Fighting terrorism

In the aftermath of 26-11 barbaric terror tragedy of Mumbai, the nation is expressing the anger, distress and above all, the frustration arising out of the lack of a real political will as well as the united and cohesive effort especially, from the leadership, to act rapidly, decisively and strongly in order to eliminate terrorism and extremism from our soil. No doubt, the terrorism has become a Global phenomena and it is difficult to deal with it unilaterally. Even the United States had sought the cooperation from the international community after the 9-11 terror strikes in New York. Therefore, if India has sought the same through the United Nation's Security Council, [and a partial success has been achieved], there is no reason why frowns should come on any face. However, the tendency of looking towards the US for the solutions to all our problems looks to be our indecisiveness or short-sightedness which is dangerous and hence must be rectified. We have been fighting a proxy war with Pakistan for more than a quarter of a Century now and yet we have not been able to devise a suitable strategy to counter this undeclared war! This war has been imposed upon us and yet Pakistan successfully makes the international community believe that they are the aggrieved and we are the aggressors. We keep on giving concessions to our hostile neighbour on different counts and at different levels apparently, thinking that someday the good sense shall prevail and we would be able to live like good neighbourly nations, but the hostilities are rising up incessantly and without any break in the magnitude as well as dimension. To pressurize Pakistan, we look towards the US, the UN, and the International community. All the three praise our self-control, yearning of "good neighbourly relations", our far-sightedness etc and apparently, build up the pressure on Pakistan to our happiness and we feel satisfied that enough is enough; From now on, Pakistan will not repeat the Terror tactics. This is the reason why we have not been able to design an original strategy to combat the hostilities imposed upon us.

The political leadership

For the politicians of our country, "the chair" is the destination by hook or by crook. All kinds of the divisive tactics are used to woo the voters as they say, everything is fair in love and war. They tactically create their vote banks on the basis of caste, religion, language, region, gender and all other such issues. Unaccounted money is arranged for such activities and the revenue department keeps on sleeping. Many of our leaders squander lavishly on the occasions like birthdays, weddings etc and the income tax officials apparently, have nothing to do with these activities. Most importantly, the masses watch these irregularities on TV but very easily forget everything. They do not use their right to vote reasonably, judiciously and effectively. That is why, the criminals, who should be in jail, become the members of the legislative assemblies and the parliament. When some terror tragedy occurs, our leadership demonstrates a show of fire crackers through their lip service. Strong words are used mostly without direct reference to any country, as "we are the matured politicians". Many suggestions and plans are discussed in detail. Media makes the scenario spicier. The emotions of the masses are ridiculed and misused. But after a while, everything is forgotten.

Small states like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan etc strike upon us and we revise the lessons of keeping restrain, tolerance and the universal brotherhood. Countries like Israel very strongly can control the whole Arab world and we have to seek advice from the US whether or not we have the right to self defence. "We cannot engage in a full-fledged war because it is not in our interest", states the leadership of our country. We are destined to die but do not have the right to kill as it is inhuman and hence does not suit the noble Indian tradition. It is far better to sacrifice one's life for the motherland than to live in the fear of the terror. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "If I have to choose between the violence and the cowardice, I will opt for violence." However, with our leadership, the case is the opposite.

Solutions

So what is the solution? Should we accept the situation as our we are destined to? Are we nothing but the puppets of the destiny? Not at all. Swami Vivekananda had very rightly said, "We are the brothers and the sisters of the Almighty, we are the sparks of the divine fire burning in our hearts. How can we be nothings! We are everything, ready to do everything, we can do everything and man must do everything."

We have the capacity to strike back. We have the potential to eliminate the terror not only from our soil but from the world. What is lacking is only the will power. Dedicate yourself to the nation and you will see miracles happen. The illness of the individualism has been trying to extinguish the fire of the patriotism. Remember, if the nation lives, we live but if the nation dies, who will live! Those who have the individualist approach must think over it.

For years now, we have been living a duel life. We tell others that we are very helpful, caring, sensitive to other's pains, and we posses all the noble qualities. But when it comes to the practice, we forget everything and do whatever in our own short-term interest. We cheat others, we bribe, we see the road accidents but do not react, and we see others in pain but think it better to run away unnoticed. We teach our young ones to speak the truth but when somebody comes to our doorsteps who we do not wish to see, we tell the same children to tell a lie. We have to come out of this hypocrisy.

If bribery is bad, it is bad for everyone. Do not bribe, even if you have to lose some important position. Because, the corruption begins not from anybody else. It begins from you. Contribute to stopping corrupt practices by pledging that you will not bribe in order to get favour.

On one hand, we oppose the Bangladeshi migrant and on the other hand, we hire them as the domestic aids as they are the cheaper ones. Pledge that we will not hire any illegal migrants for any purpose.

The general elections are not very far away. Let us pledge that we will use our right to vote very judiciously. We will surely vote and choose the right candidate. We will not consider the religion, caste, language, and other such things about the candidate but will elect him/her purely on the basis of his qualities.

If the public in general, adopts the aforesaid pledges, we will see a great welcome change in our country.