Rocked to KILL
It is 6.22 pm at Khar railway station, a suburb of Bombay, a lanky shabby looking guy alights from the local suburban train. As it happens on every other day, Mumbaikars, let this man pass into the crowd of 17 million people that populate mumbai. That was the last time, those people returning home were to see this person, what they didn't know was that he was there to kill them a couple of minutes later....Tick tock..Tick tock....
6.23pm 45 seconds...Could this man have changed his mind and heart, turned around and asked people to leave announcing that a bomb was to explode? Was he determined to take the occupants of that coupe along with him, as he blew himself into pieces? How was this person feeling in the morning. He would probably have saved the lives of those people who occupied that bogie, yet, he was their messiah of death. He did not know them, but he wanted them dead. That was his motivation, that was his aim. And he was the only person on that station who smiled as that BOMB exploded............
Boom BOOOM BOOOOOM....Mumbai rocks again! 1993, 2002, 2003 and 2006!!! The newspaper struggles to keep pace with the rising number of dead. Ministers arrange for emergency meetings to assess the damage and provide additional security, but, the damage has been delivered. The message has been sent across. WHO CAN WE BLAME Today? Who can I go to with a shoulder to cry on?
Terrorism has no place in society. Infect, it is a mockery of what it stands for. I suppose terrorists are men and women who fight oppression, inequality, etc, etc. Can murdering 150 odd people justify nations to provide freedom, equality and justice? How can an ideology that sustains itself on converting people into mass murderers proclaim that it fights to save the rights of minorities and the oppressed.
Times are hard and confusing. It would take many of the wise to debate and conclude on the measures to curtail this menace called terrorism.
I am associated with Bombay in more ways that one. I would proud myself on being a mumbaikar (Bombay-ite) once. I live with a Pakistani room mate. Those are difficult facts to digest today, I just feel rocked!
The papers scream that the city limps back to normalcy. Should it? Could it? Does that exhibit solidarity or plain disregard for the heinous act committed by the terrorists. Can a neighbor become immune to the cries of a new widow?
I just wish, who so ever left that bag with the bombs there yesterday, had the heart to turn around and just shout...."there is a bomb in the train....!!"
6.23pm 45 seconds...Could this man have changed his mind and heart, turned around and asked people to leave announcing that a bomb was to explode? Was he determined to take the occupants of that coupe along with him, as he blew himself into pieces? How was this person feeling in the morning. He would probably have saved the lives of those people who occupied that bogie, yet, he was their messiah of death. He did not know them, but he wanted them dead. That was his motivation, that was his aim. And he was the only person on that station who smiled as that BOMB exploded............
Boom BOOOM BOOOOOM....Mumbai rocks again! 1993, 2002, 2003 and 2006!!! The newspaper struggles to keep pace with the rising number of dead. Ministers arrange for emergency meetings to assess the damage and provide additional security, but, the damage has been delivered. The message has been sent across. WHO CAN WE BLAME Today? Who can I go to with a shoulder to cry on?
Terrorism has no place in society. Infect, it is a mockery of what it stands for. I suppose terrorists are men and women who fight oppression, inequality, etc, etc. Can murdering 150 odd people justify nations to provide freedom, equality and justice? How can an ideology that sustains itself on converting people into mass murderers proclaim that it fights to save the rights of minorities and the oppressed.
Times are hard and confusing. It would take many of the wise to debate and conclude on the measures to curtail this menace called terrorism.
I am associated with Bombay in more ways that one. I would proud myself on being a mumbaikar (Bombay-ite) once. I live with a Pakistani room mate. Those are difficult facts to digest today, I just feel rocked!
The papers scream that the city limps back to normalcy. Should it? Could it? Does that exhibit solidarity or plain disregard for the heinous act committed by the terrorists. Can a neighbor become immune to the cries of a new widow?
I just wish, who so ever left that bag with the bombs there yesterday, had the heart to turn around and just shout...."there is a bomb in the train....!!"
posted by Ashwin at 2:46 AM
10 Comments:
When things like this happen we try to find logic in behaviour. Sadly, this is not to be had in these cases. Only madness occupys the brain of those who do such acts. Indiscriminate killing achieves nothing but fear, heartbreak and anger. Those dying cannot forgive and those killing cannot be satisfied. All the rest must live in frustration. I am hopeful none of your direct family was lost or injured in this atrocity............
