OPINION Pg8

HERALD
www.oheraldo.in

o= HERALD o= Vol No CVIII No: 341

Never the Same Again?
Saturday 6 December, 2008 There are chilling parallels between Mumbai after 26/11 and Goa after 25/11, from which we should take some lessons, says TEOTONIO R DE SOUZA

Ye old stable door A

BBC commentator was saying on 26 Novem- the Holy Land after weakening their power that was
ber that Mumbai and Goa were two likely and sustained by their trade control of the Indian Ocean
expected targets for the assault that took region. Instead of the war for the oil of the Middle

I
t’s an old cliché; bolting the stable door after the horses
have run away. But our authorities continue to do just that.
It is in the immediate aftermath of any terrorist attack that
policemen start checking on hotels, catching fishing trawlers,
cracking down on overstaying foreigners, putting restrictions
on night markets, tightening security at airports, etc, etc, etc.
In most cases, by this time, any offenders are already far
away. All that the police succeed in doing by ‘tightening’ up
security is gather abuse from people for harassment and, thanks
to certain dishonest elements in their ranks, for corruption.
It must be realised that in dealing with terrorists, the forces
of law and order are always at a comparative disadvantage. The
terrorists have to get everything right just once. The cops, on
the other hand, have to get it right every time; even a single
slip up is enough for the former to succeed.
It must be realised that there are limits to security measures.
Checking every commuter on Mumbai’s local trains – which carry
25 lakh people in each direction each day – is next to
impossible. It would cause huge disruptions and serve little or
no purpose.
At times like these, when the memory of a terrible tragedy is
still fresh in people’s minds, the police should use the
opportunity to improve their human intelligence network.
Gaining collaborators in various fields is the best protection
against terrorists.
Having fishermen and leisure sailors who promptly report on
suspicious vessels or missing trawlers will yield better results
than a dozen coast guard patrol vessels prowling the sea. Having
ordinary people promptly report on suspicious happenings in
their areas will make it very difficult for terrorists to
anonymously rent apartments and merge with the local
population.
Rather than relying just on random tip-offs from the general
population, which mostly end in wild goose chases rather than
reliable intelligence, policemen can give a modicum of informal
training to volunteer informers, so that they know what to look
out for, and don’t raise too many false alarms. This is the kind
of informer network that makes policing precise and effective.
It is this that gives police forces that are recognised as the best
in the world a decisive edge.
The other thing to do is to have a widespread surveillance
system; a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera system at
every public facility. The country that has deployed this to great
effect is the United Kingdom. It has over five million CCTV
cameras nationwide; that means about one camera for every 12
citizens in the country!
It may seem like the nightmare described in George Orwell’s
‘1984’ has come true, and that ‘big brother’ is now watching
everyone everywhere, but the system has served the UK well.
Within 24 hours after the London Underground Railway
bombings, detectives had descriptions of the culprits, could
trace the exact route they took and had laid bare the flesh and
place in Mumbai with the tragic consequences that
will go down the history. A topic that dominated
Goanet the last week (and the debate over which
still rages) was if 25 November was the ‘Real Lib-
eration’ day of Goa. That day marked the conquest
of Goa by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510. A Macau-
based Goan, who usually signs himself as B C, did
not hesitate to pronounce somewhat morbidly on
the Mumbai tragedy as follows: “All those coun-
tries involved in anti-Portuguese colonialism end-
ed in misery.” Given the right conditions, these are
the types of creature with deep-seated anger
against some sections of the society who would
make good candidates for jihadis or crusaders. If
not yet prepared to enter personally into violent
action, their voiced sentiments and other forms of
indirect support can make them fall prey to the
growing internationalisation of the terrorist out-
fits and their success.
The Goanet discussion about 25 November can-
not be dismissed lightly. It marks the date when a
band of highly motivated adventurers, funded
and trained in a distant foreign country, roving in
the Indian Ocean for nearly a decade, with Anjedi-
va as their base of operations, and secretly assist-
ed by some local elements, took over Goa by as-
sault, after having failed in a first attempt some
months earlier. The history of Goa would never be
the same again. Goa was captured for being a stra-
tegic outpost on the mid-west coast of India, and
became the military headquarters and the finan-
cial capital of the Portuguese eastern empire. This
