August 2019

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
NEWS
August 2019
21
The UAPA bill has been ultimately
passed by the Rajya Sabha yesterday.
UAPA refer to Unlawful Activities
Prevention Act under which the
Central government has got a right to
‘designate’ an individual as a terrorist.
While there is no immediate threat
to arrest, the person will have to
appeal to the government with in
forty days of his/her name appearing
in the government gazetteer. If the
Ministry oblige you then, it will fix
up a committee constituting a retired
High Court or Supreme Court Judge
along with several other members,
mostly from MoHA. If they found
you fine then your name will be
removed but if not then you will get
to file against it at the High Court.
Now, given the nature of things
happening in India with rabid communalism
terming dissent as being
anti national, it would be easier for a
lynch mob to kill a person or his family
once the name appears in the
media. We know it very well that this
absolutely spineless media would not
only add few spices into the story but
also instigate people to kill such people.
There was a time, when media
fought against such draconian measures
like Maintenance of Internal
Security Act ( MISA) during emergency
when agencies had the right to
detain any one without any chargesheet.
There were other laws like
Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act
( POTA) which was misused against
the Muslims, the most and became a
poll issue too. It was finally withdrawn
but government brought
UAPA in the disguise. This was UPA
government’s act which was amended
and shamelessly opposition parties
failed to rise up to the occasion.
In Rajya Sabha, NDA is short of
majority yet all the bills that were
passed in Lok Sabha also got through
Rajya Sabha without much difficulties.
Not only opposition parties mainly
Congress tamely surrendered. The
party’s response on triple talaq was
equally baffling but then Congress
does not seem to have learn any lesson
and it is more painful for all those
who trust it to fight for their right.
Terrorism is a global problem and definitely
killing innocent people need to
be condemned unconditionally. It is
INVITATION
to mob lynching
also important to inquire what breeds
terror and whether this is merely a
political game or historical injustices
too. If terrorism is to be used in terms
of propagating any idea which are
detrimental to our national security,
integrity of the country or its unity
then, broadly, one should agree with it
as we all are bound by the constitution
of our countries and in our case,
Indian constitution, which we all are
proud of, giving
us so much of
space and opportunities
to express
our opinions and
dissent. Problem is not that we should
not fight or make law against terrorism.
Government is duty bound to
ensure safety of the people and make
laws in the better interest of the people.
The issue here is whether this
naming and shaming is a correct thing
to do so. If a person is declared terrorist
by the government, then why
should he be allowed to move around
freely. Why shouldn’t he be arrested,
proper charges are framed and fix up a
time frame under special courts but
what is disturbing is that you
declare an individual as terrorist,
put his or name in the official
gazetteer and then ask him
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
social and human rights activist
to prove that he or she is innocent.
So the person will have to
run here and there for six months to
get into final clearance whether he or
she is not a terrorist. We know how
our file moves, and we should not be
surprised that this will aggravate the
issue. Will the government provide
security to the family of the people
who are designated terrorists so that
the ‘nationalist’ mob does not kill
them. Will their identities be kept
secret. How is that a Republic TV or
an India TV or Aaj
Tak reporter forcing
enter the homes of
the ‘accused’ and
broadcasting live
from there intimidatingly
thirsting
their mikes on the
family people or the
person who is
accused. Will it not
create further frenzy and anarchy.
We can only hope that these are
used in rarest of the rare cases. There
is a provision globally done by the
UN which declared Hafiz Sayed as a
terrorist and he is patronized by the
state. Every state have extra-state
actors and Hafiz is Pakistan’s Inter
Services Intelligence’s prime catch
against India. Pakistan has been
humiliated internationally because of
him and many others residing there
but the religious frenzy and power
make them strong. When UN
declared Hafiz Sayed Global
Terrorist, there was near unanimity
among major countries and none
challenge that process but like they
traced Osama Bin Laden, none is
going to harm him as Pakistan always
use him so when there is too much
pressure, he will be put under house
arrest and then silently allow to do
things.
It is important to define it categorically
so no innocent person is targeted.
If naming and shaming is the
thing then those spreading hatred in
the name of religion, killing people at
their will under any religious pretext,
those who are proudly declaring them
as hating the citizens of the country
who have a different religious or caste
identity. Will this instrument be used
against the terror which spread
through caste supremacy in our villages
that has kept Dalits and tribal
subjugated for centuries. We would
definitely welcome it. What would
we describe Godse and will the book
that he justify killing Gandhi, be still
available or will it be called a literature
spreading terror because the
home minister also talked about such
literature that might spread terrorism
can be designated as terrorist.
As I said government is duty
bound to protect people and not to
intimidate them or snoop them. A
healthy democracy is ultimately good
for all of us and it can not be imposed
by thousands of laws and tactics. we
hope this law will not be able to pass
the validity test from the Supreme
Court. Let us hope lawyers and
human rights defenders will take it to
the court so that this not misused.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social
and human rights activist. He blogs
at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
twitter @freetohumanity
Email: vbrawat@gmail.com
29 killed in US mass shootings in less than 24 hrs
Washington : At least 29 people
were killed and over 40 others were
injured in two separate incidents of
mass shootings in the US states of
Texas and Ohio in less than 24 hours,
media reports said. In Ohio, nine people,
including the perpetrator, were
killed and 16 others were injured early
Sunday morning in the shootings outside
the Ned Peppers Bar in Dayton
city's Oregon area.
The incident took place after mass
shooting in Texas's El Paso city killed
20 people and injured 26 others on
Saturday.
According to the Dayton Police
Department, the first call of the Ohio
incident came in at around 1 a.m.
"We had officers in the immediate
vicinity when the shooting began and
were able to respond and put an end to
it quickly," the BBC quoted the
Dayton Police Department as saying
in a tweet.
Assistant Police Chief Matt Carper
told the media that officers on patrol
managed to take down the shooter
who is yet to be identified. Carper said
the subject fired a "long gun" with
multiple rounds. He added that it was
"very fortunate that the officers were
in close proximity". Nothing more
was known about the shooter, but
Carper said they were "anxious to discover"
a motivation.
Police believe the suspect
acted alone and that there
was no remaining threat to
the community, but the
investigation, assisted by the
Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), was
going on.
Footage posted on social
media showed people running
as dozens of gunshots
echoed through the streets. It
also showed several bodies
on the floor covered in white
sheets. A note saying staff
members were safe appeared
on Ned Peppers' Instagram
page after the incident and on
the nearby Hole in the Wall
bar's Facebook page, the
BBC said. In Texas, the
attack took place at a Walmart store
near the Cielo Vista Mall in the city
located close to the US-Mexico border
that has close to 700,000 inhabitants.
The suspect, 21-year-old Patrick
Crusius, is currently in police custody.
El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen
said that the Walmart was full of shoppers
buying back-to-school supplies at
the time of the attack. The identities of
the victims were yet to be ascertained.
Allen told the media that the tragic
incident could be dubbed as "hate
crime". El Paso Police and the FBI are
investigating whether an anonymous
white nationalist "manifesto", shared
on an online forum, was written by the
gunman, the BBC reported.
The document said the attack was
targeted at the local Hispanic community.
Governor Greg Abbott described
the attack as "one of the most deadly
days in the history of Texas", while
President Donald Trump called it "an
act of cowardice". Authorities have
termed the Texas shooting as the
eighth deadliest in modern US history.
The attacks came less than a week
after a teenage gunman killed three
people at a California food festival.