While the world mourns the tragic and senseless assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a two time Prime Minister of Pakistan and tipped to come to power for the third time in the coming general elections, the politicians who determine the future of the world need to take time off, sit back and think – more now than ever before.
Living in a country plagued by terrorism, we, in India, have perhaps paid the biggest price in terms of human lives – both civilian and military with the rise in the fanatically driven terrorist movement. When I look back and think I find a common thread behind the rise of almost all terrorist movements – the short-sightedness of the influential chatterati, bureaucratic and political classes, almost complete lack of the ability to look into the future and vested political or geo-political gains – more short term than anything else.
While we were kids we were repeatedly dissuaded by the adults not to play with fire, be it a match box or a lighter or whatever have you with the threat of dire consequences. Sadly, there is no one to explain to the adults that if you dance with death it will come back to haunt you and will, more frighteningly, devour you. India stands out as an unfortunate example of this. Take the case of Indira Gandhi – she was instrumental in promoting an almost unknown Bhindranwale – to counter her political opponents – who went on to lead the Sikh terrorist movement culminating in the storming of the Golden Temple, the holiest of holy shrines for the Sikhs, and ultimately her assassination in the hands of Sikh terrorists – culled from her own personal bodyguards. Her son Rajiv Gandhi, an almost novice politician, fared no better. Goaded on by the bureaucrats he clandestinely supported the Tamil separatist movement in Sri Lanka, had to send the Indian Army to flush out the Frankenstein that the LTTE went on to become and was tragically assassinated by a female LTTE suicide bomber.
The world has also fared no better. The Russian meddling in Afghanistan, fearing the Americans would establish a toe-hold in Asia, coupled with the backdoor arming of Afghan militia by America (to counter the Russians) has turned Afghanistan into the basket case that it is today. Iraq too is a victim of such skewed foreign policy and short sighted geo-political gain driven intellectual thought, if we can call it that. We have since the second Gulf war lost the count of human lives lost long before President Bush declared himself and the American nation victorious. The 9/11 incident and the UK bombings are a reflection of the monster that we have ourselves created via the Afghan route.
Pakistan having lost all the wars that it fought with India had adopted a policy of bleeding her using the insurgency route, back channeling the arms that US provided it to arm the Afghan militia to Sikh and Kashmiri militants, not that the Indian government was above water in their dealings with the Kashmiris. Look at the state that Pakistan is in now - fighting the fundamentalist Frankenstein that it itself created not so long ago. Where ever you look, be it Kosovo or South America or Russia, you simply can’t ignore the common thread that I have mentioned of and can only wonder what the world would have been like if we had put humanity before the self or the nation.
As I said, its time we seriously put our heads together and solve this menace or it will devour us all. But then the world believes in the big bang theory and maybe it will take some other earth shaking terrorist event to jolt us awake from our complacency induced sleep and power driven hallucinations.
Living in a country plagued by terrorism, we, in India, have perhaps paid the biggest price in terms of human lives – both civilian and military with the rise in the fanatically driven terrorist movement. When I look back and think I find a common thread behind the rise of almost all terrorist movements – the short-sightedness of the influential chatterati, bureaucratic and political classes, almost complete lack of the ability to look into the future and vested political or geo-political gains – more short term than anything else.
While we were kids we were repeatedly dissuaded by the adults not to play with fire, be it a match box or a lighter or whatever have you with the threat of dire consequences. Sadly, there is no one to explain to the adults that if you dance with death it will come back to haunt you and will, more frighteningly, devour you. India stands out as an unfortunate example of this. Take the case of Indira Gandhi – she was instrumental in promoting an almost unknown Bhindranwale – to counter her political opponents – who went on to lead the Sikh terrorist movement culminating in the storming of the Golden Temple, the holiest of holy shrines for the Sikhs, and ultimately her assassination in the hands of Sikh terrorists – culled from her own personal bodyguards. Her son Rajiv Gandhi, an almost novice politician, fared no better. Goaded on by the bureaucrats he clandestinely supported the Tamil separatist movement in Sri Lanka, had to send the Indian Army to flush out the Frankenstein that the LTTE went on to become and was tragically assassinated by a female LTTE suicide bomber.
The world has also fared no better. The Russian meddling in Afghanistan, fearing the Americans would establish a toe-hold in Asia, coupled with the backdoor arming of Afghan militia by America (to counter the Russians) has turned Afghanistan into the basket case that it is today. Iraq too is a victim of such skewed foreign policy and short sighted geo-political gain driven intellectual thought, if we can call it that. We have since the second Gulf war lost the count of human lives lost long before President Bush declared himself and the American nation victorious. The 9/11 incident and the UK bombings are a reflection of the monster that we have ourselves created via the Afghan route.
Pakistan having lost all the wars that it fought with India had adopted a policy of bleeding her using the insurgency route, back channeling the arms that US provided it to arm the Afghan militia to Sikh and Kashmiri militants, not that the Indian government was above water in their dealings with the Kashmiris. Look at the state that Pakistan is in now - fighting the fundamentalist Frankenstein that it itself created not so long ago. Where ever you look, be it Kosovo or South America or Russia, you simply can’t ignore the common thread that I have mentioned of and can only wonder what the world would have been like if we had put humanity before the self or the nation.
As I said, its time we seriously put our heads together and solve this menace or it will devour us all. But then the world believes in the big bang theory and maybe it will take some other earth shaking terrorist event to jolt us awake from our complacency induced sleep and power driven hallucinations.
