Daily Lesson from Life 04 December 2008

"Gunmen did not eat
One of the Mumbai Islamist militants had not eaten for days and could have been on drugs. -Thu, Dec 04, 2008 AFP

MUMBAI, INDIA - AN AUTOPSY on one of the Islamist militants who laid siege to Mumbai last week showed he had not eaten for days and could have been on drugs, an Indian newspaper said on Thursday.

The examination of Abu Dera Ismael Khan's body found no food in his stomach, raising suspicions he and the nine other militants were fuelled by drugs, the Indian Express said.


'It is difficult to find traces of these substances if consumed in small amounts,' it quoted an unnamed pathologist at Nair hospital as saying.

'We have preserved their viscera and blood samples and sent it for chemical analysis.' Khan's was the first body taken to the Nair hospital, the paper said, after he was shot in the head by police during a gun battle near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai's main railway station.

The newspaper said he was with Ajmal Ameer Kasab, the only one of the militants taken alive.

The two men sprayed the teeming station with automatic weapon fire, killing more than 50 people. Police said on Wednesday they had found a large cache of explosives left behind by the pair among luggage dropped by their victims.

They were among 10 militants who launched coordinated assaults on Mumbai on November 26, bringing the city to a standstill as they kept security forces at bay for almost 60 hours."

I am not sure about this speculation but I can believe it when it is proven conclusively after the chemical tests. It is very hard for normal folks like us to think that a normal person would be bent on killing anyone in sight without being very confused in the head! The messed up mind could very well be the result of consumption, willingly or forced, of drugs!

Lessons for me are:

1. anyone who killed in the name of religion must be sadly mistaken of his or her religion. No right religion in the world would tell it's follower to killing anyone in sight, including, in this case, 40 Muslims who are of the same faith as the gunmen!;

2. cowards like these murderers will use drug to numb their senses and covered their guilt in order to be able to kill anyone in sight without thought! However, this will not get them off the hook for the death of 173 people reported! There is no hiding behind 'diminished responsibility' or 'temporary insanity' pleas!!;

3. I read about the NYT comments on: when the Danish caricature of Prophet Mohamed was created, the Pakistani Muslims went out in force to protest and burned effigy and voiced their displeasure and disapproval of the drawing. This is in defence of the Muslim faith. Now with the Muslim extremists travelling across India borders and killed more than one hundred innocent and defenseless victims while wounding hundreds more, WHY aren't the Muslims, majority are NOT violent and NOT murderers, protesting in the streets sending the message to anyone who think killing in the name of religion is the right thing to do are SADLY mistaken! By the absence of public condemnation, it may be taken to be silence and quiet acceptance that it is ok to go across a border to kill innocent people but it is not ok for someone to draw a caricature of the prophet!! This CANNOT be good for Islam!!

The religious leaders and the majority of the followers SIMPLY MUST protests and condemned this cowardice and barbaric act by some of their faithfuls!!