Author: B Shantanu
Publication: IndiaCause.com
Date: July 18, 2006
URL: http://www.indiacause.com/columns/OL_060718.htm
"Kuch nahin kar sakte - yeh to hota
hi rahega" - I have been hearing this in various conversations all around
me for the last two days.
On Rediff, Nitin Chhoda wrote: "You want
to help, but the only thing you can do is make a few phone calls. You want
to feel sad, but you are too far away…In essence, you feel helpless."
I disagree.
Everyone, in India - and outside - can make
a difference. We can do a lot more than feel sad and make a few phone calls.
For a change, we can feel angry. Back in March '06, after the blasts in Varanasi,
still smarting from the blow and the rage within, I wrote: "If the whole
incident was not so tragic, it would be surreal".
Maddeningly, the sequence of blasts, appeals
for calm, investigations, nabbing of suspected Pakistani terrorists followed
by collective amnesia seems to be playing out again.
The so-called "international community",
the western countries, the global powers that be, of course don't care - beyond
mouthing platitudes of condemnation and sympathies, there is little they will
do - and why should we expect otherwise? No one knows (or cares) that over
the years, we have suffered more from terrorism than any other country except
Iraq.[i]
Bomb blasts in London are a "terrorist
outrage", an attack on western values, an attack on freedom and democracy.
In India, bomb blasts are a way of life - besides, what are a few hundred
people in a country of billion?
Not surprisingly the unfortunate victims of
Varanasi, Delhi, Mumbai are never counted or mentioned amongst the "innocents"
killed in New York, Bali, London or Madrid. And besides, aren't these people
killed because we are holding on to Kashmir against Pakistan's will? Ignorance
rules the discussions - and takes cover under indifference when facts begin
to get inconvenient.
So what can we do - other than to pray and
feel helpless?
I wish I knew the answer. But honestly I do
not. In my search for answers, I trawled the discussion forums on Bharat-Rakshak.
Huge amount of activity as you can expect - I came back with more questions
than answers. But one comment forced me to think.
In a sobering post, Raja Ram laid out what
needs to happen for this to stop:
But beyond all this, there will be a need
for GOI to get international pressure on the perpetrators and that does not
mean the usual parading of painstakingly gathered evidence to foreign diplomats
in camera. The GOI has to present the evidence gathered publicly, set forth
a clear demand for actions from governments or agencies of governments that
may be involved with a clear time frame. This should be backed up with a clear
promise of retributive action against the perpetrators with or without their
support. International support for such should be channelised and developed.
This calls for political will. So far no administration in India has had the
gumption to go through this.
Hence hope for retribution is not high at
this point in time….Unless the entire spectrum of Indian public opinion
comes around to clearly calling the spade a bloody shovel and stop pussy footing
around, there is very little the GOI can do in terms of retribution.
But this "can happen only when the political
class has the clarity of mind about dealing with terror in that manner. There
are consequences to such actions that we must be ready to face. The political
class, mind you is a creature of the people. The people should not only be
ready to back them but demand such action from the political class and only
then will they respond.
Till that happens, concerned Indians can pull
their hair and whack their heads - not much is going to come out of it. India
will just have to take it in her stride yet again and fight on alone. There
is no support for India in her war on terror. What is available is only meaningless
platitudes. Sad but that is the bitter truth."
In November last year, after the Diwali blasts,
Swapan Dasgupta wrote in "The Pioneer" ("What cross-border
terrorism? Let's celebrate survival"): "The "soft state"
is not merely a helpless Prime Minister, an inept Home Minister and a compromised
External Affairs Minister. It is a mindset of squeamish appeasement guaranteed
to ensure the victims of last Saturday's massacre won't be the last…"
I read this and asked myself - where is our
"Lakshman Rekha"? Where is our Red line?
As Rudradev mentioned in his comment on Bharat-rakshak,
Once upon a time I thought that a direct terrorist attack aimed at the highest
echelons of the political class itself, might be such a redline. But the parliament
attack, and Parakram thereafter, put paid to that notion."
We worry about taking "strong action"
- any action…why? Because it may ruin our dreams - our dreams of becoming
the world's second biggest economy by 2050, the dreams of 10% economic growth,
the dreams of 300million middle class, the dreams of an IT superpower…
Rarely do we pause and think what happens
to those dreams when 200 people get killed just because they were in the wrong
place at the wrong time?
But these things should not distract us -
let us focus on getting an Indian as the Secretary General - we may not have
a permanent seat but at least we have secretary general[ii]!
As I was mulling over these thoughts, in what
appears to be a divinely orchestrated irony, I came across a photograph of
a beaming Shyam Saran, India's Foreign Secretary offering Pakistan a cheque
for $25m on 11th July even as bombs were being planted in Mumbai.
This was for the victims of the October earthquake
in J&K and Pakistan - the same earthquake which offered terror outfits
from LeT to Jamaat ul Dawa an opportunity to re-group, take in aid and re-build
their cadres - all the while earning a huge amount of goodwill for doing what
the government was incapable of doing - which is helping the aid victims.
See, "A Tragedy that will Continue to Claim Lives"
But what about the establishment? Did it not
feel anything? Anger? Sadness?
So I turned to the Government of India. But
all I got was a "cut-and-paste"
"I urge each of you to remain calm…We
will win this war against terror…"
The words sounded familiar - and sure enough
they were. Back in March '06, after the Varanasi blasts, the PM's media advisor
Sanjaya Baru reported that the PM had appealed for maintaining peace and calm
- let each one of us get these words engraved and put them up on a plaque
in our homes and offices - it will save everyone the trouble of repeating
them every few months.
What about Pakistan? As expected, we got the
standard statement of condemnation. As Ujjal noted in his post on Bharat-Rakshak,
"seems like it was written weeks in advance"
So did no one felt any anger? What does it
take to do something?
On the Bharat-Rakshak discussion forum, Sbajwa
acidly wrote in his post:
"From Amarnath to Coimbture, Bombay to
Delhi, Kashmir to Hyderabad/Banglore, Calcutta to Ahmadabad.., Terrorists
have run out of targets..
They have attacked Red Fort, wives and children of Army personnel, Parliament,
Stock Exchange, Educational institutes and professors, Amarnat/Ayodhya/Sankat
mochan/etc temples, bombs in buses/trains/streets.
What is left? I guess they will have to start exploding bombs atop Himalaya
or Ganga to get Indians to wake up and do something." Indeed.
Then, incredulously, I learnt that just days
before the blasts, the UP government had asked the Centre to revoke the ban
on SIMI. Did someone say they were involved in the Mumbai blasts?
- Arey Yaar, Yeh to hota hi rahta hai…