event had all the hallmarks of what happened in
Mumbai last week, excepting the fact that the
young adventurers had now to face a mammoth
defence structure of an organised state. In 1508
the foreign bands had attacked the port of Dabhol
that was an important trading outlet of Bijapur. In
1510 the defence structure of Adil Shah of Bijapur
and his local governor Malik Yusuf Gurji in Goa
crumbled beneath the onslaught of Albuquerque’s
men, even before Timoja’s promised assistance
could arrive!
The attack was well planned, because we have
recorded information that the bar of Goa had been
fathomed in advance. India’s sea front was its
Tongue in Cheek
Picture Source: Saturnino Monteiro, Batalhas e Combates da Marinha Portuguesa, Vol. I, Lisboa,
Sá da Costa Editora, 1989, p. 209
weakness, and the Mumbai tragedy proved once
again that its sea coast remains vulnerable despite
the technological advances and resources available
to the modern Indian state. Incidentally, K M Pan-
ikkar, the author of the celebrated Asia and West-
ern Dominance, in a separate study entitled India
and the Indian Ocean (1945) discussed the vital
importance of controlling the ocean for a country
like India. He predicted rightly that “the Indian
Ocean will be one of the major problems of the
future.” He made a strong plea for strengthening
the country’s naval capacity. He would add today:
its intelligence-gathering skills.
Afonso de Albuquerque described his feat in a
letter to his master, King Manuel of Portugal, in
gruesome detail: “Our Lord helped us to do this
job better than we had planned or expected. Over
300 Turks died, and till Benastery and Gandauly the
roads were strewn with dead bodies and others who
lay wounded and dying. Several died while trying
to cross the river with their horses. I had the city
put to fire and sword. During four days our men
Give Me A Decent Burial!
made the city bleed. No moor was given a chance
to escape alive. They were driven into mosques
which were then set ablaze. I ordered that the land
cultivators and the Brahmins should not be killed.
Nearly six thousand moors, men and women, were
killed.…No burial place or houses belonging to
Muslims were left standing. Anyone now caught is
fried alive.”
The bravery of these few Portuguese had been
tested with a thunderous victory against the com-
bined naval forces of the Turks and the Indian
Muslims at Diu in 1509. Curiously, the world sce-
nario of international relations was not very differ-
ent from what we are seeing today. Instead of the
President Bush, his axis of evil and his global war
against terrorism as represented by Al Qaeda, in
the early sixteenth century it was King Manuel of
Portugal who mounted a global war against the
Muslims, from Africa till the Southeast Asian wa-
ters. As revealed by recent historical research, King
Manuel regarded himself as God’s predestined to
wage a war that would dislodge the Muslims from
East in our times, the prize in view then was the
spices of India.
In the spate of writings and media comments in
the wake of the 26 November Mumbai attacks, it is
suggested that not all assailants were from outside
and that perhaps some got away after participating
in the carnage at some points. There are also some
other issues raised and that call for serious reflec-
tion: whose India is represented by some of the
icons chosen for attack? For those who have called
this the 9/11 of India, the two hotels and Nariman
House may be equivalent to the American twin tow-
ers, but many millions of Indians doubt if those icons
mean anything at all for the overwhelming number
of Indians. A Tamil writer is quoted in some forums
as describing them as “the icons of the financiers
and swindlers of India”. There was hardly any media
coverage of the unknown citizens of India mowed
down at the CST railway terminus or several uniden-
tified wounded in the hospitals.
Just as the above criticism comes from a south
Indian writer, a Malabar-based Muslim Zain al-Din
wrote Tuhfat-al-Mujahidin (Gift to the Holy Warri-
ors) in Arabic and addressed to the Mappilas at the
close of the sixteenth century, analysing the change
brought about by the arrival of the Portuguese in
the Indian waters. He proclaimed the legality and
the duty of all Muslims to wage jihad against them.
The conquest of Goa figures in this account, pre-
served in several British archives and first published
only in the mid-nineteenth century. It probably cir-
culated earlier in the madrasas in manuscript form.
When will we know what all is being written today
and circulated among one hundred and a quarter
million Indian Muslims who find themselves mar-
ginalised in the Indian national system? What has
been the protection they experienced during the
recent Gujarat riots? Why have only some Muslims
been selected for capital punishment for attacking
temples and churches, while Hindu fundamentalist
groups that have perpetrated similar acts continue
unpunished? When similar situations continue un-
checked, it is but natural that no amount of security
measures will be sufficient to protect and safeguard
the icons of success of the prosperous few million
Indians.
By Adelmo Fernandes

