I am not sure what infuriates me more - death of humanity or my obvious incapability to get over it or to change the course of events that led to it. A time where being innocent is not enough, where being apolitical doesn't confer immunity, where fate of one's life is being written by the hands of another life, where the GOD plays the pivotal role, but yet fails to be the arbiter, a time where insanity hijacks the entire humanity. Monothiests or polythiests or athiests, we are all in danger, a collective danger. High end tech weapons, an organised group of radicalised brains and a fanatical media coverage - it is not a story anymore that we used to hear to be happening in a distant land- it is for real, happening at our own home. We are in an unprecendented danger both physically and psychologically.
Like thousand others I was angry, in disbelief, in excruciating shock. I shouted, I demanded..Govt, attack POK (atleast), we ought to give a fitting reply. I am happy that nothing that sort has developed, happy that cold heads have prevailed over our surfacial instant reactions and emotions. Not only that, no religious backlash has broken out in our homeland. Somehow strange and costly way, we are realizing that beyond nationality and religions, we are victims to the same cruelty, hatred and jingoism.
No doubt what happened in Mumbai was tragic, barbaric. However, what might unfurl thereafter could(can) be far worse. Here are my after after thoughts of the heineious attack.
1. does ISLAM really have a fundamental flaw? I think, the answer is Yes. But again so are the other religions( for example, in Hinduism, the ubiquotous caste system- no two persons belonging to two different castes enjoy equal social position- neither their children will enjoy in future, no matter how pious or faithful the lower caste lineage proves from generation to generation, on principle, on tenets they will never get up-casted.) In ISLAM, church and state are integrated. This got endorsed in large as the entire earlier expansion of ISLAM was through military conquests of another state. Now lets see what it means in modern time. In 21st century, what it(the church and state integration) means is a monothiest religion and theocratic state which is quite opposite to a secular state. Now any transition attempt to a secular state is daunting, an entrenched system of parochial doctrines has to be plucked off. This is the challenge almost all Islamic countries in general and Pakistan in particular, are facing in a modern world.
2. Pakistan - raison d'être was the religion. Unfortunately, democracy has never got a true chance to grow, thanks to the fundamentalists and the complicity of the military power. I think, it is worse now than it started with. Indeed, it has got all the required elements for disintegration in place by now. Neither the world nor India can let it happen. Pakistan needs to fix the things right. An external force can't impose/exert secular democracy. War is definitely not the answer then. What Pakistan needs are co-operation and assistance.
3. A report on Newyork times (also reported by ndtv) suggests that the psychological impact on children originating to the disturbing images of the Mumbai attack will be long lasting. Their adult attitude and psyche development will likely to be shaped based on this traumatic experience. If one such siege or attack can have such a devastating impact, one can only imagine the psychological damage a full scale war between two nuclear capable countries can yield. Ok, we(my generation) may be ready to die. But I certainly want to say and assure a child that being born is a gift, being human is fortune. We certainly don't want to wipe out an entire civilization and its hope in the process.
4. India- How can we leave our coastal line unsecured? Indeed, the route that intelligence agencies feel was taken by the fishing boat hijacked by the terrorists — from Porbandar in India’s Gujarat State, then north to Karachi in Pakistan, and then south to Mumbai — follows centuries-old Indian Ocean trade routes.
And we left it unguarded!!! Does this explain why we witness one after another attacks, while there is no single attack on Britain soil after 2005,July attack? Every Indian has his/her own part to play. We can't postpone it anymore. If we fail to do so, a hundred victories in war can't provide us safety.
5. We have fought three wars already. Definitely our woes haven't ceased to exist.
I am not a pacifist. I do want the perpetrators to be punished. But I don't see war as a solution to achive this.
