India is No Stranger To Terrorism
— quite the contrary — but what has taken place in Mumbai has not even a remote precedent। The scale of what has happened and the aftermath is so staggering that it is imperative we all keep our minds and hearts in good order, to be able to use these purposefully। We are faced with people who are determined to destroy and their target is society itself, attacked with such deliberate and massive cruelty। It is Mumbai now, as it has been earlier; they've also left their repulsive calling cards over time in diverse other places, at Delhi, at Guwahati, at Ahmedabad, at Bangalore, at Varanasi, at Kolkata, and many more।At each place, the intended target was ordinary people, men and women and children going about their daily lives.One can only wonder at the minds that can deliberately plan and then carry out such operations, at the rage and hatred that permeates their faculties, at the reasoning that rejoices at the infliction of such suffering, that see fulfilment of life's purpose in this trauma.Whether Mumbai's destroyers came from the same ranks as those who set off bombs in other cities earlier this year or were similarly motivated is not yet known. We must know, and speedily; ordinary Indians are frightened and suspicious, in dire need of reassurance that the state is up to the job of protecting them and their kin, and bringing to justice those out to wreck their lives. Police morale itself has been given a huge blow in this latest strike; good men have been lost and terrorists seem to be able to strike at will, and through the country, on a scale which is difficult to comprehend.The state has to show speedy results and a resolve that this is going to be the beginning of the end of this nightmare. That includes convincing leadership and a resolute focus on basics, a revamp of intelligence, of detection, of initiative, of strike capability. We know as little of this so-called 'Deccan Mujahideen' which has claimed responsibility for Mumbai as about the `Indian Mujahideen' which claimed to have carried out earlier attacks. This image of a police apparatus which reacts only after the event and is groping for many an answer has to transform.Part of the aim of the attackers is to polarise society and fuel distrust between communities.It was the earlier growth of this atmosphere which led to events as in Ayodhya in 1992, Mumbai in 1993 and Gujarat in 2002; each, in turn, spawned more cycles of rage and destruction.The scale of the Mumbai tragedy — more than 100+ dead, 300 wounded, lakhs traumatised — offers a ripe field for breeding yet more.There's a challenge here and if it isn't taken on purposefully, the idea of India itself will begin to disappear, as will the dream of a secure and democratic society for our children.It is a great thing that the immediate reaction across the political spectrum has been an absence of partisan name-calling and a feeling of being together in the same raft.And that Pakistan's government says we face a common enemy and has promised full help in the investigation. These declarations of intent have to be fleshed out in ways people can relate to.The focus is, inevitably, on the police and security apparatus, something the average Indian has much distrust and disaffection for, with good reason. We need to remind ourselves here of the terrible price we pay for the staunch refusal across the political spectrum for meaningful movement on police and prosecution reforms, of the sort that would enable a professional forceresponsible only to the statute, where a man can rise to the top on the basis of work and merit. As is, let us remind ourselves, the case in most other democracies. The absence of such a system has led to many of the breakdowns in law and order and justice we are so periodically accustomed to, and which feed happenings like the one before us.But that is, for today, by way of digression.We need to nab the others responsible for this latest outrage and its precursors, and to address, comprehensively, the factors which enabled these to take place. There is no substitute for this to heal the wounds. It would also be appropriate if state governments take the initiative to fund and organise, taking the help of civil society, rehabilitation programmes for the affected – hospital care, psychological counselling, generous help in education and jobs for the stricken families, and other relevant factors in this regard.The one common feature in all such tragedies — and we have had several such over recent years — is the feeling of abandonment and being left to struggle on one's own in most such homes after the initial phase. We are not a rich
, but
we can put together more organised help than the statutory announcements of ex gratia relief. That, and the focus on justice for the crime committed, by way of identifying just what happened and by whom and bringing the latter to account, and to reassure the community that the lessons have been learnt and are being implemented, are the priorities. As a society, we had better be up to the challenge.
