Saved by the Foreign Hand
First of all, a firm salute and a multitude of thanks to the brave men in uniform, who carried out commando operations at the Taj, Oberoi-Trident and Nariman House. And a vehement, egg-in-the-face thumbs down to the fount of all venality, our dear netas.A placard held up at the gateway today put the feeling succinctly ......"We are alive despite your presence".....addressing politicians.
There is no need for me to stir up any more of the palpable anger that we as citizens of the country feel. However, in our anger, there is a chance that we might overlook one aspect which I deem very important.
There appears to be quite some prima-facie evidence of Pakistani involvement. This is to some extent, a small (for the lack of a better word)redeeming feature of the whole episode. Just imagine the consternation which would have swept the country had an attack of this magnitude been the handiwork of some indigenous terrorist group.
There would have been calls among the self-proclaimed nationalists to march all the members of a particular community into the sea. And we would have had the inverse of the situation which existed a week ago, where Hindu nationalists seem to have lost the moral high ground. So, if the trail of terror can this time be conclusively proven to have emanated from Pakistan, we may just have some breathing space in which to right a few wrongs, to get our people...Indians.....not Hindus,Muslims, Christians,Sikhs, Jews etc......but Indians ....together because like it or not, we are in this together....We leapt in joy together when India went 5-0 up in the one-day series against England and a few hours later wept in sorrow as one for the tragedy that had befallen.
One last thing before I sign off for today. If I were a member of the Indian Mujahideen, I would be very frustrated today, because all the hard work I had done at sowing seeds of mutual distrust among Indians has come undone with the spectre of an India standing united against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. So, I would want to strike...and fast before the cohesion gets too comfortable.......so as to go back to the status quo of mutual distrust and enemity. So please watch out....a new terror strike may come soon. And heads may roll at the governmental, bureaucratic and executive levels as retribution for Wednesday's attacks....but the new set-up will be just as ineffective ....I can say that with certainty. So it is upto us to save our backsides........ do that, be alert and suspicious, co-operate with lengthy security checks and other security appartus because prevention is better than death!
