Indian American writers remember 9/11

On 9/11, I was in the San Francisco bay area. I opened up my computer early in the morning, and on the MSN homepage was a video of the towers being attacked. I was in shock. At first I thought it was a simulation, or a hoax. Then I turned on the TV and heard the news. I just sat in front of the TV, stunned, for about half an hour while the same clips were being replayed. Then I couldn’t stand it anymore and turned it off. I remember feeling hollowed out.

By then the other hijacked planes had crashed as well. I felt terrible for all the lives lost unnecessarily. I felt terrible to think someone hated America (and us Americans) so much. I felt terrible because I was afraid of the violent aftermath that I guessed would follow. And of course it did — in terms of government retaliation, and also in the hate-crimes that swept across the nation aimed at anyone who seemed/looked Muslim.

Full report here Firstpost

"I feel safe in New York"

Ten years after terror struck New York's Twin Towers Sep 11, 2001, Islamic writer and reformist Irshad Manji who is of Indian-Egyptian descent finds the US financial powerhouse the safest place to live in.

"I am grateful for the freedom this country has given me and I will not be silenced," Manji, the author of the controversial Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom, told from New York.

New York is the same city that froze with "shock and awe" when Al Qaeda killer planes tore through the towers of the World Trade Centre, killing nearly 3,000 people and maiming many in crowded Manhattan.

"I feel safe in New York city and I don't say that lightly. I haven't felt safe in Toronto where I lived earlier. The New York police department (NYPD) knows what it takes to hold the city's secular fabric together.

Full report here Times of India

The day America changed forever

A personal memoir of the World Trade Center, of big events that impact little lives ...on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

I was 14 when I first saw the World Trade Center buildings in New York. It was August 1970 and I had gone to New York to visit my sister Sukanya who had just moved there. The Beatles had split up and “Let it Be”, their last film, had just been released. My sister had moved into a ‘loft' on East Broadway in Chinatown with her painter husband Ted. Loft living was an unusual feature specific to New York in those days — they were full floor spaces in old industrial buildings which artists found perfect to convert into studios. Most at that time were illegal to live in and her loft was not far from the site where the Trade Center buildings were coming up. To me, this was all very hip!

Keenly followed
I knew all about the buildings. My father, Habib Rahman, was Chief Architect of the CPWD back in Delhi. The Trade Centers were to be the tallest buildings in the world, rising above the Empire State Building in New York and their design and engineering were being followed by architects around the world. For a teenaged Meccano model-maker like me, the structures were fascinating. They were the biggest buildings being built using the exterior wall-support tube structures in steel — a system which had been devised by Fazlur Khan, the structural engineer of Bangladeshi origin. I knew about him too, my father had told me about him and had met him in an international conference on tall buildings. The building was prefabricated in Japan, large sections of the steel wall coming by sea. The architect, Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986), was of Japanese American ancestry and well-known across the world.

Full report here Hindu

The worst fiction about 9/11

Forget the best September 11 novel -- there are far more contenders for the most shameful and embarrassing

As the tenth anniversary of September 11 approaches, there has been much discussion about the best novel about the attacks and their aftermath.

Of course, there have been smart and sensitive novels wrestling with the horrors of terrorism and the many traumas of that day. There's also been some embarrassingly bad prose -- lots of it by authors who should know better.

For some writers, 9/11 offered an excuse to write about the anatomies of sexy Western temptresses or the siren song that is rock and roll performed by men in spandex. For others, it was simply an obligatory and careless plot point tossed into the mix, a cynical narrative device meant to energize a flagging storyline. Here are a few of the worst offenders.

Full report here Salon

Anniversary brings avalanche of 9/11 books

The tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks has unleashed a publishing avalanche, with a crush of new books about the fateful day and new editions of older works like Noam Chomsky’s 9-11.

Among the new accounts is After the Fall: New Yorkers Remember September 11 and the Years that Followed,” which sets out to show how New York changed after the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center.

The book presents interviews with hundreds of people from different parts of the city — first responders, taxi drivers, teachers, artists, religious leaders, immigrants — by Columbia University’s Oral History Research Office.

“The result is a remarkable time-lapse account of the city as it changed in the wake of 9/11,” its publisher The New Press says in an introduction to After the Fall.

Another new book is The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan Drawing, which publisher Ballantine Books touts as “the first panoramic, authoritative look back at 9/11.”

Full report here Hindustan Times

In the assassin's mind

Material Objects (MO) 124 and 125 are now just piles of paper gathering dust in a court vault. But they helped enlist an army of fighters, and assassins, for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. 'Satanic Force', two large volumes of Tiger propaganda seized by CBI investigators soon after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi gives an insight into the harsh indoctrination that LTTE cadres were put through.

