Mumbai: A Kaleidoscope of Hues Against a Strife Torn Canvas

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What kind of a mind would willingly turn its body into a grave? What kind of a twisted but exalted motivation is at work in a suicide mission, where marksmen and target both are annihilated to charred shreds. Some call them Satan’s agents, others, martyrs!

It is the world of guns, light in the heart of darkness …

To quote Othello’s tortured lines as he stands above the beautiful Desdemona to strangle her for perceived infidelity; “It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.”

Ajmal Amir Kasib must surely think that when he states that “I was right and I have no regrets.”

In an interview with The New Yorker, Secretary of State of the United States of America said, “I think September 11 was one of those great earthquakes that clarify and sharpen. Events are in much sharper relief.”

For those interested in keeping the Earth intact in its present shape so that we might one day live on it peacefully, the attacks of November 26th in Mumbai (India’s very own 9/11) provide no such “opportunities”. They do not “clarify” or “sharpen” but muddy and bloody already murky waters.

Collateral damage always has a human face, its relatives grieve; its communities have memories and demand action. These basic human precepts’ are the principal casualties of fundamentalism.

We can be cynical unto eternity. We can toothcomb the statistics, scowl over the double counting, curl a lip at florid rhetoric. But we cannot and simply must not forget to achieve a means to end this senseless destruction of innocent lives, livelihoods, property and most importantly spirit.

To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson “For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom of spirit fails.”

As the identities of the missing emerge, we move from a statistical body count to the tragedy of human loss- brothers, mothers, lovers and daughters cruelly shot at or blown away.  The space to mourn these losses must be respected. The demand that we abandon rational thought, contextual analysis & critical appraisal of why this happened and what can we do to limit the chances that it will happen again, should not. To explain is not to excuse, to criticise is not to capitulate.

India as a nation has been ravaged by terror time and again. Be it in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, the north-east, the naxalites or perhaps individually in Akshardham in Gujarat or Ayodhya in U.P., in the Malegaon blasts or more visibly in the Parliament in New Delhi, in the bombs in Mumbai locals, in market places time and again in New Delhi as well as numerous incidents over time in various places and now Mumbai, November 26th, 2008. I even shudder to comprehend a true listing of all the events.

The Big question now what? How do we handle this predicament?

The time for florid rhetoric is now over. Public reaction panned universally is very clear in it’s intent that political posturing will not be tolerated one bit, be it the sheer absurdity of Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil stating, “bade sheron mein aisi chotti batein hoti rehti hain (in the big cities small incidents like this keep happening)”, is simply asking for being lynched by the mob, or else, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi standing in Mumbai and screaming hoarse his despicable political agenda. To quote an of quoted phrase in recent times “enough is enough”.

NDTV showcasing on a placard held by a bystander summed it up succinctly. The placard had written over it the following words:

“Mr. Terrorist I am alive, what more can you do? Mr. Politician I am alive, despite you!”

To say that people start policing their own lives is being too idealistic, however a remarkable degree of civic and moral restraint and rectitude can be practiced by all. But importantly the right of a sense of security for every citizen has to be provided for by the Government of India. Thus far it has failed to do so and over the last few days the point’s driven home that it has failed spectacularly.

According to me the terrorists were successful on all counts of their agenda. From their point of view its self congratulations for a job superbly well executed. In its composition the outfit comprising allegedly British origin Pakistanis, Yemeni nationals, international ID cards, credit cards and SIM cards etc and targeting American and British passport holders and a Jewish centre with Israeli hostages shows a sense of a truly global purpose.

Meticulous in its conception, attention to detail, perfection in execution and more over precise training propped the terrorists in not only making a mockery out of the Indian security apparatus, but also the presence of such a high yield of ammunition in their possession indicates their intent to hold out for the maximum duration of time and hence ensure that the world through the media was completely glued to their handiwork for as long as possible.

With evidence mounting of strong Pakistan links in the matter, the level of jingoism in the vast public rising and an increasing chill setting in Indo-Pak relations in the terrorist’s agenda, the final triumph is achieved. If as a result of all this crisis the Indian Government does decide to mobilise forces on the LOC a severely hampered Pakistan, already embattled on one front handling a war against terror in F.A.T.A. and Afghanistan border, a shaky democratic governance structure, a very steady national disintegration taking place and only after managing a 7.5 billion dollars loan from the IMF barely managed to stopper her alarming fiscal deficit.

I fear a troop build-up and cross border standoff in such a scenario may turn out to be the last straw and consequently a complete destabilisation of Pakistan is certainly not in India’s best interest at all. A stable Pakistan is a lot less headache for India and that is fairly logical sense. The Government of India while taking stringent efforts ensuring that those responsible for the acts of November 26 be completely brought to book, must yet, temper its over anxiousness in the heat of the moment in nudging the boulder off the cliff.

