The Indian News Agency IANS reports that the men were apprehended by the Thai police who then put them on a pontoon (a non-motorized boat) tied to a ship to deport them. But these boys quietly opened the cable and the pontoon started drifting and they got lost and were drifting for 12 days in the Indian Ocean. Seven out of these men died even as the boat was drifting, their bodies were dropped into the sea.

Apparently, many men jumped into the sea hoping to swim ashore but tragically got drowned off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Times of India website however stated that after 4 weeks of detention, the men were transferred to a non-motorized vessel, with some bags of rice and set adrift off the Thai coast and they drifted for 12 days.

The Indian coastguard has stated that they will continue our search and rescue operation in all the islands. However it is feared that around 305 missing men drowned.

This is a calamity with over 300 men losing their lives. If as a matter of fact the Thai authorities left the men on a non-motorized boat. Aren’t they responsible? Though the men were potential illegal immigrants, do they not have any basic human rights?

This is a piece I had written sometime in March 2003. I guess it is still relevant. This piece is strongly worded and definitely not aimed at the people of USA. Many US citizens would not endorse the approach adopted by the Government. It is meant to highlight the double standards employed by the US Government

When you aggress it’s caused by the savage in you, when I do the same, it’s meant to protect the civilized world and bring about international security .

When you kill, it’s a war crime, every time I do it, it’s but the finest show of patriotic fervor, if people die in the millions due to my actions its just ‘collateral damage’.

You have no right to possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD) it’s a misuse of science and a great threat to humanity, my humanity that is, the weapons of mass destruction I hold is an excellent example of the noble service of my scientists to save humanity.
When you threaten to employ force you are an ugly threat to World Peace, never mind the times I nuked you, you cant blame me, you brought it onto yourself.

When I treat you differently I am being fair and just, when you do the same it’s hate and discrimination.

When you invade, I move resolutions in the UN to wage war against you, when I decide to invade, no UN resolution can ever stop me.

When you invade its caused by your raw greed, when I invade, its because I want to dole out democracy and reconstruct your country, of course you have to willingly pay me with free oil, remember I have to continue plying my big cars to make the American roads look better.

When the UN speaks the way I want it to, it’s word is the last word, when it opposes me its simple proof that it’s an emasculated club of irrelevant wimps.

Whenever I use my big guns it’s always for self-defense, when you do it, its reprehensible.

I am always nervous on the trigger, whether it’s the South Korean Plane or the Canadians in Afghanistan. You better watch out.
I have a history for upholding freedom. My own freedom. Just look, killing Indians to loot their land, selling humans and institutionalizing slavery, deriving the formula to value some humans (three-fifth my value), perfecting the practice of racism, explaining the very difficult doctrine of being separate but equal, …..

Yeah, yeah, I also sold my own mulatto off-springs as slaves. So what? What else could I do then?

Did you say apologize for slavery? Are you mad? Slavery always existed, it exists even now. Did

Yeah, yeah, it didn’t co-exist with airplanes, democracy, civil rights and Judges, but then what was wrong with it?

Conscience, what’s that? Is it a new way to make more money?
Freedom ? Of course I stand for Freedom and Democracy. That’s my own freedom. Haven’t you seen the symbol standing tall torch in hand? Never had the time to think of Freedom for anyone else.
As for Democracy, it best when I have it. Not all people are cut out for democracy. They are better ruled by Kings, Despots and Military Dictators who I control. A despot is a Despot only when he is not amenable to what I tell him.

Who says I am selfish? Look how much I donate the thirty-two pieces of silver, to those who vote me through everything and say things in my favor louder than I do. And of course they remain silent while I swallow the world or join me in the looting. Whether looting oil or anything else.

God bless me! I know he created me. Only me! I guess he didn’t create the rest of humanity. They must have come from elsewhere. God Bless Me!

I do what I do, when I want to do it, how I want to do it and to whomsoever I wish to do it to. You have to join me, can’t you see I stand for civilization? You are either with me or I am against you.

I am the nicest person on earth, I know I can’t get any nicer. You know what I mean?

Of course I value human life, that’s my own.
There are people in my country who say I am wrong, they are so misguided

I pray to God for Peace, I hope you know I am a God fearing and pious person. I have my thanksgiving! I have my family to depend on! I pray for everyone. Everyone in the world! Even those civilians who I will soon kill in the war I declared!
I hate those who are evil. I want to rid the world of evil. And those who are evil! So help me God!

Unfortunately the Mumbai riots of 1992-93 and the much worse pogrom of 2002 in Gujarat targeting a particular community (official death toll around 1000) didn’t evoke such a universal and sustained uproar to punish the perpetrators.

As a matter of fact, it is incorrect to call it Gujarat “riots”. Calling it a riot would be euphemistic. It included serious sexual crimes against women and children. Women were paraded naked and raped. Some gang raped and then burnt alive. Some were just girls as young as 12. Others were pregnant women. The rapists in many cases were neighbors the women knew. There was one case of a pregnant woman raped and fetus ripped out of her abdomen and thrown into the fire. The intensity, magnitude and duration of the pogrom was deadly because of State complicity.

What would we call such crimes? Can we merely dub them as “riots”? To me it seems no less than terrorism. It was indeed genocide. A fundamental ethnic cleansing. If you want to know more about it, you should read the book Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy by Siddharth Varadarajan.

Many say we shouldn’t forget the Mumbai terror attacks. Of course we shouldn’t! It is and will be a terrible chapter in Mumbai’s history. But can we or should we forget Gujarat? As of now, it seems that we already have.