"There were more than 1,000 affidavits, mostly in Tamil, with names and addresses, narrations of cases of women raped and killed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), of men tortured and butchered. It would make anyone shed tears," says K Ragothaman, the CBI's chief investigating officer who interrogated the three Rajiv assassins, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, for more than a month.

Full report here Times of India

Storming the world stage

Storming the World Stage:
The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba
Stephen Tankel
Hachette India
Rs 550 pp 385

A few months after the 9/11 attacks, a French convert to Islam named Willie Brigitte attended a terrorist training camp in the mountains of Pakistan. His fellow recruits were Pakistanis and Afghans, as well as men from Somalia, Britain and the Gulf states. The camp was run by the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), but some of the instructors were Pakistani soldiers on detachment, and military material was dropped from army helicopters.

Several times, officials came to the camp to check that no foreign jihadis were present. When this happened, Brigitte and the other itinerant foreigners would be tipped off in advance and hide out in the woods surrounding the camp.

When LeT was finally banned in 2002 under American pressure, it had already shifted its financial assets into a charitable trust at the instigation of the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence. Its military wing would only be used for operations against India in Kashmir — which was permitted. Yet before long they were organising other terror attacks, including the 2008 massacre in Mumbai that killed 166 people.

In Storming the World Stage, Stephen Tankel provides the most detailed and impressive account yet of the development of this organisation, created initially under Pakistan’s aegis but now increasingly a thorn in its side. It began as an outfit in the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan in the early 1980s and, after many splits, became a significant force in Pakistan. Because it followed the Ahl-e-Hadith (a comparatively small school or sect which wants a pristine version of Islam) the ISI thought it would be a more pliant proxy than some other more mainstream militant groups. As part of this arrangement, LeT had to swear never to turn its guns on the Pakistani state.

Full review here Hindustan Times

Books spawned by Osama

Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US forces in Pakistan, was a shadowy figure who spawned a vast booty of books, art and performance acts. A list of some of the books inspired by the ‘badshah’ of terror who masterminded the 9/11 attack:

The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda by Peter L. Bergen
The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda” written by Peter L. Bergen, CNN’s national security analyst is an overview of the war on terror. It explores the persona of the Al Qaeda leader and an intimate understanding of how the organisation works on a day-to-day basis. The book said the Al Qaeda had a growing list of enemies, including the Muslims, who did not agree with their “ultra-fundamentalist” view.

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century by Steve Coll.
An Arabian Family in the American Century” by Steve Coll. The Pulitzer Prize winning author portrays the 9/11 mastermind as a complex human being and his relationships with his father, Muhammad, who made a fortune in Saudi Arabia as the king’s principal builder; and his older brother Salem, a British-educated, music-loving playboy. Coll suggests bin Laden turned to jihad because of the worsening relationships with the Saudi royal family, his own relatives and anger at America. The US forced Sudan to expel bin Laden from the country where he raised horses and sunflowers on a farm while training jihadis).

Full list here Hindustan Times

Case filed against author and publisher of Who Killed Karkare?

Ever since the book was published the press as well as authorities have slowly started using the term "Hindu Terror"

After Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a case has been filed against the author and publisher of Who Killed Karkare?. Weeks after the Bombay High Court admitted a PIL seeking investigation in the Karkare murder, a Navi Mumbai-based person has filed a case against both the author and publisher of the book claiming that "the book contains imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration, statements promoting enmity, hatred between classes/communities and has imputed false allegations against Intelligence Bureau, the Indian judiciary and the government of India."

Ever since the book was published in October 2009, the press as well as the authorities have slowly started using the term "Hindu Terror" or "Saffron Terror" in their reports and comments. Even the Union home minister on 25 August acknowledged their presence. A main premise of Mushrif’s book is that Hindutva terrorists, through their IB contacts, used the 26-11 terrorist attack on Mumbai to kill ATS chief Hemant Karkare who had started unravelling the vast network of Hindutva terror outfits which have effected many terrorists attacks which earlier were assumed to be the handiwork of "Islamic" terrorists.

Full report here Milli Gazette

Book on Karkare an inspiration for PFI activists

'Who killed Karkare? The real face of terrorism in India', the book penned by a retired IPS officer which points an accusing finger at Hindu fundamentalism for the rise in terrorist activities in India, has become a handbook for the Muslim extremist outfits, including the Popular Front of India (PFI).

Within a short span of time after its release, the book that tries to trace the 'Hinduist links' behind the death of Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemanth Karkare, has been translated into various Indian languages, including Malayalam. The Malayalam edition of the book was brought out by Thejas Publications the publication wing of the Popular Front of India (PFI).

'Karkareye Konnatharu,' the Malayalam edition that was released in February is doing brisk sales, say the publishers.

