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Tahir Mahmood in Open Page, The Hindu, 30th July 2006, enlightens us irrational, senseless and bigoted minds:
“India does need a comprehensive code of Muslim law. Unfortunately, no one talks of it. People talk of the utopia called a common civil code, without caring to know the rationale and object of the constitutional provision in this respect. This provision, they fail to note, did not prevent the enactment of a separate Hindu code in 1955-56 and the retention of the Christian and Parsi laws of pre-independence era. It cannot, similarly, hamper codification of Muslim law. Senseless advocacy of a common civil code in the context of Muslim law hinders reformation of that law and perpetuates its misuse. ” (Emphasis added.)
Look at the arrogance with which he dismisses the idea of a common civil code as “utopia” and “senseless advocacy”. His main argument is that a common civil code “hinders reformation of” Muslim personal law “and perpetuates its misuse”. I’m appaled that he and his kind (the so called secularists) refuse to see that a common civil code actually removes the need to reform religion based personal law and all the difficulties involved in it.
He continues to enlighten us thus:
“ Muslim women’s unfettered freedom of choosing a life-partner by their free will, negotiating the terms of a proposed alliance, maintaining their independent identity and rights during marriage, walking out of an irretrievably broken marriage without any hassles, and enjoying unrestricted ownership of all property that comes to their hands by inheritance or otherwise, are some of the salient features of Muslim law.”
Why does he think that a common civil code will do any different than this? The very reason everyone wants a common civil code for all is that womens’ rights and individual rights can be protected. All personal laws, be it Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Parsee or Muslim have so far failed to do that and I have no reason to believe that they’ll do so in the future. If they havent over centuries of their existence, it shows something – that as long as religion is allowed to interfere with individual rights, especially in a pluralistic society like India, there can be no reform whatsoever and only a common civil code is the way to go forward.
To me, religion is one of the greatest evils and for millenia, it has hindered human progress in India and elsewhere. Religion doesnt deserve the role that millions of people around the world give to it in their day-to-day life. As we long to become a major power and a modern nation, it’s high time we give lesser role to religion and embrace a secular way of living. A common civil code for all of us is a great way to start.
There’ll be irritants no doubt. People like Tahir Mahmood will continue to halt all efforts towards this noble goal using petty, logically indefensible arguments. The so called secular political parties like Congress and the Communist parties will continue to hijack the meaning of the word secularism for narrow political gains. Pseudosecular and anti-national monkeys in the media, like Praful Bidwai, will continue to babble and scream. In fact, India is a peculiar case. Look at the irony of the whole thing. This is from an entry in Wikipedia on the same subject:
“The secular Uniform Civil Code is opposed by Muslims, Christians and parties like the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). These are also referred to as “secularists”. Those in favour of a secular Uniform Civil Code are the Bharatiya Janata Party , the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. These are also referred to as “Communalists”. Thus, in India, there exists a peculiar situation where the opponents of a secular law are called “Secularists” while those in favour of a secular law are termed “communalists” or even “fascists”.”
Secularism has been hijacked in India. True secularists among us need to rise to the occasion and save it from the jaws of the narrow minded and the politically minded. To do so, we need to see to it that we have a Uniform Civil Code as soon as possible.
… is not the murderer, the rapist, the corrupt politician or the terrorist… but that person who wakes you up abruptly from a sweet deep sleep… especially if you are sleep starved.
She’s so beautiful.
But… I dont know.
Something… I feel sad… and helpless,
As if my wings are clipped.
-
I feel trapped
In the cage of rationality and objectivity that I seem to have built around myself,
Or rather, has been built around me.
-
Even my mind is held hostage.
It tells me she is nothing like I’ve ever seen before
But it also asks me to keep away from her,
For my own interests… and even her interests, it says.
-
When the mind disagrees,
The heart aches.
And when that happens,
Everything aches.
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I’ve been keeping a close watch on the Indian blogosphere in the aftermath of the Mumbai bombings. Understandably, many comments have been emotionally charged. 200 innocent lives lost to an evil cause is no small thing. Close to a thousand families have forever been thrown into grief due to the actions perpetrated by a few misguided, maniacal, barbarian, bloodthirsty individuals, who live under the paranoid delusion that somehow the world can one day be brought under the rule of the Sharia and a “Grand Caliphate”, by sacrificing innocent lives. Apart from emotion, there has been a call for India to shed its “soft country” image and put up a tough face. Apparently, the cold faced old men manning our political and bureaucratic positions have really let them down. There’s an “enough is enough” feeling in the country and many feel that India must “act”, implicitly implying that India should go ahead and attack the terrorist factories across the border. But I’m afraid this sort of measure i.e., using violence/military might is undesirable, is indecisive, will only delay the inevitable and that the solution lies elsewhere.
