Attention readers

Partners in Fighting

Terrorism
_Nearly three months
ago, several men in a
rubber raft landed on the shores of a bustling financial capital as the sun began to set. They scattered in different directions, carrying backpacks with automatic weapons, hand grenades and satellite phones.

Within just a few hours, innocent civilians were lying in the street, buildings were burning, hostages feared for their lives, and a city was under siege.

News of the attack quickly circled the globe, from traditional media coverage to streaming video, blogs, text messages and even twitters. The attackers used that same technology, not only to monitor the movements of police and rescue teams and to evade capture, but to communicate with their leaders, who were some distance away.

It was an attack both highly coordinated and deceptively simple in its execution. Of course, I am speaking about Mumbai, in which terrorists killed more than 170 individuals and wounded more than 300.

This type of attack reminds us that terrorists with large agendas and little money can use rudimentary weapons to maximize their impact.

And it again raises the question of whether a similar attack could happen in Seattle or San Diego, Miami or Manhattan.

Globalization and evolution of the terrorist threat

The world in which we live has changed markedly in recent years, from the integration of global markets and the ease of international travel to the rise and the reach of the Internet. But our perception of the world—and our place in it—also has changed.

Last year, scientists captured the first pictures of what they believe to be faraway planets circling stars outside of our solar system. Astronomers have identified more than 300 of these so-called “extrasolar” planets in the past 13 years.

These modern-day explorers seek to confirm what they believe to be out there— to see what has not yet been seen.

These discoveries make our world seem at once smaller and yet infinitely more vast. And they leave us with the feeling that there is much more out there to be found.

From a law enforcement and intelligence perspective, there is always more to be found. But we are not quite so optimistic about what we will discover—new threats, new technologies and new targets.

The universe of crime and terrorism stretches out infinitely before us, and we, too, are working to find what we believe to be out there, but cannot always see.

In the aftermath of September 11th, our world view was somewhat limited. We were primarily concerned with al Qaeda’s leadership and its structure.

Today, we still face threats from al Qaeda. But we must also focus on less well-known terrorist groups, as well as homegrown terrorists. And we must consider extremists from visa-waiver countries, who are merely an e-ticket away from the United States.

Our primary threat continues to come from the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. But we are seeing persistent activity elsewhere, from the Maghreb and the Sahel [in Africa] to Yemen.

We are increasingly concerned with pockets of people around the world that identify with al Qaeda and its ideology. Some may have little or no actual contact with al Qaeda.

Yet, fringe organizations can quickly gain broader aspirations and appeal. And should they connect with the core of al Qaeda, from training to the planning and execution of attacks, the game becomes radically different.

In each of the plots we have disrupted since September 11th, some have asked whether the individuals in question had the intent and the capability to carry out their plans.

There will always be a tension between acting early to disrupt a plot in its planning stages, and continuing to investigate until we are certain that the individuals in question are poised to attack. And in each case, that calibration will be different.

Take the planned attack against Fort Dix [in New Jersey], for example. The men we convicted had engaged in target practice in the woods of Pennsylvania. They had watched al Qaeda training videos. They had a map of the base and a plan to get in. And they had purchased semi-automatic weapons from an FBI sting operation.

Like the Mumbai attackers, these men wanted to inflict as much damage as they could. And as the Mumbai attacks illustrate, the simplest of weapons can be quite deadly when combined with capability and intent.

We must also recognize that events outside of our control may impact our national security. World politics often shape terrorist and criminal threats against the United States.

Those same politics can alter the perception of the United States in the eyes of the international community. And what of civil unrest, resource scarcity, and a shifting global economy?

A crisis in the Horn of Africa may well have a ripple effect in Minneapolis, as we shall discuss in a moment. The fall of Communism opened the door to a virtual army of cyber thieves. The integration of cultures around the world has facilitated state-sponsored espionage, a thriving child pornography market, as well as heightened gang activity.

Addressing the threat

Admittedly, this overview sounds rather dire. And it underscores the need for first-rate intelligence and strong international partnerships.

Canadian hockey great Wayne Gretzky was once asked how he consistently managed to be at the right place on the ice at the right time. He said that while some players skate to where the puck has been, he skates to where the puck will be.

