The Special Public Prosecutor in the Mumbai terrorists attack case, Ujjwal Nikam confirmed that the trial court has been requested to give its consent to send evidences includi...
Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts
What a biffing our eyes have received during the recent Mumbai terror attacks. A nation glued to the idiot box like never, watched in horror and disbelief the terror drama unfold in Mumbai.
The media coverage of the attacks broke all the barriers of sensible journalism. The terrorists may not have been able to bring down the Taj Mahal, Oberoi Trident, Café Leopold and Nariman Point, but they have been successful in achieving their main objective, which was making the nation feel the tremors of what happened in Mumbai through media. Media especially television gave wide coverage as if they were watching a cricket test match. Terrorist were provided a running commentary of what commandoes and police were doing. Even if terrorists had no access to television, their masterminds surely had. Who were regularly on phone with them. Media called the events in Mumbai as a war, but the way it was covered it had no element of war journalism.
In a war, the armed forces take every care that their adversary is not aware of the strength of the opposing forces but the anchors of television channels were constantly breaking news about the reinforcements and their details and the images of people locked up in their rooms surely gave the terrorists concrete targets to go after. The disclosure of the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Viajy Salaskar and many others surely boosted the morale of terrorists.
Most of the television channels have been around for less than five years. For some the Mumbai terror seize was the first major event that have covered live and they rushed to provide live non stop coverage. In the way amplifying the general hysteria and panic.
It has been impossible to ignore the countless times news channels claimed to be the first to report a certain incident in the 60 hours long terror seize. It is almost sickening, before the incident is reported; they remind us that they are the first to report the incident. Is that really the most important side of a developing crisis?
For more than 60 hours of Mumbai seize, resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said Pronoy Roy’s channel on the left side of channel spectrum. Same sentiments were echoed by Times Now. Similarly CNN IBN was also not left behind in the game of upmanship over TRPs. They all attacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling terrorism.
The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains and in market killings. The resilience of the ordinary man suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work, manufacturing and even film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves.
Media also declared the attacks as 9/11 of India, even a CIA official on CNN called it the same. Yes, indeed it was 9/11 of India, but what CNN did when 9/11 happened. They did not try to show the exclusive rescue action and they did not invade ground zero. But India’s television channels surely seemed to do one thing that CNN did during 9/11. They did not take commercial breaks for a day.
Advertisements were not shown because viewers could switch to other channels in the meantime. All the news channels wanted the highest TRPs in troubled times so that they later can demand higher rates for advertisements and stay up on charts.
Worst was the conduct of so called celebrity reporters, who wanted their cameraman to zoom on everything as they lay on ground. A star reporter cum anchor spoke lying on the ground to create the impact that he was reporting from war zone.
The most maligned journalist has been Barkha Dutt, the anchor cum reporter of New Delhi television. The Facebook group, "Barkha Dutt for worst journalist in the world," has attracted nearly 1,600 members since its creation following the attacks. The group accuses her of being melodramatic, arrogant, and insensitive to relatives of victims.
The implicit assumption that information should be available universally and in real time is interesting. The right to be informed is not the same thing as the right to be a spectator. Nature of 24X7 television has made us transit from wanting to know to wanting to see. Information on TV has been recast in present continuous tense. The trouble is that we now construe our fundamental right to know as right to see.
Terrorism in its present form is a post media phenomenon. For terror to be produced from symbolic acts of violence, information must be conveyed to millions of people as quickly as possible. Media has become terrorism’s new best friend.
The recent Mumbai seize underlines that media is fast becoming a crucial part of terrorists’ calculations. Media needs to restrain itself from sensational journalism and must rise on the occasion. The rating driven nature f today’s media leaves less chances for an introspection and way towards sensible and efficient journalism.
India Tuesday indicated it was keeping all options open, including a military strike against terrorist camps in Pakistan and suspension of bilateral dialogue, and underlined that it will take "appropriate action" to protect its territory from terror attacks emanating from the neighbouring country.
"We will await the response from Pakistan to the demarche (formal protest note)," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the India-Arab Forum Tuesday morning.
"We have in our demarche asked for the arrests and handing over of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitives under the Indian law," he added.
"There are lists (containing the names) of about 20 persons. (These) lists are sometimes altered and this exercise is going on and we have reviewed it in our demarche," Mukherjee said.