(Actually, I’m still not very clear about what exactly is meant by “India should act now”. India has been under siege from terrorist forces for a long time – in Kashmir, in the northeast, in the Naxalite belt. Terrorism has always been there and it has been dealt with, if not effectively or in the most desirable fashion. We are talking about a problem which has managed to evade even the best intelligence establishments and antiterrorist forces in the world. If you think India has not “acted”, then you are disregarding the efforts of all those jawans and policemen (people like me and you and who have families) who have lost their lives fighting these rascals all these years, just so that we can sit down at our homes on our fat butts, munch on Uncle Chips, sip Coke and blog today. Let us not take our relative peace, stability and freedom for granted. These things just dont fall out of the sky. They are maintained by some people with their lives.)
It is very easy to hide behind the quantitative superiority of our armed forces and aver that we should use our military might to solve a problem that has never been shown to be solved by such means. By default, if a terrorist camp has to be attacked, we have to attack Pakistani territory. This means, whether we like it or not, we are giving Pakistan (a sovereign nation) a sound reason to wage war against us. So, an attack on terrorist camps = attack on Pakistan -> War. Remember that if such a situation arises, we’ll be up against an enemy which is quantitatively inferior but one which is armed with nuclear weapons. Pakistan has made it clear that it will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons if a conventional assault proves inadequate. They wont miss the chance to pop a few nukes across the border before they end their pathetic existence, will they? In that case, it is us, and not Pakistan, that will lose more (strangely, had there been no nukes, war would suddenly look like a good option!). If you ask me, I’m not ready for even one of our cities to be nuked.
Even if we take out those terrorist camps in Pakistan, how will this have any effect on terrorism? Terrorism is global. The terrorists will simply hole out to some other place and resume their terrorist assembly lines there. There’s Afghanistan, there’s Iran, there’s Saudi Arabia. Why, there’s Europe, the USA. Why go that far? There’s Bangladesh and heck, there’s India! You just need a place, that’s all. So all this talk of a military solution comes without much thought. It wont solve any problems and besides it will cause considerable damage to us. Also, keeping in mind the present state of our economy (arguably the best in recent times), launching ourselves into war is imprudent. (Picture George Bush and his defence expenses in Iraq, for instance.) Therefore, a military solution is undesirable to us and will be indecisive.
Moreover, we’ll only be delaying and even exacerbating things by using military means. Violence will create sympathy among potential recruits and the phenomenon will only gather more fire. Keep in mind that one reason the insurgency in Kashmir has gathered fire is because of the atrocities committed by our Army under the garb of fighting terrorism. They detained innocents indiscriminately and without proof, tortured them and raped women.
There are some hard truths to be accepted, by the way. Islamic terrorism is here to stay, I’m afraid, for a bloody long time. They will get around somehow and they will find newer ways to attack.
What do we do then?
I just passed college last year. I’m not some sort of an expert. What follows is pure opinion. Call it naive or whatever you like.
What I feel is that a top-down approach, like using force/military might, will not work. If a centipede sneaks beneath a carpet, will you take a cricket bat and start beating over the carpet (knowing that it is there under the carpet but not exactly where)? If you do so, the creature might just find a way out and disappear. After you give up, it might come back and give its poison fangs some good ol’ biting exercise. The right way to do it is to remove the carpet, find where it is, and after finding, then smack it dead. I think terrorism also should be dealth with in the same way – by getting to the roots.
BUT we dont know what the roots are. Terrorism is a complex problem. It is not as if terrorism = ax + by. If it was that simple, we’d have found out x and y and tweaked them so as to make terrorism zero. There are far too many factors leading to terrorism. This is precisely the reason why using force is not such a good idea. Use of force may give only temporary respite but not a long term solution.