The same is true for those of us in the FBI. We need to know where the threat is moving, and we need to get there first.

The tools upon which we built our reputation as a law enforcement organization— the development of sources, surveillance, communication intercepts and forensic analysis—are the same tools necessary for a security service.

Our challenge comes in developing the intelligence to disrupt an attack before the fact.

To be effective, we must deliberately collect intelligence to fill gaps between our cases, and gaps in our knowledge base. And that intelligence gathering will differ from city to city, and state to state, just as criminal and terrorist threats differ.

We must also determine if threats around the world translate to potential threats here at home. If there is a suicide bombing in Somalia, are we at greater risk? Do we understand the full extent of that threat?

We must weigh the value of an early prosecution of select individuals against the benefit of collecting the intelligence necessary to dismantle the entire network.

As Jonathan Evans, director of MI5, has said, “Knowing of somebody is not the same as knowing all about them.” And he is right.

In every case where an individual poses a threat, we must ask key questions: Where has this individual been? Who are his associates, and where are they now? What are they doing, and who are they talking to?

This targeted intelligence-gathering takes time. It requires patience, precision and dedication. And it requires a unity of effort, here at home and overseas.

Intelligence enables us to see the unseen, to discover new threats on the horizon. Yet, even the best intelligence will not provide complete certainty, given the nature and number of the threats we face.

The question remains: How do we protect ourselves from threats that emanate from overseas? We cannot close our borders or cut off the Internet. We must start at the source.

The day before the attacks in Mumbai, Special Agent Steve Merrill—a legal attache in the FBI’s New Delhi office— was enjoying his first day off in nearly a month. He was on his way to Jodhpur to play cricket on the U.S. Embassy Team in the Maharajah’s annual tournament.

For the record, you do not need to know how to play cricket to work in the FBI’s New Delhi office, but it certainly does not hurt.

The moment we learned of the attacks, Steve made his way to Mumbai. All he had were the clothes on his back, his BlackBerry, and his cricket gear.

He immediately made contact with his Indian counterparts and got to work. No red tape, no turf battles—just first responded, standing shoulder to shoulder in a time of crisis.

For three days, Mumbai was a blur of gunshots, explosions, fire and confusion. In the midst of that mayhem, Steve helped to rescue Americans trapped inside the Taj Hotel.

He set up lines of communication with his FBI and intelligence community counterparts. And he coordinated the arrival of our Rapid Deployment Team.

Even before the crisis ended, the investigation had begun. Agents from FBI offices in New Delhi and Islamabad joined forces with the Indian government, the CIA, the State Department, MI6 and New Scotland Yard.

Through these partnerships, we had unprecedented access to evidence and intelligence. Agents and analysts conducted more than 60 interviews, including that of the lone surviving attacker. Our forensic specialists pulled fingerprints from improvised explosive devices. They recovered data from damaged cell phones, in one case by literally wiring a smashed phone back together.

At the same time, we collected, analyzed and disseminated intelligence to our partners at home and abroad—not only to determine how these attacks were planned, and by whom, but to ensure that if a second wave of attacks was in the offing, we possessed the intelligence to stop it.

Our work in Mumbai was not out of the ordinary. To counter these threats, we must first understand them through intelligence. Once we gain an understanding, our law enforcement authorities allow us to move against individuals and networks.

We are not an intelligence service that collects, but does not act; nor are we a law enforcement service that acts without

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knowledge. Today’s FBI is a security service, fusing the capability to understand the breadth and scope of threats, with the capability to dismantle those same threats.

But we understand that we do not operate in isolation. Through our international training programs at the FBI Academy [in Virginia], we are on a first-name basis with thousands of officers around the world—a brotherhood and sisterhood of partners. And in a time of crisis, that familiarity— that friendship—fosters an immediate and effective response.

Community outreach

We must continue to work with our law enforcement and intelligence partners around the world. But we must also work here in the United States with the citizens we serve, to identify and disrupt those who would do us harm.

Too often, we run up against a wall between law enforcement and the community—a wall based on myth and mis-perception of the work we do.