bones of the plot, thanks to the network of CCTV cameras at
every train station, bus stop, bank, large shopping centres,
traffic intersections, etc.
In Mumbai, too, CCTV cameras installed inside the CST
railway terminus got clear footage of the terrorists as they
went about their shooting spree and later, cameras mounted
outside the station captured images of them moving out
from the station into the lane leading to the Cama Hospital.
They may not have prevented the violence, but at least they
can tell us who did it and exactly how it was done.
It is pointless trying to put into effect security measures
that require a large part of the police force to be diverted
from their regular duties. This will mean that these
measures are purely temporary, and cannot be sustained for
long; creating a false sense of security. It would be so much
better if the force took advantage of the opportunity thrown
up by the attack to build new intelligence assets on a
voluntary basis. Random security checks have a questionable
value even at present, and little or no utility in the long term.
A network of informers, on the other hand, will serve the
force well in the months and years to come.
I
have been in the news for far too long and for all the wrong
reasons. People produce me in their homes every day. Every
household produces a substantial portion of me, and later
they disown me. They throw me out through the window,
quite literally, into the neighbour’s compound.
The general feeling is that I am not wanted by anyone.
Rightly so. I raise a stink, I am an eyesore and I occupy a lot of
space. The only ones I have for company are stray dogs, stray
cattle, pigs, rats and the like. Crows and vultures hover above
me. They feast on me, they have their belly-full. I do not mind
being devoured by the animals but what gets me off is the
apathy of the humans who produce me.
I want to die. As a matter of fact I am not supposed to live
for long. I am to disappear as fast as possible. The only thing
I cry for is a decent burial. Though there is a home for me for
that short time that I exist in the world (they call it the bin)
people rarely keep me there. These people, who do not seem
to have a heart, scatter me all over the place. And when
sickness and disease strikes, they put the blame on me. They
point fingers at me. I am made the scapegoat.
Poor me! I do not want to be the cause of all the misery and
suffering of the people. That is the reason why I beg for a
decent burial. Destroy me as soon as I am born. I do not want
to live a moment longer.
But all my cries seem to fall on deaf ears. People allow me
to ‘survive’ in the world for more time than is necessary. I
begin to rot. Nobody wants me in their locality. So they take
me to a neighbouring village. This cause chaos and confusion.
The big cities feel that the right place to dump me is the
villages. I grow by the day. From a molehill I become a moun-
tain, a mountain of trouble for the local villagers.
People say I emit an unbearable stench as I rot in the rain
and the sun. My entire body emits a foul smell. But then that
is the law of nature. Any living thing which dies will emit a
foul smell unless disposed off in a proper manner. I am dead.
I am just an inanimate object.
My presence has brought people to loggerheads. People,
civic bodies and even the government are all at their wits’ end
on how to handle me. There are protest marches and mor-
chas. Even schoolchildren have come out on the streets in
protest. Incidentally I have the potential of bringing an elect-
ed government down. But then it is not my nature to indulge
in the toppling game.
The government should make a concerted effort to deal
with me. Several NGOs have raised their voices. I have caught
the attention of an entire generation. I have become front-
page news. People see me on the news channels practically
every day. I am in the spotlight.
But then being in the limelight, like the media-savvy politi-
cians, is not my cup of tea. I want to die a lonely death.
People do not realise that I am more useful when dead than
when I am alive. After my death I help plants grow into big
and strong trees. What is required is a little help from the
people to convert me to something useful. But then people
only want to let me rot in the open. Some even go to the
extent of setting me on fire. I am more dangerous when left
unattended. I once again make a solemn appeal to the civic
bodies to destroy me before I become potentially dangerous
by spreading disease.
They call me by various names. I am called trash, dirt, and,
more commonly, garbage. The world has passed through the
Ice Age and the Stone Age. People say that in Goa now we
are in the ‘Age of Garbage’.

