Terrorism and tragedy

Just read a heart-wrenching story of a Lebanese man who first lost an arm in an Israeli attack a few years ago and then lost both his legs in the recent Israeli attack on Lebanese settlements. The story that was published in our newspaper, The Asian Age, was extremely sad, and the sadder aspect was, such stories only perpetuate the sadness by presenting lopsided views to their readers, and consequently antagonizing more people and turning them into something other than normal, law-abiding citizens.

My heart goes for the man, and for hundreds of other men, women and children who are bearing the brunt of irresponsible war mongering by all the concerned parties. We live in a strange, sadistic world, and it often seems there are some hidden and conspicuous forces that strenuously work towards causing more and more misunderstanding, for instance, the extremely biased analysis that is published day in and day out in the mainstream “secular” media.

Terror, whether state-sponsored (Gujarat riots, 1984 Sikh riots, the massacre of Muslims in Bosnia, or the Israeli discretions) or militia-sponsored (different lashkars, the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, or the LTTE) mostly hurts the common people. It’s our fundamental duty, and responsibility to speak against terror, and in no way, in no way we should try to reason it out, or empathise with it (your terrorist, their freedom fighters kind of shit), or equate it with some sort of “struggle for just and equality”. This is what such articles do. In our newspaper, they constantly blame Israel for all the Middle-East mess. Of course Israel is not a country of angels but is it fair to shift the entire onus of destruction on it? Are the Palestinians and Lebanese or other such countries always the victims of Israel’s ruthless pursuits? I staunchly disagree.

I think some way or the other all these countries are responsible for human and other destruction. Why did Lebanon let Hezbollah, a known terrorist organization nurturing political dreams, settle in its territory in the first place? Just see the stupidity: Hezbollah is fighting for Iran from Lebanon. Even if it was not able to chase the militia away, why didn’t it seek the international help, something they are doing now in the wake of massive attacks from Israel? Are human rights only violated when you are attacked?

Scores of people are killed and maimed for life when terrorists strike. Recently I saw on TV a man who lost both his arms, his hearing and his vision in the recent Mumbai blasts. Can the world be more dismal for anybody? Explain to him the terrorist’s side and if he can help it he would like to show you his two middle fingers that he no longer has. Where are the heart-wrenching stories? Even when the “suspected” terrorists are criticized, they are criticized more for formality then for actually meaning it. Similarly, I never read stories of Israeli men and women who get mutilated during jehadi attacks, at least not in the “secular” media.

Terrorism, whether in the Middle-East or anywhere else, can only be curtailed if we clear the cobwebs of pretentious obfuscation and express views fairly for once. Israel shouldn’t be attacking the way it is attacking, but then it shouldn’t be pushed to the brink as it is always being pushed by the terrorists and their supporters. Things should be analyzed fairly. I also agree that the West, especially America, shouldn’t mollycoddle Israel (but by some diabolical logic America mollycoddles Pakistan too) the way it does. Similarly, India should come down heavily on terrorists whether they are on our soil or on some nasty neighbor’s side. This should be accompanied with fair trials for people who say they’ve been treated unjustly by the administration, or by this or that majority community. By being unfair — for instance, not punishing Modi — we only create the breeding ground for terrorists because I remember I wanted to be one after the 1984 Sikh riots. There should also be a white paper on terrorism that clearly defines what’s terrorism. I have no confusion regarding that but I come across many people who are still in the process of figuring out what actually terrorism means. Once we define it with consensus, the chapter (of defining etc.) should be closed forever and we should move ahead.

The solution is very simple and straight forward; it’s just that either we don’t have the required will, or there are too many evil people trying to maintain a status quo for terrorists and their organizations.