"What I am saying is every sovereign country has its right to protect its territorial integrity and take appropriate action as and when it feels it is necessary to take that appropriate action," Mukherjee later told the NDTV news channel in an interview.
"As and when it takes place you will get to know. Nobody publicises or advertises it. I am not making any comment on military option," he replied when asked whether he would rule out military option against terrorist groups like the Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) which are suspected to have engineered the Mumbai terror strikes.
"What will be done, time will show and you will come to know," Mukherjee said.
India's "most wanted 20" list includes known terror masterminds like mob boss Dawood Ibrahim, Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) which was suspected behind the Dec 13, 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, and LeT chief Hafez Mohammed Sayeed.
New Delhi has suspected these fugitives to be behind major terror strikes in India over the years.
India has, however, not set a time-frame for Pakistan to the demarche it issued Monday that included the return of India's 20 most wanted men, the dismantling of terrorist camps and the proscription of anti-India militant outfits.
"We have not set a time-frame for Pakistan's response to our demarche. We will give them a reasonable amount of time," a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
"All options are open. Nothing has been decided as yet," he replied when asked what steps India will take in case Pakistan refuses to concede to its demands.
Pakistan has responded by offering India a joint team to probe the Mumbai attacks and underlined it will "frame a response" to New Delhi's demand for handing over 20 of India's most wanted men.
But India has cold-shouldered what it sees a diversionary ploy by Pakistan to impress the international community about its sincerity. "We want action on the ground," the official said.
The bilateral composite dialogue process has not been stalled yet, but if Pakistan fails to address India's concerns, New Delhi may decide to suspend the talks on the remaining items in the ongoing fifth round, said reliable sources, privy to the government's thinking on the subject.
"There is a stress on the dialogue process. The atmosphere has been vitiated by the Mumbai attacks," the official admitted.
The menu of likely actions by India in case of Pakistan's refusal to act on the ground could include military action. But this last resort action is not being considered yet. "You can't rule out anything. We will cross the bridge when it comes to it," the official said.
Investigations have disclosed that the Nov 26 Mumbai terror strikes bore the imprint of LeT, a banned militant outfit.
The probe has produced enough damning evidence that led New Delhi to officially tell Islamabad Tuesday that it holds elements in Pakistan responsible for the Mumbai terror strikes.
Pakistan has denied any link with the Mumbai blasts.
"The government of Pakistan has offered a joint investigating mechanism and a joint commission to India," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a nationwide telecast in Islamabad.
At the same time, India and Pakistan should not allow their composite dialogue to get derailed in the wake of the Mumbai killings, he said.
"We want better relations... and it is in the larger interest of the two countries to continue the composite dialogue process.
With Pakistan in the denial mode, India Tuesday briefed envoys of those countries whose nationals were killed in the NOv 26 terror carnage about the investigation and underlined that New Delhi expected Islamabad to act against militants based in its territory who engineered it.
Vivek Katju, special secretary (Political and International Organisations), held a meeting with the envoys and expressed India's deepest condolences to them.
The heads of missions from Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Thailand, Israel and Mauritius were present at the meeting, official sources told IANS.
India's diplomatic offensive comes in response to repeated denials by Pakistan and Islamabad's frenzied calls to world capitals to convince the international community of its claimed innocence.
US Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate who lost the presidential race to Barack Obama, Tuesday said he was hopeful of Pakistan's cooperation with India in the Mumbai terrorist attack probe and opposed a military strike against Islamabad.
Underlining solidarity with India in the wake of the Nov 26 terror attacks, he said the US would not allow terrorists to provoke a confrontation between India and Pakistan.
"I assume the government of Pakistan will cooperate. They realise that this act of terror is not something that affects India but all the civilised nations," McCain said.
"No," he replied when asked whether the Mumbai attacks were a "fit case" for India to launch military action against Pakistan.
"We do not have hard evidence yet. Obviously, there are allegations that this organisation, this individual or this group were trained or operated or had some training in Pakistan," said McCain.
"This government is committed to better relations between India and Pakistan. They (those behind the Mumbai carnage) tried to provoke a confrontation between India and Pakistan," McCain told reporters here.
"This government will not allow it to happen," he said, indicating a pro-active US role in thwarting any breakdown of dialogue between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Nov 26 terror strikes.