We know that the best way to tear down that wall is brick by brick, person by person.

Yet, we understand the reluctance of some communities to sit down at the table with us. They may come from countries where national police forces and security services engender fear and mistrust.

Oftentimes, the communities from which we need the most help are those who trust us the least. But it is in these communities that we must re-double our efforts.

One pattern in particular concerns us.

Over the years since September 11 th, we have learned of young men from communities in the United States, radicalized and recruited here to travel to countries such as Afghanistan or Iraq, Yemen or Somalia. They may be recruited to participate in the fighting, or, in the extreme case, to become suicide bombers.

A man from Minneapolis, [Minnesota] became what we believe to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terrorist suicide bombing. The attack occurred last October in northern Somalia, but it appears that this individual was radicalized in his hometown in Minnesota.

The prospect of young men, indoctrinated and radicalized within their own communities and induced to travel to Somalia to take up arms—and to kill themselves and perhaps many others—is a perversion of the immigrant story.

The parents of many of these young men risked everything to come to America, to provide their children with a brighter, more stable future. For these parents to leave a war-torn country only to find that their children have been convinced to return to that way of life is indeed heartbreaking.

And it raises the question of whether these young men will one day come home, and, if so, what they might undertake here.

These parents are understandably worried about the welfare of their children. We, too, are concerned—not only for these families, but for the larger community.

Members of the FBI’s Community Outreach teams meet with members of these communities to look at these issues.

Together, we are making progress. But there remains much work to be done.

The simple truth is that we cannot do our jobs without the trust of the American people. And we cannot build that trust without reaching out to say, “We in the Bureau are on your side. We stand ready to help.”

Conclusion

The world we live in has changed in countless ways. And while change can have negative consequences, it can lead to new discoveries. It can herald new perspectives, new ideas, and new ways of doing business.

Yet, even in times of great change, certain constants remain: the desire for safety and security...the hope for peace and prosperity...and the need for solidarity against forces that might otherwise divide us.

These constants are the same in communities and countries around the world. It is these constants that we in the Bureau strive to protect each and every day.

The universe of crime and terrorism will no doubt continue to expand. And we in the FBI will continue in our mission to find what we believe to be out there, but cannot always see.

We understand that when one of us is at risk, we are all at risk. An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us. And any failure is a collective failure.

Only by moving forward together, as one community, will we make lasting progress.

Speech by Robert S.Mueller, III, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. END
PK Launches PRAKASH

Prakash To Place Things In Proper Perspective

By Dileep Kumar Kaul

_PRAKASH, a cultural initiative of
Panun Kashmir began on 25th
April 2009 at Press Club Jammu; American Literary Critic and Cultural thinker Stephen Greenblatt has defined Culture in a very interesting way. He says that any culture is a mixture of two phenomena —— mobility and constraint. Some cultures are very mobile and some are full of constraints. Even the American culture that claims to be an example of utmost mobility has got some constraints, which sometimes create controversies.

Constraints are created by a group or an individual to establish an authority. But the resistance to constraints is also inherent in a culture. In every culture there are some cultural symbols with which the people identify. This identifying with the symbols makes them mobile in their own way.

Lalded is one such cultural symbol. Kashmiri Pandits identify with her and the cultural mobility inherent in her poetry. She is the poetess who is an integral part of Kashmiri Pandit psyche. We are Lalded’s children and that is why we have resisted all attempts to constrain us and have ensured mobility for ourselves, as human beings and as Indians.

Lalded was a Saint poetess. It has become a common practice to distort mystic poets to give an impression that look how much I know. But everybody is aware of Lalded’s importance for Kashmiri Pandits and her influence on their community thinking. Thus any attempt to distort her clearly amounts to distortion of Kashmiri Pandits and their rootedness in Kashmir. Such attempts have been made in the past. Some people have said that Lalded converted to Islam and some went to the extent of saying that her grave had been seen. But such facts could never be corroborated. It, nevertheless, showed that there was an attempt to put a constraint on Kashmiri Pandits cultural being, applying brakes on the mobility her poetry and identity ensured, by appropriating her into a religious fold to which she never belonged. This was the mind set that perpetrated genocide on Kashmiri Pandits towards which they have shown extraordinary resistance.

