Tuesday's serial blasts in Jaipur once again reared the country’s ugly face of terror. It also drove home the point that terror needs no stereotypes or pre-identified targets to unleash its wrath upon.
If recent history is any indication, terror strikes have increasingly become commonplace. From Mumbai trains, Varanasi temples, Malegaon, Delhi’s multiple blasts on Diwali eve, blasts in Hyderabad mosque to Fancy Bazaar in Assam -the unknown face of terror has increasingly singled out the unsuspecting common man, religious credentials being completely incidental.
For a billion-plus nation that is otherwise gung-ho on the world economic forum and wooing global investors with alacrity, such strikes can be unsettling. They are also lethal enough to dent the country’s collective pride.
The United States may not have fully recovered from its worst terror attack of September 11, 2001.
But it has definitely proved that it’s no pushover any more, especially when it comes to guarding its own. 7/7 bombings may have rattled the lifeline of the UK. But that has not stopped it from dealing with terror with an iron hand. Israel, which strongly advocates the tit-for-tat policy doesn’t take the loss of a single individual lightly.
Then why does a growing economic superpower like us falter at having to deal firmly with terror? Why is there much ado over implementing sound anti-terror policies?
Why do we go out to negotiate with hijackers?
Why - in the aftermath of a terror strike - is blame game (from the Centre to the state to the local agencies and so on) the first and probably the only reaction to happen? Why are we soft on terror?
Isn’t human life a precious commodity? Isn’t the loss of life (that too of so many lives at an instance,) a cause for worry? The least that the policymakers owe us is putting in place a sound, non-negotiable policy based on complete abhorrence to terror.
Is that too much to ask for citizens who regularly pay their taxes, contribute to the country’s economy and are part of its electoral processes?
Is that asking for a lot? Write in with your views
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