3 days ago, a group of terrorists armed with advanced weaponry entered the city where I live, from the sea. They targeted the CST railway station, and a few 5 star hotels around the place. They shot out and killed the best in the police force. They threw out hand grenades and killed and injured many.
They are 21 to 28 year olds... some of them my age, and they are consumed by hatred. They fire at innocents not knowing that this won’t help anything. They have been brainwashed to numbness, they don’t feel their victims' pain. They don’t regret it, for they think they are doing it for a purpose.
And as I type this, I hear news of deaths, I am hearing news of the end of this encounter with terror... I am hearing angry reactions, I am hearing shouts of jubiliation from a crazy crowd that has gathered at the site 'celebrating' the end of the encounter (and hampering or even endangering NSG's work)...
I feel no joy at the deaths... innocents, soldiers, police, terrorists... advanced weapon wielding terrorists who are my age…. I feel only terrible sadness.
How do we solve this? What causes this immense hatred? Who fuels it? Why? I find answers and they all seem hopeless...
I feel a mixture of emotions - sadness, pity…. but surprisingly, no anger or hatred… for I truly believe in peace…
But I cannot peacefully believe in peace… for my lack of anger angers angry people even more…
They say “Enough is enough! Pakistan has to pay!”
“Blast every single one of those bastards!”
“Peace can’t be a reality till you clear all those ‘weeds’!”
“Go light a candle if you want to be peaceful!”
(sigh…)
Sometimes I think… that’s exactly how the terrorists feel…
Yes they’re wrong. They’re terribly wrong in killing innocents… but they have their side of the story… valid or invalid.
Azam, the boy who was captured, is 21. On questioning, he wasn’t ready to talk. When he saw his friend’s (mutilated) body though, he broke down and told everything. Said “I don’t want to die! Put me on saline” (oh, the ignorance!) He said they didn’t know it was a suicide mission (though knew it to be risky)… they thought they were going back (their leaders had probably told them this so they wouldn’t hesitate!) and when the questioning was done he was saying “Now I don’t want to live!”
I can’t imagine going through that… being cheated on life… killing remorselessly thinking he’s avenging or earning something for someone… not knowing none of it is true… and he’s my age… I don’t know anybody who’d go through that emotional pressure and be able to think sane. In fact people who are perfectly safe sitting in their own houses aren’t thinking sane at the moment. It is a mass psychological problem… on so many levels, going on for just too long… and the solutions, I’m afraid, have to be ‘thought’ out carefully.
I want this to end too… I realize it will be harsh. I also realize there are people who are beyond change… brainwashed for years to the core. Strict action is necessary because it acts as a deterrent.
And there have to be deterrents on every step of the process. They could use transport very easily because we have low security (sometimes this means we have good security but corrupt officials). They had underworld links (some links point to Dawood). They supposedly lived in the city for a while a few months ago. Maybe we need stronger records of identity of our own (huge) population?
We have flaws at every level. We have a badly managed police force (and some good people trying to make it technologically advanced and improve working conditions) which nobody cares about till we need them to work (for us).
We have politicians playing double games… all this while the BJP was against Hemant Karkare (calling him a villain)… and now their hearts are filled with sorrow at his demise. The opposition uses the attack as a tool to pull down the government, slamming it for inadequate security, though even with the opposition in power there wouldn’t have been much change… and we all know this. It won’t be a surprise if I found out some politicians even knew about the whole plan.
We have an easy don’t- care attitude, which still… STILL doesn’t let us be alert enough for terror. It seems Mr. Karkare had ‘in person’ visited 5 star hotels and told them to beef up security because he had been warned about possible attacks.
We have a media which is not-so-responsible (to be polite)… when Mr. Qureshi said, “This isn’t a Pakistan problem, this isn’t an India problem, this is a GLOBAL problem…” (and yea, I heard the live interview), the headline that flashed below said “NOT PAK PROBLEM – QURESHI”…
We fuel anger and hatred. We jump to conclusions. We act in haste. And we screw up. Time and again.
