India’s Fury

(originally posted on December 3, 2008 to Facebook)

I have been closely following the news since the recent attacks in Mumbai which is now christened by the media as ‘India’s 9/11’, a lot of interesting facts & revelations are emerging out of these stories. 

Some politicians are using evading tactics to get out of the line of fire that is being raged by the media while some are resorting to remain tight lipped about the issue. Few heads have already rolled in the government’s desperate efforts to save face while the opposition parties are trying their level bests to invoke a sense of insecurity among the masses which would result in the downfall of the government. Kerala CM has found himself in a mucky situation after he made some derogatory statements against Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s family; he is most likely to be the next to be removed from power. Also, facing the brunt is Maharashtra CM, Vilasrao Deshmukh after he invited film director & producer Ram Gopal Verma to be a part of his entourage that visited the Taj Hotel to assess damages. 

The Indian citizens are in an unforgiving mood after the terror scenes that unfolded before them, they are voicing their dissatisfaction in the security measures taken by the government. They have waged war against insensitive & incapable politicians, Mumbaikars especially, are demanding for better administration & better utilization of their tax money. Finally, they have stood up & taken notice; after all they’ve tasted blood. I just pray that the same sense of responsibility is shown during the time of the elections. The centre has announced that a federal investigative agency would be setup which would act independently & wouldn’t be answerable to any political party or politician. The CBI & other intelligence agencies would play a supporting role to this agency named FIA (Federal Investigative Agency) which would run on similar lines like the FBI in the US. 

Each passing day, more facts are being unearthed related to the attacks. All discoveries made till now points to Pakistan. It’s being said that the terrorists had come via Pakistan & that they were given meticulous & military precision training by the LeT in the northern province of Pakistan with the aid of the ISI. The center has demanded immediate action from the Pakistani government & has asked them to handover 21 major terrorists which include the likes of Dawood Ibrahim, the man behind the ’94 serial blasts. Pakistan President, Mr.Zardari has been trying to tell the world media that they’re victims of the same heinous crimes & both nations are facing the same enemies. The Indian media has practically blown it out off proportion & have leveled some serious accusations against Pakistan, so have the guests who appear on these debates. Eventhough there hasn’t been any concrete evidence, which has been shared with them, nor the world, they seem to be convinced that Pakistanis are the culprits behind these vicious attacks. Its being debated whether India should take military action against these terrorist camps located inside Pakistan, the common consensus among the general public being that India should take up arms. I find it hilarious when the media keeps mentioning that they aren’t war-mongers! Funny, how the Indian cricket team’s ICC rankings & the Champions league T20 doesn’t seem to be too important now. 

TIMES NOW covered a story which had visuals of the Pakistani media voicing their outrage over their nation being blamed of unleashing terrorism in India. They retorted by stating that the Indians are trying to cover-up for the monumental failure of the Indian intelligence agencies in averting these attacks. Tit for Tat is how we could describe this in simple words. My view is that the Pakistani media isn’t wrong in reacting the way they did, how long did we expect them to lie down & face the bullets? It’s a misdemeanor to accuse an entire nation for the actions of a few individuals. Let me ask you, tomorrow, if the Indian army lodges an attack on Pakistan, killing few innocent civilians, wouldn’t we stand behind our nation & make lame excuses to support the actions of our government? YES!!! I personally don’t think that we as a nation should initiate something that would cause disharmony between the two nations. Honestly, it’s still hard for me to see Pakistan as a separate nation, the similarities are immense. I remember while I was in Dubai, studying in 5th grade, my mom used to teach in the same school & took mathematics for my class. I had two Pakistani classmates, brothers, who used to take tuitions from my mom. Changez & Pervez were not too bright in studies. I recall the time when these two had scored well in their exams, their dad, who worked in the market as a fruit seller, one day turned up at our door with three cartons full of fresh fruits. He had a smile on his face & just said one word before he left, “Shukriya (Thank You)”. That is the picture of a common Pakistani man that remains etched in my mind. It still doesn’t cease to amaze me how every other Indian doesn’t see it that way. 

I just hope that India doesn’t take any false steps as a knee-jerk measure, we should probably fix the internal issues which are utmost important to prevent any further terror strikes in the country before even thinking of carrying out anti-insurgency operations against the terror outfits located inside Pakistan. The West would definitely love to see the South Asian countries causing destruction to each other!