Sep 20, 2001 06:08 PM
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What has happened in America is a grievous crime against humanity. The perpetrators are insane in a kind of way. There is no reason in the world that can justify what has happened. The immediate reaction is shock, anger, loathing, resentment.
Having said all that, I must also affirm that killing or harming other innocent people is not going to be the solution. It will only add a new dimension to the problem. President Bush is talking WAR. Against who? The Afghans? Should the innocent people of Afghanistan suffer because of some madmen operating from their soil? Aren’t they victims themselves? I hear that people of Arab descent are under attack in America. In fact I’m just reading that Sikhs are under attack in New York although they have nothing to do with bin Laden, in the mistaken belief that they are religiously linked with him. This misunderstanding is caused by the fact that they wear turbans and are bearded.
It is rather harsh to say that any good can come out of a tragedy of this sort but there are lessons to be learnt by governments across the globe. There can be no better tribute to the innocents who have died than to learn these lessons and act accordingly. The first lesson is that a committed terrorist can bring a super power down to its knees. Security is important but to secure anything from people with this level of commitment goes beyond traditional security measures. Intelligence seems to be the only viable option.
The second and more important lesson is to eschew state sponsorship of terrorism no matter what. It is rightly said – One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. You sponsor terrorists in the guise of freedom fighters and you will pay for it sooner rather than later. Unfortunately the stupid decisions are taken by politically motivated, short sighted buffoons while the innocent pay for it. America at one time aided and abetted the Taliban fighters when they were fighting the Soviets. Before that the Americans had already had a bitter lesson in Iran but apparently didn’t learn anything from it. These terrorists are unpredictable and consequently extremely dangerous to deal with, whether as friend or foe. Our own politicians have made the same mistake once upon a time. It is widely believed that Indira Gandhi covertly supported the Sikh separatist movement when it was in its infancy as she wanted her Congress party to rule Punjab. Later this movement grew to unimaginable size and went well beyond her control, finally costing her her life. Admittedly this was an internal matter for our country but the principle is the same.
An old Chinese proverb which I just made up says, “The starving dog will turn around and bite his master.”
Lastly, it is time the world community made common issue of terrorism. It is important to recognize terrorism for what it is irrespective of whether you support or oppose the underlying ideology. Our beloved India has been under attack from terrorists sponsored by neighbouring regimes and launched from their soil for over 20 years now. We have been crying ourselves hoarse that these states be declared terrorist for sponsoring terrorism. The US administration has constantly stonewalled these efforts. Now the same set of people seem to have struck at the heart of America. It is well known to intelligence agencies throughout the world that the problem in Kashmir is the handiwork of the Taliban and the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI – the Pakistani secret service) The serial bomb blasts in Bombay in March 1993 were organised by the same caucus.
People of the world unite in this moment of grief and make sure you don’t forget it after a few days. The outrage at what has happened is one thing that can help unite us in this war against terrorism. Make no mistake – there will continue to be insane people of all races, religion or cultures out there. We can’t stop that. What we can and should do is to stand together in identifying and eliminating the threats they cause.
America! We are with you. Together we can make a difference.
