Thursday, July 31, 2008

TERROR AT THE DOOR

" Trouble creates a capacity to handle it." --Oliver Wendell Holmes
Try telling this to the people of the country .As per news reports, 64,000 people have been killed in the country during the past 20 years , due to terrorist violence . And these are government statistics , the reliability of which need no elaboration . Sample the response from our system , "The people of Gujarat need to be commended for the patience shown ", so said the Prime Minister after the recent blasts in Ahmadabad. The story of patience , resilience, life getting back to normal the day after the blast (any city in the country) , has been flogged to death by the politicians and the media alike .The morning after any blast , the television channels are full of reporters standing with a busy street in the background, waxing eloquent about the 'spirit' of the people , the capacity to face adversity ,so on and so forth .It appears as if staying back at home will get him his bread and butter, and is any place safe in the country anymore?
26 bombs have been discovered in Surat during the past three days , from places like the back of hoardings , in front of a police station , stolen cars. Fortunately all were discovered and defused before they could explode . Coming in the backdrop of the explosions in Bangalore and Ahmadabad , the entire country is on an edge . However , it appears that the bombs in Surat were not meant to explode ,but to throw a red herring across the trail .Call me a cynic , but I have an eerie feeling that these terrorists have some other target in mind and this is just to throw the security agencies onto another trail .
The Police commissioner of Surat has admitted that bombs in such large numbers could not have been planted without local connivance.
Well Mr. Commissioner , it does not take an Einstein to decipher this , for whatever we might say about Pakistani involvement in terrorism in the country , the fact remains that the end users of the product supplied by Pakistan remain our citizens . Terrorism has never survived , and can never survive without local support . But the problem is that whether we can admit so through our
'secular' blinkers.Remember Sohrabuddin , the one who was eliminated by Gujarat police in an 'encounter' .The concerned police officer is in Jail , because apparently the encounter was a fake one , and the liberals ( we all know them) took umbrage .
Admittedly fake encounters remain a curse and should not be condoned .But is our legal system not to blame for this ? Afzal Guru , has been sentenced to death in the Parliament attack case , but is still far away from the gallows, for reasons best known to the Government. Geelani , the mastermind behind the attack was let off on the ground of 'lack of evidence' , and is today a noted liberal. However none of the liberals defending Sohrabuddin have been able to convincingly reply to the charge regarding his involvement in anti national activities .
As Col. Saito in the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai, said," Do not speak to me of rules . This is war ! This is not a game of Cricket."
Speaking of local involvement , an interesting incident needs to be narrated .
A few days back , a team of Rajasthan police arrested a local maulavi , who was also a teacher in a madarasa , in Varanasi, for his alleged involvement in the Jaipur blasts.The maulavi had apparently visited Jaipur a number of times in the past few months and had stayed there under various fake identities. The Rajasthan police team left Varanasi via road . The news of this arrest spread like wild fire , for this man belonged to very rich family who trade in Banarasi sarees. Hundreds of people belonging to his community congregated on the streets of Varanasi , and the entire city was brought to a halt ,due to their dharnas .All the main roads were barred for commuters. They were demanding the immediate release of this maulavi. The city administration reacted in the only way our bureaucrats can. First they looked on silently , and then the Rajasthan police team was forced to come back from Kanpur ( which is 6,7 hours away by train route) for a joint interrogation .Next day , the interrogation was carried out , with thousands of people of a particular community surrounding the building . The Maulavi was then released , apparently on the pledge of assisting the investigation .

Osama bin Laden should stop hiding in some God forsaken place . We welcome him to Indian hospitality ,no arrests guaranteed .
Let us see what the Surat police commissioner can do about this 'local support'.
The Home Minister and his deputy have again called for a Federal Investigating Agency, to combat this menace , as they have done after every such incident in the past .The progress made in this regard !!! Ask the home Minister , please.......
India which is the worst sufferer of terrorism, deals with terrorist activities with normal crime prevention laws , whereas countries which are half as affected as India have special terror prevention laws . U.S.A has incidentally not faced any terror attacks after 9/11.
India is facing an extremely sophisticated form of 'Urban Terrorism'. 'Dar ul harb(land of infidels) has to be converted into 'Dar ul Islam'(land of the believer).
In case of any doubt , the reader may get the facts straight from any Islamic website. The thought is not restricted to a select few , as was believed earlier , as can be seen from the rise in such nefarious acts . The terrorists are probing away at the country's defences, and believe me, they have faith in the nation's frailty.
The leaders are not bothered , after all , half the security forces have been assigned to protect them , and anyway the 'vote bank' needs to be placated . Isn't it fun to commend somebody who has lost a dear one for his patience and resilience , from behind a security shield of hundreds of commandos.The hypocricy is nauseating.
The Aam Aadmi has to get out of the mentality of lighting candles for peace , every time such incidents take place . Candles have to be replaced by torches ,torches which motivate , which energise and which drive away the darkness through its flame .The Maulavis of Varanasi and the Geelanis cannot be allowed to roam scot free, creating divisiveness in the society. The liberal muslims have to come forward and the black sheep identified .No longer can we keep on denying the involvement of local populace in terror related acts in the country.The house has to be set in order.

"The trouble with trouble is this , if you don't deal with your troubles and deal with them right away, troubles tend to multiply."---Greg Hickman