Some of the factors that can be said as influencing terrorism are poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, oppression, religion, political situation, worklessness etc. We can say that these factors may lead to terrorism but not conclusively. In fact, these factors themselves might be affecting each other, making the problem extremely complex. Like for example, if you are living in a country in which you’re a religious minority, your religion may lead to discrimination, which may lead to joblessness and poverty and so on. Also, some of these factors may not lead to terrorism as well. For example, some of the men involved in 9/11 must’ve been highly educated because not everyone can pilot an airplane. So, it can be argued that poverty and illiteracy need not lead to terrorism. Everyone who is poor and illiterate wont become a terrorist! (I know any sociologist reading this would scoff: “So what? We know all that!” :p)
So, it seems trying to get to the roots isnt a sound solution either. Terrorism is dynamic as well. It’s nature changes. We might spend all our lives just trying to get to the roots.
BUT I have an idea.
The PM has accepted that it was an intelligence failure:
- The prime minister also expressed keen necessity to upgrade India’s intelligence network even as he virtually admitted that the blasts were a result of a failure of intelligence agencies in pinpointing the nature of the twin attacks.”At the macro level we had information that some groups had infiltrated in India and were going to target vital installations, our economy religious sites,” the prime minister said, adding that the seizure of 47 kilogram of RDX in Mumbai a few weeks ago was one such pointer.”But at the micro level, we didn’t have that kind of information,” he said, adding: “We need to upgrade our intelligence gathering efforts to cope with terrorism and disasters.” (link)
The difference between macro level and micro level information is the exact problem. Our intelligence agencies are not incompetent when it comes to gathering macro level information but they have frequently failed when it comes to micro level information. They know that an attack is going to take place but they dont know exactly where or when.
It’s a network
Terrorists operate in networks. Information is what drives these networks or rather, the flow of it. We can draw a crude analogy between a terrorist network and an Orkut community. Right now, there are 23,163,113 members in Orkut, all connected to each other, just like men connected in a society. What is Orkut without scraps and messages? Nothing. Information flow through scraps, profiles, testimonials, messages, photographs etc. towards a purpose is what Orkut is for.
Within this giant network, there are Orkut communities. A group of likeminded Orkutters come together to form a community. Every community has a purpose and a theme, for example, Ubuntu India:
- “Welcome to the cummunity of UBUNTU Linux lovers from India. Please exchange tips, tricks, problems and other details to make Ubuntu work for normal Indians."
Together, the members of this community discuss, share information towards a common goal. The information they share may be visible to a member who’s not a member of this community but to contribute information, s/he has to become a member i.e., she has to be a part of that community.
Ditto with terrorist networks. Terrorists can be seen as individuals in a society who come together with a common purpose and form a community i.e., a terrorist group. However, there’s a crucial difference between an Orkut community and a terrorist group. Information in an Orkut community is visible to non-members but this is not so with a terrorist group. You have to be a member of the group to even have access to information.
Suppose both are more or less the same i.e., let us remove the condition that you need not be a member of an Orkut community to see what is happening in the community, making it similar to a terrorist group. Still, dont you think you can have an idea of what is going on inside the community? Even in our scenario, some information about the community will still be visible to non-members. Surely a community must have a name? A purpose? These two pieces of information give us sufficient idea to guess what the community is all about. Besides these, definitely, we will be able to know the number of Orkutters in that community? Number is an important indicator. If the number of Orkutters in a community shoots up, we might draw a correlation between the number and the popularity of that group. Likewise, the kind of people who belong to that community might also offer us a clue about the nature of that community. So, obtaining macro level information is relatively easy.
Now, the PM and the intelligence community have revealed that they were in possession of macrolevel information. They knew from the movement of explosive material and related stuff (intercepted communications for example), in the days leading up to the attack, that something is happening. But since, they have no one inside the terrorist group, they were gleefully unaware of the micro level information i.e., the time and place of the attack. As I explained, obtaining macro level information is not such a big deal and we need not give too much credit to the intelligence community for it.
Infiltrate the networks
Obviously, the stress should be on gathering microlevel information. Question: Is this possible without being a member of the terrorist group? Wiretaps? You have to tap all telephones then. Internet surveillance? The Internet is too big a place to put “virtual taps”. Privacy is also an important issue here. Such solutions are not viable in a democratic nation. Even if you somehow tap information from telephonic and Internet communications, they’ll still use post/courier. Will you open and check out each and every letter then?
To have access to micro level information, you need to have a man inside the group – the classic double agent. You might argue saying “Dude, they are intelligence agencies for God’s sake! Surely, they’ll be having such people.” I’ll counterargue saying “If they did have someone in there and at the right places, we would have had exact information and these attacks would never have occured.”
