WHAT NEXT FOR INDIA

War begets War, Hatred more Hatred. No wars or attempted wars have produced solutions. If that be the case then America’s War on terrorism should have been a resounding success by now. Instead even to day it languishes in a stalemate situation. What have they achieved by their invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq, or by their aerial bombings of camps within Pakistan. Have they brought about any change in the situation. No and on the contrary Unable to retaliate against these attacks what do see, an attack against the Indian embassy in Kabul and now the Mumbai .It is their way of venting their spleen displaying their impotency at targeting their actual enemy the US. It is against this backdrop that one has to view the incessant calls from all quarters for a strike across the LOC at the ‘Terrorist training camps’. Not only will such an reaction be foolhardy but will be a sure catalyst for igniting a full blown war, one which both countries can ill afford at this juncture. After all no country worth its salt wants its territorial integrity violated and take no retributive action. So then what is the answer to the present crisis.. Certain aspects that have come to my mind are outlined in the following Para.

The immediate need of the hour in my opinion is wise counsel and sane and mature reaction at all levels, Government as well as the public. Government has to accept the fact that the strikes resulted consequent to serious flaws in its intelligence network and should take appropriate actions to remedy this flaw. They should examine the idea of a common identify card for all Indian Nationals. This should preferably be prepared at birth and should replace all existing cards. They should be the sole authority for establishing identity of a person. As for the public, they should ensure that they resort to constructive criticism of the politicians and take immediate steps to increase awareness and accept responsibility for sanitizing their neighborhood by acting as eyes and ears of the local police. To start with they can be the first levels of contact for identifying any suspicious movements or activities in their area. More importantly we should take a pledge that we will not fall a prey to corruption and take action to bring to book any one found doing so. All guardians of public places like schools, colleges, buses, trains, Entertainment and shopping locales etc be made more vigilant and imparted necessary education to take preventive action for repeat of any such misadventure in the future. Finally the media must be impressed upon to be more moderate in airing views and opinions lest they jeopardize public safety, and during crisis time afford free publicity to the attackers.

I feel as a start these actions would help smear balm on the bruised soul of our nation. All thoughts of offensive action should be eschewed and wise counsel should prevail.

Are we chasing the wrong shadow

Are we stuck in our Circle of Concern, a borrowed phrase from Stephen Covey, over the aspect of terrorism. Reading the report on the arrest of the policemen from Calcutta for allegedly possessing the SIM connections it appears so. Rather than start work on our circle of Influence, we are letting ourselves be blinded by the oft repeated but seldom acted cry of Pakistan baiting foisted on our public by the vested interests. Let us at least now wake up to the fact that there is a lot that can be done within our country rather than waste our energies and efforts crying hoarse over what must be done to our neighbor. While the surcharged public sentiments are understandable what is not understood is the fact that attacking bases in our neighborhood is no answer to the tragedy that occurred or future ones that may happen where we to prevaricate in our response. Why is it that the we do not permit the matter of strategic planning of taking out camps and high level political diplomacy be handled by the experts appointed for it Why is it that channels and the public are chary of bringing up aspects where we can directly influence recurrence of such events. For example media can be used as a wonderful tool for educating public about the need for increasing awareness of their surroundings, reporting any untoward activity observed and above all root out the existing cancer called corruption from our society. I am sure the last named has been the sole reason for the terrorists having been able to come in and play havoc with human lives and sentiments. I think by doing so we will be working in our circle of influence however small it may be, but one that will go a long way in hammering out a meaningful solution to the ever increasing universal threat of Terrorism. So long as our public bow to the ogre called corruption, so much longer will it take for this malaise to be removed? Any takers please.