When a city gets bombed..
What is common between Srinagar, New York, New Delhi, Mumbai, London? All these cities have been bombed or attacked by terrorists at some or the other point of time. Now, whats uncommon between these places? The response given by their government after these attacks. A few days after the 9/11 attack, the US attacked Afganistan and almost rooted Taliban out of that country. Within 7 minutes of the bombings at London, the entire city was taken over by their armed forces and one year post that, there has been no let up in the security measures.
Now we come to the cities which were attacked in India. What was the immediate and long term response post all these attacks? Each political party came up with inane statements. Some parties went to the extent of defending islamic forces behind that in order to keep their vote bank safe, some other blamed some unknown foreign forces, opposition blamed the ruling party and the ruling party blamed Pakistan and gave them a really stren warning without taking any stern action. After all, we have offered them our friendship and we just cant afford to offend a friend who for years has back stabbed us by sponsoring terrorists and sending them over to our country to kill innocent people.
And the long term effect is that everybody has forgotten about it and moved on. Our government may remember the Parliament attack but they wouldnt want to remember the 1993 blasts in Mumbai or the blasts, which happened in Delhi last year or the everyday killings in Kashmir. Even the recent Mumbai blasts will be forgotten soon. Thats because it didnt involve a politician or a big guy. It resulted in common, middle or lower class people dying.
I guess, in a country where more than 1 billion people live, a mere 200-250 deaths dont mean much. We sit here and condemn US policies but fail to realise that in the US or Europe, or for that matter a lot of Asian countries, life of a common man is valued. They may react really strongly at times but all of that happens in the best interest of their people. Every small or big attack is taken seriously and action is taken to try and ensure that such an incident doesnt happen again.
Then, what is it about Indians that makes us behave like such nice guys, who at the most will warn and then sit back and relax till the next attack happens? Why cant we take a stern action which will give the right kind of message to all terrorist outfits that we cant be taken so lightly and that we are capable enough to handle any god damn force? Have we become immune to iy? Or is their a political game in all of this, which makes us easy targets? Since no party wants to stand up and make the first move as it may effect their political scenario or is it too much of an effort for them to make especially when they are so used to leading a comfortable life.
It angers me when terrorists kill innocent people. Whether in India or anywhere else. But what angers me even more is the way my government reacts to such a ghastly act. I may salute the spirit of mumbai but I feel so disappointed to be a part of a government, which just doesnt give a damn...
At the risk of sounding 'holier than thou', the answer to a terrorist act is not a bigger terrorist act.
The best answer I can think of is to carry on our lives, the same as before.
It means I don't give a fuck what you do to me. I am not terrorised.
Posted by
Anonymous |
2:29 AM
"carry on our lives, the same as before.". that one statement summarizes the response of all of us Indians I think.
its not that we arent upset/angry/frustrated about these incidents, but what choice do we have? we dont know how to improve the situation. the politicians are useless, the police is corrupt, our lives are too busy...so lets just "carry on our lives, the same as before."
'idly thinking' right now about how deep set our lets move on with our life syndrome and why? what would i have done differently if the love of my life had died in the blast? definitely violence is not the answer. but as 1 individual in a billion people, what in the world would i have done differently about this move on with our life syndrome? what choices would i have had? i refuse to believe there are no choices. there always are. what would have been my choice? why?
Posted by
Musings on India |
6:12 AM
Its easy to say lets move on because none of this has happened to us? Lets ask those mothers, brothers, fathers, friends, who lost their loved ones in one of these terrible incidents. Have they been able to move on? In one way, life doesnt give you too much time to recover from such a huge loss but that doesnt mean, we sit back and let all of this happen.
We need to have a government, who can stand up for its people and fight for their safety. Violence may not be the answer but I am sure there are various means and ways,we can fight this menace.
It has to start somewhere...
So
Posted by
Ruch |
8:59 AM
There is a simple rule which applies to everything in life..."when in rome, do as the romans do"...terrorists understand only 1 language…terror…and its about time India started speaking this language…hit the terrorist schools…
Stern warnings are not enough, action has to be taken. Bush says, Israel has the right to defend itself, then what about India. We have the right to just mull over and wait for the next episode to happen, and then shed some more tears, write some more blogs about the sheer impotency of the government.
The worst part is that in India all these attacks form the basis of anti communal riots....innocent Muslims will be targeted, the entire community will be ostracized because of some misguided individuals...fanatics are in every religion...but the innocent people bear the brunt of it…
India has to pick up the gauntlet and hit back at the terror schools, a message needs to be sent to the terrorists…don’t mistake India’s patience for weakness!! I am not for war but just propagating, the right of every country to defend its citizens and that the time for words has long gone…
What is now needed is for someone in the government to bell the cat…
Posted by
KBR |
11:22 PM
Something that we from the lower rung of the political ladder - the common man (read The Jackasses) need to do... Join The Politics... CHange It.. Is there any young blood in the politics that has Idealism. In earlier age people had a common Goal.. Freedom. Now the common goal of politicians have changed... loootooo.. jitna ho sakta hai 5 saal mein... aam aadmi gaya bhaad mein... To change the system you have to be a part of the system... Who has the courage to do that? I believe no one with the right mind!
Posted by
Achuth Nair |
9:33 AM