EVIDENCE OF SUSPICION: A WRITER’S REPORT ON THE WAR ON TERROR
Amitava Kumar
Picador India
Pages: 223
Price:Rs. 350/-
2010
ROUNDED UP: ARTIFICIAL TERRORISTS AND MUSLIMS ENTRAPMENT AFTER 9/11
Shamshad Ahmad
The Troy Book Makers, USA
Pages: 267
Price: $ 17.50 US
2009
Reviewed by MAHTAB ALAM
In 1958, while pronouncing a judgment in the case of Sherman v. United States, the US Supreme Court said, “the function of law enforcement is the prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals. Manifestly, that function does not include the manufacturing of crime”. But it seems, even after more than half a century down the line, the law enforcement agencies – the FBI & Company – not only consider manufacturing crime (read terrorists) to be its most important ‘function’ but practise it with the same zeal and passion especially in the name of ‘war on terror’.
The two books – Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment after 9/11 by Shamshad Ahmad and Evidence of Suspicion: A writer’s report on the war on terror by Amitava Kumar – under review are illustrative examples of the same. The books profile and document two different cases each, of entrapment, racial profiling, communal witch-hunt and creating artificial terrorists in the name of fighting terror primarily by the United States of America, especially in the wake of triadic events of September 11, 2001, and by its allies.
Amitava Kumar is an author of global fame and various books, including the famous Husband of a Fanatic. He is currently teaching literature of 9/11 at Vassar College of New Work State, USA. Shamshad Ahmad is founder and President of the As-Salam Mosque, Albany. He is teaching Physics at the University at Albany/State University of New Work. His book is on entrapment of two of his mosque members (including Imam).
MANUFACTURING ‘TERRORISTS’
Both the books detail two interesting yet ridiculous cases – one in India, in the city of Mumbai, and the other in the USA, in the city of Albany – of ‘terrorists’ being literally manufactured. It might come to you as a big surprise but the reality is that the modus operandi in these two countries, or for that matter everywhere, is almost the same. Let’s take India first. Amitava Kumar, in his book, talks about Iqbal Haspatel, who had been arrested on false charges of terrorism a month after the Bombay bombings in 1993. The charges against him were that 25 projectiles and 17 pipe bombs and ammunition were recovered from his room. Four days after this ‘recovery’, the ‘projectiles’ were found in fact parts of textile machinery, and were called bobbins or twists-blockers. (p. 2)
Like Amitava, Shamshad too has a story – the story of ‘Commander’, Yassin Aref. Aref Hussain was arrested on August 5, 2004 on the charges of having terror connections. Shamshad details an incident of ‘mistranslation’ by FBI in Aref case, to prove that, the person they had caught was the ‘Commander’ of a terror outfit in Iraq and was a serious threat to the country. The ‘proofs’ they had, his name and original Albany address and telephone number, were found in a notebook ‘discovered’ in a terrorist camp in Rawah, northern Iraq. And in that notebook he was referred to as Commander. (p.55) But later it was found that, the translation was wrong. The details were written in Kurdish but mistaken as Arabic by FBI translators; hence a case of ‘mistranslation’! It’s important to note that, in both the cases – the victims, Iqbal and Aref, were victimised. While Iqbal was brutally tortured, Aref was denied bail.
CREATING BOGUS FAMILIARITY
One of the important aspects of the so-called war against terror these books discuss is creating bogus familiarity between terrorists and the common man. Amitava gives an example of a common poster – Have you seen this Man?, which calls out to us from the walls of our cities. If you have seen this man, please contact the police. He might be armed and is dangerous. The writer is surprised at the description of the Man – Wears pant and T-shirt. Hence, “As a writer, I wonder whether in a novel, the poster would have said something like, ‘Likes Hindi films and perfume’,” he notes. (p. 14) He further notes, “Given that familiarity with terrorists is really only based on his (and, on rare occasion, her) appearance on the screen, it makes sense to ask what we can learn from the way in which that representation works. For the past two decades and a half, Hindi films like Roja, Mission Kashmir, Sarfarosh, Jaal, Maachis, Dil Se, Maa Tujhe Salaam, The Hero… have been trying to save the Indian nation-state from terrorists. Over and over again. Hidden in the stories proffered by the films is the claim that they are giving the terrorists a human face. So that we understand. In the more tolerable of these productions, empathy is doled out in equal, democratic measure by film-makers in a situation that is essentially undemocratic and brutal.” (p. 15)
MEDIA FRENZY AND TRIAL
Shamshad Ahmad, in his book, recollects his memories about the role of media just after the arrest of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain on August 5, 2004 and notes, “I jumped from one channel to the other and from one radio station to the other. The news flashes were short, sharp and tense but frequent and frightening.” (p. 33) He further recalls, “In the morning, I heard a radio talk show host blustering very loudly. ‘The FBI should be given credit,’ he said. ‘They’ve busted a case where these two guys were selling illegal licences and running around with missiles shooting airplanes.’ A caller to the station, a very provoked elderly lady demanded, ‘We should find out how many mosque members are state workers. They must be fired.’ I shivered. I was a state worker, teaching at a state university!” (p. 40)
GLOBAL MIGRATION OF TORTURE
Amitava, on his part, quotes a very interesting yet sensible statement of a person called Abul Jalal, a poultry farmer from Walavati, a suburb of Mumbai, which the author visited in 2006 to meet Iqbal. “When I was listening to Mubeen, a man leaned closer to me and, speaking in a confidential tone, said, ‘What the Americans were doing in Abu Ghraib, they learned from our policemen here’. The man’s name was Abul Jalal.” (p. 4) “In a way, Jalal, a poultry farmer plus harmless fabricator of history, turned out to be right. Pre-empting later celebrated testimonies about the war on terror – for example, the Academy Award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, about an Afghani taxi driver Dilawar who was murdered in custody by American soldiers at the Bagram Air Base – Jalal had spoken to me about the global migration of torture. His judgment has come to the pass,” he concludes. (p. 8)
NETWORKS OF INFORMERS
What combines both the books essentially is the role of informers in entrapment. How security agencies use networks of informers to entrap the innocents and manufacture ‘terrorists’. While Amitava profiles two cases namely, of Henat Lakhani and Shawar Matin Siraj, Shamshad profiles cases of Yassin Aref and Mohammad Hossain. All the four people are immigrants and come from either lower middle class or middle-middle class. Interestingly, informers are also immigrants, probably to gain confidence and entrap easily. To the Indians, what is very frightening is that such networks are very much in India, in fact as prevalent as in the USA or elsewhere. And that I can assure you from my personal experiences and observation of different cases.
Though most of the incidents, narrations and stories are really unfortunate and heart-rending, both the books are extremely important. They invite us not only to think but to question as well. They are a must read for all those who are interested in understanding the politics of terror and establishing a just and equitable world.
[The Reviewer is a Delhi based civil rights’ activist and journalist. He may be contacted at [email protected]]