The Mumbai Terror Attack - Have we learnt a Lesson from it?

By Sukant Khurana, Guest Writer (Austin, TX, USA)

The outrage, sorrow and shock of 26 November cannot be expressed in words. The world stood still, while India bled once again. I am left wondering if India is going to have a post 9/11 kind of knee jerk reaction, with deepened divisions amongst communities, one more step towards a failed society like Pakistan or will we emerge stronger from this crisis?

Will terrorists succeed in their ultimate goal or will we stand up united as a nation to make this as a moment of our determination to build a stronger, unified, modern, and democratic India? What have terrorists, whether “deranged” saints of Malegaon, hit men of Dawood Ibrahim, killers in Orissa, VHP and Bajrang Dal activists who killed thousands in 1993, attackers on Indian parliament, fanatics of Gujrat riots, the madmen of recent attack on Mumbai, always wanted?

They want to break the fabric of Indian democracy, split it on narrow ethnic lines, make it a medieval Islamic nation or Hindu Rashtra of Godse’s fancy. Is it just Pakistan who benefits from destabilization of India or are there other forces, which see India as economic competitor and obstacle?

The direct involvement for this tragedy may lie solely with ISI, but we need to explore all forces behind this, the direct and indirect financiers of all institutions that destabilize our country, everyone who stands to benefit from a destabilized India. One needs to use this moment, to ponder seriously about our foreign policy, defence, internal security and secular fabric of our country.

At this juncture the task is fourfold:

Provide relief to inured and stand by the families of people who have lost a loved one. Let this emotional loss not become a downward economic spiral for the families of the poor killed in the mindless killing. Let us not allow our government to show apathy as it has shown after Bhopal gas tragedy, anti-Sikh riots etc.

Punish all terrorists of this horrific incident and all past crimes. Whether it is Dawood Ibrahim sitting in Pakistan or officials of ISI or political leaders in India who spread venom, we need to put them all on trial. We need to punish not just those who execute a crime but all screaming religious ideologues that incite hate crimes.

Re-evaluate our foreign and defence policy. The hand of Pakistan in terrorism over years is undeniable, though not all evil emanates from west of Rajputana. If America abandons Afghanistan in near future then Taliban will be back in power and emboldened, if America stays on, it gives Afghanis and Pakistanis reason to join Taleban and Al-Qaeda. It is a disaster either way, but we have to evolve to deal with the mess.

he world is already going to pay the price of mishandled mid-east. A breakup of Pakistan, an archenemy, even though fancifully not unpleasant to many, is going to send shock waves to India for many years.

There are four clear strategies that we need to pursue in parallel to deal with the Pakistan issue:

A. Reinvent our intelligence abilities.

B. Develop ability to focally attack any target anytime and anywhere. Let terrorists know that they cannot find a safe haven anywhere on earth after attacking India.

C. Enhance our abilities to fight a full-scale war with Pakistan, assuring least damage to India. Let us imagine a Pakistan on verge of collapse and with say a Taleban controlled region on brink of launching a nuclear attack on India. Do we wait after there is no longer a Mumbai or New Delhi left?

Preemption is not the sole right of west. Thus we need to develop the intelligence, the ability to deliver the right weapons and ability to face foreign pressure and potential sanctions if the need arises to neutralize Pakistani nukes.

Many a times, Pakistan is just a proxy. It is important to develop Indian forces to face challenges of 21st century and we are seriously lagging behind. Let us hope and work for peace but be prepared for war if need arises.

D. Diplomacy and protecting Pakistan from complete collapse, so that the need to go on all out war never arises. This can be accomplished by promoting progressive forces in that country, encouraging cross border trade, and beam in our satellites on that country. Let Pakistanis see the good results of a democracy. Half the war is information war.

We need to build our nation from inside. Isolation amongst different communities is going to increase mistrust. Mistreatment of minorities and poor by corrupt reactionary elements in police force, deployment of armed forces to maintain law and order, and vote bank politics, have to end immediately.

This unification has to happen at both government and individual level. A true integration of Kashmiris, both the Muslim population and displaced Hindus, northeast India, tribal population soft towards Maoist insurgents, has to be an economic integration.

This economic solution cannot come either by return to permit quota system because of recession or a trickle down economics. We need infrastructure building, education, security, encouraging local entrepreneurship and more local self-governance to eliminate security threat from these regions.

Education is a key component of nation building, even in the stable regions. We need to completely ban openly religious schools. Not just some schools were created with sole goal of poisoning minds; many mainstream schools run by religious sections are poisoning young minds.

In fact in Delhi, I went to a school, where the Hindu administration forced kids to welcome Advani’s Rath Yatra and many such nonsensical acts. My friends went to Convents where they were told how the Hindu deities are demonic. We need to execute these people who are poisoning our next generation.

A uniform civil code, not a Hindu or Muslim civil code, but one founded on modern democratic ethos, is necessary for a true integration of Indians as one people. I hope 26 November will force us to move away from vote bank politics, which is played, by both the right and the left.

We need to stop appeasing Hindus and Muslims alike. This is country of Indians and anyone putting any other identity before that should be put on a ship to nowhere. Most minorities know that they are better of in India than any neighbors. Let us make India, Bharat, Hindustan, whatever you call Madre Vatan a better place for everyone.

For that we need to go an extra mile to understand the concerns of all Indians, especially those who are of a different religion or speak different language and stand united as one people. We need a heart of gold when dealing with our fellow Indians and a fist of steel when dealing with our adversaries in these times of crises.

Jai Hind!
Sukant Khurana
...................................

Section of Neurobiology,
College of Natural Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station C0920
Austin, TX 78712

(Article Copyright © Sukant Khurana & Breaking News Online)