Mumbai - Terrorism visits the city again!

I am not going to provide any graphic images or any youtube videoes to this post here, as it is more than apparent that no images can truly convey the horror that the whole of India has gone through ever since this latest episode of terror started.

It seems that the basic premise behind this attack was done specifically to diminish the economic prowress of the Nation as a whole. It is a really idiotic theorey, blow up a building and what, India's economy will falter. These guys are idiots, with no remorse perhaps but at the best,idiots. Terrorism does not make any country's economy falter and what's more with this latest terrorist attack, they have highlighted India in more ways than one. Sure, given the choice, we would rather that this attack had not taken place. But at the end of the day, India's economy will grow and do so for the forseeable future. This attack has but strengthend our resolve and it does not matter which part of India they attack, for the resolve of all Indians is universal, we will not be cowed down by such Cowards!

My heart goes out to the innocents and the young who were killed in this latest batch of terrorism from Pakistan [ The evidence is already there and for those of you who find it hard to beleive, go ahead and watch the news channels],no surprise there. But enough ius enough, one can only hope that the Indian government as well as the president of India cracks down on such contries providing support bases to terrorists. The government should start taking effective action by listing out the evidence and provide the same to all countries from China to the United states, tell them that either you are with us or stand against us - the line used by George bush during the 9-11. This action should not end there but should continue with hot pursuit, eliminating all terror bases either with pakistan's co-operation or not. If Pakmistan wants to survive its economic disaster and prevent the country from fragmening, it should take heed to do the same.

When it comes to reporting, I have to say that I was duly impressed by the reporters online 24 hours a day covering every aspect of this attack. To expect any Indian remain unaffected by this attack or remain objective is not realistic but that is exactly what most if not all the reporters did. They managed to provide up to date info on the attacks, provide arguments as to why these terrorists came from paistan and even aired pakistan's objections to the same. One can see why Indian news channels continue to reap rewards for their hard work and for providing 'objectivity' even under duress.

But is hard to make the same argument when it comes to some of the so called foreign channels from the BBC to CNN. With BBC, though they did provide an objective analysis the reporters were more busy with trying to discredit any theories put forth for this attack then examining the terrorist threat under the scanner. Frankly, it surprised me to see a vetran reporter of the likes of christiana amanpour do her best to discredit the government's theorey that the terrorists came from Pakistan. Sure, she gave 'objectivity' her money's worth, probably all 2 cents of it anyway. What did she think, that the terrorists came from nowwhere and went on this terrp spree for no reason at all. Even the common man can figure it out that these guys came well planned and were in this for the long haul. To listen to this particular reporter from CNN, one would think that it is our fault for being a vibrant democracy and a resurgent economy, implying that we caused the terrorists to attack. Shame on you for being so in-sensitive christiana, I hope that you never get to visit my wonderful country ever again. The government should seriously take some action of some sort against this channel, but then again, we are not China- meaning a police state. Under a democracy, we allow everyone to have a right to say what they want, irrespective of thier affiliations or the India hatred that christiana seems to have developed. Either way, christiana please do not bothe coming down here for we are not interested in playing host to the likes of you. I am glad that it is all over, thank you NSG, Marcos, the Army as well as the Navy including the Police. I am sure that no amount of praises or condolences is going to lessen the pain of the loss, but it is essential that we all remember that 'Tommorow is another day, we shall survive and certainly rise, irrespective of what took place'.
regds one and all.

Pakistan - an election that never was!

It is that time of the year when all the crazies come out of the closet and one of them just happens to be called Musharraf. The recent events has left no one in doubts as to the veracity of the current election, that said, It does make one wonder why on earth is Musharraf conducting an election that is bound to be derided from all corners of the world.

Pakistani politics does always leave one to wonder 'when is the other shoe going to drop'. Well, it is the very query that is bound to go through Musharraf's head more now than later. His position in the country as one of the most hated person’s right after General Zia is not something to be proud of, but then again, that is the bitter truth, one that Musharraf may well have to come to terms with.

With the United States all eager to prove to the rest of the world that Pakistan is a democratic country, one that no one in his or her right mind would accept, has sent in three senators to act as observers. Yeah, right! They are probably observing all that is taking place right from their hotel rooms since it is not safe for them to walk in the streets.

With one of Musharraf's chief allay lagging behind in the polls; Musharraf seems to be at a loss of words as to what is happening. I think that Musharraf must have harbored a secret desire to be crowned as king at the end of the election. I think that we can all say that is not going to happen anytime soon and even if it did, it would probably be as a result of all the rigging.

This is one election that is turning out to be something else altogether. After all the times that Musharraf had commented on the Kashmir polls, as to how unfair they were, the current situation must indeed be galling for him to say the least. India has since its independence, proved to the rest of the world that the spirit of democracy is vibrant at all corners of the nation. And, today just as Pakistan has finished with the election business, maybe Musharaff may take a page from the India book and make sure that at least the next time around, true democracy takes the place of Musharraf's autocracy. In the end, that is what this is all about, power and who acquires it.

