Under the sun

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Rhetoric vs Fact

Link

posted by Bala (Karthik) at 2:08 AM

12 Comments:

  • Read the link though I cant comment on it.

    The only way to resolve dispute is through political means. War is never a solution.

    No army recruit(of any country) is a saint - rather he is an inhuman, devoid of feelings animal, a bulldog-on-testesterone-steroids when he sees a woman...

    This is nothing new for the Indian army - 70 innocent civilians/nurses/doctors in Jaffna Hospital were brutally killed by IPKF in Diwali Massacre and Rape used as a weapon of terror on Jaffna housewives whose husbands were in illegal detention.

    Acts like those produced Dhanu and will continue to produce more.

    Never a right reason for war.
    -ttm

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tue Oct 24, 06:28:00 AM  

  • No Comments,but you sure know what I think about 'Outlook'&Arundathi Roy.:)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tue Oct 24, 10:58:00 AM  

  • ttm,
    True...we might like to view these as abberations but that doesn seem to be the case...

    cinefan,
    "None of the inconsistencies that I have written about so far are the result of spectacular detective work on my part. A lot of them are documented in an excellent book called December 13th: Terror Over Democracy by Nirmalangshu Mukherji; in two reports (Trial of Errors and Balancing Act) published by the Peoples' Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi; and most important of all, in the three thick volumes of judgements of the trial court, the high court and the Supreme Court. All these are public documents, lying on my desk. Why is it that when there is this whole murky universe begging to be revealed, our TV channels are busy staging hollow debates between uninformed people and grasping politicians?"
    Whether the article is by a.roy or george bush is secondary...whats important is the unanswered questions... The movie "In The Name Of The Father" comes to mind

    By Blogger Bala (Karthik), at Tue Oct 24, 12:24:00 PM  

  • btw,
    cinefan,remba naala aalakkanum in the hub?

    By Blogger Bala (Karthik), at Tue Oct 24, 12:39:00 PM  

  • Bala,
    What she is quoting is from "Terror Over Democracy by Nirmalangshu Mukherji; in two reports (Trial of Errors and Balancing Act) published by the Peoples' Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi" which says it all :-)

    Please read this http://www.theotherindia.org/human-rights/why-care-about-a-man-called-afzal.html

    And Ms Roy commenting about 'uninformed' people is hilarious :-)

    And surprise surprise. Check the Hindu editorial on this issue. One of the well written ones in Hindu off late.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tue Oct 24, 04:20:00 PM  

  • Bala,
    Work pressure followed by a 4 day break for Diwali :)

    But i am visiting the Hub atleast once a day,postings thaan kammi.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tue Oct 24, 06:36:00 PM  

  • I went and bought Outlook yest. after noticing this post- because I don't like reading long articles online. I wish she had focussed more on why the Supreme Court took the decision it took in Afzal's case. She does a great job of exposing the media for what it's worth - notice how the MahaVishnu stands implicated in the Geelani case. She spends lot of time in the article setting up the stage for why the verdict is wrong, but it kind of fizzles out in the end. The Court has done a good job by acquitting the not-guilty.

    Suppose there is a criminal who during his early years used to do the odd job for the police, politicians etc and later on gets convicted for a murder, then I think it's pointless to point out that he was earlier in the payroll of the police and politicians. He was, but he has been convicted of a specific crime and deserves the punishment. But aren't the police and politicos guilty - sure, but that's not the issue here.

    Again, the weakness of her case is her inability to explain the Supreme court's decision - why should the court that declared Geelani to be innocent hang Afzal alone ? Her whole article has a conpiracy-theory ring to it. Police torture - what's new about that in this country ? She brings in lot of red herring issues that tend to impress you the first time you read it, since her prose is very impressive.

    I am up for a honest debate on this sans emotional nonsense and flag waving idiots. Finally it's very important for such contrarian perspectives to be floating around. Dr.Johnson was a genius for saying that patriotism is the last refuge of crooks.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed Oct 25, 08:20:00 AM  

  • link
    link

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed Oct 25, 09:28:00 AM  

  • Ah.. "The dead terrorists, the police said, had enough explosives to blow up the Parliament building, and enough ammunition to take on a whole battalion of soldiers. Unlike most terrorists, these five left behind a thick trail of evidence—weapons, mobile phones, phone numbers, ID cards, photographs, packets of dry fruit, and even a love letter."

    Many a conspiracy theory forms in my idle mind..

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed Oct 25, 07:41:00 PM  

  • i second bala here..

    it can be written by arundhati roy or mukherjee or even perarasu, what matters is the questions posed.

    why should there be helluva lot of inconsistencies in the police reports??

    Its not just Roy, i've read even Pankaj Mishra detailing some incidents in JK which were not exactly showing the armed forces in good light...

    And even in the latest mysore terror attack episode, it was taken for granted that there was indeed an 'encounter' but HINDU reports that the landowner lady contests that claim. she says the police had taken those fellows from the house much earlier.

    the point is not to throw shit on the security forces but yeah, we need to the truth.

    its not just a qustion of one Afzal, the story seems to be much more intriguing than that.

    i also got a chance to read Cho's writing on this. Apparently he had all the time in the world to go through the police case details against Kanchi mutt and expose the inconsistencies but seems like he had become too busy to go through the same for one Afzal or whoever.

    what is this to be called, selective ignorance?

    By Blogger expertdabbler, at Sat Oct 28, 09:40:00 AM  

  • Also in 1999, human rights activists from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka obtained affidavits from scores of people detained in Mysore Central Jail on charges under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), as well as several who had been detained but subsequently released on bail. All those who provided affidavits to human rights activists in 1999 had been detained in the period 1992-1993 and eventually charged under TADA in connection with Veerapan's activities.

    All those who provided affidavits alleged systematic torture by STF officials at the Madheswara Hills STF camp. Methods of torture included electric shocks, beatings while being tied or hung by ropes as well as the use of sexual torture against women including stripping and beating. During torture and interrogation many of them were accused of links to Veerapan on the basis that they were of the same caste.

    Several such incidents from Amnesty website

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Sun Oct 29, 04:32:00 AM  

  • Enga Sir,irrukkengala :)

    No posts on your blog nor are you visible at the hub.

    Today is Alwarpettai Andavan's birthday,wish paani oru post podunga Sir.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Tue Nov 07, 11:53:00 AM  

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