December 16, 2008

Bravery

Nearly three weeks after the attacks on Bombay, about 40 of India's most courageous men have swung into action.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see how our new CM deals with the Shiv Sena menace, though I'm not expecting much.

Nits said...

oh thank god. i was so worried that the true protectors of bombay had forsaken us. I'm sure they were just biding their time. I feel safe again.

Anonymous said...

UPA minister says Karkare was not killed by Kasab and co.

Daniel, Nits and Rahul, shall we balance the Sena 40 vs Antulay statement. Words like these are more dangerous than the a mob of 40 shouting hoarse and achieving nothing.

In fact somebody has to defend Kasab in court as we are democracy. Now we are left to ponder, brood and reflect on Antulay's utterings.


Will Dilip create a topic to discuss Antulay ..No I don't think he will....he like to 'pick and choose' ...

The title of the blogs says 'I'm neither a leftists or a righist but a typist'...I think Dilip should change this 'sound byte' to something else.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon:

Huh? Why balance (or leverage) the truth with something else? And for that matter, why relate two unrelated events?

Anonymous said...

Daniel...They are related. Both are in response to 26/11...actions of both parties are provocative in their own way.

The Sena one amounts to raw anger and disgust ..Antulay's is plain mischief with sinister aims, which will provoke Sena ( and myself) even more, only to be 'slaughetered' in this blog....while Antulay will go scot free...selective amnesia..Do you catch my drift?

Anonymous said...

ah..the slugfest between BJP and Congress has already started over Antulay's remarks. Very soon Sena , Left, Paswan will join it ...more shouting...more bitterness...Antulay is classic mischief isn't it...timed to perfection...straight out of the textbook.

Very soon BJP, Sena will be 'selectively' vilified in this blog...I can already smell the holy water.

Anonymous said...

Daniel..The failure of Muslims to weed out the likes of Antulay is one of the prime reasons for the bitterness between Muslims and Hindus.

'Sophisticated' people have the 'intellect' to parry over Antulay's remark...but he didn't target it at them in the first place...it is more aimed at 'rustics' like me...and the rustics tend to put Antulay's remarks in perspective and tag the whole community and end up appearing to justify 2002 in this blog..and carry the can.

All the while the patented Antulay mischief will lie buried, unchallanged, in the debris of our thoughts.

He wants us to be mistaken and he'll have it..isn't it.

Words indeed speak louder than actions...

Anonymous said...

Ok..move on the Sena 40...enter the All India Milli Council that demands that Kasab should be hanged without trial. I think All India Milli Council should warn Antulay to stop creating mischief and leave Kasab alone.

Today Antulay has clearly done his bit to deepen the chasm between the 2 communities by that much and this blog will spare him...I wish I were that lucky

Anonymous said...

@ Anon:

Still don't understand your point. There have been many reactions to 26/11. By your logic, the blog owner should be representing all of them in one post, which seems like an unfair demand.

If Antulay did something as stupid as the sainiks, let's get together to make fun of him on another post or on another blog, even if it isn't this one. If you had a blog and were to post something on Antulay, I'd be happy to comment :-)

Anonymous said...

Daniel...I don't have a blog or anything like that mate. English is a foreign tongue to me and more often I'm mistaken by others while arguing social issues. This entirely due to the lack of comprehensive English langauge skills on my side. So I'm afraid we may have to settle this thing here !!!

I just wanted to highlight the fact that liberal blogs tend to pick on the Senas while sparing Antulays and I wanted to make the people on this blog aware of it...that's all. Dilip need not have started this thread on Sena 40..honest. There are more pressing issues. Even I'm angry that somebody can even think of defending Kasab.....I mean in the cold light of the day even you would feel the same.

BTW...Are you able appreciate the timing of Antulay's provocation...good old isn't it

Dilip D'Souza said...

I'm angry that somebody can even think of defending Kasab.

What will define us as a civilized nation dedicated to justice and the rule of law, as opposed to terrorists shooting innocent people, is if we give even someone like Kasab a full, open, fair trial.

Seen like that, I am proud that somebody thought of defending Kasab. I admire that lawyer's courage. That's what will build a strong, secure India.

Anonymous said...

OK Dilip, I give it to you this time. Let's wait and see what comes out of this trial...I guess there will be plenty of insuniations, political gimmickery, grand standing by the big daddies of BJP and Cong with plenty of small fries thrown in,rumours and lies....and very importantly more bad blood between the rustics in the street.

Very soon Kasab will join the ranks of Afzal and on one fine morning in 2009, you and me will be at it against each other.

Anyway thanks for the thread on Antulay...Is it due to my prodding?. Can I claim credit for it?

Blueshift said...

This lawyer is much much Brave than coward sainiks and their supporters who show their cowardness in streets and duck n hide in holes when India is attacked. They come out and talk they are Patriots, i can only laugh at coward patriots.

Dilip D'Souza said...

Can I claim credit for it?

Not only for "it", but you can claim credit for anything and everything I've ever written anywhere anytime anyhow. Be my guest.

Anonymous said...

Lawyer wants to hog limelight. Its so obvious.

Rahul Siddharthan said...

anon: You're right, I don't care to distinguish one anonymous from another. If you can't even be bothered to use a pseudonym, why are you upset about that?

Anonymous said...

Rahul,

Call me K. Now direct your anger towards me.

Did you do your research?

I haven't missed a post from Dilip in about a year now.

Just curious, were civilians allowed to be near the hotels? If not what could have the Sena done? Not that I support them or what they are doing now. But if it was an military operation, were civilians even permitted near those places to take any actions?

