May 13, July 25, July 26, September 14. All in 2008. Sounds familiar? Well these are the dates of major bomb blasts in our country in this year. I won't put the number of people killed and injured or the amount of damage done. Because whether it is one bomb or a serial blast, low-intensity or high-intensity it does not matter. Even if one person has lost her life or limb it is the same. It is an act of terror. With the sole aim of taking some innocent lives and creating panic. I don't know what kind of political or ideological point is scored by blowing up common men on road. I doubt if it really serves ant purpose whatsoever. India has lots of common people to spare, 110 crore of them. So we are pretty much used to it. We see the news for 20 minutes, murmur some curse words and switch to our daily dose of reality shows and bollywood item numbers. Sleep. Go to office. Exchange our views about the state of nation.
"8 blasts... can you believe? These scoundrels should be hanged from the lamp posts".
"Yeah man... psychopaths..."
"By the way, how's the market today..."
"300 plus... Good na? Did you see Chelsea versus City"
...
...
Yeah that's how it is. We have become immune. There are much more pressing matters for our politicians to discuss. Should forest land be given to Amarnath Yatra Committee or Jaya Bachchan should speak Marathi in promotional events... you know. Important topics...
Back to square one, aren’t we? Same scenario, same arguments and same results. Even the word déjà vu sounds familiar… A few hours back “We The People” was going on NDTV, with Arun Jaitly and Abhishek Singhvi in guest’s chairs. I was curious to see the blame-game and what argument they place. And just as expected BJP has found their argument in anti-terror laws like POTA/TADA which Cong opposes and Cong is harping about a Federal Anti-Terror agency which is not possible because of opposition from BJP-ruled govts (according to Singvi). Same story as we know...
I don’t have much knowledge about Indian penal code and exactly how much power is given to a law will make it a fascist law, prone for misuse. I think the line is blurred as always. But don’t we know all anti-crime laws can be misused this way or that way? Aren’t we aware that law-enforcing agencies can and sometimes do misuse their powers, be it the Army (technically not a law enforcing agency) or the Police? Does that mean we won’t have those agencies/forces or we won’t have stringent laws to tackle crimes? In an ideal world we don’t need an Army, but we know the world we live in is not ideal. I think we need a complete overhaul with the security agencies beginning with an Central Anti-Terror agency. From Kargil to Parliament attack to these blasts we can see our intelligence capability is non-existent or ineffective at best. The time has come where the need of a strong body with strong laws outweighs the danger of potential misuse. It’s just not worth to sit back and argue about pros and cons. How much blood can we shed? Till when?
Do we realize these people who are doing this ghastly acts are not even bothered. They are doing it at will. When they want, where they want. Sending emails before the countdown to proclaim their superiority over the nation and its administration. It is like people bully the weak kid in school just to show that they can. No political or economic gain. Just to throw stone and laugh. This is where we are now. All we can do is watch in horror. Shake our head in disbelief. Sigh and get on with our lives. And pray tomorrow it's not me or someone I know. I am thankful to Christopher Nolan for how he showed Joker in the latest Batman film. I mentioned about this in a previous post and say it again here. Global terrorism and its projection as we are seeing in India does not need any reason, any justification. There can not be any rationalization. Only a psychologically demented person can do this and take pride in it. Words are not enough to condemn this and words mean nothing. We need some action. Some tough decisions. Soon. It is already late.
Having said so much, I’m pretty much sure we will not see any action. None. Blame-game? Yes. Endless debate? Yes. One more blast in Hyderabad/Kolkata/Pune/Lucknow? Very much possible. Another post in blog from where I can copy-paste from this post… Did anyone say 'déjà vu' ?
P.S: Most of this post is cross-posted from the comment I made in Greatbong's blog. After putting my comment I could not resist to share my rant in my blog.
P.P.S: See this not-so-old post from Greatbong (again) to witness the sad and comical aspects of this continuing tragedy.
Monday, September 15, 2008
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I could not fathom how people indulge into this kind of heinous act, What kind of ideology they are adhered to.I do not know whether sound of bomb blast can shake up our snoring Govt.
ReplyDeleteWhy psychopaths do what they do is not possible to imagine by people like us... Only think we can and must do is stop them from doing it. Hope security will become a national and election issue this this time. Sad fact is there is not much hope with both side of the political spectrum...
ReplyDeleteThe answer to this is zero tolerance towards such acts. Just go the Bush way. Wage a war & destroy them once & for all.I know it isnt easy to put an end to it at one go, but we can definitely reduce the speed of their growth & decrease the frequency of their attacks & last but most important, hamper their determination & spirit. First destroy their home ground, from where such people breed to convert humans into illogical fanatics. Set examples. They certainly do not belong to mankind,to deserve least bit of mercy. No cases, no trails, no court room sessions & no pending dates.Just bring them down. Demonstrate on national televsion, the punishment to people/organisations/groups/countries who plan, support, fund & involve in such acts.
ReplyDeleteYeah you may have protests from human activists across the world, but I only see them helping the victims of terror attacks, but in the first place we shouldnt allow such incidents to happen & thats what we will be doing by waging a war " Against Terror".
Hi Mahesh... Thanks for putting your comments here...
ReplyDeleteYes. We need to wage a war on terror. Now. Be it the Bush way or any damn way, we can't be a sitting duck any more. I was hoping for at least a strong statement from our political establishment. None. The usual "we-are-doing-our-best" and "investigation-is-on-the-way". That's all. Isn't it sad we still don't have a national policy on terrorism. We don't have any guideline what to do in case of hostage situations. Terrorists are getting smarter. They're getting more decentralized, getting adept at modern technology and we are hoping rag-pickers will tip us when the next bomb is planted. half the CCTVs mounted in Delhi was not working. neat result? No definite clue yet...
As that Supreme Court judge said recently
"Even God can't save this country"...