History is replete with examples in which terrorist groups have been liquidated by using information as a weapon. One of the most famous is the way Stetson Kennedy used information to reduce the Ku Klux Klan to a joke.
We can draw a few parallels between the KKK and terrorist groups. Both have aims which are similar. The KKK’s aim was White Supremacy. The aim of Lashkar-e-Toiba is the supremacy of Islam. Both use/d the same weapon – terror. (The KKK didnt kill innocents, however.) Both received support from entities which were sympathetic to their cause (Pakistan for LeT and White Supremacists for the KKK). Both were highly secretive worlds – a lot of sensitive information is passed.
Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the KKK. He himself got initialized, became a member and slowly over time, made himself aware of all the passwords etc. and leaked this information. The KKK became a joke as all the secret information was aired through the Superman radio programme. Soon, the KKK’s membership declined and the KKK hit one of its lowest points in its history and never recovered.
I might be sounding naive in thinking that a similar solution in the case of terrorism in India is possible. But I dont think it’s not feasible. After all, we have many RAW spies across the border in Pakistan involved in top secret and highly risky operations. We have the men who can do it. We need microlevel information to preempt terrorist attacks and this is the only sureshot way of getting it.
Muscle vs. Brain
Terrorism has never been shown to be solved by violent means. I feel it has to come down to the classic confrontation between muscle power and brain power. Muscle power has proved to be an utter failure so far. Using muscle power doesnt seem to show ability but the lack of it. The United States, the United Kingdom and Israel believed in it and they have failed spectacularly. After their operations in West Asia following 9/11, the USA and the UK stand a much higher threat of terrorism today than ever and their own actions can be held responsible for it. We also know that Israel has its own share of responsibility for the state of matters in the Middle East.
So, maybe it is time to limit the role of the gun and the bomb to defence (not offence) and give our brains a fair chance instead. I’m sure the human brain is more competent than guns and bombs. 
This is the latest piece of nonsense doing the rounds in the Indian online community:
Israel -
POPULATION: 7 million (less than half of Mumbai)
SIZE: Less than that of Kerala
ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST IT: 2 soldiers kidnapped by Hezbolla, 1 by
Hamas
RETALIATORY ACTION: war on Lebanon and Gaza
India -
POPULATION: 1 billion+
SIZE: 6th largest in the world
ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST IT: 200+ dead in Mumbai blast, 8 in Kashmir
RETALIATORY ACTION: a speech by PM, clean chit for SIMI by UP CM
Long live INDIA
Well, let me also point out that this “war” on Lebanon has killed 350 people so far, most of them civilians and children – all innocent ones. And if you call this a war, get ready for an egg on your face from me. When you bomb houses, kill people who might not have anything to do with the kidnapping, destroy roads, bridges, power stations and call it a war, what’s the difference between those terrorists and you? It just shows Israel doesnt have the balls or the expertise to pinpoint terrorist targets and avoid damage to civilian targets, and you people are lauding Israel’s “efforts”. Shame!
To me, killing innocent children is also a terrorist act. One man’s hero is another man’s terrorist. Let’s not praise Israel for what it is doing now. So far, Israel hasnt provided any justification for destroying Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure and if it doesnt in the future, it counts as a war crime. By using disproportionate force, it is just digging its own grave deeper and deeper. As long as violence is used in search of a solution to its problems, the Middle East is never going to see peace.
The current stuation is close to alarming. It can quickly escalate into a full scale war and Syria, Iran will surely join in. If that happens, Big Brother USA wouldnt want to be left out of the game.
Ok, it was a nice read. Fast paced, interesting, engrossing etc. etc. Let’s leave that to the book reviewers. But what’s so great about this book?
Basically, it is a collection of research studies carried out by Steven D. Levitt (one of the authors and an economist). Along with his coauthor, Steven J. Dubner (writes for New York Times), Levitt sets out to answer these questions:
- What do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?
- Why do drug dealers live with their mothers?
- How can your name affect how well you do in life?
So what do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?
