[Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Spare The Thief, Catch The Chief

[subir paul]

dear all i do appreciate the creative analysis but certainly can not and can not agree with the last line "Instead, let us 'bomb' Faridkot with books and jobs, annihilate its poverty, exterminate the poisonous puppeteer chiefs of terror that manipulate young minds, so that all children realise a peaceful tomorrow".
it is possible that he now understands that instead of financial reward safety and survival of his family is at stake but a critical assessment that whether or not a systematically brainwashed person who has been trained to be a mass killer has been realized by him and he is really repentive - such assessment can only be made through close contact of an expert team. a wrong assessment shall risk either a repeat kandahar (with jaswant singh emphtically stating repeat of kandahar release) or playing a double role (a ploy) get a release - one can be sure that he may become of a hero/supreme leader of an existing or new or mutated terror out fit.   how can one take such a risk when so much double speak is on from the otherside ? and one does not know who controls ? are'nt control under invisible hands ?subir paul 
--- On Fri, 19/12/08, Ranjan Kamath <rkamath.research at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Ranjan Kamath <rkamath.research at gmail.com>
Subject: [Urbanstudy] [All My Views (Un)Fit To Print] Spare The Thief, Catch The Chief
To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net
Date: Friday, 19 December, 2008, 10:16 AM


Published in Sunday DNA, Bangalore dtd 14/12/2008

In the feature film Syriana - illustrating the machinations of U.S. based energy corporations and the U.S. government to secure control over the world's remaining fossil fuel reserves – Wasim a Pakistani oilfield-worker in the middle-east assures his son "Someday we'll get a real house and get your mother here". 




Wasim is soon one of hundreds laid off. Thereafter, his son is ripe for recruitment for Jihad and by the end of the film, he is ramming an explosive laden speed boat into an oil tanker. This Pakistani boy is treated anonymously, as one among millions, prey to larger forces. We never get inside what drives boys of his culture and class to make this decision.




26/11 has provided the invaluable opportunity to address the shortcomings of reel-life characterization, with insights into the real Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab. The baby-faced gunman was captured at Mumbai's CST station, where he and an accomplice killed 58 people in a barrage of bullets and grenades.




His is the story is of deprivation and rootless drifting that turned the third of five children of a 'pani-puri chaat wala' from Faridkot, an uneducated labourer struggling for survival into a petty criminal and then into a terrorist.




Faridkot, in Punjab province is an economically stagnant area where most people have little education and live in poverty that has been long known for producing Jihadis. Graffiti is found on sides of buildings which say, in Urdu, "Go for jihad! Go for jihad!  - Markaz Dawat ul-Irshad." 




Influenced by films on India's "atrocities" in Kashmir and by impassioned speeches of preachers, including Lashkar chief, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Ajmal started believing it might be worth sacrificing his life for the glory of Islam. He then started envisioning jihad as the purpose of his life and a means to gain respectability in his society.




Ajmal told investigators that Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi promised that his family would be financially rewarded for his sacrifice. "Spread terror and your family will be looked after," but he now fears that his family members will be killed because he was ordered not to be taken alive.




Violence has always had the power to transform the mundane "nobody" into a heroic warrior. The former Guantanamo detainee and Al-Qaida training camp recruit, Mourad Benchellali, a young Frenchman from Lyon was lured to Afghanistan by, as he puts it, "a misguided and mistimed sense of adventure".




The same narrative replicates itself ad infinitum with Hezbollah's 42,000 Mahdi Scouts aged between 8 and 16, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Shri Rama Sena or the Maoist Child Liberation Army ensconced in the forests of Giridih. Now that adolescent terrorism has arrived at the Gateway of India we are finally paying attention!




Ajmal Kasabs are everywhere. They are most likely to be teenagers without access to stable family ties seeking support and belonging through tribal allegiances. With no recourse to adult role models, violent role models fill the void - and popular culture delivers glorified violence in abundance.




An abnormally large number of 15-29 year olds are supersaturating the job market and coming up empty. While they are capable of fuelling growth, revitalising economies and social structures under the right conditions, the violence in the Middle East, parts of Asia, Europe and Africa is largely due to tensions and resentments within societies that have a large youth demographic, - creating the perfect storm. The presentation and mobilisation of violence is an attractive solution to disempowered youth.




Do we seek retribution by the expeditious prosecution and delivery of death sentence for petty thief turned terrorist Ajmal Ali Kasab or, do we exploit him as a travelling ambassador propagating anti-terrorism? 




Through his death we would have removed a symptom, created a martyr and rewarded him with heaven and give cause for a hundred more youngsters to avenge him in the name of Jihad. Furthermore, we would dubiously inspire another hundred to 'save India' against Islamic terror.




In the land of Mahatma Gandhi let us spare Ajmal Kasab; deny him martyrdom, prosecute him with community service for life, indoctrinate him in the ways of democratic dissent and exploit him as a poster boy exposing the folly of terror.




Instead, let us 'bomb' Faridkot with books and jobs, annihilate its poverty, exterminate the poisonous puppeteer chiefs of terror that manipulate young minds, so that all children realise a peaceful tomorrow.






--

Posted By  Ranjan Kamath  to  All My Views (Un)Fit To Print  on  12/14/2008 






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