The elite class which vociferously seeks justice for Mumbai terror victims were largely silent observers during and after the Gujarat carnage. Human rights groups like NHRC, PUCL, CJP a few intellectuals, anti-communal groups and prominent citizens raised their voices. However, the majority of the elite class was largely silent. There were no candle light meetings at street corners, no extensive TV coverage or radio interviews of Gujarat victims. Those killed in Gujarat, some of them after being sexually humiliated and raped were Indian citizens. They had a right to live. They had committed no crime! It was the State’s duty to protect them. The State failed. Not just that. The people in power in a malafide manner tried to prevent justice. The actions of the Gujarat Government and the events that unfolded later indicate this.

It’s true that some criminals in Gujarat are now in jail. However, getting so far not easy. It happened after a great struggle and many interventions by the Supreme Court and transfer of cases from Gujarat High Court to Bombay High Court. Normally such cases should be tried and criminals punished without a need for special intervention. The NHRC, PUCL a small part of the media (esp. Tehelka) had to repeatedly keep this subject alive in the public memory.

The way the Gujarat riots cases have been handled is a monumental example of the justice system gone wrong in India. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court remarked “I have no faith left in the prosecution and the Gujarat government. I am not saying Article 356. You have to protect people and punish the guilty. What else is raj dharma? You quit if you cannot prosecute the guilty,”

Now sixteen years later, can we say that justice has been done for the Gujarat victims? No, the saga continues as many of the rapists, murderers and police personnel responsible for Gujarat are still roaming free. Particularly those in positions of power who conspired the event.

What happens when the State colludes with criminals committing genocide and later works hard to scuttle justice? It emboldens criminals to repeat such atrocities as they know they will not be punished. Hence punishment is a MUST if we are serious about weeding out such crimes. Also if this goes unpunished, it creates a fertile breeding ground for hatred and distrust between communities. If the State fails to punish, the people must remember the crimes and keeping raising it to the conscious level till the punishment is meted out. Even if it takes decades.

Whenever anyone speaks about punishing such crimes, we hear voices from vested interests saying, we should allow old wounds to heal. We should not rake up old issues. Old wounds will heal faster and better when we are sincere about providing justice. Reconciliation can happen if we feel and express solidarity with the victims. The first step towards this will be to prosecute and punish the criminals. Whoever they may be. Howsoever high and mighty.

This article in no way intends to reduce the importance of the dastardly attack on Mumbai. Or is it an attempt to equate the two events. Both were seriously traumatic. But they were different. We need to be serious about both.

The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government

Today, as expected after every terrorist attack, we find people criticizing politicians, leaders and generally clamoring to clean-up public life. Such terrorist attacks have happened before too.

The difference this time being the major brunt of the attack was borne by Mumbai’s elite who were in Taj and Oberoi and those employed there. A grievous loss is a grievous loss whether it happens in a 2nd class railway compartment or at Taj.

Another difference is that the terrorists’ went about with audacity unlike the stealthy approach in the past. They went about shooting people indiscriminately in the streets etc. This hasn’t happened before.

We now hear people shout “Enough is enough”, “We will not tolerate this anymore”, and “We don’t deserve such political leaders” and so on. Every TV news channel today is filled with rhetoric and citizens asking politicians difficult but obvious questions.

We will continue to hear all this for some more time. But like before it will all die down sooner or later. No, I am not being cynical, just realistic. Once again as in the past people will speak up, shout, clamor and then soon get back to their corner offices, cubicles and do whatever they are best at. Just concentrate on themselves.

The citizens who are clamoring for a clean public life are the ones who regularly :

• insist on buying goods without a bill to avoid sales tax

• bribe train ticket examiners for reserved tickets

• use his/her connections and apply influence to secure jobs for relatives

• bypass people in a long queue and requests someone at the top of the line to his/her ticket

• bribe a traffic constable to wriggle out of road traffic fines

• enter government jobs through bribery only to make more on the job

• demand huge dowry from helpless parents of girls

• produce false bills for travel, entertainment, reimbursement etc for claims

• have duplicate bank accounts to manage their black money

• in a train swiftly move into a seat to beat someone else who was already waiting for it

I have had well educated IIM graduates tell me that I was stupid not to bribe the ticket examiner to travel peacefully. I have had many asking me why I foolishly left a lucrative government job. These are not people who don’t understand right from wrong. They are people who are formally educated and otherwise classy. But they have lost it all.

Many believe education makes better people. Its the morals, ethics and values that make better people. Education can make smarter crooks and there are plenty of very good people in villages who have never entered a school.

Today more than at any other time, we need to reflect on what is really wrong. Today we don’t have foreigners ruling us nor we are in any real danger of being invaded by a neighboring country. There is no threat of famine or a serious financial crises.

So what is really afflicting India today. It is the absence of a strong character. Like individuals nations have character too. What is the collective character of India’s people today? I honestly think we will make a poor picture if we were to imagine the character of India-Collective. I think we have lost the character we possessed during and after the freedom struggle. That generation of Indians had ideals and values and were willing to sacrifice for the country. Today everywhere we see absence of integrity, ethics and values. We see long lines of people who have lost their self esteem paying obeisance to petty leaders to curry little favors from them. This is like a cancer which is not seen or felt until it is rather late.

If we have to set right corruption, if we need selfless politicians, if we need responsible leaders, we need to change the context around us by changing ourselves first.

I was very happy to note that Kavita Karkare, Hemant Karkare’s widow declined Narendra Modi’s attempt to bribe her with money. Modi was trying snatch some of well deserved halo Karkare acquired through his supreme sacrifice. Just a few days ago, the saffron group of Shiv Sena, VHP and BJP were calling for a Mumbai bandh to protest against ATS in the Pragya Thakur case. This in defiance of a Court ban. They particularly wanted Karkare’s scalp. Had Kavita accepted Modi’s offer, it would have been the greatest insult to Hemant Karkare. This is truly an outstanding example of upholding true values.

I will write more about this soon.