The answer: The role of information. Levitt explains to us about something called information advantage. It’s simple. You go to a market to buy a second hand cellphone. You know what the price would be in the company’s store but you also know that you’d get it for less here (that’s why you’re going). The problem, however, is you dont know how less exactly. But the dealer knows. Suppose the actual price is Rs. 12,000. You may be expecting it for, say, about Rs. 7000 here. The dealer must’ve got it for Rs. 3000 only (might be a stolen good, who knows?). So when you start settling the price, he would start with a price of, say Rs. 9000. You start bargaining and the guy keeps saying “Saab, virginal maal hain!” (pardon the pun 
). You being bargaining furiously. The place resembles a battlefield and finally, you both settle the price, say Rs. 7000. You’re quite satisfied. You might’ve had to shell out 12000 bucks for the same thing in the company store! You might also be feeling a little sad for the dealer “Bechara 9000 bola, maine 7000 mein udaliya!”. But as I said, the dealer got it for just Rs. 3000. You didnt know this. In fact, he’d also be thinking “Eda 3000 ka cheez 7000 mein liya! Hahaha!” The dealer had an information advantage here.
Levitt says something similar happens in real estate deals (as if we dont know 
). But with the proliferation of the Internet and other information sources, the information advantage held by a real estate dealer or the cellphone dealer I talked about can be reduced to a great extent. So, information plays a key role in this kind of business.
Coming to the KKK. What does information have to do here? KKK is a terrorist organisation. Terrorists operate in networks. So, information and its flow is crucial if it has to function properly. If you tap this information, you can use it against them (for example, if we get to know their next bomb target and the time of detonation, we can prevent the blast). Levitt explains how Stetson Kennedy actually infiltrated the KKK (secretly of course) by enrolling himself and joining the organisation.
KKK has a language of its own. Kl is a prefix to many Klan words. Like, for example, a member of the KKK is called a Klansman. When two Klansmen talk, they’re having a Klonversation. Klansmen is also a secret organisation like all terrorist organisations. The use of passwords is a must. Naturally, being a member, Kennedy would get to know all these cryptic passwords. After he collected a considerable amount of information, Kennedy leaked it.
Kennedy thought of the ideal outlet for this mission: the Adventures of Superman radio show, broadcast each night at dinnertime to millions of listeners nationwide. [...] Kennedy began feeding his best information to the Superman producers. [...] And Kennedy told the producers the current passwords, agenda, and gossip emanating from his own Klan chapter… [...] The radio producers began to write four weeks’ worth of programs in which Superman would wipe out the Ku Klux Klan. [...] Kennedy couldnt wait for the first Klan meeting after the show hit the air. Sure enough, the Klannern was in distress. [...] At the following week’s Klan meeting, the room was nearly empty; applications for new membership had fallen to zero.
That’s the funda. Tap information, use it in the right fashion and work wonders. This is the part of the book I liked most.
Be warned, the book has no underlying theme. I have explained in a crude sort of way how Levitt feels information is a crucial factor in shaping peoples’ behaviour. The other funda is how economic principles or incentives, affect the way people behave. I guess this is what is meant by the lines on the back of the book:
The answer: Freakonomics. It’s at the heart of everything we do and the things that affect us daily, from sex to crime, parenting to politics, fat to cheating, fear to traffic jams. And it’s all about using information about the world around us to get to the heart of what’s really happening under the surface of everyday life.
What’s so novel about the information funda, you ask? I’ve been asking the same question. After finishing the book, I’ve been left feeling that, armed with stats and language skills, he made me believe that it’s an entirely novel idea. But he’s telling us something we already know in some sort of way (remember the cellphone dealer?). He knew that the reader wouldnt really know what’s inside the book unless he reads. If he has to read, then he has to buy (which means lots of money for the author). The bugger used information advantage against me! He made a fool of me!
I shall leave the next two questions. You go read and find out the answers. What’s the point if I leak the whole thing. And why should I be the only fool around? 
I’m able to access Blogspot and Typepad blogs now, from AirTel Broadband, Delhi. I cant access those 17 sites which were listed for banning and geocities.com, however. So, it seems the ISPs have got their act right. I dont know about other ISPs but I’m sure they’re going to follow suit. Sigh!
Even though this is a good development, there is much left to be done. First thing, the block on geocities.com is absurd. There are many educative websites on geocities.com and it does no good to block the whole domain. I hope the government takes notice of this as well.
Second, those 17 sites. Most of them are harmless I guess, atleast those blogspot blogs. I’ve seen them. I dont think they have a sound basis for blocking these.
Third, the whole issue of blocking. Does the government have the right to decide what we’re going to read or not? We do have free media but we must also remember that we were the first country to ban The Satanic Verses. The way the present block/censorship is handled can be significant. If the block continues, then we’re going to get a bad name for sure.