Sad.
They are 21 to 28 year olds... some of them my age, and they are consumed by hatred. They fire at innocents not knowing that this won’t help anything. They have been brainwashed to numbness, they don’t feel their victims' pain. They don’t regret it, for they think they are doing it for a purpose.
And as I type this, I hear news of deaths, I am hearing news of the end of this encounter with terror... I am hearing angry reactions, I am hearing shouts of jubiliation from a crazy crowd that has gathered at the site 'celebrating' the end of the encounter (and hampering or even endangering NSG's work)...
I feel no joy at the deaths... innocents, soldiers, police, terrorists... advanced weapon wielding terrorists who are my age…. I feel only terrible sadness.
How do we solve this? What causes this immense hatred? Who fuels it? Why? I find answers and they all seem hopeless...
I feel a mixture of emotions - sadness, pity…. but surprisingly, no anger or hatred… for I truly believe in peace…
But I cannot peacefully believe in peace… for my lack of anger angers angry people even more…
They say “Enough is enough! Pakistan has to pay!”
“Blast every single one of those bastards!”
“Peace can’t be a reality till you clear all those ‘weeds’!”
“Go light a candle if you want to be peaceful!”
(sigh…)
Sometimes I think… that’s exactly how the terrorists feel…
Yes they’re wrong. They’re terribly wrong in killing innocents… but they have their side of the story… valid or invalid.
Azam, the boy who was captured, is 21. On questioning, he wasn’t ready to talk. When he saw his friend’s (mutilated) body though, he broke down and told everything. Said “I don’t want to die! Put me on saline” (oh, the ignorance!) He said they didn’t know it was a suicide mission (though knew it to be risky)… they thought they were going back (their leaders had probably told them this so they wouldn’t hesitate!) and when the questioning was done he was saying “Now I don’t want to live!”
I can’t imagine going through that… being cheated on life… killing remorselessly thinking he’s avenging or earning something for someone… not knowing none of it is true… and he’s my age… I don’t know anybody who’d go through that emotional pressure and be able to think sane. In fact people who are perfectly safe sitting in their own houses aren’t thinking sane at the moment. It is a mass psychological problem… on so many levels, going on for just too long… and the solutions, I’m afraid, have to be ‘thought’ out carefully.
I want this to end too… I realize it will be harsh. I also realize there are people who are beyond change… brainwashed for years to the core. Strict action is necessary because it acts as a deterrent.
And there have to be deterrents on every step of the process. They could use transport very easily because we have low security (sometimes this means we have good security but corrupt officials). They had underworld links (some links point to Dawood). They supposedly lived in the city for a while a few months ago. Maybe we need stronger records of identity of our own (huge) population?
We have flaws at every level. We have a badly managed police force (and some good people trying to make it technologically advanced and improve working conditions) which nobody cares about till we need them to work (for us).
We have politicians playing double games… all this while the BJP was against Hemant Karkare (calling him a villain)… and now their hearts are filled with sorrow at his demise. The opposition uses the attack as a tool to pull down the government, slamming it for inadequate security, though even with the opposition in power there wouldn’t have been much change… and we all know this. It won’t be a surprise if I found out some politicians even knew about the whole plan.
We have an easy don’t- care attitude, which still… STILL doesn’t let us be alert enough for terror. It seems Mr. Karkare had ‘in person’ visited 5 star hotels and told them to beef up security because he had been warned about possible attacks.
We have a media which is not-so-responsible (to be polite)… when Mr. Qureshi said, “This isn’t a Pakistan problem, this isn’t an India problem, this is a GLOBAL problem…” (and yea, I heard the live interview), the headline that flashed below said “NOT PAK PROBLEM – QURESHI”…
We fuel anger and hatred. We jump to conclusions. We act in haste. And we screw up. Time and again.
Sad.
