Issues as complex as global terrorism need to be tackled at several different levels, and with several solutions pursued with several parallel timelines in mind. I'd say we need pursue three entirely different solutions for this issue: a near-term, a medium-term, and a long-term solution.
The short-term solution: This is the most talked-about timeline. You'll find several thousands of solutions prescribed here, ranging from more NSG commandos, to Kevlar helmets and automatic rifles for the police force, to a different CM, home minister, and what-have-you. All seem good, with each to its own merits. I wonder if anything has been left unsaid at all here, so I will just shut up on this timeline.
A medium-term solution: I'd devote a little more energy here. While most prescribe punishing Pakistan, I'd have gone the other way - engage Pakistan. At the risk of over-simplifying ground realities, I'd like to start with a small background study of Pakistani society, based on my arm-chair reasearch.
Within the context of terrorism, there are clearly 3 different classes within Pakistani society today - there are the Western-looking, English educated, urbane, business and mostly ruling class, of which Benazir Bhutto was perhaps the most conspicuous member. This class basically doesn't care much for Islam, India, etc. It is perhaps more of a nascent form of India's nouveau-riche urban yuppie. People of Sind, Punjab are perhaps more likely to be this. Karachi is the central city for this class, with perhaps Lahore coming a close second.
A second class is that of the military people. They are mostly English educated, perhaps even western educated. They are more Islamic, but not overtly so. You'll find them perhaps in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Pervez Musharraf is perhaps an apt face of this class.
The third, and most complex, is the rest of the Pakistani society, its vast under-belly. These are the mostly rural, overtly Islamic, more militant Pakistanis. It is the sweat and blood of these people that the first two classes largely draw upon for sustenance. Without them, there is no Pakistan. Even though they might not realize it, they are the ultimate deciders of Pakistan's fate - either democratically or militarily. They are also largely anti-West and anti-India.
With this super-simplified, yet adequate for my purposes here, picture of the current Pakistani society in mind, here's my 2-pence: India should increasingly engage, and perhaps even integrate into itself, Pakistan. The ideal would be re-integration of Pakistan (and even Bangladesh?) and India, into an India-of-yore. Although this would be the ultimate ideal, other models on the lines of CIS, EU, etc. can be thought of ad-interim. This should propel Pakistan from the medieval times that it is slipping into, to the 21st century, like most of India. This is the only civilised response to the terrorism threat that I can support.
Now onto my long term solution: How do terrorist justify their actions? How do they defend killing of innocents? How do you motivate a sane, thinking person to go and blow himself up? How do you even approach another human being asking for money, support, etc. for such a cause? Remember, these are not isolated incidents. They are happening by the hundreds. There are thousands, if not millions of highly motivated people involved in this "industry." What keeps it all going? The answer is as simple as it is obvious. God. It is only in His name that you can justify all these acts. It is only in His name that you can support these activities, and still sleep comfortably at night. It is only by following His words that you can find justification to kill another human. Terrorism won't go away unless we kill Him. Conversely, as long as you are pray, you do not have a right to criticise another man for "praying" / "acting as per His instructions" / "carrying out his Holy Duty" in a manner that he interprets His words as commanding him to do. Consequently, as long as you pray / teach your child to pray, there is no hope for mankind's deliverence from this evil. An evil called Religion. An evil called God.
Now, anyone has the balls to support these solutions of mine?
1 comment:
Well , i just went through your post and indeed appreciate all your thoughts :) Its just that sometimes things arent as simple as they reveal themselves in front of the society.. Everything going on in this world is a nexus between the classes you had earlier mentioned in your post and I don't know whether im politically correct in saying this but one incident is an outcome of another.. Your solution of engaging Pakistan could be well appreciated by the readers but this can also result in a catastrophe if not dealth with correctly which according to me is possible in a state like ours where 1 person is in search of a situation to blame the other.. As we all know the outcome of our partition in 1947, it might also be interesting to note that integration of India and Pakistan might also result in an equally devastrating scenario.. We all do talk of peace, harmony etc but it is also evident from all the discussions that our relationship with pak can only and only be viewed in terms of friendship or hate.. Incidents of the past hav forced us to be as diverse as "black" and "white" which on merging can form a grey area which cannot be viewed by narrow minded people existing in our society.. It is an extremely interesting theory but unfortunately there are very few people in our society who can see situations in the light we do and I frankly speaking find no solution for terrorism because terrorism lies in the heart and however much u try, its impossible to eradicate that feeling.. I want to quote 1 line which i read sumwhr which reads "1 man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" which set me thinking.. I was extremely troubled thinking that our respected freedom fighters who indulged in extremism were mere terrorists in the eyes of the British and terrorised innocents in the name of "freedom" which is precisely the same thing our so called terrorists are doing now a days.. Don't you feel its this legacy of violence, extremism and "fight for rights" is being carried on from generations?? Its just that our terrorists are misguided and are outcome of our very own state.. I felt "Dil Se" and "1947 Earth" to be extremely good at justifying my point and on viewing these films u would realise that the so called "vilians" were just normal human beings, friends and loved ones like us who were forced to think in the light of "killing" "terrorising" etc by no1 else but our very own state, our very own politicians.. I know its futile to blame any1 but all I want to say is that terrorism runs in our society and the 1 and only way of fighting this evil is to change our political system.. Instead of finding ways to fight terrorism,I feel its better our society looks at the smaller issues which instigate terrorism.. Like you wrote in your post that people fight at the name of religion, I would also like to counter your arguement by expressing that faith is required in this world and there are people who resent from indulging in such heartless practices coz of fear of God.. Well you can understand what Im trying to convey if you could find this essay on "Good and Bad Nationalism" by "Lila Gandhi"... Anyways all we can do is only wish and hope our society to open their minds to the obvious facts of life and not close their eyes to the outcome of their extremist thoughts.. People should learn to understand the true meaning of "Nationalism" and "Religion" and use it in a positive way to improve the society and not destroy it :)
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