The program organized by PRAKASH aimed at fighting such distortions. Speaking on the occasion the convener of PRAKASH, the abbreviation for Promotion of Recent and Ancient Kashmiri Arts, Sciences and History, Prof. B.L. Fotedar said that PRAKASH certainly has a political motive. It has to fight distortions because these are the handiwork of the people who perpetrated genocide on Kashmiri Pandits or those victims of genocide who chose not to resist. A book titled ‘Lalded Meri Drishti Mein’ was published recently. The writer Mrs. Bimla Raina has fragmented and reconstructed the Vakhs of Lalded in her own way, distorting the meaning to an extent that it contradicts the very essence of Lalded, her very being as a Shaiva Yogini, her oneness with Shiva’s supreme consciousness.

Prof. Mohan Lal Kaul, a prominent cultural thinker who has done significant work on the modus operandi of Islamic fundamentalism in Kashmir has written a critique of the book written by Mrs. Raina. The critique was published in the form of a booklet which Prof. Kaul dedicated to Panun Kashmir for wider circulation. But this critique by Prof. Kaul was not a reaction to Mrs. Raina’s book. One has to understand the dangers of writing such a book. It does not only distort Lalded or any such cultural symbol but also establishes the writer as the real thinker about Lalded. Thus not only the perspective of lalded is distorted but the contemporary intellectual perspective is altered too where real intellectuals are out of place. The battle begins here where lalded was to be placed in her real perspective by a contemporary thinker. Prof. Kaul’s critique was the beginning of the resistance. This critique was the first attempt to unequivocally place Lalded in the context to which she belongs, i.e. the Kashmiri Shaiva philosophy. It threw to wind all the previous distortions which tried to take her out of this context. In his booklet Prof. Kaul has clearly pointed out all distortions and deliberate reconstructions by Mrs.Raina. The aim was not to attack

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Mrs. Raina but the mindset that made her to do it. This was pointed out by the chairman of Panun Kashmir Dr.Ajay Chrungoo. He said that Literary or cultural policing is not our aim. We want to send home a message that if such distortions are made the community has the intellectual ability to understand such distortions and respond to them. Such distortions are unnecessary cultural constraints and we have to ascertain our cultural mobility which has kept us alive through ages.

In fairness, this attempt of PRAKASH does not threaten to finish all debate, but in fact, begins the debate where anybody has the right to disagree. We have a habit of being comfortable with distortions which act as intellectual constraints. Placing things in the proper context ensures cultural mobility which PRAKASH considers its duty.

Speaking on the occasion the Chief Guest, Dr. Shashishekhar Toshkhani, who has translated Lalded’s vakhs into Hindi underlined the awful distortions of the vakhs. The booklet written by Prof. Kaul was released by noted political scientist and thinker Dr.M.K. Teng who also spoke on the occasion. END

SOCIETY

Early Kashmiri Society—Status of Women

By Dr. Shashishekar Toshkani

_One of the most significant, and
surprising, features of the early
Kashmiri society was the freedom that women enjoyed. The picture one gets of their life from various literary sources is not that of servitude or deprivation but of happy participation in different spheres of human activity. There was no attempt to marginalise them or deculturise their personality, as was being done in other contemporary societies elsewhere in the world. Though under the protective umbrella of the family, they occupied a pivotal place in social life and moved about with unfettered freedom. Undoubtedly, the society was patriarchal, but there was no restriction on the movement of women, nor were any irrational curbs imposed on their activity. In the age of Nilamata and the centuries that followed, female seclusion was something unknown in Kashmir till Islam made its advent. Participating joyfully in the numerous festivals prescribed in the Nilamata, they would go to the gardens in the company of their menfolk without any inhibition or fear of approbation. For instance, during the Iramanjari- utsava, they would freely sport with men under the flower-laden boughs of the Iramanjari shrubs, exchanging garlands of flowers with men in a spirit of gay abandon Or go to the fruit gardens on the Ashokikash tami day to worship fruit-bearing trees”’. Such was the spirit of the times that during the Shravani Utsava. young maidens were enjoined to go and enjoy water sports. Yet another seasonal-festival was Krishyarambha when peasant women would accompany their menfolk to the “open fields of nature for ceremonial ploughing of the soil and sowing of seeds”. It was a month long festival celebrated amidst much singing and dancing While these outdoor festivals showed that women in these times were in no way confined to the four walls of their homes, there were numerous indoor festivals too. For instance, during the Kaumudi Mahotsava or the festival of the Full Moon, women would sit beside the sacred fire with their husbands and children, watching the beauty of the moonlit night. Even servants were allowed to participate in such festivals.

