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Mumbai is hit again. For the nth time. The metropolis, and the rest of the country goes through the same rigmarole- The panic, the shifting of the dead and injured to the hospitals; the headcount of the toll; the lame, practiced statements from the authorities and politicians; live footage by TV news channels showing gory pictures from all over; speculations about the explosives used and the terror groups involved; we sitting in our drawing rooms surfing through the news channels with a sense of gloom; people sending across text messages in mourning and anger, some updating on social networking sites; and some writers like me writing columns like this one. Sounds familiar? Yes, this scenario could have been the aftermath of any terror attack anywhere in the country, right from 1993 onwards. And I can tell you with utmost confidence the scenario of two days from now- people in Mumbai settling down, returning to their businesses- prompting groups to hail Mumbai as the most ‘resilient city’ (as if there’s a choice); there’s a final death and injured toll; the TV news channels are now interviewing the surviving victims and the families of the dead; the authorities groping in the dark about the people/group involved with random people being rounded up; and rest of us going back to our businesses, forgetting the episode till the next one happens. This sounds familiar too? It does, yes. Because it has repeated itself so many times over. We are a soft country with soft leaders. Everyone in the country knows the source of this mayhem. Such attacks are as much about the loss of lives and property as it is about the loss of self-esteem. Why must we die in installments like this? If we must, then why not die in a real battle? For me, in a situation like this, offense should be the best defense. Just like the US of A does- Hunt and Kill. And if in the process some of our brave men are martyred, so be it. But I think we must put an end to this repeated insults by going all the way with one final assault. We must wage a war against our enemies. No more showing resilience; no more being tolerant. We must take the offensive to the enemy shores. We must. It is time.
Picture courtesy: PTI (aajtak.intoday.com) http://aajtak.intoday.in/photoplay.php/photo/view/1869/2#photo2
11 comments:
a bit too strong, your ending! Taking the offensive to enemy shores and all that..
Remember, on those shores also live people like us, ekeing out a living and praying for peace.
I think we need to cleanse our country and purge the evil out from here and then prevent them from returning again.
This can happen, my friend, only if our policing agencies will it. That can happen only if they are content with what the taxpayers pay them! If they can and need to look elsewhere for monetary reasons, we can never hope to see the end of terror.
Whether we take the offensive to enemy shores or not..
Sudhir
ditto to sudhir. if our policing system upgrades i think we can stop this kind of terrorist attacks even other anti social activities to a large extent. The local level police station is the eyes and ear of the intellegence department for their respective localities. Nothing goes unnoticed by these police starting from the havildar to the station incharge. They are aware of each and every wrong doing going on in their jurisdiction. but we know why they turn a blind eye to these things and in some cases nurture them. You would find few police actually doing what they are supposed to do either at the traffic front, railway stations etc.Their one track mind is busy elsewhere. I have seen police walk away from scenes of accident, quarrel, non-ticket travelling in trains if the situation is not lucrative for them. Ammonium nitrate which is manufactured by few companies in india, gets regularly lost in transit vanishes without trace. The excise and prohibition department has deputed one person of officer grade to stop smuggling of liquor from liquor factories without paying taxes(or should we assume without paying the cut to due authorities). but in case of explosives the govt tries no such things, why because it is not in the interest of some politician. In a corrupt country corruption connot thrive without active abetment by the policing authorities. I can remember the first speech of p chidambaram when he was made home minister in 1st upa govt where he mentioned complete overhaul of the police system but that was it. I have never heard him talk on these topic agian. a complete overhaul is required but for that we require a new political leadership. The rot has gone down so deep that we can not start fron the bottom of the pyramid it has to start at the top . we can only contibute by voting the right candidate overlooking caste, relegion language barrier. We must also fight for a right to reject candidates if we find all of them incapable and the right to recall our voted candidate if he fails to perform.
Dear Sudhir and Mahesh, thanks both of you for your comments. You are both right in saying that we must cleanse our system from within. We have been trying to do that for years, but have not succeeded. Our inaction is being taken as our weakness by our enemy, and he's growing strong by the day. I appreciate USA for what they did to hunt down and kill Osama in Paki heartland.
In India politics are played in each & every event. We are offerring biriyani to Kasab & wasting money of tax payers. Even we cant sanction death in custody where there are many people die in custody inquiry & give cause of death heart attack. See the case study of USA & how they clear issue of Bin Laden.
There can never be a simple solution to a complex problem.The only way forward is to cleanse our personal memories, and collective memories of the past and carry on with development....Taking offence beyond the shores is possible only when a country gives a damn to international opinion. the party which shouts hoarse over the microphones couldn't cross the border when it had the gun in hand... so why all this nonsense ??
First and foremost should come the realization that personal growth is linked to the country's growth, and hence a level of maturity is needed to steer clear of the rhetorics of poiltics... to put them in the proper place, and work in unison. Remember, man by nature is vindictive, and it wont take long for another terrorist to be born if the police happen to manhandle a few innocents this time during "questioning". It is all a matter of perspective, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Any overhauling of the police, beauracracy, professions and ultimately the filth that is politics is possible only if the intent is there and if the maturity is there and every indian works in unison. It is every indian's duty to be law abiding, for a start, and then things will fall in place.
laden became usa's enemy number one only after he lost his usefulness after the soviets were ousted from afghanistan and he became a little more ambitious to usa's liking.
There is no specific target which we can hit inside pakistan and win this war of terror. we would be only playing into the hands of rabid religious bigots and war mongers on both side of borders who feast on innocent blood. This is the time to show our innner strenth that we can unite against all odds. that we can overcome centuries of hatred, mistrusts and mis conception. The day we develop this though of one country one people, no country or any group would have the guts to shed innocent blood on our soil. and also The business of terror would peter out if there is no profit in form of hateful people
Dear Mahesh,
You say waging a war will lead to loss of innocent lives on both sides. Innocent lives. Right. So what have we been losing for the last twenty years? Candies? If you add the number of INNOCENT people dead/injured/disabled due to acts of terror in the last 20 years, the number of casualties would be equal to that of a war. But the fun is that this loss has been only on one side. Why? All talks of Strengthening intelligence and judiciary is ok. Would have a quick hanging of Kasab ensured no further attacks? Quite on the contrary, I'd say. Preventing terror attacks by the way of intelligence inputs and strong policing is not easy.Someone with the idea of clandestine offensive is any day stronger than us. We do not know who he is, where he is. He knows we are everywhere. After 26/11 PC said another attack on Mumbai would not be tolerated. Mumbai is attacked again. And we are tolerating again. period.
@Shiv, well said, I agree with you..
some body truly said on fb today,
dear manmohan singh atleast provide security to fellow citizens which you are providing to kasab!
The only way out is to introduce the "Recall your MP" law. Because only when we the people make our elected representatives accountable and responsible (once they realize that they can be re-called for their inaction and ineptitude)will they become more pro-active and will start asking for accountability of all other agencies under them. Maybe then our police, security agencies, babus etc. will become more efficient.
Thanks for your comment, Orthodoc! Your idea of 'recall the MP' is brilliant but I doubt if our MPs would ever agree to pass such a bill!
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