The 11th July Bomb Blasts in India

The 11 July 2006 bomb blasts in India have sent shock-waves through the country. It is, of course, not the first time that we have been targeted by extremists, but it is not something one ever gets accustomed to. We have lost a good number of our people and we are still reeling with the pain and the horror. And, in the midst of our grief, the US President has again taken the opportunity to turn the limelight on his 'War on Terrorism'.

According to the Times of India, right afterwards, he and Condoleeza Rice issued the following statements -

Bush - ''Such acts only strengthen the resolve of the international community to stand united against terrorism and to declare unequivocally that there is no justification for the vicious murder of innocent people."

Rice - "There is no political cause that can justify the murder of innocent people. The United States stands with India in the war against terror. Those responsible for these terrible acts should be swiftly brought to justice."

It takes sheer shameless, battle-hardened nerves to make such proclamations, especially after what these self-proclaimed respecters of life have unleashed in Iraq and Afghanistan, given the way they now tacitly support the destruction of Lebanon and Palestine.

We Indians, if we have any sense of compassion and given our own recent and previous suffering, should refrain at all costs from standing united with the United States.

If the bomb blasts on 11 July were engineered by Al Qaeda or its various branches, then all the more reason for our government to dissociate itself from US war policies.

It is exactly because we are being made the targets by one group of terrorists that we should not join up with an even bigger group of terrorists. If you want to stop terrorism, a good place to begin is by stopping being one yourself.

And Mr. Bush and his government officials have clearly shown what they are capable of by now. They have abundantly displayed the two main traits that define terrorism -

1.No concern for International Law
2.No regard for Human Rights

This is, of course, not a new thing for the American governmental policy. They began a long time ago. Right from the extermination of the Native Indian people (which, incidentally, inspired Adolf Hitler to proceed with his own version) to the attacks on Mexico, Hawaii, Philippines, Cuba, Korea, Central and South America, to Japan (who can ever forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki?) and Vietnam and Nicaragua and Iran and Lebanon and Libya and Somalia and Sudan and onwards. In all these instances, they have blithely refuted their own moral myth of the Land of Liberty, of being a democratic 'good guys' example to the rest of the world.

While we certainly need to apprehend and severely deal with the people responsible for the attacks in Mumbai and Srinagar, this should under no circumstances be done in the ways mentioned above.

There are some theories at present – although no solid proof at all so far – that the bombers were members of Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups. If they were and if we did indeed 'stand united' with USA against the 'War of Terrorism', we should then be obliged to follow in their good example – and the good example of Israel – and promptly launch air-strikes against the offending country - Pakistan in this case - as exactly uncaring as the USA and Israel of the civilian death tolls arising from these attacks.

I sincerely hope the Indian Government and the Indian people can show themselves to be more civilized than this. More civilized too than the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, who lost no time at all in ransacking a mosque in Surat. Harassing our own people and trying to create communal tensions is contemptible. Especially at such a time when we should all be sticking together and helping one another.

It is also extremely offensive the way some of the media have automatically assumed 'the Muslim Community' to have had a hand in this and, as usual, have called for Muslims to 'protest' this latest outrage. Holding an entire community responsible for the actions of few individuals is insane, and why must some of our citizens be continually obliged to swear their loyalty? If you must voice concerns about 'Islamic Terrorism', you must give equal space to 'Hindu Terrorism' and 'Christian Terrorism'. That would only be fair and correct. And, by the way, we're all outraged here, you know.

As for Pakistan, whatever our political problems and despite all the incredible anger we feel curdling inside us currently, we have to remember that most people across the border are people like us. Ordinary people who no more sent the terrorists here than the decent amongst us sent the VHP and the Bajrang Dal on their rampage.

Our Right to Self-defense doesn't mean we have the Right to Attack or the Right to Kill or the Right to Harass innocent civilians.

To get one terrorist, the life of even one innocent human being cannot be endangered. That should never be considered 'worth it', any more than losing the people we loved was 'worth it'.

You cannot attack and then shrug off the resulting civilian deaths as 'unintended if forseen'. That, by the way, is official American English for - we don't intend to kill the innocents, but we know they will perish anyway and we don't really care shit about it.

This is not the way to 'fight' terrorism. In fact, from what can be seen from the accomplishments of the USA and Israel, there is absolutely zero chance of winning a 'War on Terrorism' in this manner. You just set the stage for an unending cycle of violence.

There is no easy solution, but we can make a start with a concentrated effort to win minds and hearts. Instead of expending our energies in hostility and useless destruction, we can start by remaining rational and civilized, by fostering a stronger sense of community, by addressing legitimate concerns and grievances, by helping people less fortunate than us and bringing them more into the mainstream. To paraphrase Gandhi, we can start by becoming the change we want to see in the world.