Very importantly the Indian public must become aware and conscious that in current times the most dangerous of practice that people with their sanity restored to them refer as do the politicians and the media all this barbarism and coin it as “Muslim Terrorism”. It is very evident that the atrocities have nothing to do with Islam and to suggest otherwise was not merely inaccurate but dangerously counter productive.

These acts in recent times may be committed by people who call themselves Muslims, but they violate essential Islamic principles. The Quran prohibits aggressive warfare, permits war only in self defence and insists that true Islamic values are peace, reconciliation and forgiveness. It also states firmly that there must be no coercion in religious matters, and for centuries Islam had a much better record of religious tolerance than any other religion.

We rarely, if ever, called the Irish Republican Army bombings “catholic” terrorism because we know enough to realise that this was not essentially a religious campaign. Indeed like the Irish Republican movement, many fundamentalist movements worldwide are simply new forms of nationalism in a highly orthodox religious guise.

Rhetoric is a powerful weapon in any conflict. We cannot hope to convert Osama Bin Laden from his vicious ideology; our priority must be to stem the flow of young people, who join or sympathise with and at times assist organisations such as the Al-Qaeda, the LeT etc, instead of alienating them by routinely coupling their religion with immoral violence. Incorrect statements about Islam have convinced too many in the Muslim world that the West and India are an implacable enemy.

Precise intelligence is essential in any conflict. It is important to know who your enemies are, but equally crucial to know who they are not.

Extremism and unscrupulous politicians have purloined the word “Jihad” for their own purpose, but the real meaning of Jihad is not “holy war” but “struggle” or “effort”. Muslims are commanded to make a massive attempt on all fronts- social, economic, intellectual, and ethical and spiritual- to put the Will of God into practice.

Jihad is just a cherished spiritual value that, for most Muslims, has no connection with violence. In fact I have heard of a young man called Jihad; his parents had given him that name in the hope that he would not become a holy warrior, but a truly spiritual man who would help make the world a better place.

By taking this important step forward in spreading knowledge rather than existing misnomers and prejudice, we will come one step nearer, perhaps to solving the seemingly intractable and increasingly perilous problems of our divided world.

But enough said and done, eventually there must be remarked about the cause and effect. It is the effect or more likely an after effect in the aftermath of these terrorists making a mockery of our security mechanism.

Before I really shed light on my opinions about this aspect I must comment that in the United States after effects of September 11, 2001 has been a stringent spate of activity, policy and most importantly decisiveness and the political will to get the house back in order.

A unified political order backs a very clear cut agenda to neutralise the aspect of terror as regards American lives. The result, although being by far the most high profile and sensitive target in the sightlines of terrorist outfits, yet the U S so far has not faced a similar situation ever since.

America since 9/11 has simply managed to thwart all major terrorist attempts on its soil simply because of an absolutely strict and rigidly enforced functional anti terror apparatus firmly in place and well executed.

I learned from a well informed gentleman, in the aftermath of the Bali bombings an organisation called Section 88 had been formed to safeguard Indonesian territories from future terrorist incidents and so far they too have been markedly successful. This is all the more remarkable considering if its Islam we consider targeted as persecuted and also fundamentalist, it is Indonesia which happens to constitute the world’s largest populace of Muslims.

So the questions arise if they can do it, why not us? What’s to stop us from taking such wilful action? Why can’t we have the political gumption to undertake such initiatives in our homeland? Why do we need and realise the existence of our armed forces only after the deed is done? Why are we allowed to sit back and only hope that things will possibly take care of themselves if we entrust our responsibility in the hands of hooded criminals who by a certain dint of misfortune happen to be the nation’s leaders?

A proper framework of well thought of and well enacted anti terror laws, more and easily accessible emergency response teams outfitted with the best equipment, a well placed and clear intelligence network coordinating and collating all information and ensuring it reaches the organisations concerned, all being sourced through one federal agency run outside of political interference and solidly backed by a unified political order. To clamour for all this we have to make ourselves heard, for we can no longer expect and hope that our leaders know better.

Precise actions and not hollowed posturing must be demanded by the citizens and as its mouthpiece, by the media from the Union Government on this issue. We must no longer simply be satisfied with a few resignations and the absurd blame games. For hindsight being a very exact science shows us clearly to fight over the carcass only after admitting our failure is simply no use any more.

A strange, however welcoming silver lining in this horrific dark cloud has been an increasing din of the citizens demanding action, explanations and accountability. This revolution simply must not be allowed to die down.

We owe it to no one save ourselves to ensure that we continue to lead a consciously responsible existence.

I conclude, thinking of a 31 year old incredibly brave Major who was martyred simply because he believed in a sworn sense of Duty, a superb belief in patriotism and who believed in his country and his responsibility towards it. We must owe him and all the others like him not only for the lives they saved but also for giving us the opportunity to sense an afterthought.

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India Defence Online is committed to providing a platform for writers to publish articles related to Indian defence and national security. This article was contributed by Arjun Dutta, a 23 year old pursuing his final year of a Bachelor’s in Commerce degree from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in New Delhi.

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