Sanctimonious Indian Govt Gets Well-deserved Earful from Press

The Australian authorities are following due process in the investigation of suspect Mohammed Haneef, an Indian citizen, in connection with the London and Glasgow bombings. While there is Maoist terrorism, aka Naxalism, in large swathes of central India, there are unmistakable signs Islamic terrorism within India is now by and large home grown and now evidently exported, and that there is evidence terrorists of all denominations, including Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, exchange logistical support in the ungoverned parts of India, the only reactions to the London/Glasgow bomb plot we get from the Indian government are the sanctimonious lectures to the Australian high commissioner and to the new British Prime Minister.

India has a terrible criminal justice system, to say the least. There has been no satisfactory investigation progress in any of the seven acts of jihadi terrorism in India since the present government came to power in 2004.

IndianExpress.com :: Haneef & his country

The [Australian] immigration minister has suggested there is information on [individuals’ reckless association with terrorist organisations under a .section of Australia’s anti-terror law]. Therefore, New Delhi could perhaps have waited to see what Canberra finally produced before registering a concern over due process. ...

Plus, let’s not be sanctimonious. What is due process when it comes to India? What is the record of our police and security agencies in terms of always respecting basic constitutional principles and guilty-until-proven-innocent rules? What is our record in quickly processing terror cases? Fourteen years after the Mumbai blasts, the convicted are still being sentenced. ...

India under its present government seems to have made not netting terror suspects a policy. Whether Australia is proved to have been right or wrong in detaining Haneef, there is no mistaking the purposefulness in its efforts to go after a terror network. Pervez Musharraf, as these columns observed, had shown more purpose and guts over the Lal Masjid issue than many ruling party ministers had shown when dealing with another law and order menace in India: Naxalism.