Constitute a National Judicial Commission to Investigate 26/11

Bharat Bachao Andolan, a National Movement against Imperialism, Zionism and Brahmanism, in coordination with various other organisations held a conference on “Mumbai 26/11 Terror: Exposing the Politics of War and Terror – Strategy of Imperialism” at Marathi Patrakar Sangh, CST, Mumbai on November 26 to mark the first anniversary of Mumbai terror attack. More than 300 human rights activists and intellectuals participated in the conference.

It was the only programme in the entire grief-stricken city that put forth a coherent and analytical discourse that delved into the political, economic and socio-religio- cultural dimensions of the conflict across South Asia, West and Central Asia. Both the speakers and the participants questioned the 26/11 version advanced by the Government, Intelligence, Police and sections of the media.

On the first anniversary of the dreadful attack, far more questions arose in the course of the year and worse, the answers if any were few and the police and the government were more interested in covering up the matter. But now the skeletons of 26/11 are tumbling out of the closets of the high and mighty.

The conference not only challenged the dominant paradigm but also analysed the politico-strategic objectives behind the 26/11 attacks.

Bharat Bachao Andolan, in its resolution adopted at the end of the conference, made the following demands loud and clear:

1) The 26th of November be adopted and declared nationally as the “National Constitution Day” and that the Maharashtra Govt. immediately withdraw the declaration of it as “Black Day”.

2) The Government of India (GOI) immediately constitute a “National Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack”.

3) The findings of the “Ram Prahdhan Committee” be made public. This is even though the Committee had a very limited mandate and only looked into certain aspects of the attack and only interviewed the police.

4) A detailed and separate “Judicial Investigation” be carried out specifically into the deaths of Shri H. Karkare, Shri V. Salaskar and Shri A. Kamte.

5) In order to put to rest the speculations about the role of various senior police officers, political leaders and bureaucrats, it is essential that all the Control Room telephone records and transcripts for the period 26-30th November 2008 be made public. This will clearly ascertain the matter of the orders issued, policemen dispatched, orders either obeyed or otherwise, as well as the exact locations of all the above concerned.

6) The officers especially mentioned such as Ex-Commissioner Mr. Hassan Ghafoor, Commissioner Crime Mr. Rakesh Maria, and the four IPS officers, Parambir Singh  KL Prasad; Deven Bharti; and K Venkateshan be suspended and investigated.

7) The current ATS chief Mr. Raghuvanhi be asked to resign as he was the one who misled the investigation on the Malegaon terror attack and is entirely unfit for the task due to his dubious track record.

8) The GOI take action against Mr. Ronen Sen (Indian Ambassador to US), the Consul General Ashok Kumar Attri and the ex-Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the concerned officials as they had issued a visa to David Coleman Headley (who is now known to be an FBI-LeT operative), after waiving off all mandatory requirements.

9) The government pursue and uncover the Sanatan Sanstha (SS) and the Abhinav Bharat (AB) terror networks and delve into their linkages to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and their varied bodies such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal (BD). The links of the same to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as international linkages to the Israeli Mossad should be further traced, apart from other possible national and international links as well.

10) The GOI immediately sack all the heads of the IB, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), NIA (National Intelligence Agency) as well as the NSA (National Security Advisor). They must all be investigated for their links to the Right-wing communal forces as well as their linkages to imperialist organisations such as the CIA, FBI and the Mossad.

11) Since the Brahmanical leadership has continuously failed to protect the nation against terror and has in fact spawned right-wing communal terror organisations to create an atmosphere of fear and panic, the principle of reservations be extended across the entire spectrum of defence and intelligence.

12) It is clear that all of the above bodies are dominated by the upper-caste Brahmanical elite. We thus demand that the GOI issue a White Paper on the existing numbers and percentage of Adivasis, Dalits, Other Backward Castes (OBC’s) and Religious Minorities present within all these bodies, especially the intelligence. A correction of this serious social and structural imbalance will involve a broader section of our people, thus strengthening national security and break the citadels of Brahmanical domination.

13) The GOI issue a White Paper on the role and extent of Israeli penetration into the security and intelligence organizations, both in the government and private sector. The intervention of Israel will have grave consequences on all aspects of national security and will compromise the same as Israel is known to foster and promote terror and spy on its own allies and create a dominant power centre as is the case within the USA.

14) The GOI join the growing International movement for the “Boycott of Apartheid Racist Israel”.

15) The GOI end the Military-Strategic alliance with Imperial America as it is a betrayal of the values of our National Independence Struggle against Colonialism and Occupation.

16) The GOI abandon their ill-conceived “Operation Green Hunt”, which will prove to be a genocidal war against a poor and unarmed civilian population.

17) The GOI pressurise the US Government to free Vikram Buddhi, who has been falsely implicated in a concocted terror charge and has been imprisoned for over three years.

The organisers of the conference included Kishore Jagtap, Feroze Mithiborwala, Dinu Randive, Arun Velaskar, Mukta Srivastava, Mulniwasi Mala, Sudhir Dhawale, Major Barve, Bhagwan Kesbhat, Aslam Ghazi, S S Yadav, Uttam Gade, Simpreet Singh, Shyam Sonar, Varsha V V, Sanjay Shinde, Shridhar Shirsagar, Reshma Jagtap, Jagdish Nagarkar, Madhav Wagh, Baba Dalvi, Shravan Devre, Asif Khan, Valji Bhai, Abid Zaidi, Chetna Birje, Vilas Gaikwad, Avinash Kamble, Jyoti Badekar, Arif Kapadia, A. H. Faruqi, Yavar Qazi, Aarti Bonkar, Ravi Joshi, Pooja Badekar, Munawwar Azad, Ghaza Azad, Manohar Rajguru, Munawwar Khan, Farid Batatawala, Mark Anthony, Tito Eapen, Harshavardhan Vartak, Rahul Gupta, Shadab Sheikh, Dr. Ashwin Bhosle, Farrouk Mapkar, Dr. Rizwan Sheikh, Santoash Khangaonkar and Sainath Shinde.

The organisations whose representatives participated in the conference are Awami Bharat, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI), Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), Safai Kaamgar Mazdoor Union, BAMCEF,  Republican Panther, Phule-Ambedkari Vichar Manch, Jamaat-i-Islami-i-Hind, Aapli Mumbai, Marathi Bharati, All India Milli Council, National Minorities Federation, OBC Parishad, Republican People of India, Marathi Bharti, NEEDS, Vidyarthi Bharti, Muslim Intellectual Forum, Gujarati Intellectual Forum, Hindu Vikasini, Christian Panther, Yuva Sarkar, Ganai Sanskrutik Utthan.