Saturday, January 29, 2011

Burney's 26/11 turnaround surprises many By Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN - The Times of India, Mumbai

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Comments posted on The Times of India website and Face-book, over Mohammed Wajihuddin's news story: Burney's 26/11 turnedaround surprises many:

Contrary to what Javed Anand's low blow on a whistle-blower losing his credibility would have it, the sheer 180% degree turnaround by Burney is so forced and enforced that only a novice would not make out the heavy arm-twisting and threats Burney would have gone through over such a turnaround. Dragging Pakistan as a potential target cannot blanket and explain so many lose ends that are still to be connected. Given Congress Party's political vulnerability vis as vis Saffron intransigence on an array of contentious matters in their political tit for tat, the 'aar paar' war between the two Brahminical parties could be turning into some kind of mutual settlement moves and both Digvijay and Burney would have been asked to pull back. The facts about Karkare and the role of RSS connected terrorists are already in the public arena. Burney's retraction will hardly make any difference in people's case against Saffron terrorism.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

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Burney's 26/11 turnaround surprises many

Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN, Jan 30, 2011, 12.40am IST


MUMBAI: Senior Urdu editor Aziz Burney's turnaround on his much-vaunted stand on the perpetrators of the heinous 26/11 attack has surprised the Muslim intelligentsia. Burney, through a series of impassioned articles in a daily that he edits, had tried to shred the official line that Hindutva terrorists were not involved in the 26/11 attacks. But on Friday he surprised many when different editions of the daily carried a front-page apology from Burney, saying he felt sorry if he had hurt the feelings of 'deshbhakts and deshpremis (patriots)'. with his views

Burney had compiled his articles into a book provocatively titled RSS ki Saazish: 26/11, where he had differed from the investigating agencies' conclusion that no saffron terror activists were involved in 26/11. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had attended the launch of Burney's book on December 6, 2010 in Delhi and on December 27 in Mumbai. Burney had consistently claimed that the circumstances in which some top police officers, including then ATS chief Hemant Karkare died, pointed to a possible involvement of some saffron elements in the 26/11 carnage. ButBurney's strident stand lost its sting when he meekly apologized for some of his writings, especially the book's title.

He has even said that he was planning a different title for the book.

"If he was not sure who were behind the 26/11, he should not have opposed the view of the investigating agencies. He misled his readers," said Maulana Mahmood Daryabadi of the All-India Ulema Council.

A source said that Burney was under intense pressure to clarify and apologize for his views, which had irked the investigating agencies and antagonized the Sangh Parivar. When contacted by TOI, to explain why he changed his stand, Burney said, "As an Indian, I cannot differ from the government's stand on a significant event like 26/11. Circumstantial evidence procured by the investigating agencies proves that my stand was wrong."

"When he saw the Hindutva hand and not the ISI involvement in 26/11, he showed his incapability as a journalist. With his unqualified apology for it, he has lost his credibility," said Javed Anand of Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD).

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