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Friday, November 15, 2019

Bin Laden captured ... and BJP MLA appreciated !


Padma Hazarika is a Bharatiya Janata Party politician from Assam. He was elected in Assam Legislative Assembly election in 1996, 2006, 2011 and 2016 from Sootea constituency.  Formerly, he was with Asom Gana Parishad.

Bin Laden captured .. .. .. Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Stateless Muslim jihadist who founded the pan-Islamic militant organization al-Qaeda, through which he planned and coordinated terror attacks around the world.  Bin Laden's father was  a Saudi millionaire and the founder of the construction company, Saudi Binladin Group.  He was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, and shifted his base to Sudan, until U.S. pressure forced him to leave Sudan in 1996.   Bin Laden masterminded Sept 11 attacks that resulted in deaths of more than 3000 and heightened the war on terror.

Though Pakistan kept denying sheltering the dreaded terrorist, Osama was killed   in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, by United States Navy SEALs,  in an operation code-named Operation Neptune Spear.  The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan. U.S. military officials said that after the raid U.S. forces took the body of bin Laden to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death in accordance with Islamic tradition.  In the aftermath of the killing, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani formed a commission under Senior Justice Javed Iqbal to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack. The resulting Abbottabad Commission Report, revealed Pakistani state military and intelligence authorities' "collective failure" !  that enabled bin Laden to hide in Pakistan for nine years.

Now this post is not on the terrorist but on an elephant named Bin Laden, so named after its killing people.   'Laden' the rampaging elephant was caught after a massive operation in India – the elephant that went berserk had stampeded  through villages in Goalpara district.  In a 24 hour period, it reportedly killed 5 people including 3 women and terrified locals named it  after Al-Qaeda terror leader Osama bin Laden.  After the killings,   a massive operation to hunt down the pachyderm was launched.

Wildlife officers tracked the pachyderm - dubbed 'Laden' by the locals it menaced in northeastern Assam state - through a forest for several days using drones and domesticated elephants. The rogue animal killed five people, including three women, during a 24-hour rampage through Goalpara district October.  Officials said they would take the elephant's welfare into account as well as the safety of people living nearby in deciding where it would be relocated.  In the final leg of operations the Forest officials with trained elephants fired tranquiliser darts and later captured it alive.  It was then planned on shifting the giant elephant  to a forest where there is no human habitation nearby.

Wildlife officials and rangers managed to track the beast through the Rongjuli forest before finally capturing it.  Assam forest minister Parimal Shuklabaidya said an eight-person committee including wildlife experts would decide what to do.  Elephants frequently migrate into Goalpara, resulting in high numbers of fatal encounters with humans amid rampant deforestation. Some elephants there have been poisoned or shot by locals, while others have died on electric fences or on railways cutting through migration routes.

After being tranquilised, earlier, it was decided that the jumbo will be freed in the Lumding area, but the decision was withdrawn after the locals protested against it. Recent reports now suggest that the elephant has been renamed ‘Krishna’, will work for the forest department and will be trained by other tamed elephants.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal congratulated MLA Padma Hazarika for capturing the wild elephant that was creating havoc in Goalpara district. The Sootea MLA led the operation to capture the wild tusker with the help of forest officials and his aides.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
15th Nov. 2019.

1 comment:

  1. Hello I enjoy your elephant blogs.I researched why they called him Ladan.The word Ladan means'crop raider'in Assam. The people spray this word across the body of a crop raider. Also, although he was said to have killed people, no bodies were recorded by authorities. The news media said he killed 5 people and 15 and he killed 50 people. Ladan had been chased by vehicle to tire him. His world had come crashing down. Another bull elephant challenged him and his priority was to protect his herd from the intruder. However, this was not to be. A speeding vehicle chased him. He never saw his herd again. He was darted. He collapsed. The men stood on him raising their fists in victory. He had sustained a very deep gash on his hind leg. Some kind elephant welfare people treated his wounds Soon after he was roped and dragged by Kumki elephant to where thousands were watching. He passed out. He was eventually dragged and lifted onto a truck. The straps dug deep into his belly and could internally damage him. They spashed water on his body to cool him. I noticed his ears were not flapping during this time. He would have been over heating. Plus he had been passed out in the sun. Being in musth and having to contend with a challenger who wanted to steal his herd of females. So his attention would have been on protecting what was his and he very likely had not had a drink for some time. Dehydration would have been setting in and his blood would have been thickening. He was barely conscious and unable to move any part of his body. Only his eyes were open just a little. His thirst would have gone unnoticed. I doubt he would have been able to drink at that stage anyway because he was so heavily sedated. It get very sad now. He was taken to the forest dept camp. Where he was unloaded. We don't know how they removed him from the truck. The elephants usually are put into a kraal. Sadly they often starve and deny water to the wild captured ones I strongly suspect the water was over looked in the commotion. I can't remember if it was the next day or the day after that they loaded him again and that he had had a massive heart attack in the process... Lack of water is very often coupled with heart attacks with captive. Perhaps they gave him more sedative and his heart stopped. He was not watched by animal welfare workers. I believe he may have died the first night. The news media turned people into a frenzy and panic. It was also a live show with thousands of people coming to watch. This should be not allowed. I believe the attention went to their heads.The capture was cruel. The people were very incompetent. Sadly that area is the capital of the black market. He was a makna, which is a tuskless bull elephant. So he was not valued however, his bones and skin would have fetched a pretty penny. That sounds dreadful but it is the truth. I feel very sad when I think of him. And I saw a video again recently and I found myself with tears. How they treated him was so very cruel. He was a beautiful elephant caught up in this area where so many lose there lives. I just wanted you to know what I know about him. It was a very big tragedy indeed.

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