"Terrorism & India's Response" - invitation to Seminar

 

Social Cause

(Registered Society No. 614 of 2003)

 

&

 

Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS)

 

Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists had attacked Indian Parliament, the very seat of democracy, on 13th December, 2001 and they came very near to success. Four JeM members were later found guilty by the Trial Court for having played various roles in this incident. Md Afzal Guru, one of the four convicts was awarded death penalty by the Trial court in Delhi on 18th December, 2002. The death sentence was upheld by the Delhi High Court on 29th October, 2003 and the Supreme Court rejected his appeal about two years later (on 4th August, 2005). In fact, the Sessions Court fixed 20th October, 2006 for his hanging in Tihar jail.  On the plea of his mercy petition pending before the President of India, his execution stands indefinitely postponed. Now do you believe that the Government is keen at all on fighting back terrorism?!

 

The families of the security personnel killed in the attack on Parliament expressed their disgust over the delay in hanging Afzal Guru. They felt so humiliated and cheated that on 13th December, 2006 (patiently waiting for 5 years from the date of attack), they chose to return the Keerthi Chakras to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, as a mark of their protest. Doesn't it show that the government's honouring of the dead heroes was only an eye-wash? Doesn't it expose the arrant insensitivity of the government to the supreme sacrifices made by our soldiers?!

 

Afzal Guru hails from Sopore in Kashmir Valley; and the government fears a backlash in the Valley in case he is hanged. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a Kashmiri separatist leader has been consistently demanding the release of Afzal Guru. Do you think that a cowardly government which allows itself to be blackmailed by the secessionists & terrorists, would do anything to weed them out?

 

With these shuddering questions lingering in many minds, Social Cause & FINS cordially invite you and your friends to a Seminar on

 

 

Terrorism & India's Response

 

 

Sri B. Raman*

Former Head of Counter Terrorism division of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW);

Addl. Secretary (Retd.), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi ;

Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai.

 

Ms. Kalyani Koul**

Co-ordinator, Kashmira Vahini, Delhi

 

 

Sri C. Anjaneya Reddy

Formerly of the Indian Police Service

 

&

 

Sri M.V.R. Sastry

Editor, Andhra Bhoomi

 

will speak.

 

 

 

Maj. Gen. (Retd.) A.B. Gorthi, AVSM, VSM

Chairman, FINS, AP

 

will preside.

 

 

Date & Time:

12^th December, 2010 (Sunday) at 4:00 p.m.

 

 

Venue:

Mekaster Auditorium, Institute of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering (IETE), Arts College back-side road,

Osmania University Campus, Hyderabad

 

 

All are welcome.

 

 

Dr. Somaraju Suseela                                                               

President, Social Cause                                                          

 

Col. Prof. Datla Raju

General Secretary, FINS, AP

 

---

 

* Sri B. Raman, served R&AW for 26 years under 10 chiefs and 7 prime ministers, retired as an additional secretary and worked on some of the agency's most important cases. He authored books like Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane, A Terrorist State as a Frontline Ally, Intelligence: Past, Present & Future. A prolific writer, he contributes on subjects of topical interest having a bearing on national security and terrorism in many Indian newspapers and journals and current affairs web sites as well as to Asia Times, Hong Kong, Indian Defence Review, New Delhi (of which he is an honorary editorial consultant), and Rediff.com. All his articles appear on www.saag.org, the web site of the South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) and on the Outlook online edition, www.outlookindia.com .

 

 

** Ms. Kalyani Koul, a senior executive of an MNC, lives in Delhi, having had some exposure in the USA. Hailing from a suffering Kashmiri Pandit family, she is the Coordinator of Kashmira Vahini, NCR-Delhi. She was born and brought up at Sopore in the Kashmir Valley (which incidentally is Md. Afzal Guru's home town) from where her family was forced to leave. She has contributed articles to dailies like Tribune and posts her creative writings on Hyderabad-based literary website www.museindia.com.