There was Madana Trayodashai, festival dedicated to the god of love. On this occasion a husband would demonstrate his love for his wife by personally giving her a bath with sacred water scented by herbs. Similarly, at the end of the three-day Mahimana celebrations, well-adorned ladies would freely and joyfully play with men. On Sukha Suptika or Deepawali night, the well-adorned wife, could display her charms to her husband in the exciting privacy of the specially decorated bedroom and savour his compliments.

That is not all. There were special occasions when men were to make ladies of the house happy by giving them new clothes as presents. One such occasion was on the Navahimapata-utsava or the New Snowfall Day— a festival that was celebrated by the Kashmiri Pandits till they were exiled from their native land. On the full moon day of Margashirsha (January-February), the householder is enjoined by the Nilamata to invite his sister, paternal aunt and friend’s wife, besides a Brahmana lady, and honour them with gifts of new clothes. Presentation of gifts to a friend’s wife! That could happen only in a free society.

An enlivening feature of these beautiful festivals was, music, dance and dramatic shows. These were an essential part of the festivals that the early Hindus of Kashmir celebrated, and the ladies watched these shows with great joy. Not only watched them but must have participated in them. And the ladies were attractively attired, well decorated and well perfumed during these festivities. Surely, this must have added great charm and beauty to their life. Another thing even more important to be noted is that these ancient social festivals have a religious setting.

Coming to religious life, the presence of women in the performance of various rites. rituals and ceremonies was regarded as essential. And that is how things should have been in a society where people regarded Kashmir, their native land an embodiment of goddess Uma. This is very significant, for it shows that the Mother Goddess cult has occupied a central place in the religious beliefs of Kashmiri Hindus from the earliest times, a cult that explains respect for women as an aspect of reverence for the divine feminine. A host of goddesses began to be worshipped in Kashmir from Uma and Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Mahakali to the very popular and very local deities like Sharika, Ragya, Tripura and Jwala. Shaiva and Shakta Tantricism, which became very popular in Kashmir from the 7th century, identifies Shakti with Supreme Reality, which, it says is “female in essence”. That makes us understand why an aspirant taking to the Kulachara mode of worship is asked to look upon women with extreme reverence.

One of the most noteworthy features of early Kashmir society was that women had access to good and liberal education. They were taught among other things, literature and fine arts and given practical training in music, dance and drama, which were considered as accomplishments fit for them. There is ample evidence for this in Kaihana’s Rajatarangini, Somadeva’s Katha-sarit-sagara, Damodargupta’s KuttanimataKavya, Bilhana’s Vikramankadeva Charit and several other works. The great Sanskrit grammarian Pamni gives the formation Kathi, for a female student to Kathaka school of Black Yajurveda to which the Kashmiri Pandits belong. An idea of the curriculum can be had from the Kuttanimata Kavya. A girl was taught variety of subjects, we learn, including literature, Bharata’s Natyashastra. paintings, aboriculture, cookery, cut—work in leaves (patra-chcheda), vocal and instrumental music etc. In a nostalgic mood Bilhana remembers towards the end of Vikramakadeva Charit the accomplished women of Kashmir who not only spoke Sanskrit and Prakrit as fluently as their mother tongue, but, also composed poetry in it. In theatrical performance and dancing they excelled the celestial maidens.

