Will India turn into a repressive police state?

[S_O_C_O_M]

Will India turn into a repressive police state?​

Monday 4 March 2013


Last Update 3 March 2013 10:50 pm

.

INDIA is once again going through a phase of mourning rather perfunctorily after the Feb. 21 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad that snuffed out 16 precious lives and left scores of innocent bystanders injured. Having failed to crack any of the urban terror cases since the ghastly 26/11 strike in Mumbai, the country’s ruling elites — egged on by the security establishment — are locked in an animated debate on the urgent necessity of establishing an umbrella security apparatus called national counter-terrorism center (NCTC) to counter extremist activities effectively.
By now, the poor citizens already drowned by profuse nomenclatures like national intelligence grid, national investigating agency, multiagency center et al. are frightfully confronting some peculiar logic dished out by the state as an alibi for stripping the last one of the civil rights in the name of national security. Specialists argue that there is a genuine operational need to obtain the minutest of information and personal details of citizens available with the central and provincial authorities, financial institutions as well as private entities to protect the country from the scourge of terrorism. The strategic establishment used this opportunity to fire over the shoulder of a hyperactive media by planting selective inputs for pushing through the idea of creating an intelligence behemoth once again. News media’s eagerness to accept official pronouncements at face value and the fourth estates’ inability to see through motives will ultimately ensure a gradual corrosion in India’s democratic plinth. Unfortunately, not many in this country are cognizant of the far-reaching consequences of allowing a hidden world of espionage grow beyond executive and parliamentary control in a multi-ethnic democratic society.
Multiplication of such organizations at the end of the day will only add to the bitter turf war already prevalent in the unwieldy security paraphernalia that the Indian tax payers are maintaining. The war on terror has undoubtedly been a magnet that attracted huge spending and another setup will further consolidate the complex Web, comprising of secret network of operatives and contractors engaged in esoteric activities on behalf of the Indian state.
Yes, there is no denying the fact that the Indian government has been throwing money at the problem that produced nothing more than a colossal coordination crisis with each of the agencies working in different and often opposite directions resulting in huge embarrassment. But will the creation of another counter-intelligence edifice ensure that the poor citizens of this country will get a permanent respite from the possibility of being blown up into pieces of burnt flesh, mangled beyond recognition somewhere, sometime, thanks to the motley terror outfits waiting in the wings for an opportune moment to strike back? Can the chief of the proposed NCTC have the guts to thwart a false flag terror operation overriding its strategic necessity at a particular point in time if the government of the day deem it appropriate? After all, pretending to be a victim has been an old trick of the trade employed world over to influence domestic politics and garner international sympathy simultaneously. Moreover, shaping public opinion or igniting patriotic fervor among the populace with healthy doses of propaganda is not really a difficult task as Hermann W Goering, the head of Nazi secret police, would have us believe.
Very rarely has India’s operational strategy been dictated by enlightened self-interest. Even the brightest of minds in Indian intelligence will agree that given South Asia’s centrality in the now defunct cold war politics, the nation’s strategic culture has been traditionally subservient to the powers that be.
In a way, the recently nominated US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is correct in saying that India has financed problems for Pakistan in Afghanistan. But that was because New Delhi was expected to do Russia’s bidding gratuitously after the crucial support it received during the 1971 war that ended in liberation of East Pakistan into a sovereign nation called Bangladesh. It would be a bit irrational to assume that India has suddenly developed a strong spine as the world shifted to a unipolar order and that the country’s strategic planning and maneuvering are no longer influenced by extraneous factors alone, obscuring domestic requirements.
This is precisely the reason why there is no letup in the relentless waves of terror attacks on Indian soil, opined an expert who has been in the thick of covert operations for long. As a result, the frustrated law enforcers in India, under pressure to solve terror crimes in the shortest possible time ends up encouraging extra legal activities like custodial torture, false framing, fake encounters and community profiling. This only adds up to the alienation prevailing among a particular segment of the society, stereotyped as terrorists for far too long. Now, a virtually paranoid government is determined to promote intrusive surveillance — with the help of biometric identity and snooping on private communications — throughout the length and breadth of India’s territorial limit apparently to prevent any obnoxious incident that it would not otherwise like to for strategic reasons.
What a plethora of security agencies working in India failed to achieve over the years in spite of being equipped with draconian statutes enacted specifically for terrorism-related crimes, cannot be accomplished by a new structure with similar statutory backing.
Instead, this façade of putting old wine in a new bottle will create an all powerful elite class having a vested interest in incentivizing alarmism by keeping the pot boiling while the miniscule shred of remaining privacy is in the danger of getting swept away by this new phenomenon of citizen spying. Hopefully, the Congress-led united progressive alliance government would come out of illusion soon to perceive the dangers of letting this country creep toward a repressive police state.

• Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.

Will India turn into a repressive police state? | ArabNews

 

[Arya Desa]

Will India turn into a repressive police state?​

Monday 4 March 2013


Last Update 3 March 2013 10:50 pm

.

INDIA is once again going through a phase of mourning rather perfunctorily after the Feb. 21 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad that snuffed out 16 precious lives and left scores of innocent bystanders injured. Having failed to crack any of the urban terror cases since the ghastly 26/11 strike in Mumbai, the country’s ruling elites — egged on by the security establishment — are locked in an animated debate on the urgent necessity of establishing an umbrella security apparatus called national counter-terrorism center (NCTC) to counter extremist activities effectively.
By now, the poor citizens already drowned by profuse nomenclatures like national intelligence grid, national investigating agency, multiagency center et al. are frightfully confronting some peculiar logic dished out by the state as an alibi for stripping the last one of the civil rights in the name of national security. Specialists argue that there is a genuine operational need to obtain the minutest of information and personal details of citizens available with the central and provincial authorities, financial institutions as well as private entities to protect the country from the scourge of terrorism. The strategic establishment used this opportunity to fire over the shoulder of a hyperactive media by planting selective inputs for pushing through the idea of creating an intelligence behemoth once again. News media’s eagerness to accept official pronouncements at face value and the fourth estates’ inability to see through motives will ultimately ensure a gradual corrosion in India’s democratic plinth. Unfortunately, not many in this country are cognizant of the far-reaching consequences of allowing a hidden world of espionage grow beyond executive and parliamentary control in a multi-ethnic democratic society.
Multiplication of such organizations at the end of the day will only add to the bitter turf war already prevalent in the unwieldy security paraphernalia that the Indian tax payers are maintaining. The war on terror has undoubtedly been a magnet that attracted huge spending and another setup will further consolidate the complex Web, comprising of secret network of operatives and contractors engaged in esoteric activities on behalf of the Indian state.
Yes, there is no denying the fact that the Indian government has been throwing money at the problem that produced nothing more than a colossal coordination crisis with each of the agencies working in different and often opposite directions resulting in huge embarrassment. But will the creation of another counter-intelligence edifice ensure that the poor citizens of this country will get a permanent respite from the possibility of being blown up into pieces of burnt flesh, mangled beyond recognition somewhere, sometime, thanks to the motley terror outfits waiting in the wings for an opportune moment to strike back? Can the chief of the proposed NCTC have the guts to thwart a false flag terror operation overriding its strategic necessity at a particular point in time if the government of the day deem it appropriate? After all, pretending to be a victim has been an old trick of the trade employed world over to influence domestic politics and garner international sympathy simultaneously. Moreover, shaping public opinion or igniting patriotic fervor among the populace with healthy doses of propaganda is not really a difficult task as Hermann W Goering, the head of Nazi secret police, would have us believe.
Very rarely has India’s operational strategy been dictated by enlightened self-interest. Even the brightest of minds in Indian intelligence will agree that given South Asia’s centrality in the now defunct cold war politics, the nation’s strategic culture has been traditionally subservient to the powers that be.
In a way, the recently nominated US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is correct in saying that India has financed problems for Pakistan in Afghanistan. But that was because New Delhi was expected to do Russia’s bidding gratuitously after the crucial support it received during the 1971 war that ended in liberation of East Pakistan into a sovereign nation called Bangladesh. It would be a bit irrational to assume that India has suddenly developed a strong spine as the world shifted to a unipolar order and that the country’s strategic planning and maneuvering are no longer influenced by extraneous factors alone, obscuring domestic requirements.
This is precisely the reason why there is no letup in the relentless waves of terror attacks on Indian soil, opined an expert who has been in the thick of covert operations for long. As a result, the frustrated law enforcers in India, under pressure to solve terror crimes in the shortest possible time ends up encouraging extra legal activities like custodial torture, false framing, fake encounters and community profiling. This only adds up to the alienation prevailing among a particular segment of the society, stereotyped as terrorists for far too long. Now, a virtually paranoid government is determined to promote intrusive surveillance — with the help of biometric identity and snooping on private communications — throughout the length and breadth of India’s territorial limit apparently to prevent any obnoxious incident that it would not otherwise like to for strategic reasons.
What a plethora of security agencies working in India failed to achieve over the years in spite of being equipped with draconian statutes enacted specifically for terrorism-related crimes, cannot be accomplished by a new structure with similar statutory backing.
Instead, this façade of putting old wine in a new bottle will create an all powerful elite class having a vested interest in incentivizing alarmism by keeping the pot boiling while the miniscule shred of remaining privacy is in the danger of getting swept away by this new phenomenon of citizen spying. Hopefully, the Congress-led united progressive alliance government would come out of illusion soon to perceive the dangers of letting this country creep toward a repressive police state.

• Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.

Will India turn into a repressive police state? | ArabNews

After yours become a proper functioning state.

 

[phylumchordata]

Will India turn into a repressive police state?​

Monday 4 March 2013


Last Update 3 March 2013 10:50 pm

.

INDIA is once again going through a phase of mourning rather perfunctorily after the Feb. 21 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad that snuffed out 16 precious lives and left scores of innocent bystanders injured. Having failed to crack any of the urban terror cases since the ghastly 26/11 strike in Mumbai, the country’s ruling elites — egged on by the security establishment — are locked in an animated debate on the urgent necessity of establishing an umbrella security apparatus called national counter-terrorism center (NCTC) to counter extremist activities effectively.
By now, the poor citizens already drowned by profuse nomenclatures like national intelligence grid, national investigating agency, multiagency center et al. are frightfully confronting some peculiar logic dished out by the state as an alibi for stripping the last one of the civil rights in the name of national security. Specialists argue that there is a genuine operational need to obtain the minutest of information and personal details of citizens available with the central and provincial authorities, financial institutions as well as private entities to protect the country from the scourge of terrorism. The strategic establishment used this opportunity to fire over the shoulder of a hyperactive media by planting selective inputs for pushing through the idea of creating an intelligence behemoth once again. News media’s eagerness to accept official pronouncements at face value and the fourth estates’ inability to see through motives will ultimately ensure a gradual corrosion in India’s democratic plinth. Unfortunately, not many in this country are cognizant of the far-reaching consequences of allowing a hidden world of espionage grow beyond executive and parliamentary control in a multi-ethnic democratic society.
Multiplication of such organizations at the end of the day will only add to the bitter turf war already prevalent in the unwieldy security paraphernalia that the Indian tax payers are maintaining. The war on terror has undoubtedly been a magnet that attracted huge spending and another setup will further consolidate the complex Web, comprising of secret network of operatives and contractors engaged in esoteric activities on behalf of the Indian state.
Yes, there is no denying the fact that the Indian government has been throwing money at the problem that produced nothing more than a colossal coordination crisis with each of the agencies working in different and often opposite directions resulting in huge embarrassment. But will the creation of another counter-intelligence edifice ensure that the poor citizens of this country will get a permanent respite from the possibility of being blown up into pieces of burnt flesh, mangled beyond recognition somewhere, sometime, thanks to the motley terror outfits waiting in the wings for an opportune moment to strike back? Can the chief of the proposed NCTC have the guts to thwart a false flag terror operation overriding its strategic necessity at a particular point in time if the government of the day deem it appropriate? After all, pretending to be a victim has been an old trick of the trade employed world over to influence domestic politics and garner international sympathy simultaneously. Moreover, shaping public opinion or igniting patriotic fervor among the populace with healthy doses of propaganda is not really a difficult task as Hermann W Goering, the head of Nazi secret police, would have us believe.
