[Assam] Of Hostage Crisis and Counter - Sentinel Letter

[Ram Sarangapani]

Hi C'da,

While I readily agree with you about re-hashing what exactly the role of the
police/administration ought to have been  (or was)  in such cases and their
levels of incompetencies. And yes, people ought to ask those tough questions
- what, when, who etc.

But then, just because some may see cops and administration officials as
being incompetent, there does seem to some sort of cheering from certain
quarters of the galleries for kidnappers and of course blaming the whole
thing on the cops.

I am not just talking about the PCR case (haven't read all the details),
there have been other such cases too.
But generally speaking, if,  in the end, it is found out that the police
were involved or played foul in some way or that they were incompetent -
they ought to get the punishments and reprimands they rightly deserve.

I guess, its come to such a stage, that the police and admin.
officials ought to be the best, totally incorruptible and vigilant every
step of the way. And heaven help the people of Assam if they drop the ball
somewhere.
Because if they did, there are always people looking for a chance to take
advantage of such lapses and wreck havoc. And it would, no doubt be the
fault of malgoverance or whatever
 - and individual responsibilities, moral compasses be damned.

--Ram










On 7/20/07, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
>  I know it is not nice to blame the police for everything, knowing the
> state of the 'policiary' ( you heard it here first).
>
>
>
>
> Besides, they would not be the issue, had the bad guys not kidnapped PCR
> to begin with, or made to look bad by digging up the wrong corpse and
> calling it Ram's  ( I mean the other Ram )) or giving it the grand farewell.
> How would the police know who it was? After all Ram's son ID'd it  against
> their DOUBTS, didn't they?  How would the police know whose  decomposed
> corpse it was? Are they experts at it? Do they see them all the time? Were
> they supposed to know what he looked like, what birthmark he might have had
> or where? Are they supposed to know more than the son, who, was TOLD  that
> it was his father's? Who told him that? Hey--how is one to know? Word gets
> around!
>
>
>
>
> Only the troublemakers would raise nasty questions, about whether the
> police was only too relieved to see PCR gone. Can anyone prove if the police
> heaved a sigh of relief, or muttered good-riddance?
>
>
>
>
> Why did PCR's son insinuate that the police might have connived to really
> get rid of PCR, once he resurrected?  Was PCR one who knew too much? How
> would the son know anything about that? And then again FCI--that hallowed
> guardian of food for the hungry-- what could that have to do with any shady
> dealings, for PCR to know more than might have been good for him? This is
> nothing more than a desperate attempt at finding scapegoats.
>
>
>
>
> What?  Why did the chief ULFA hunter, some Sarma or other , say that they
> knew of PCR being in Gobinda Deka's house, BEFORE his DbIG boss  declared
> NO, they had no idea.  What is there to be suspicious about?  It is not like
> they are conjoined twins or something. One is a khoini-khowa, the other a
> kharkhowa Bamun. They don't even speak the same language.  The same crowd of
> police-bashers would have cried foul, of hatching some conspiracy, if they
> got together to get their story straight before going public.
>
>
> It would be damned if you do, damned if you don't!
>
>
>
>
> I am with Kamal, and Ram ( our Ram that is)  too. Let those who have 20-20
> hindsight cry all they want.
> We may not have much, but we have our honor and we shall not go trying to
> show the world how sharp we are , after the fact,  joining the witch-hunting
> posse. If we had to do it, we shall do it the old fashioned way--by being on
> the front-lines, fighting the big fight, like we usually do!
>
>
>
>
> Insincerely yours.
>
>
>
>
> cm :-)
>
>
>
>
> PS: I don't know why our friends keep giving my acerbic side the fuel it
> needs to keep flaring up, while I struggle desperately to keep it under
> wraps. Not nice !
>
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> At 3:16 PM -0600 7/19/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>
> Here is a letter from KJD in today's Sentinel.
>
>
>
> In generally agreeing with KJD, I would also like to add that many of us
> seem to forget that just because one may believe there is an incompetent
> government entity or police force, they ought not to be patting the
> insurgents on the back (for having got the better of the govt.).
>
>
>
> There are two distinct sides to this issue. One is that there ought to be
> wholesale condemnation against such kidnappings. The second is the role of
> the police or adminsitration to getting hostages released.
>
>
>
> If these hostages were* NOT* kidnapped in the first place, they would not
> have been killed, would they?
>
>
>
> I am not sure that the Govt. of India has even a standing policy on
> hostage negotiations or negotiations with terrorists. Each successive GOI
> administration seems to have, what one might call a * policy on the fly*.
> They seem to make up policies on these critical issues as they go along.
> That apparently gives terrorists and other such elements the idea that its a
> free for all.
>
>
>
> India needs to take strong lessons from countries like China, Russia, and
> Israel in formulating tough policies against terrorists.
>
>
>
> --Ram
>
> *_______________________________________*
>
> *Of Hostage Crisis and Counter*
>
> J P Rajkhowa's article entitled "The Goof behind a Bizarre Encounter" (The
> Sentinel, July 15, 2007) reminds me of an old Assamese adage - ''borokhun
> gole japi'' - the loose translation of which in English would be ''to lock
> the barn house after the horse has bolted'. Invariably, as an incident as PC
> Ram's comes to an end, the columnists of all hues, who normally would not
> even open their windows at the time of a simple riot, let alone camp at the
> site of encounters, begin advancing their pet theories forthwith by heaping
> calumny of the failures of the police department. It seems to be the case of
> rushing to judgement before all the information, pertinent to the incident,
> are out in the open. Should we not suspend our judgment until, and if at
> all, all the facts are presented by an independent party?
> I must say that this piece is not intended to belittle the earnestness of
> Mr Rajkhowa to highlight the inadequacy of the police department. On the
> opposite end of the spectrum, the cops are faced with the bizarre situation
> of ''damned if you do, damned if you do not''.
> In the event of a hostage crisis, the administration of the day may not be
> able to save the lives of hostages every time, but each country has the
> option of not compromising with the demands of the terrorists.
> Unfortunately, that seems not to be the case with India. Remember how the
> Indian Government safely escorted two dreaded terrorists, Masood Azahar and
> Mustaque Zagar, to Afghanistan in December 1999 in the hijacking case of an
> Indian airliner, and how the government unconditionally conceded to the
> demands of the terrorists in the kidnapping of Rubbiya Sayeed in Jammu &
> Kashmir in November 1989?
> Compare India's response to Russia's reaction to the Chechen hostage
> crisis at the Palace of Culture a few years ago. There were 900 hostages.
> Even so, Kremlin made only one counter-offer - that the lives of the jehadis
> would be spared if they freed the hostages. Eventually, Kremlin had its
> special force to gas them, killing all the jehadis along with 170 hostages
> but saved more than 700 lives. The message that the Russians had sent to the
> terrorists was: ''Don't try to mess with us.''
> By the way, have any of those who regularly grumble against police
> failures, ever seen the police barrack? I wonder!
> Kamaljit Deka,
> Sugarland, Texas.
>
>
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>
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