Top sources in the State Police said that the book was widely read and circulated among PFI activists in the State as well as members of other Muslim extremist outfits. ''The book does not contain any objectionable content and hence we could not interfere in it, '' a senior police officer said.

Full report here New Indian Express

Kasab reads book on Tipu Sultan before D-Day

As guards monitored Ajmal Amir Kasab's special cell at Arthur Road Jail through close-circuit television cameras on Wednesday, they could help but wonder what was going through the mind of the 23-year-old terrorist who will be sentenced today. Kasab was found guilty on 80 counts for the role he played during the 26/11 terror strike in Mumbai.

Clad in a kurta and pair of trousers, Kasab did not seem to be overly disturbed or worried about his fate, said an official, adding that he spent the better part of Wednesday reading the book, Aur Talwar Toot Gayee (And the Sword is Broken) by Pakistani author Sharif Husain, who wrote under the pseudonym Naseem Hijazi.

Hijazi, who was born at Wazirabad in Pre-Partition India, spent the better part of his life in Pakistan, and passed away in 1996. 'Aur talwar...' is set in the time of Tipu Sultan, where the protagonist, Muazzam Ali, finds success in Tipu's fight against the East India Company. It also delves into Tipu Sultan's life and his betrayal by the people he was close to.

Full report here Times of India

26/11: Dawood supported LeT?

Indian underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company has possibly provided logistical support to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the 26/11 attacks, said a report released by Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the US Army War College, the Department of Defence.

In his 117-page Letort Paper, author Ryan Clarke said, “The Mumbai attacks displayed a level of advanced planning that shows a considerable evolution in Islamist terrorist groups in South Asia.

“The masterminds of these attacks were sophisticated in their strategic thinking and the operation was able to capture and hold international attention while seeking to exacerbate communal tensions. They also aimed to provoke a crisis between India and Pakistan.”

Full report here India Blooms

Review: Mumbai Siege

REVIEW

MUMBAI SIEGE

Edited by P. C. Dogra

Lancer's Books, 

Rs 495.

Blurb 

The book relates to the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbaikars. It exposed the chinks in India's armour and its pussy footed leadership. The terror attacks sponsored from across the border were not some thing new for the Indian. 

But the siege of Mumbai shook the whole nation. Forum on Integrated National Security Chandigarh organized a 'Citizens Initiative', comprising of the professional elite, who are now retired but have held very key and sensitive assignments in the security and foreign establishments of the Govt. of India and the state Govts. There emerged a wide spectrum of view from the extreme to the balanced on. There are also workable and professional action plans. The book is the outcome of these deliberations.

Lessons from 26/11 The Hindu

The brutal attack on India's financial capital on the evening of November 26, 2008, like 9/11 in the United States, has spawned abundant literature, most of it bordering on the pedestrian and superficial. This book falls in that category. A compendium of talks delivered at a seminar held in Chandigarh within days of the Mumbai horror, it throws up little that is not already known. However, it deserves some consideration because of the eminence of the participants, who ranged from law enforcement officers and Army generals to academicians.

The attack on Mumbai demonstrated that we as a nation are inept when it comes to rapid response to terrorism. And this, nearly a decade after 9/11, which had been studied extensively over the years by experts the world over and relevant lessons learnt.

The New York City administration, notwithstanding a few minor shortcomings, rose to the occasion and organised quick rescue and relief. Unfortunately, one did not see this level of efficiency in Mumbai on that fateful November evening. Precious young police lives were lost, all because they did not wear quality bullet-proof clothing. Also, the head of the city police, by all accounts, just stuck to a corner and did not move around to take charge of an evolving crisis.

Headley evinced interest in Jewish history book

The book that suspected LeT operative David Coleman Headley read during his sojourn in India before 26/11 and the German Bakery blast in Pune reportedly provided a new dimension to the probe into Headely’s recce in India.

It has been learnt that Headley had a ‘conniving’ interest in Jewish history in India and had purchased a book, India’s Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life Cycle, from Mumbai.

The National Investigation Agency is said to have recovered the book from one of the suitcases left behind by Headley at the time of his hasty departure to the US. The book contains detailed information on the heritage and legacy of the Jews of India and the architecture and history of Jewish synagogues in the country.

According to a portal, the book documents the vanishing heritage of the relatively unknown Indian Jewish communities: The Bene Israel of Maharashtra, the Cochin Jews of the Malabar coast, and the ‘Baghdadi’ Jews who settled in Mumbai and Kolkata.

