Just another dent in the damage…

This week’s Channel 4 Dispatches focused on piecing together the horrific terrorist attacks that hit Mumbai last November. It is incredibly detailed in its tracking of the young terrorists’ movements and their communications with their ‘commanders’ in Pakistan, featuring original voice recordings of mobile interceptions, amateur video footage and CCTV, interviews with eye-witnesses and news coverage of the time.

It’s pretty difficult to watch given the inclusion of extremely graphic images depicting the carnage that left at least 173 dead and a further 308 injured but an excellent documentary nonetheless. They’ve done remarkably well in reconstructing the group’s movements across the city and collating detailed descriptions of the plot that took the city of Mumbai hostage for three days.

It makes me question what the Indian authorities were doing at the time during these intercepted telephone conversations, was there contact with Pakistani administration? Were they able to trace the calls to find any further information out about the ‘controllers’? What has been/is being done to identify the leaders of the mob and how will Lashkar-e-Taiba be held accountable? What is to come of the Kasab trial (the sole surviving terrorist caught by the Indian forces and currently held in custody) given that on May 6th he pleaded not guilty to 86 charges? Surely there is enough evidence here which says otherwise?

And finally was it really appropriate for the Dispatches team to end the documentary with the ‘controller’s’ message to the media? – ‘this was just the trailer. wait for the rest of the film’.

There are 28 days left on the 4oD platform to catch-up or see Youtube’s five part break down:

• Part 1;
• Part 2;
• Part 3;
• Part 4;
• Part 5.

If you’re still not convinced though have a quick peek at this Channel 4 News report for a taster:

I’ve been wanting to write something about the rise in horrific acid attacks for some time but it’s just so difficult. The stories I read are heart-breaking. One particular story I read today is about an Iranian woman called Ameneh Bahrami, a victim of a vicious acid attack in 2004.

In all honesty though I don’t know what angers me more, the fact that this awful thing happen to her or the fact that she is battling to punish her attacker with the acid treatment. Yes you read correctly, she is willing to condone the blinding of Majid Movahedi with acid under a court order. A blatant violation of basic human rights! She says “if I don’t do this and there is another acid attack, I will never forgive myself for as long as I live” but hang on a minute two wrongs don’t make right. I know there’s a lot of people who’d suggest ‘an eye for an eye’ serves as some kind of justice (it certainly does in Sharia Law). but seriously people, you can accept pouring acid into some-one’s eyes is some kind of redemption! She is making a decision to accept the use of acid to disfigure Movahedi and so surely she’d never be able to forgive herself for that either for as long as she lives.

I obviously agree that this man should be punished, left to rot in a cell somewhere for a very long time but come on. Ameneh knows first hand what it’s like to have acid poured all over her, the pain she suffered I’m sure still plays on her mind day-in-day out, the surgeries shes needed and her recovery would certainly have broken her spirit yet to want to condemn someone else to this kind of treatment is unfounded, it’s completely absurd and it frightens me much more than the initial attack.

The Progression Women’s Association is an NGO based in Pakistan ‘fighting against the horror of violence against women’ and Shabnaz Bokhari is a remarkable woman. We need more of these!! There is also The Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women (no website), a voluntary organisation in Southern India striving to help victims of acid attack. Whilst alls I can do is raise awareness, these women risk their lives to speak out and I applaud their courage.