Has anyone been counting the number of terrorist blasts that shocked the nation in the last year or so?
Mumbai has always been the favorite target.. and the softest. The sheer quantum of commuting population makes it easy for the terror spreading extremists to play their deadly blood shedding games.. Delhi has the advantage of steep security owing to its high risk buearocrats. The North East ripples with violence on a regular basis but unfortunately doesn't get the coverage reserved for Kashmir...Bangalore wasnt spared but has been relatively safe from any large scale attacks so far. But Hyderabad was less fortunate... terror struck twice with apparent ease. Ajmer followed suit and now Ludhiana.
Extremists are striking at will at locations that fancies them without any resistance. Can you imagine this happening in the US or UK and not have serious repercussions across the world? If you look at the attacks in Kashmir and the rest of the country cummulatively, doesnt it feel akin to a full blown terror campaign? Are there any statistics on terror related attacks? The figures might startle us...
Does anyone realise that this country is at war? An insidious seceret deadly war striking at the very heart... threatening to rob the peace and integrity of this country? Are we truly a free nation when the common man steps out of the house not knowing whether he will be able to return safely? The attacks happened in our very own country not some distant unknown city across the globe. People who died are our fellow Indians. And they could have been you or me or some body close to us. Yet we just blinked our eyes a few times and switched the news channel...
The government has been analysing the blasts and fingers have been pointed. The wheels of diplomatic slandering are set in motion. "The law takes its own time" they placate us.. and at the end of it all the victims wait indefinitely for justice. Sometimes for years. Children wait for a safe world without the fear of being orphaned or maimed. While the rest of us are just too busy with our daily life celebrating the rising stocks indices... securing our lives and those of our kith and kin, unaware of the Damocle's sword that hangs precariously. All is well as long as we have our necks buried in sand so the enemy that we don't see doesn't exist.... until the day our neck is on line. It doesnt matter as long as we are not affected. To quote Phil Collins,"Its just another day for you and me in paradise". The victims, innocent and unwary, in a moment lost their lives. The mourners they leave behind are scarred for life. Some lost their only offspring to the havoc... others lost the sole earning member of the family... some had gone out to enjoy the evening with their family members not knowing that it was to be the last time... others had gone to pray at a tomb of a saint who preached peace and non violence. And life goes on for the rest of us.
What can we do about it other than express our anguish? Yes the government at the centre and the state need to beef up security and meet the threat head on... Terrorism is the bane of our times and needs special treatment. It won't just fade away. Terrorism is like a fire and a fire needs three components to cause damage... heat, oxygen and fuel. Cut off any or all of these and you can extinguish the fire... The extremists are the fuel. The hatred is the heat and oxygen is the money that sponsors terrorism. The government needs to tighten our borders so the extremists find it difficult to enter our country. But fighting the war of terror cannot be only the governements concern. We also need to chip in. We need to motivate our youth so they don't fall into the trap of extremism. Religious intolerence is the mother of exrtemism. Lets cut off the heat by erasing the communal hatred from our hearts and learn to love one another. Remember, when terror strikes it doesn't see ure caste or religion. Its a war against humanity. And did you know that one of the biggest channels of raising money for sponsoring extremists is through pirtated CDs and drugs? If the buying stopped it would definitely have an impact.
And above all let each one of us be responsible for our protection by becoming more cautious of our surroundings.. If you are in a crowded place it might not be such a foolish idea to look under your seats or in dark alleys for any mysterious unclaimed bag... Your action could save your life and those around you.
When our country fell prey to the Colonial exremists the common people stood up against them united and demanded their birthright... to breathe the air in a free nation.. to live in a country thats govererned by the people.
I t s p e r h a p s n o w t i m e f o r a n o t h e r r e v o l u t i o n .