15 comments:
nice write up..ruchi,,,,,,,,
they r sum great thoughts....
keep it up....
sigh.
It’s indeed saddening to know that young guys were involved in the execution of this hideous act of violence. We need to know the motives beyond such acts- Where are they being trained? Why cannot someone locate where all this training is happening? Nip the root cause of trouble.... the organizations and... influential ppl, financiers....et al... who are motivating and brainwashing these young guys into such extremities need to be caught. need to be found...
I admire your ability to keep calm and peaceful always. Do continue trying to seek answers coz that is how you realize what is going on and wrong in the system. Even if right now you aren’t getting any concrete answers… you are getting yourself involved in thinking what all could have possibly gone wrong in the first place. You are getting yourself involved in thinking…in asking questions…and you are asking the right questions…and that is a very good thing to do. I understand your views, share your sentiment to a large extent and respect them for not being on the lines of violence and angst. :)
This immense hatred is religion!They are doing this in the name of religion.
Read some of the verses of the Qu'ran, for example.
Jihad is to be waged in every nook and corner of the world against the enemies of Islam, against all sorts of evils and every unbeliever. Says Allah - Qur'an
These and many more are their stamp of authority to go ahead with the killings.
Please dont empathize with the terrorists saying 'they were brainwashed'.
Put yourself in this situation!
Can u be brainwashed to kill people?
We cannot solve this as islamic militancy is something which is run by fanatics and trying to help them is like 'Bail ke saamne bhagwat'.
So if we want peace we have to keep them out of our country or kill them if they do enter.
Terrorits feel what they feel because of religion and we feel what we feel because they killed our loved ones/mumbaikars/indians.
Different things.
Anyway, different views we share but the common thing is ..we love mumbai :)
Jai hind.
You are contradicting yourself my friend… you say ‘the hatred is religion, it’s done in the name of religion’, and you say, ‘do not empathize with them by calling it brainwashing’… isn’t religion the very element or thought by which they are being brainwashed?
My essential point is, you, try your best, cannot put yourself in the situation, unless you are fully unbiased and not controlled by your emotions. Why can you not be brainwashed to kill people? Aren’t you, at this very moment, in favour of killing terrorists? (yes, yes, “if” they come in, “if” they’re going to harm us… all that)… can’t I say that you are brainwashed to kill people? It isn’t so easy to ‘not’ be…
“Jihad” is an effort to practice religion even when being faced by oppression and persecution. The effort may come in fighting the evil in your own heart, or in standing up to a dictator, and not necessarily in propagating the religion (though I will not deny that there exist people who interpret it for that specific purpose). In your own words, you mention “against the enemies of Islam, against all sorts of evils and every unbeliever”… have we tried to understand the meaning of ‘enemies’, ‘evils’ and ‘unbelievers’ as meant in the Quran? For, you will agree, the words can be applied to meanings more than one. I reiterate, don’t jump to conclusions.
But I am not supporting the religion in any case… in fact, I’m very against religion even as a concept. And in the same way, I am against “boundaries” as a concept too. So, the view differs a bit more… I don’t love Mumbai or India… but humanity as a whole, all over the world.
Peace.
p.s. try reading ‘an inquiry into meaning and truth’ by Bertrand Russell… it is a good guide to deciphering meanings in language. I guess you would like it. Also, try this… misconceptions about Islam…http://islam.about.com/od/jihad/f/jihad.htm
Religion and brainwashing are two different things..
A religion can ask you to bestow fury but its the human in you, your personal religion and by personal religion i mean faith/self rightiousness that should negate everything else.
These terrorirts are not uneducated retards and if u can brainwash an educated guy then its because they want to be brainwashed or they are religious fanatics who just need a little push.
I have always believed in the fact that u dont do something because others want you to do it, u do something because you want to do it.
I am and will always be in favour of killing these terrorits but also had they not killed so many innocent lives, would they be called ' terrorists in the first place'??