"Relations between India and Pakistan were on an improving path. That was one of the objectives of terrorists (to strain ties between the two countries)," McCain said.
He, however, hoped that Pakistan will cooperate in addressing India's concerns over the terror strikes and show "transparency" in this connection.
"It is in the national interests of Pakistan to weaken these elements," he replied when asked whether the US will put pressure on Islamabad to act against those elements in Pakistan whom India suspect to be behind the Mumbai attacks.
McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, was on his way to Bangladesh and Bhutan but decided to make a brief stopover here in the wake of the Mumbai strikes that has killed 183 people, including six Americans, and left 239 people injured.
McCain was echoing anxieties in Washington about the repercussions of potential India-Pakistan confrontation on the US war against fundamentalists in Afghanistan.
If such a situation arises, Pakistan is likely to move its troops from the Afghan border to its border with India - a move which could damage the US hopes of defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan.
McCain's trip to India comes a day before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives here in a bid to arrest the drift in fraying India-Pakistan ties in the wake of the terror attacks.
McCain, along with two other senators, Democrat Jospeh Lieberman and Lindsey O. Graham, called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here and underlined the US' solidarity with India in the fight against terrorism.
In their conversation with the prime minister, they offered to share the US' experiences in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Lieberman said.
They also told the prime minister about the counter-terror steps he US has taken, including the creation of the department of homeland security and a national counter-terrorism centre, said Lieberman.
President George W. Bush and president-elect Obama are acting in close coordination over the Mumbai terror strikes, the Republican senator said while underlining bipartisan support in the US to India in the aftermath of the terror strikes.
"We would be meeting Pakistan General (Ashfaq) Kiyani over the weekend and raise some questions with him," Liebermann told reporters here.
Indo-Asian News Service
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday announced the setting up of a Federal Investigating Agency and measures to strengthen maritime and air security in the wake of the terrorist savagery in the country's financial capital Mumbai.
"In the face of this national threat and in the aftermath of this national tragedy, all of us from different political parties must rise above narrow political considerations and stand united. We should work together in the interest of the country at this critical juncture," he said in his opening remarks at an all-party meeting here.
Manmohan Singh convened the meeting to take stock of the security situation and ways to strengthen the intelligence machinery in the country following three days and three nights of Mumbai terror that killed 183 lives and injured over 300.
While noting that "several measures are already in place to deal with the situation", he underlined that much more needed to be done "and we are determined to take all necessary measures to overhaul the system".
"We are further strengthening maritime and air security for which measures have been initiated. This will involve the navy, the Coast Guard and the coastal police, as well as the air force and the civil aviation ministry.
"The anti-terrorist forces of the country will be further strengthened and streamlined. The National Security Guard (NSG), the principal anti-terrorist force of the country, will be given additional facilities and the size of the force is being augmented. Steps have also been initiated to establish another four NSG hubs in different parts of the country. Additionally, the special forces at the disposal of the centre would be appropriately utilised in counter-insurgency operations."
NSG commandos fought pitched battles against the terrorists, who India says came from Pakistan, after the heavily armed gunmen took control of two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, killed many in cold blood and took many more hostages. Two NSG commandos died in the operation.
The government has also finalised a set of legal measures based on the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission which includes the setting up of a Federal Investigating Agency, the prime minister told some 20 political leaders from the treasury and opposition benches.
Manmohan Singh said that unlike the recent terrorist attacks across the country, the Mumbai nightmare was different in several aspects.
"It was an attack by highly trained and well-armed terrorists targeting our largest city. They came with the explicit aim of killing large numbers of innocent civilians, including foreign visitors. They sought to destroy some of the best known symbols of our commercial capital.
"The ordeal at Mumbai, which occupied the attention of the entire nation, has finally come to an end. All of us share the grief of those who have lost their loved ones in this dastardly and brutal attack and also the pain and anguish of those grievously wounded.
"We cannot lessen their grief. But we will do all we can to alleviate their suffering. I give you my solemn assurance that we will look after the needs of those who survive this horrible tragedy."
Saluting the bravery of the security forces who fought the terrorists in "exceptionally difficult circumstances" and freed hostages from three places, Manmohan Singh noted: "They tried their utmost to save innocent lives at great personal risk. Twenty officers and men made the ultimate sacrifice by laying down their lives. The entire nation owes a debt of gratitude to these men that we can never repay."