Very rarely has India’s operational strategy been dictated by enlightened self-interest. Even the brightest of minds in Indian intelligence will agree that given South Asia’s centrality in the now defunct cold war politics, the nation’s strategic culture has been traditionally subservient to the powers that be.
In a way, the recently nominated US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is correct in saying that India has financed problems for Pakistan in Afghanistan. But that was because New Delhi was expected to do Russia’s bidding gratuitously after the crucial support it received during the 1971 war that ended in liberation of East Pakistan into a sovereign nation called Bangladesh. It would be a bit irrational to assume that India has suddenly developed a strong spine as the world shifted to a unipolar order and that the country’s strategic planning and maneuvering are no longer influenced by extraneous factors alone, obscuring domestic requirements.
This is precisely the reason why there is no letup in the relentless waves of terror attacks on Indian soil, opined an expert who has been in the thick of covert operations for long. As a result, the frustrated law enforcers in India, under pressure to solve terror crimes in the shortest possible time ends up encouraging extra legal activities like custodial torture, false framing, fake encounters and community profiling. This only adds up to the alienation prevailing among a particular segment of the society, stereotyped as terrorists for far too long. Now, a virtually paranoid government is determined to promote intrusive surveillance — with the help of biometric identity and snooping on private communications — throughout the length and breadth of India’s territorial limit apparently to prevent any obnoxious incident that it would not otherwise like to for strategic reasons.
What a plethora of security agencies working in India failed to achieve over the years in spite of being equipped with draconian statutes enacted specifically for terrorism-related crimes, cannot be accomplished by a new structure with similar statutory backing.
Instead, this façade of putting old wine in a new bottle will create an all powerful elite class having a vested interest in incentivizing alarmism by keeping the pot boiling while the miniscule shred of remaining privacy is in the danger of getting swept away by this new phenomenon of citizen spying. Hopefully, the Congress-led united progressive alliance government would come out of illusion soon to perceive the dangers of letting this country creep toward a repressive police state.

• Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.

Will India turn into a repressive police state? | ArabNews

FAKE PROPAGANDIST BIAS

 

[PeaceGen]

Will India turn into a repressive police state?​

Monday 4 March 2013


Last Update 3 March 2013 10:50 pm

.