They are what they are because of their actions, i would not be a murderer if i dont kill people.
And if you do commit crimes against humanity,justice should be as gruesome as the crime.Should they not feel the pain which hundreds did because of their doings ?
And i have not tried to interpret anything related to Quran,Bhagwat Geeta or the Bible as i dont believe in either of them.
U can interpret the inner meanings in these books the way your mentality wants them to.
In Gujrati they call this 'Sagvadiyo Dharam' which means 'Bend religion the way you want to bend it'
So u know the Quran 'might' have said something else but thats not the point, these people decipher it the way they want to because they want to and you and me or anyone for that matter cannot brainwash them otherwise.
If other countries are filled with these religious souls its better to have borders with them rather than spread the virus all over.
I would love to have a borderless world but with such lowly mentality i would rather prefer an india and pakistan.
PS: Read the mis-conception link you posted..Loved it..Hope some wannabe terrorist read it too :P
Peace:
Our comments look like a blog in itself ;)
And to add 'Azam' the 21 year old who was captured said ' i dont want to die put me on saline' and he said this after taking 'n' number of lives.
And about him telling investigators that he did not know it was a suicide mission..'Mark' these words have come out of a 'terrorirst' and not 'Mother terrersa'
He was never cheated, People could tell me 'mars' would land on earth tomorrow but would i take that?
Did he expect to kill people on the road in the hotel and anywhere and indian authorities would just look on ?
Risk is if u jump from the 3rd floor into a swimming pool filled with water and survive, Suicide is the pool is empty and me being his age/your age can definately tell the difference and so can u.
His tone/story would have been different if he hand an AK47 in his hand and the officers were unarmed.
what we 'know' has come from what we're exposed to. everybody on the planet doesn't 'understand' what you and i do. (sigh).
in any case, times are changing. capital punishment isn't looked at as the ideal solution anymore. i wish you luck in understanding your hatred.
:)
peace
p.s. its nice to have a serious discussion that doesnt get nasty!
Yes,Everyone is not exposed to the information we are, but is asking for basic human values too much to ask for ??
Capital punishment is for capital crimes and should never be abolished.
An innocent human life taken for whatever the reason should be dealt with atmost severity.
Its not hatred ruchi, its mere practicality.
Let one gruesome deed go unpushed, and those deeds will be done again and again.
Ps: Discussions will never go nasty, i am not filled with hate in every walk of my life ;) :P
we're not born knowing about 'basic human values'... we learn them somewhere in the process of growing up...
and i never said let the deed go unpunished... my ideas of punishment, however, are a bit different. maybe i'll add a post for that someday.
smiles
Gudd work.. I am impressed :)
your conclusions are not backed by experience in the history of the birth of these terrorists.
I suggest you see everything in terms of money, not reason,
then you will find, the one paying the terror organisers, to ue the emotionally motivated people, are the real culprits .
And yes it loot the public money goin around.
govt and terror planners fight and the public money goes waste in both the casees.
most of the problems in the world are created because we see things in terms of money and not reason. i won't deny that there are people with money who can be called the real culprits... but how does that change anything?
public money is a very interesting thing too... we can give it freely when we need something like a college admission or faster work, right? we do discriminate, we do give in to hate, we do want to fight.
accept it. and fix it.
when we can truthfully say we don't do wrong, then we have a right to say others shouldn't do wrong... and then your solutions will hold.
Terrorist are definitely not Mentally demented nor are they 12yr old school kids..They should Know that whatever they in the name of Principles or Religion or country is illegal and their religion or their country would come to their Aid in case they are in trouble.
I call it Dumb terrorism...
If u want know examples of Smart terrorism...those are our own people...Ram Sena,Bajrang Dal...
These organizations should be Declared as terrorists..
very well written.
m happy that i refused religion years ago wen my parents could not explain well why i needed it,,a religion,hinduism!and terrorism in my part of india(northeast) has many faces,,all of them suck.
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