He hoped that the discussions at the meeting would lead to a consensus on steps required to be taken.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders V.K. Malhotra and Jaswant Singh were among those attending the meeting at the prime minister's residence.
Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, and D. Raja and A.B. Bardhan of the Communist Party of India also attended the meeting.
The meeting took place barely hours after Shivraj Patil resigned as home minister taking moral responsibility for the terrorist attack.
Mumbai and Delhi would become among the most populous cities in the world by 2020, with both expected to touch nearly 24 million and the former having more people packed in a single square kilometre than any other city.
The year 2007 marks the first time in the history of mankind when more than half the world's population lives in cities. And India's 300 million city dwellers add up to one-tenth of the world's urban population.
These figures were released prior to an Urban Age India conference that opens in India's commercial capital Mumbai on Nov 1.
Urban Age aims to "shape the thinking and practice of city leaders and sustainable urban development". It was initiated by the London School of Economics (LSE) and Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Society, and has studied and visited Indian metropolitan cities as well as New York, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Berlin.
The study found that Greater Mumbai has a density of 27,348 people packed in each square kilometre, as against Kolkata's 24,454, Bangalore's 19,040 and Delhi's 9,340.
In its 'peak density' area, Mumbai has as many as 101,066 people packed in a single square kilometre - more than any other of the nine cities globally included in this study.
Yet, home to 12 million inhabitants in an area half the size of Berlin, less than half of Greater Mumbai is covered by built-up land and infrastructure. A national park and open areas, coastal wetlands, mangroves, agricultural land and even beaches occupy large areas.
Population growth in India's urban areas has been dramatic too. Between 1950, 2007 and 2020 (projected), Mumbai has grown from 2.8 million to 18.9 million and will touch 23.9 million. Some believe it could cross Tokyo as the most populated city globally.
In the same time frame, Delhi has spurted from 1.4 million to 16.6 million to reach 23.7 million and Kolkata from 4.5 million to 14.8 million and 18.7 million. Bangalore's growth moved from .7 million to 6.9 million at present and is estimated to touch 9.5 million by 2020.
Going by these projections, Mumbai and Delhi would be among the most populous in the world by 2020, followed by Mexico City (22.1 million), New York (20.3 million), Kolkata (18.7 million), and Shanghai (18.4 million).
Besides Greater Mumbai's extremely high population density, the city also faces issues of traffic congestion, loss of wetlands, flooding and critical housing issues.
Delhi's problems are seen as rapid population growth and large unplanned urbanisation. Besides, there's stretched-out infrastructure, unaffordable housing and growing slums, traffic congestion and "significant ecological degradation".
Kolkata's woes include the loss of city wetlands, causing frequent flooding, traffic congestion, inadequate infrastructure and pollution.
Bangalore, meanwhile, hurts from rapid urbanisation, pollution, waste disposal and sewerage and sanitation problems, loss of its tree cover, and high traffic congestion.
When it comes to moving in the city, some 55.5 percent Mumbaites walk, 21.9 percent go by train, 14.4 percent opt for the bus, and only 1.6 percent take their car. Rickshaw and taxi, two-wheelers and cycles are used by only a small number of people.
Mumbai has the lowest level of car ownership with 29 cars per 1,000 residents, a stark contrast to Mexico City's 383.
Kolkata and Bangalore have the highest number of cars per kilometre among Indian cities. With 1,421 cars per kilometre, Kolkata's car density is even higher than that of Berlin.
Someone living in Mumbai has a life expectancy of 68.1 years as against 79.2 years in London or 75.9 years in Mexico City. On the positive side, Indian cities have relatively low murder rates, similar to London and Shanghai.
But some other problems are more severe. For instance, although "precarious urbanisation" affects many countries, the extent of slums in India "makes its cities unparalleled sites to reflect on strategies to better accommodate the growing number of urban residents and their multiple needs".
"India's status as a developing nation with a growing urban economy, coupled with the sheer magnitude of people and social potential, provide an ideal platform for the analysis and discussion of the future shape of urban society," argue LSE's Urban Age director Ricky Burdett and Alfred Herrhausen Society managing director Wolfgang Nowak in a statement made in the run-up to the event.
Indo-Asian News Service
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