Full report here Indian Express

Reading terror

War has rarely received such a nuanced uncovering in Indian writing

In two recent magazine essays — one in Open and the other in The Caravan — Hartosh Singh Bal remarked that contemporary Indian literature in English lacked ambition; that our writers wrote mostly of what they knew and seldom went beyond the personal. Finishing Amitava Kumar's new non- fiction book, Evidence of Suspicion, I thought: here is that rare work of ambition. It's ambitious not just in its difficult subject — the mangled victims of the brutal war on terror being waged right here — but ambitiously complex and nuanced (stylistically and philosophically) in its approach and design.

After you read Evidence of Suspicion, you will never look at the global war on terror in the same way again. You will, also, finally know how to look at the war on terror, especially as it is fought here. I've read many fine books on the subject but they are all from the West and they didn't furnish me with enough information or perspective on how I could look at what was happening in India.

Books and films exposing/documenting the travesties of the American war on terror -Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Iraq, rendition, black sites, and the lies of the Bush administration - informed, equipped and incensed the conscience of an American public to protest their outrage. Along with Basharat Peer's Curfewed Night, Evidence of Suspicion accomplishes just that here: reading Kumar's intrepidly researched, unflinching accounts of Muslims brutally tortured in our jails and sentenced without trials in the name of fighting terrorism, we are outraged, aghast, sickened.

Full report here Hindu

REVIEW: Evidence of Suspicion

REVIEW

EVIDENCE OF SUSPICION: A Writer's Report On The War On Terror
Amitava Kumar
Picador
Rs 350
Pp 230

Blurb
Bureaucratic in its convolutions and brutal in its deceptions, the war on terror has had an impact on our lives that we do not yet understand. We sense it. A growing claustrophobia, wariness, suspicion, the stickiness of constant surveillance. But for those who are actually entangled in it, the trap has teeth and they are fierce. Author and teacher Amitava Kumar examines the mangled lives of some of those who tripped. In a US court Hemant Lakhani, an old man with a congenital heart condition, stands trial for selling a fake missile to an FBI informant; in another court Shahawar Matin Siraj, inveigled by the FBI into a conspiracy to bomb a subway, is sentenced to thirty years in prison. In New Delhi Kumar interviews S.A.R. Geelani, the mild-mannered professor apprehended for the 2001 Parliament attack, jailed and tortured. He also tries to speak to Tabassum Guru, the wife of the man on death row for the same attack, at the Sopore hospital in which she works. A few kilometres away, in Srinagar, he visits an army camp, where he sees the peculiarities that develop in an everyday battle-zone that is also a living, working city. And, he catalogues, with the critic’s compass and a curator’s zeal, the fierce renewal in art and literature that has evolved out of the war. Spanning the subcontinents of India and the USA, part reportage, part philosophy, part protest, this is a book whose importance cannot be exaggerated. Its intellectual power and moral force will keep the reader pinned to the page.

Reviews etc:
Manufacturing crime Livemint
Encounters of a different kind The Hindu
A terrible beauty Business Standard
The deceit of information Financial Express
Art as catharsis Business Standard

Don't be a bystander

Salim Must Die
Mukul Deva
Harper Collins
Rs 225, Pp x + 417

Rating (on 10):
Plot: 5
Idea: 6
Style: 5
USP: Updated on geopolitics. Placing India on the thriller map.

A military thriller from a an ex-army man. And a follow up to Lashkar, one of India's first Ludlumesque thrillers, which was written in response to the 2005 bombings in Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market.

Well, Salim Must Die takes the tale forward. Some of the character remain - Salim of course, besides Colonel Anbu and Iqbal, though in a peripheral role. This one far more ambitious, and the reach is global. Salim and his henchman Cheema have a lethal plan to exceed '9/11' and they plan to do so by using biological weapons on kaffirs - at ten leading destinations including Delhi.

The story takes a while to start, as nearly a third of the book is expanded on politically correct sounding bytes on how terror is a global phenomenon not limited to any religion, how terrorists have no religion, how people are divided into -"idiots, wimps, bystanders and terrorists" - figure out where you are , dear reader! Unfortunately, as the novel progresses, Muslim minorities across the world become the actualised breeding grounds for those who can carry out the deeds of terror. And they are drawn from the Uighur minority in China to Muslim immigrants in the US, Canada, UK, Jamaica, India, Denmark, Germany etc.

The build also takes time as it introduces characters on the Indian intelligence side - most of whom are caricatures and unremarkable despite attempts to add colour to their histories. Salim remains the pivotal figure in this cops and robbers tale.

Interestingly Bush comes out very badly. And Osama dies. It is instead the shadowy Salim who is wreaking havoc with the help of his henchman Cheema. With the help of a Chinese scientitst.

As a thriller, it works. Editing, plot could all be better. But as pioneering steps from the expanding Indian literary firmament, these are good steps. the publisher and the author need to be congratulated.