Several women have played a significant role in shaping the political history of Kashmir. Yashovati became the first queen in Kashmir to be enthroned as a ruler — even though as a regent. Queens like Sugandha and Didda gave very impressive account of their. administrative acumen. Many others, like Khadana. Amritprabha, Chakramardika, Kalyandevi, Ratnadevi and Kamla Devi built shrines and marketplaces and towns. Chandrapida’s queen Kalyanadevi was exalted by the King as “Mahapratiharapala, something like the Chief Chamberlain. Suryamati, the queen of King Ananta helped her husband to overcome his initial difficulties in administering the State. Queen Kalhanika, was sent on a delicate diplomatic mission of bringing about a rappochement between Jayasimha and Bhoja. This presupposes that these queens must have received some training in the art of administration and diplomacy previously.

As for the common woman, we do not know what occupations, if any, were open to her besides that of a housewife. We have a water carrier sculpted on a tile from Harvwan. Perhaps some women worked as flower-sellers too. Most of them, however. took care of their family and children, acting as wife and mother. There is evidence to show that pre-puberty marriages of girls did not take place. In fact, works like Kshemendra’s Deshopadesha indicate that girls were married at a mature age. Though fidelity in marriage was regarded as an ideal, polygamy seems to have been quite prevalent among the rich and the well-to-do men. The kings had “seraglios full of queens and concubines”. Widows; were supposed to live an austere and highly moral life. Prevalence of sati among the rich and aristocratic families points to some of the blemishes which ancient Kashmiri society suffered from.

Though we do not come across any example of polyandry, prostitution seems to have been quite common. “Although prostitution was tolerated as an inescapable evil,’ writes Ajay Mitra Shastri. .‘ the society looked down upon prostitutes and condemned men indulgent to them in unmistakable terms”. Authors like Damodaragupta and Kshemendra were closely acquainted with the trade. Damodargupta’s Kuttanimata gives us an insight into .the prostitutes’ mode of behaviour, their proficiency in literature and fine arts, their greed for money and customs connected with their craft. Kshemendra too in his Narmamala, Samaya Matrika and Deshopadesha draws detailed and graphic pictures of prostitutes’ life and exposes the moral laxity that had crept in his contemporary society. Kalhana and Somadeva also make references to the system of ‘devadasi’ (dedicating girls to a temple for dancing and singing) that seems to have prevailed in Kashmir from quite early times, and could be described as a form of prostitution.

On the whole, however, it is a happy picture of Kashmiri women that emerges from literary sources. Dr. S.C.Ray has drawn our attention to very significant fact in this context. To put it in his own words “Women in Kashmir probably had some property rights and independent legal status. Kalhana in his Rajatarangini and Kshemendra in his Samaya Matrika seem to indicate that a widow inherited her husbands’ immovable property after his death, rather than his sons”. This is something really very significant, and needs further research.

This discussion about social organization in ancient and early Kashmir is by no means complete and conclusive, but we can safely draw certain inferences. The first and the that must be noted is that though there was an awareness of the four traditional castes, Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra, the early Kashmiri society was not rigid about the caste system. In fact, it was divided more along occupational lines than caste lines. The Brahmanas were no doubt highly respected, but because they valued learning above everything else and formed the intellectual class. The religious rituals and ceremonies were performed by the priestly class among the Brahmanas, and not all Brahmanas were priests. Second the most important occupational class in the society was that of the agriculturists, followed by the rich and prosperous merchants and traders and the various upward mobile artisan classes. It were the Damaras among the agriculturists who became very powerful and influential as feudal landlords and interfered with the affairs of the State, holding at times the entire administration to ransom. There was also the administrative class. which was comprised of the nobility and the bureaucracy. The latter was referred to by the cover name of Kayastha or the king’s officers engaged in collecting revenue and taxes, but they did not belong to any specific caste. Their oppressive and exploitative methods and their greed and corruption have been severely criticized by writers like Kshemendra and Kalhana. Thirdly, and lastly, women occupied a high position in the society and enjoyed freedom unknown in contemporary societies elsewhere in the world. Tantracism of the Shaiva and Shakta variety which led to the spread of the mother goddess cult in Kashmir regards Supreme Reality to be feminine in essence and calls for revering women as manifestations of the eternal feminine or Shakti.

--To be continued END

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