The day that Musharraf got rid off the Supreme Court under false charges, the spirit of democracy fled Pakistan. Just hosting an election that is all in name only will not bring it back. It is high time that Musharraf went into exile; maybe he could ask the Indian leaders for refuge status as they have been accepting refugees since time immemorial. Either way, with Musharraf out of the way, may be we can hold a real election!

Pakistani polls, a futile exercise?

Will the music of democracy ever play in Pakistan ever again? With the Human rights indicating that it is standing by its stand that one of the top officials in Pakistan had indicated that there is going to be an 'all out' rigging so that Musharraf's party wins the polls, more and more doubts are being cast on an election which no one believes will ever take place.
And even if it did take place, no one in Pakistan is willing to lay any bets on it being fair and square. With the United States willing to rubber stamp the 'elections' by sending three U.S senators to over see it. What are they here to oversee, the rigging?
They may as well announce the winners as Musharraf's party right now and get done with it. Why bother going to the extent of holding an election when we all know that it is an exercise in imagination and one that does not exercise the people's mandate?

Bhutto soon to be arrested!

Benazir has returned to Pakistan and is currently sitting in the plane waiting to be either arrested or deported. Either way, she is determined to call Musharraf on his threat of destroying her. At the moment, Pakistani politics are in a very turbulent stage and no one knows what tomorrow will bring,literally.
General Musharraf has destabilised Pakistan and all for his desire for power. I guess that his desire for power is much stronger than his oath that he would do all he can to uphold the democratic principles that are enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan. With the way that things are going, it remains to be seen if the current Pakistan-India matches would take place or if the PCB would call the matches off?
I earnestly hope that the latter does not happen and that it would be business as usual for the game of cricket which has certainly bought these two nations much more closer than before!

Tags:emergency,benazir bhutto,democracy,army,military coup,

India wins the T-20 world championship!!

Kudos to the Indian team for winning this match against Pakistan.this was the match that the entire world had expected to see the last time in the World cup but were cheated as a result of dismal performance from both the teams the last time.but this time they did not disappoint anyone.this match was full of high passion,drama,curses,hugs,body snatching,and above all was a nail biting entertainer to the very end.
This was one of those matches which could have gone either way and there was no way of knowing who was going to win until the very last 3-4 balls of the match.everyone were on the edge of their seats and they and the rest of the world forgot everything else and were concentrating so hard on the match that if an electric power blac out had hit any part of the world there would have been a ruckus of a huge kind.the world knows that as far as India and Pakistan go,cricket is religion here.and naturally high passions come into play.to see the aussie media like 'The Australian' taking pot shots at the Indian team,calling them boorish and one of its key players as 'volatile' does not give the Indian team their due credit.as far as the aussie media is concerend,i shall cover that later.all i can say is that the entire world knows how the aussie's play their soccer and for them to call anyone else 'boorish' is a case of 'SOUR GRAPES' as well as a case of 'the pot calling the kettle black'.
WELL DONE INDIA!

Radical muslim cleric killed by pakistani troopers!

Today saw the pakistani troopers raid the Red mosque in the heart of Islamabad where the radical cleric was holed up with his supporters which mainly consisted of women.President Musharaff was indeed caught between a rock and a hard place.the radical cleric and his brother and followers were getting out of hand with their demand to have the shariat law imposed all over pakistan.with things coming to a head,Musharaff gave them an ultimatum,surrender or face the consequences.please remember that the Musharaff government is supported in the center by a radical muslim group who are not going to be all too happy with the current turn of events.what is more,this political group is now going to come under enormous pressure which may force them to reconsider their support to the Musharaff government.
Either way with a dammed if he does or dammed if he does not,Musharaff finally had enough and gave the orders to the troopers to raid the mosque.fighting is currently going on with hand to hand battles in almost every room.the rebels are giving as good as they get and the story is yet to fully play out.either way President Musharaff is heading into some really troubled times.will he survive this,probably but his political career is almost over with this faux paus.after all if one were to attack the very hand that one is fed by,what support can one count on come elections which by the way are not that far away!

pakistan,
musharaff,elections,china,united states,

Kargil fund was not paid by Pratibha's bank?!?

The Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank, set up by UPA presidential candidate Pratibha Patil, collected Rs 4,556 from its employees for the Kargil war victims but failed to deposit the amount in the national fund.this is unheard of.if they had no intention of depositing the money then why on earth did they collect it in the first place.was it all just a scam?the bank directors owe the people of India an explanation.this bank of prathibha's seems to have been involved in some pretty shady deals.wonder what else we are gong to find if we were to lift the rock further.some of the people are going around saying that mud slinging is going on because certain sections cannot stomach a woman president.i can honestly say that nothing can be further from the truth.these questions have been raised by ms Prathibha Patel's behaviour and the behaviour of her family members especially when they were members of the board in this bank.what is more since president Abdul J Kalam has categorically said that he is not standing for elections we as the public feel that the person who is going to be the next president of India should be a person who is above reproach and does not raise so many bogey's whenever her name comes up!

india,pratibha patel,kargil,pakistan,war,