Dilip D'Souza said...

One A Nony Mouse says: I say punish everyone guilty even if they are from the minority.

I would like to ask, has anyone here said anything different?

Another K Nony Mouse asks: were civilians allowed to be near the hotels? If not what could have the Sena done?

They could have waited to go beat up and throw stones at defenceless innocent citizens, besides vandalizing their homes. That's the way to fight terrorism. Why doesn't the Sena ever do that?

Anonymous said...

Dilip,

You believe each Indian knows that even terrorists have right for legal defense.

You know it doesn't mean the illiterate and the ones who are not well read know it. SS is using lack of knowledge to their advantage.

They are wrong in what they are doing right now.

I hope he doesn't turn out to be a Afzal Guru after all his actions.

K

Anonymous said...

promise of having 72 virgins can be enticing in turn of spraying a few infidels, I guess.

I think he should have a legal defense, lets see what absurd logical reasoning he brings to the table for plowing down infidels.

I bet virgins, heaven and a palestine militia like pre operation video (I am on TV!!!!) were the perks.

Sad Sad Sad.

How about spreading education in Pak, they thoroughly seem to lack it.

Anonymous said...

Dilip
I have a different take on this. First it is well known that Kasab will most likely get a defence lawyer or may not be as Kanchan says here:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/144038/Mumbai’s-Butcher-and-human-rights.html

But I digress above. Assume that for now the first part is true. Then wny is this lawyer so eager to defend him? One should show sensitivity - especially when one is dealing with a mass murderer, who cooly sprayed hunderds with bullets. Contrast this with when the Sadhvi was interrogated, how many lawyers jumped forward to defend her? Finally it was left to the BJP / SS to speak for her
Waiting for your reply. i have listed my points below

Rahul Siddharthan said...

Uh... you're saying Sadhvi (Pragya, I assume) doesn't have a lawyer? Who's this guy then?

Everyone is entitled to a lawyer. Some choose to act as their own lawyers, but it is a choice: it cannot be a compulsion (and the court can take away even that choice and force a lawyer on you, if they feel you are not fit to defend yourself). If Kasab does not have a lawyer already, he needs to be provided one, period. I don't see anyone leaping forward to support him; the one guy who has volunteered is clearly bothered that a man can be tried in a democracy without a lawyer's support. The sadhvi already has a lawyer, so there is no requirement of more (though I would be surprised if she did not get many lawyers volunteering their help.)

Anonymous said...

Rahul
Please read my entire statement before commenting. My main issue was lawyers were not jumping forward to defend her as how this guy is doing for Kasab.The key issue is to show some sensitivity
If you read Kanchan's article, legally it is possible Kasab may not be entitled to a lawyer.
Sorry if it is not human, but a non - citizen combatant may not be entitled to one. Too bad if the law is like that we cannot amend it to cover cold blooded killers.
After all there is something called a professional hazard.

Dilip D'Souza said...

how many lawyers jumped forward to defend [Sadhvi]?

lawyers were not jumping forward to defend her as how this guy is doing for Kasab.

To begin with, Rahul has pointed you to Ganesh Sovani. Maybe he didn't jump, but he is her lawyer.

Go on from there to the vow from various political parties to defend the Sadhvi, which you yourself mention.

Given that, it baffles me that you can suggest in the same breath that she has got no legal representation.

For the record, I am glad that she has a lawyer. Earlier on this page I said I was proud that Kasab has got legal representation -- well, I am similarly proud that the Sadhvi has. I was just as glad when Manu Sharma got legal representation. Glad and proud, because all this shows that some of us understand the difference between a country dedicated to the rule of justice and law, and the murderous anarchy of terrorist attacks -- the anarchy those terrorists dearly wanted us to descend into.

"Showing sensitivity" and your suggestions of "professional hazard" are neither here nor there.

It surprises me that you would offer Kanchan Gupta's angry paragraphs as any kind of analysis.

For one thing, just because Kasab is Pakistani it does not mean it is the Government of Pakistan's "responsibility" to get him legal assistance. When I was involved in a small legal matter when I lived in the States, it was an American lawyer who helped me. Kasab's crimes were here, and he will be tried and punished here: therefore if he wants a lawyer, he gets one here. Once again, this is the sort of thing that distinguishes a society dedicated to the rule of law from terrorism.

For another thing, it is never "ridiculous to invoke the Geneva Conventions". After all, why did we invoke them, rightly so, when six Indian soldiers were killed and their bodies mutilated at the start of the Kargil war? The point is, the Geneva Conventions, like laws in general, must be seen as an attempt to bring what we all agree is civilized behaviour to very uncivilized events. Like war, like terrorism.

You can argue that they need to be updated to reflect changing times, but that's not the argument Kanchan Gupta makes. In this case, he wants to pick and choose when to throw away the Geneva Conventions.

I can understand Gupta is irate -- clearly so -- about people he doesn't agree with. That anger itself doesn't lend his paragraphs much weight.

Dilip D'Souza said...

how many lawyers jumped forward to defend [Sadhvi]?

lawyers were not jumping forward to defend her as how this guy is doing for Kasab
.

Further to the previous comment: today's Asian Age has a report titled "Sadhvi's laawyer wants to be legal advisor to police". It refers to one Navin Choumal, "the lawyer for Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur."

So clearly the Sadhvi has had no problem getting legal representation. Sovani, now Choumal. Though I still can't confirm that they jumped forward.

May I ask if you got in touch with Sovani and Choumal and suggested that they show some sensitivity and that there was something called a professional hazard? Thank you.