certain areas we need help, and in others we need to help. And we did. We all helped each other. In one way or the other.

These 4 years, I also saw how drastically we changed in our registration planning. Not by choice thou, but by need. Because of the overwhelming population increase each year, courses started to become full more quickly every semester. We went through phases of different ways to register thanks to CBM. We saw long lines, flying tempers, 6 hour + waits, and still not getting the right courses. We saw blood and broken glass even. That was a sad day. We saw luck, by going and standing in line on the first day, at 7 A.M. and getting the EXACT courses we want with the EXACT teachers. We saw having to stand in wait to argue with TK and company to get our courses because we couldn’t get it through their thick heads that those were the only courses we had left!!

The last 4 – 5 years, we’ve seen ourselves change as well. In the way our personalities have developed. In the way we have made our friends, groups, social circles. In the way we have increased in our confidence to handle varying situations. From presentations to breaking the ice with the opposite gender (owing to the fact that some of us came from non-co educational backgrounds). We learned (especially marketing majors) that bullshitting is quite a handy art, regardless of where it is used. If used correctly this art can bring you unprecedented success in both work and social networking!

I know I am not even going into half the details of all that transpired in our journeys in CBM. But I think what is important is that I’ve remembered, that we were all in it together. We all took each other’s support. We all shared biryanis as neeraj put it, from Hanif Rajput (or the umpteen new caterers of our canteen) and still didn’t like it. But had it everyday nonetheless.

Remember all the cafe times. The extreme rush hours when there would be no space, ANYWHERE. And then came along the subway area, as a hint of relief.

The emergence of the guitar culture. Sitting down, jamming some tunes and eventually playing all the well known songs that everyone would join in on and have a great time. Brilliant memories.

The talent shows, the Jashn-e-Bahara’s or the other basant festivals we have had. The dramas. The society work! My Lord I can never forget that. I simply cannot. The achievements we made during our events and seminars that we worked and arranged for. And getting all the sponsors.

The car pools that a lot of us had. And the Van partners that most of us had! The early morning traffic and getting late for the morning class every single day! And ironically all the traffic belonging to IoBM students!

The bake sales. The teachers. Some of the funny ones. Some of the frustrating ones. Some of the non-caring ones. Some of the caring ones. Some of them that you still have a lot of respect for. Some of them from who you actually learned something. Something that you could take through to the rest of your life.

There have been so many memories. There have been so many people who are a part of these memories. If nothing else, CBM gave us these memories. Some good, some bad. It gave us friends. Who we will probably never forget.

If not in academic terms, at least CBM gave us a forum where we were able to determine a direction for ourselves.

Yesterday was the highest point of our journey of the last 4 – 5 years. For it was the completion of it. And the beginning of a new one. Or at least the official beginning (For all those who have already started working)!

Cheers and Congratulations to all my fellow 2008 Graduates, Bachelors and Masters alike. We made it guys.

Mindless Jabber

There are times when all of this seems utterly pointless. What’s the use of this material existence? Its all going to end. What’s the point of earning? A good job? A good education? I mean….. once the world ends… all of that will too, and we’ll probably forget about it.

So really, what’s the point of all of this ? Is it really a question of our desires and needs? Is all of this really done so that we can work our way through the ‘Hierarchy of needs’ that Maslow developed? What if truly deep down inside, we really ever do anything in this world for the sake of others and not ourselves? I mean everything other then the foremost basic human needs, which are governed by our id. Maybe we are all spending our lives to live up to what others want us to become. Or what this society dictates us to become.

And even if you are completely to terms with all of the above, and are actually doing everything that you can to live up to the expectations of others, what do others do if you something happens that’s truly beyond your control? They get disappointed. And your whole world comes crashing down. Perhaps because, as I said, we truly only spend our lives to live up to others.

So what’s the point of living through this life where you slave everyday like a robot, and 2 months into it realize this isn’t really what you wanted to do? Maybe in other parts of the world you are doing what you really wanted to be doing, but that’s a difference in society.

Now because of this stalemate of feelings of not really doing what you wanted to be doing and realizing it a bit too late to actually do anything about it since you are very much in the middle of disappointing someone for not living up to what they wanted you to become or what they expected of you, one being a human, and with a ‘Hierarchy of needs’ to complete and fulfill, the human mind tends to wander. The human mind tends to escape towards a more, fictional life. One with noses buried in books, and most of them about super heroes. So that we get lost in the world of fantasy and make believe super heroism.