15 December 2014
Terrorism cannot be fought with kid gloves. Bullets have to be answered with bullets. Severe punishment should be given to protectors of terrorism. Our past policy of impotence should be given a burial
The US Department of Defence, in its latest six-month report in October on Afghanistan, says that Pakistan uses its militants as “proxy forces to hedge against the loss of influence in Afghanistan and to counter India’s superior military…Afghan-and-India-focused militants continue to operate from Pakistan territory to the detriment of Afghan and regional stability Pakistan uses these proxy forces to hedge against the loss of influence in Afghanistan and to counter India’s superior military.”
Pakistan, by Constitution, is a Muslim country, whereas India is a secular country, where freedom of religious practice is guaranteed. Pakistan itself is surrounded by fundamentalist Muslim countries. This is Pakistan’s way of fighting India.
It is for this reason, that it does not want any friendship between Afghanistan and India. It is on this rationale, that it is sending Pakistan-trainedjihadis to Kashmir.To every country, its interest is supreme. The United States woke up to the threat of thejihadis after the 9/11 attack, and Europe has woken up now.
In fact, terrorism so far has never been considered as a grave problem in India. Otherwise, why did the Government remove all anti-terrorism laws in 2004? One oft-quoted reason is vote-bank politics. It is not totally untrue, as during or near the election, no good governance is seen and freebies are distributed at the cost of tax payers, either to stay in power or to gain it.
One is forced to conclude that the Government, during the last 10 years, had been treating terrorism without even being clear about it. It had no idea as to how to crush terrorism. As Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited the hotbed of terrorism, Srinagar, with an offer to talk to anyone who wanted to. In a rebuff, the terrorists, or by whatever name you call them, such as separatists, called for a strike and closure of the city. Such was their influence that nobody opened any shop, forget about welcoming Mr Vajpayee.
Fundamentalists have been going out of India to fight wars on behalf ofjihadis in Iraq and Syria, but nothing preventive has yet been done by the Government to take action against citizens who indulge in and support such deeds.
Such fundamentalists have gone abroad to fight for the cause of their co-religionists, against other groups of Muslims like the non-Sunnis. But I have not seen any Indian going on his own will against the people who are out to destroy India, whether they are Pakistani jihadis or the Taliban.
India is full of queer people who, in the name of Constitution, will support and defend such people. Where will our Constitution be if these anti-national elements are allowed a free-run in the country? Such people are not restrained from shedding blood of others, whom they have never seen or had any personal enmity with.
In fact, it is either due to sheer indifference or for vote-bank politics that no Government even at the national level took any action against Akbaruddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, who on December 24 2013, had been arrested for hate speech, the main content of which was, “Remove police and Army for 15 minutes, we will finish off 100 crore Hindus.”
It is also shameful, as the Government, slurred over the 21 people, including eight soldiers, who were killed in a string of attacks across Kashmir on December 5. Along with the usual bravado, and condemnation of the terrorists, things have remained the same. But the attack was different from the daily terrorists strikes, which could not have been possible without the support from the local people.
Secularism does not mean bending backwards, making bold speeches and repeating the same when the next incident occurs. The Lok Sabha watched in amazement as an elderly Bahujan Samaj Party MP, Mr Shafiqur Rahman Barq, walked out of the House, in May 2013, when Vande Mataram, the national song, was being played. He justified it saying that “Muslims like me bend only before Allah, not before any other god.” The then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar, issued a warning saying that action would be taken. That’s all.
The October 2005, the September 2011 Delhi bombings, the attack on Parliament and the repeated attacks in Mumbai and the rest of India, are enough examples to proof that terrorists have their base in India. They also show the total inaction by our Government.
The present Government can take a cue from the United Kingdom. According to a report, British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to announce exclusion orders aimed at barring citizens from re-entering the UK, if they are suspected of being jihadi fighters from war-torn Iraq and Syria. Under the orders, the suspects would be banned entry into the country unless they agreed to be escorted by the police before facing prosecution or close supervision under monitoring powers.
Simultaneously, suspects’ passports would be cancelled and their names added to the ‘no-fly list’. The exclusion orders, which may last up to two years, are central to a Counter-Terrorism Bill that Mr Cameron announced in September, which, if passed, will give the police the power to temporarily seize a suspect’s passport at the border to give authorities time to investigate the person. Currently, only Britain’s Interior Minister has the power to withdraw a passport.
At that time, Mr Cameron said, “A British Government should act in the national interest ... to help keep our people safe and we should consider everything in the light of that.” He added that if it became necessary to act quickly, he would do so without first seeking authorisation from Parliament. The present Indian Government should remember that terrorism cannot be fought with kid gloves. Bullets have to be answered with bullets. Severe punishment should be given to the protectors of the terrorists. Our past policy of impotence should be given a burial.
The Government should keep in mind that words can be twisted into any shape. Promises can be made. However, in the final analysis, words mean nothing. They are labels that are given to things in an effort to wrap our puny thinking.
The wisest man is the silent one who examines actions and who judges by actions. The universe does not give you what you ask for with your thoughts. It gives you what you demand with your actions — which is the best interpreters of any thought. What we do, is what matters; not what we think, or say or intend.
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