Wednesday, May 14, 2008

NEGATIONISM

Negationism is a word which is not easily defined in the dictionaries . The Best definition of the word comes from the Belgian scholar Koenraad Elst:
"Negationism means the denial of historical crimes against humanity. It is not a reinterpretation of known facts, but the denial of known facts. The term negationism has gained currency as the name of a movement to deny a specific crime against humanity, the Nazi genocide on the Jews in 1941-45, also known as the holocaust (Greek: fire sacrifice) or the Shoah (Hebrew: disaster). Negationism is mostly identified with the effort at re-writing history in such a way that the fact of the Holocaust is omitted."
Cut the story to Jaipur , Yesterday , the 13th of May 2008 .Serial blasts throughout the city claim at least 63 lives ( we all know the authenticity of these official figures ) , but the intent in this write up is not with regard to Statistics , for even one life lost in this horrific violence is terrible, as we are talking of human lives and not mere numbers , although the reaction from the media points otherwise .Apparently , for the mainstream media in the country , such incidents mean , " the more the merrier ". More lives mean gory details ,more pictures , more bytes and stuff.
A list of such bombings throughout the country during the past couple of years includes , Hyderabad , Ajmer , Varanasi , Mumbai , Samjauta Express , Malegaon ! Such a Pan Indian stretch . And our response , you better tell me , has even a single perpetrator of such violence ever been caught . If perchance somebody is accidentally apprehended (accidentally , because if our agencies were vigilant, such acts would be minimised, if not eliminated , in the first place ) , do our security agencies ever obtain any leads which saves a future incident of such magnitude . After every blast or attack the same rigmarole is followed : The P.M and his Govt. express outrage , The C.M of the concerned state blames the Centre for not providing timely intelligence on the attack, An ex-gratia payment is announced , The Centre then retaliates and says that the state was informed , which is then challenged by the State Govt. Everybody then gets together and blames Pakistan , Huji , Lashkar-e -Toiba , SIMI , in case Muslims make up the majority of the victims ( Malegaon ) , snide remarks about Hindu fundamentalists being involved is also raised . Do not trust me !! Sample the findings of the Banerjee commission set up by Laloo Yadav to enquire into the Godhra incident . Evidently the commission arrived at the conclusion that the passengers first misbehaved at the Godhra railway station and then set the compartments on fire from inside !!!!!! Need anything be more said after this ingenuity . Could NEGATIONISM be anything different than this . The facts are infront of us , but like ostriches ,we prefer to bury our head in sand .
Compare our actions (or inactions , whichever pleases you ) , with the Israeli policy of an retribution . After the massacre of its athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 , the P.M Golda Meir authorised her secret services to hunt down the perpetrators , who belonged to the Black September group ( very closely connected with that epitome of Indian ' friend ' Yasser Arafat ) , wherever they were hiding in the world . Succed they did . Whatever the issues about morality of such actions be , atleast a message is sent down to these beasts that a price will have to be paid for every life of our citizens .
But the policy of Appeasement has been engrained in our system to such an extent ( its supporters call it the policy of ahimsa ) that our present P.M refused to blame Pakistan after one such recent incident , and went on to say that " Pakistan was as much a victim of terrorism as we where ". Negationism anybody !!
Mulayam Singh Yadav refused to categorise SIMI as a terrorist organisation , just a couple of years back. At this instant , all reports indicate that " sleeper cells " , who perpetrate such terrorist acts , are invariably provided logistical support by SIMI . The "sleeper cells" are more often than not made up of foreign recruits , and cannot act without local support , for safe houses ,reconnissance of the proposed place of attack , getaway after the act , and this is where SIMI comes in . Patriots indeed !
I wonder how many of us remember the look alike of Osama -bin -Laden , who moved around with Ram Bilas Paswan during the previous Assembly elections in Bihar , seeking votes in his favour . What to say about punishment , Paswan is at present a cabinet minister (which he was even then ). Not a word was uttered by our "secular " media .
The same 'secular' media personalities blame Narendra Modi for creating terrorists via the Gujarat riots . Be so as it may , I wonder whether anybody can explain the incidences which took place during an India - West Indies one day match which took place in Srinagar in 1983 . India had just won the world cup and during the match , Anti India and Pro Pakistan slogans rent the air from all corners of the ground . Indian players were heckled and the West Indians applauded . Spectators carried Pak flags. And all this in the presence of Shaikh Abdullah , the then C.M and strongman of Kashmir . Explanations , anybody ! By the way , does the name of Bhindranwale , Yasin Malik ,ring a bell .
A country where 250,000 of its citizens (Kashmiri Pandits ) are ethnically cleansed and made a refugee in their own country without so much as a whimper and we have the nerve to talk of Gujarat making terrorists . By the same analogy why did not one of 250,000 , Kashmiri Pandits turn to terrorism . will somebody get Pravin Swamy ( scholar for The Hindu ) to respond .
Huji has its origins and base in Bangladesh . Imagine the state of our national policies when a country which came into existence because of us is now an active member of the Pak policy of " bleeding India through a Thousand cuts ". This country had the temerity to hang our B.S.F. personnels like animals after killing them after an ambush in ' our land '. PETA will not allow animals to be hung in that manner. Our response ; OUTRAGE , A border meeting and not a word from Shabana Azmi and her brigade .
Talking of responses , let me remind you that our Govt. is still unable to hang Afzal Guru (remember the Parliament attack.......well family members of persons killed in the attack do !) . All the 'liberalists' and the 'secularists' have ensured that the murderer (Supreme Court has announced its verdict and I will call him a murderer only , decency be damned ) is still 'breathing' easy . In fact they are now appealing for his release . As a song goes " It happens only in India.....". The claim is that the man is innocent and has been framed by the security forces , inspite of the overwhelming evidence based on which the Supreme court gave its verdict .
Does NEGATIONISM need any further evidence .
What to talk of Govt. policies . The way Shahrukh Khan kept on dancing during the I.P.L match , after the News of the blasts and deaths were public , was Disgusting , to put it mildly . Admittedly life should and must carry on , for that is the best way of responding to these terrorists . But Mr. Khan , atleast have some respect for the dead . Life might carrry on for you and your ' friends' , but for the dead and their dependents , IT IS ALL OVER ...........
Mr. Khan , I believe this country deserves an apology for your extremely graceless and insensitive act , which have been observed by millions on T.V.
But what to say of these 'rich' people, who anyway engage bodyguards for their children , the response of the common man is even more pathetic. Not a word in protest , one good night of T.V., watching " Breaking News : 100 dead", a few heated discussions , and the next day , back to the normal routine and " they should not put these picture on the front page , bad for the Kids ". While a Kid has just been made fatherless in the blast. So much for concerns !!
WE THE PEOPLE cannot let these terrorists hijack our lives with fear . Let us all resolve that this country will not bow down before these terrorists . We cannot wait for the Govt. to act and have to ensure that they are ' proactive ' and not ' reactive' . WE will not give up .
I bow my head in respect to the dead of Jaipur yesterday and those before them at Hyderabad, Malegaon, Mumbai, Parliament , Varanasi...............
As Chanakya said , centuries ago : UTTHISTHA BHARATA ( Arise India ) .