A British secretary allegedly sacked from her job in Paris over an internet diary is the latest in a growing line to pay a heavy price for blogging. Catherine – who blogged anonymously under the pseudonym “Petite Anglaise” about life, love and work – has now launched a test case under French employment law.
She claims she was dismissed from accounting firm Dixon Wilson for bringing the company into disrepute, despite never naming it in her diary. The firm has not commented.
So goes this report on BBC.
In another case,
Delta Air Lines attendant Ellen Simonetti, known as Queen of the Sky, has brought legal action in the US after she lost her job apparently for posting “inappropriate images” of herself wearing company uniform.
Duh! This was the “inappropriate image”:
It does not show a nude woman with Delta Air Lines painted on her bare breasts does it? So what did the company lose with this picture? Sickos!
If you use WordPress and if you’re bored or need a break, the best thing to do is go to the BlogStats page and enjoy the search engine terms people used to reach your blog. What people search gives you a measure of what thoughts run through their minds. They also show how weird some people are. Take a look at these for example:
“why Himesh is for his success”
What weird combination of words is that?
“how to be a north indian blog”
Name your blog www.butternaan.blogspot.com.
Andhra aunties sex
Despos man! Real Despos!
“will guy” imagine engine
?????
*Scratching head… almost bleeds
“when i’m a good dog”
They sometimes throw you a bone (Nobody Home, Pink Floyd).
Btw, how did you manage to access the Internet?! The world gets weirder by the day.
ants bite
Teacher! Why the hell didnt you tell me about this?!
can ants bite you
Sigh!
Previous post on search engine terms: “namaskaar magazine, who is the editor”
Looks like the rumour’s true after all. I cannot access blogspot blogs! Till just a few minutes ago, I could access but I cant now. I cant access even one!
MTNL and Reliance were the most likely candidates. Sify and AirTel were ok. But looks like even AirTel (I’m in Delhi) has blocked them now. Actually, I can log into blogger.com and get to the dashboard, even write and publish the post but the problem is that I cannot view the site. I just called customer care at AirTel and unfortunately, some of the folks were blank after they heard the words “blogspot blogs”. They seemed to have no clue about what blogs are! I had to spell out blogspot for them.
Anyway, I asked them to check if AirTel is really blocking the blogs or if it is some other problem. They said they’ll get back to me. I hope it’s some internal problem. Aaaand, I hope the government is not acting cheap. I mean, if the government is doing this, then it is going to lose whatever respect it had from me. This really is outrageous! If the government is doing this, then we are much worse than that Communist nation, which doesnt respect freedom of expression, to our north. Atleast, they dont arbitrarily block an entire group of websites.
Well, WordPress is still ok. I hope they dont realize that WordPress is quite a popular platform as well.
Update 1:
Only Rediff has covered this issue so far here.
When the reporter Shivam Vij spoke to CERT’s (CERT is the agency most likely to have issued directives to block) Director, Dr. Gulshan Rai, “he was downright rude” and said:
- “Somebody must have blocked some sites. What is your problem?”
Yes, if this ban continues, we will show you what our problem is. Get a first aid kit ready and dont forget to get a dentist appointment.
Update 2:
Some guys have done a great job setting up a wiki – Bloggers Against Censorship. Press coverage here. That’s good to see. I hope more newspapers take this up. This is serious stuff.
Alright, it’s been three days. Even if it has been a mistake, how long will the government and the ISPs take to realize and correct it?!
Or does the government really want to block blogs because every now and then the government faces harsh criticism in the Indian blogosphere? Is the argument that terrorists are using blogs to communicate a mere excuse?
I wonder why WordPress hasnt been blocked. Didnt the halfwits know that there is something called WordPress or? Really, this is such a big screwup. It doesnt make sense at all. If they wanted to prevent terrorists from communicating, why ban only those 22 blogs? Terrorists may as well use email, chat, forums, groups etc. They also use telephones dont they? Will they put a ban on telephones also then? This is what J. C. Kiran has to say:
- “It seems that some blogs are being used by some terror units (read SIMI) to communicate” and in other news, The Indian Government has decided to turn off the water supply as it has been reported that the terrorists use water to live. Its always good to see that any government has intelligent people making all the decisions.
LOL!
Why doesnt someone from the government atleast come out and issue a press release clarifying things, saying it was a mistake and that our freedom of expression will be protected? They have a responsibility to tell us why they’re doing it, dont they? Maybe they want to put us through the whole pain of filing an RTI application and waiting for 30 days for the response. Shitheads!
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