Letters to the Editor

Relax FAR for small plots
Orlando S A Da Silva, Carmona
As per the Regional plan 2021, mega housing
project means built-up area (FAR) of 20000 sq m
and above. This means land use area of 50000
sq m. This definition of the Town and Country
Planning Board smacks of ulterior motives. Con-
sidering Goa’s size I am of the firm opinion that
this definition is drafted by those responsible
only keeping in mind the interest of the build-
ers lobby and the high stakes at hand for the
politicians and the bureaucrats.
Even an area of 4000 square meters is too big
a area considering Goa’s size. I would also sug-
gest that a new category in FAR allocation in vil-
lages be also introduced to encourage subdivi-
sion of big properties into smaller plots of 300
sq n or less, meant solely for the benefit of res-
ident of Goan origin by giving higher FAR, even
up to 70%. This will help us to preserve the scarce
land for the future requirement and at the same
100 Years Ago
PRIMEIRO DIARIO N AS C O L O N I AS P O RT U G E Z AS
6 December 1908
Gokhale sounds alarm
Mr Gopal Krishna Gokhale in one of his
speeches at the New Reform Club stated that
the situation in India was extremely serious.
Imperial jubilee in Vienna
Vienna is being lit like never before from the
1st of the current month, in commemoration
of the Imperial Jubilee.
Reichstag debate
The Liberals and the Radicals met at the Re-
ichstag in a grand Constitutional debate over
the ministerial responsibilities in connection
with the recent interviews and speeches of
the Kaiser.
Germans ambushed
The natives of Cameroon ambushed a Ger-
man patrol on reconnaissance. Out of the 19
men in the patrol, nine were killed while 10
were injured.
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time help each Goan to have a house of his own.
Building corruption
Jyoti Xhetgaonkar, Morjim
The greed of our municipal councillors, town
planners and other government servants has
converted Mapusa city into a garbage bin. Hills
are destroyed. Roads have become congested.
There is no proper parking place.
Everyone wants to make money. Approved
plans suddenly becomes illegal plans. The build-
ing comes up just the way the builder wants it
to. The vendor is treated as a second-class citi-
zen with all powers and glory given to the build-
er. Even steep slopes are used for construction
and no one is bothered about the danger.
The buyer has to go from pillar to post to get
the records transferred to his name in the mu-
nicipality. The buyers are made to dance to the
tunes of government servants.
The government should also find out how
many people have just bought flats/ shops/offic-
es and are not using them, and how many of
them are government employees. This will bring
to the surface the corruption. Many government
servants have become agents and are getting
commission in land deals in Goa, and many are
selling Communidade lands too.
Labelling Kashmiris
S W Moosvi, Baga
In his article ‘Is Goa prepeared to counter terror’
in Herald (1 Dec) Juino De Souza says that a film
director Ashok Pandit claims that Goa is a volca-
no that will explode in time to come, and that a
large number of Kashmiri Muslims are flocking
here under the garb of selling carpets but actu-
ally to start terrorist activity in Goa.
These remarks of Ashok Pandit are totally
baseless and condemnable. The issue of Kash-
miri Pandits having quit Kashmir in the early 90s
on the directions of then Governor of J&K Jag-
mohan may be what is prompting Mr Pandit to
make such allegations.
There are clear reports that Kashmiri Muslims
in Goa are not involved in any kind of anti-na-
tional activities. Our bio-datas are monitored
here and also sent to our native places for veri-
fication every year, where they have been
checked by the various investigating agencies
as per proceedures.
Pakistan was sure to refuse.
Words of Wisdom
Letter of the Day Pale imitation
Only posts, no checks
Ramdas Naik, by email
The heat and dust of the Pale bypoll is settling
down, and as it does one would see the matur-
Irineu Gonsalves, Verna ing of Vishwajeet Rane. After his election, the
Herald must be complimented for bringing to the fore the sorry state of security across the state, Junior Rane was part of petty cabals that nearly
even after the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. It may have surprised the IGP Kishan Kumar, pulled down the Kamat government. Now wis-
who acted swiftly after the tip-off, but it has not startled us one bit. Police collecting money from dom seems to have prevailed and, much to eve-
incoming vehicles is not something new: it has been going on for years. Inspector Nelson Albu- ryone’s surprise, Vishwajeet threw his weight
querque, who has been placed under suspension, should be able to spill more beans.  behind the Congress nominee.
Permit me to tell the IGP that aggressive interference with the police system by extraneous Leadership requires rising above pique and Confucius
sources, with tacit support from the politicians, encourages the police to believe that their career working with others for a common cause, and
advancement does not depend on merit but can be secured by currying favour with politicians. Vishwajeet showed he has those qualities. If the Confucius was a Chinese thinker and social
philosopher, whose teachings and philoso-
This leads to the neglect of professional performance, and sets the system on the downward Junior Rane wants to emulate his statesman fa-
slope. People in Goa are worried about terrorist attacks and the police seem least bothered. At ther, then his role in Pale has been a step in the phy have deeply influenced Chinese, Kore-
an, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and
