The Prime Minister apologised (in parliament) to the nation for not preventing “this dastardly act”, the new Home Minister rolled out a revamped internal security road map, the Leader of Opposition offered full support to the Government and the External Affairs Minister, while ruling out war as a solution, sent Pakistan a tough message that if it did not act against elements using its soil to target India“it will result in some sort of situation that we (Indians) do not want.”
I don't know what all that means??...
The lesson learned for the Indians is that they cannot take their life for granted (and this is true for any global citizen); but in India, specifically the government is not in a position to completely guarantee safety and security. The common people(not politicians) are at risk of terrorism from anywhere, but especially across the border at anytime irrespective of the place, religion, class or caste.
The new home minister announced a few measures to bolster internal security:
- a national investigation agency would be set up
- Vacancies in the country's intelligence agencies would be filled and they would be equipped with advanced equipment
- a coastal command would be set up to secure India's 7,500km-long coastline
- a total of 20 "counter-insurgency, anti-terrorism" schools would be set up in various parts of India to train to train police and security personnel
- commando forces to be set up in the states
- laws relating to terrorist acts would be beefed up
- money laundering laws to be strengthened.
These are all good in theory and principle. But will this be practical? We have seen and heard many politicians saying this and that....I think the most important aspect in this whole saga is the urgent need for an introspection and change of attitude for the politicians. If India wants to prosper and flourish, to become an important power in the twenty first century and to ensure the safety of the homeland, I propose a few ideas:
- Politicians to retire after a certain age
- The minimum qualification of contesting in an election should be at least a graduation. I know that people who have haven't done formal school education has gone onto become great leaders; But times have changed and we have to change with time.
- The 'VVIP' security and 'Z category' nonsense etc should come to an end!...instead these resources should be directed for the welfare and security of the common people.
- Compulsory one year military training for all citizens especially youngsters...
- More integration and communication of the various security services at the local, regional, national and international level.
India has suffered more than 4,000 terrorist attacks since 1970, with an average of about one killing per day. Has anyone thought why is that places/cities/countries in other parts of the world who have become victims of terror never had a repeat attack again? Why is Mumbai or Delhi or for that matter Indian cities targeted again and again?
The answer is that people learn from mistakes and put a plan in place for the prevention of such attacks. Iam sure there are many attacks that have been foiled in other parts of the world. But India has not learned and becomes a soft target again and again. This has to end..enough is enough..wake up everyone...defend our homeland....
10 comments:
Very true, the killing of innocents must end. It is high time that our politicians must get their acts together and implement some good practices that we learn from around the world. Apart from the loss of individuals, terrorism can even jeopardise our economic stability/growth.
Agree with most of your points, and especially on the politician-criteria, and the compulsary military training. However, I think our people/public really need to come of age, as it was ridiculous to find our guys stupidly curious in gathering around the burning inferno whenever such clippings were aired. Public should be encouraged, and made aware to report anything untoward happening in their neighbourhood/vicinity than taking things for granted.
I agree Anju; Need to develop a new civic sense and people need to be more society oriented and less self centered...
India is surrounded by 3 countries, 2 of which promotes radical islamism publicly and the third is on its way to becoming one. Neither U.S nor Europe has this this Geographical disadvantage . While the inflow itself is filtered very strongly, they only have to worry about centers of terror which blooms internally.
India is now being seen by the west Asian media as an ally of U.S and the U.K in the fight against terror (Todays Hindu). This would mean we have to "internationalise" (read lose control) Kashmir issue if we take this path.
The warning by CIA, The speed with which Ms. Rice visited India and giving ultimatum to Pakistan and also subsequent visit by U.K pm - all could be a well- orchestrated drama - as suggested by west Asian media - who knows? (I haven't yet started thinking seriously on this route)
My attitude towards this is, terrorism can not be stopped. Now or never. It has an economy and life of its own. Without it, our neighbors Army would be facing a huge revolt and loss of power against democracy, which the powers that be doesn't want. Hatred is the fuel which drives it.
Hatred is the most easily nurturable emotion. Pick a child and inject it and he carries it all through his life. A living "Martyr" (read sucker)is just born.
As long as the filthy rich in these Islamic countries nurture this hatred to save themselves (these guys could revolt against them - if there is no common enemy!), and there are enough suckers to believe it, this will continue.
In a way, this attack is good for us. It came as an eye- opener. Now we have started thinking and acting in these lines. Such a shame, it took the attack against the rich and famous to trigger it. We lost thousands of ordinary lives in other attacks and still did not care.
Am I sounding too cynical?
I do agree to many of your points. "As the saying goes you can change your friends, but not neighbours" So India has to learn how best to deal with her neighbours...We cannot completely blame the neighbours that the relationship is sour, an important cause of this problem is our inefficient and imbecile politicians and their incompetent decisions and policies over the years...Iam not saying that every politician is inefficient, but a significant majority are...
It is true that everyone is talking about Mumbai attacks as India's 9/11...but what about the thousands and thousands of common people (and soldiers/ police) who lost their lives in previous attacks/ encounters? As you say it took Mumbai attacks for India and its 'sleeping' politicians to wake up..In that way the comparison may be reasonable as it took US and world, 9/11 to happen to realise that Terrorism is the malignant threat in today's world(though India has been a 'silent victim' of cross- border terrorism for many many years)
There is an article by Arundhati Roy called - "9 is not 11... and September is not November". Its a good one and it begins by saying.."We've forfeited the rights to our own tragedies" - how true!
Oops... wanted to add one more point - What moral right does U.S possess now which wasnt there when they sowed the first seeds in Afghanistan (Against USSR)? And, what moral right do we have (Remember LTTE?) ?
I am not justifying what has happened. But I am too sick and tired of the Media enacting this drama again and again as if there are no other issues. More people die in India due to hunger than due to terrorism..
I wouldnt be surprised if there is an attack on Pakistan before the General Elections. Having a war around always helps...
Lets clean our backyard first. But lets keep an eye on the our front gate as well.
most of what you (Pradeep) and all the other comments make sense. One culprit not named in this mess is the ordinary citizen (you, me, and 1B+). we vote for the people i power. And we do not bother to spend any of our own time in politics or in the education of the masses. The other big block of culprits are the non-taxpayers. there is a big underground economy including many middle class people who will complain about the government, but somehow think that the funding for all that they think the government should provide will come magically.
keep blogging my friend!!
Chandran
I just read this article by Arundhati Roy...Some very interesting points in this write up....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/12/mumbai-arundhati-roy
PCV, the original article appeared in Outlook magazine and its called "9 is not 11" . "Monster in the mirror" is only a part of it. http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=1&fodname=20081222&fname=ARoy+(F)
Post a Comment