INDIA is once again going through a phase of mourning rather perfunctorily after the Feb. 21 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad that snuffed out 16 precious lives and left scores of innocent bystanders injured. Having failed to crack any of the urban terror cases since the ghastly 26/11 strike in Mumbai, the country’s ruling elites — egged on by the security establishment — are locked in an animated debate on the urgent necessity of establishing an umbrella security apparatus called national counter-terrorism center (NCTC) to counter extremist activities effectively.
By now, the poor citizens already drowned by profuse nomenclatures like national intelligence grid, national investigating agency, multiagency center et al. are frightfully confronting some peculiar logic dished out by the state as an alibi for stripping the last one of the civil rights in the name of national security. Specialists argue that there is a genuine operational need to obtain the minutest of information and personal details of citizens available with the central and provincial authorities, financial institutions as well as private entities to protect the country from the scourge of terrorism. The strategic establishment used this opportunity to fire over the shoulder of a hyperactive media by planting selective inputs for pushing through the idea of creating an intelligence behemoth once again. News media’s eagerness to accept official pronouncements at face value and the fourth estates’ inability to see through motives will ultimately ensure a gradual corrosion in India’s democratic plinth. Unfortunately, not many in this country are cognizant of the far-reaching consequences of allowing a hidden world of espionage grow beyond executive and parliamentary control in a multi-ethnic democratic society.
Multiplication of such organizations at the end of the day will only add to the bitter turf war already prevalent in the unwieldy security paraphernalia that the Indian tax payers are maintaining. The war on terror has undoubtedly been a magnet that attracted huge spending and another setup will further consolidate the complex Web, comprising of secret network of operatives and contractors engaged in esoteric activities on behalf of the Indian state.
Yes, there is no denying the fact that the Indian government has been throwing money at the problem that produced nothing more than a colossal coordination crisis with each of the agencies working in different and often opposite directions resulting in huge embarrassment. But will the creation of another counter-intelligence edifice ensure that the poor citizens of this country will get a permanent respite from the possibility of being blown up into pieces of burnt flesh, mangled beyond recognition somewhere, sometime, thanks to the motley terror outfits waiting in the wings for an opportune moment to strike back? Can the chief of the proposed NCTC have the guts to thwart a false flag terror operation overriding its strategic necessity at a particular point in time if the government of the day deem it appropriate? After all, pretending to be a victim has been an old trick of the trade employed world over to influence domestic politics and garner international sympathy simultaneously. Moreover, shaping public opinion or igniting patriotic fervor among the populace with healthy doses of propaganda is not really a difficult task as Hermann W Goering, the head of Nazi secret police, would have us believe.
Very rarely has India’s operational strategy been dictated by enlightened self-interest. Even the brightest of minds in Indian intelligence will agree that given South Asia’s centrality in the now defunct cold war politics, the nation’s strategic culture has been traditionally subservient to the powers that be.
In a way, the recently nominated US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is correct in saying that India has financed problems for Pakistan in Afghanistan. But that was because New Delhi was expected to do Russia’s bidding gratuitously after the crucial support it received during the 1971 war that ended in liberation of East Pakistan into a sovereign nation called Bangladesh. It would be a bit irrational to assume that India has suddenly developed a strong spine as the world shifted to a unipolar order and that the country’s strategic planning and maneuvering are no longer influenced by extraneous factors alone, obscuring domestic requirements.
This is precisely the reason why there is no letup in the relentless waves of terror attacks on Indian soil, opined an expert who has been in the thick of covert operations for long. As a result, the frustrated law enforcers in India, under pressure to solve terror crimes in the shortest possible time ends up encouraging extra legal activities like custodial torture, false framing, fake encounters and community profiling. This only adds up to the alienation prevailing among a particular segment of the society, stereotyped as terrorists for far too long. Now, a virtually paranoid government is determined to promote intrusive surveillance — with the help of biometric identity and snooping on private communications — throughout the length and breadth of India’s territorial limit apparently to prevent any obnoxious incident that it would not otherwise like to for strategic reasons.
What a plethora of security agencies working in India failed to achieve over the years in spite of being equipped with draconian statutes enacted specifically for terrorism-related crimes, cannot be accomplished by a new structure with similar statutory backing.
Instead, this façade of putting old wine in a new bottle will create an all powerful elite class having a vested interest in incentivizing alarmism by keeping the pot boiling while the miniscule shred of remaining privacy is in the danger of getting swept away by this new phenomenon of citizen spying. Hopefully, the Congress-led united progressive alliance government would come out of illusion soon to perceive the dangers of letting this country creep toward a repressive police state.

• Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.

Will India turn into a repressive police state? | ArabNews

My stance on this is the following:

{1} privacy *should* be let go of for national security and crime-fighting purposes.

{2} : {1} should not be abused by the mass media to invade the privacy of celebrities, nor by anyone to invade the privacy of law-abiding citizens.