this hour the police should have concentrated on surveillance.   right direction. As Health Minister, he has shown
The people of Goa demand an explanation from the Chief Minister, the Home Minister and the exemplary work in starting the ‘108 Response’ life. His philosophy emphasized personal and
governmental morality, correctness of social
Chief Secretary as to what has happened to their utterances that security would be beefed up system and ensuring the GMC equipment works.
across the state. Patradevi and Naibaug are just two checkposts. The same corruption and laxity Now one regularly sees ambulances even from relationships, justice and sincerity. These
values gained prominence in China over oth-
is prevailing across the state. The booty collected at the checkposts and other places, including as far as Vengurla coming to the GMC, and this
the rampant extortion on the streets, reaches to the top level. more than anything else attests to Vishwajeet er doctrines, such as Legalism or Taoism
A police force which first succumbs to pressure and becomes the handmaiden of the ruling Rane’s coming of age as a politician. during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).
party soon starts indulging in excesses on its own, even without any political direction, because Confucius’ thoughts have been developed
of a general feeling of assurance of protection from its political masters in recognition of their Show more sensitivity into a system of philosophy known as Con-
“loyalty”. Why shouldn’t the rogue officials who are out to make a fast buck be taught a bitter fucianism. It was introduced to Europe by the
Jose Maria Miranda, Margao Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first to Lat-
lesson by resorting to surprise checks as was recently done by the IGP? 
Our state should have a State Security Commission. Every action taken or omitted by the police It is very distressing to observe that suicide inise the name as “Confucius.”
is likely to be questioned by the Commission whose members will also have access to all records cases, particularly among the youth in Goa, are The Anaclets of Confucius
with the police and act as an effective check against arbitrary, high-handed action. This arrange- very much on the rise. It is time that the govern-
ment will best serve the public interest. ment takes a very serious note of this calamity
The Master said, “Let the will be set on the
path of duty.
The police are servile to people with political influence. But they can be cruel to ordinary man. that is afflicting Goans, especially the young, and
“Let every attainment in what is good be
Needless to say, the nexus between the politicians and the police is the root cause of all evils.  establishes and gives wide publicity to counsel-
firmly grasped.
ling centres to deal with this grave problem.
“Let perfect virtue be accorded with.
So please don’t blame us. Let us live and earn succeeded in that to a large measure. Terrorists The Catholic Church, social organisations and
“Let relaxation and enjoyment be found in
our livelihood in peace, as is our fundamental are terrorists and Pakistanis themselves are fac- experts in the field of counseling would do a
the polite arts.”
right as citizens of India. We are born in India and ing similar problems with them in their land. great service to the society as a whole and to
we will die as Indians. Moreover in Pakistan the present President’s families in particular if they could assist in this The Master said, “I do not open up the truth
family has been the victim of an attack where his task of helping those in despair. Families too to one who is not eager to get knowledge,
Amateurish response wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Thus what should not shy away from taking the help of nor help out any one who is not anxious to
we should have done was to take the evidence counsellors to assist their dear ones when they explain himself. When I have presented one
S Kamat, Alto Betim we have in this case in a coherent and structured are affected by symptoms that could eventually corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot
The manner in which our government is dealing form and seek the assistance of the Pakistan lead them to take the extreme step. It may also from it learn the other three, I do not repeat
with the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack government. be advisable for the Press to show more sensi- my lesson.”
investigations and taking it up with Pakistan is Zardari has called the terrorists stateless per- tivity towards the families of suicide victims, by The Master said, “With coarse rice to eat,
very amateurish and incredibly stupid. Sabre- not publishing the names of the deceased, as in with water to drink, and my bended arm for
rattling always begets an equivalent response
sons and therefore, presented with proper evi-
a pillow;-I have still joy in the midst of these
dence, he should have had no problems in hand- a small place like Goa this stigma would only add
like we have now seen from Pakistan. ing over these persons to the Indian authorities. to the immense trauma and pain that the con- things. Riches and honors acquired by un-
righteousness, are to me as a floating cloud.”
If destabilising the relations between India Instead. we have taken the position of asking cerned families have to undergo. We have had
and Pakistan was one of the objectives of the for some 20 wanted persons including Dawood too many cases where the Press has disclosed (Anaclets, Book 7)
terror attack, the organisers of the mayhem have Ibrahim on ‘suspicion’ of terrorist activities which the names of those committing suicide.