There is only one problem. And that is everybody wants these problems to go away, but nobody wants to do anything about them.
Thanks Bo. Fortunately No, but still such things are hard to accept and sink in.
Rishit: What would you want to do? There is no unique solution to this problem called terrorism. For the terrorists, terrorism is their profession. How could you convince a grown adult that they are in a profession they shouldnt be in?
OK! they got the attention they needed, so what? Is it going to help them acheive their goals because they killed 100 or so unarmed civilans?
Terrorism is only a symptom of the deep rooted cultural, political and social problems of the world. It cannot be controlled unless these problems are.
Terrorism is a bunch of useless induviduals trying to find something to do!
infact, it has been proved that people who end up as criminals have smaller brain size. I am sure, if we look at brain maps of terrorists, they would have to be altered.
there is no way a sane mind would consider strapping a bomb to the waist and blowing 100 people up into bits. It is a pure waste of human life.
Does Prabhakaran want peace? Do these mujaheedeens and the bin ladens want peace..NOOOO..because if we gave them what they wanted, they would be out of a job. the wont know what to do? killing the innocent is their only profession. They are not even half as intelligent as you are to realize what is their problem, let alone the problems in the world.
Ashwin: I agree man, there is no justification. What was the earlier perception? that these are poor uneducated guys, brain washed by vested interests. Many people still want to beleive that, its no longer true though, considering the last few atrocities have been conducted by doctors, engg's, mba's etc. They are not poor and certainly not uneducated. What is most appaling is that terrorists used to claim responsibilty for such acts before, they wanted to tell people we did it and if you don't listen or meet certain demands we will do it again. Now, no one wants to say we did it, infact everyone is denying a hand in it. So what now, some deranged man killed hundreds for fun. Deranged men have knife's and guns at the most not rdx. It's as if someone had all this spare rdx and had nothing to do so they did it. islamic community is very offended because they are being subjected to communal profiling. How many times have you heard "Chand logon ki wajah se poori kaum badnaam hoti hai". It's true and very unfortunate that this communal profiling is there. Exteremly sad that a word "Jihaad" which literally means fghting the evil to prevent good things in life has become a bad word. Why has this occured? has the comman man not understood some thing, have they been mislead? Comman man does not know world politics, they know the ways of life in there neighbourhood. They know that if their neighour's son is upto no good and his neighbour knows everything but still hides his sons misdeeds to save his face the it's wrong. Somebody who has been to jail for robbery comes to live in your neighbourhood and then suddenly people start missing things, who will be the first person questioned. So if i apply these neighbourhood logics to world politics then i realize there is no profiling or whatever going on. The islamic community has to look at this with a different perspective. Before saying that they are being targeted, when hindu's do terrorism in north east or the naxalites in south and east or when the punjabi's did it the rules were different for them. That is not the case first of all these guys own to their deeds and also face the consequences of it. Who other than the poor punjabi's will no better about the consequences. it's not just "chand log" anymore many people are doing it and many many know about it and just like the father hid the son's mistake these gruesome mistakes are being hidden. Before the islamic community gets mad they are being branded as terrorist they should look deeper within themselves and decide that they will not hide any mistakes that they see. Otherwise, if these acts keep increasing the suspicion worldwide will keep increasing, what it will leed to, anybody's guess is as good as mine.
ashwin
you are very wrong in claiming that terrorists kill because it is their job. they are drawn into it for various compulsions. what they do may not be acceptable to you and me but to them it is perfectly justifiable. have you met one , listened to his stories ?
don't make these sweeping statements about his intelligence. they are smart enough to escape the security apparatus of governments. LTTE is a highly capable force with military intelligence that can put the forces of some countries to shame
I know I'm kind of chiming in here, but I think this discussion is interesting...
I understand the sociological factors behind violent criminals: they were often abused or witnessed abusive behavior. They often live in poverty with little hope or good examples. Their basic resources which provide stability- food, clothing, shelter, a caring community- were unmet. That is a general recipe for problems wherever you go. It wouldn't make sense then, that educated people with comfortable lives would act this way. To me, it suggests a very (extreme) reaction to a people who feel their communities and/or culture(s) are threatened.
I can only imagine what a nasty web ethnic conflicts must weave, anywhere in the world. From a very primal perspective, unfortunately, I think revenge even makes sense. I think it is very animalistic to desire revenge, and humans are animals. However, I also think it is a manifestation of the divine or our capacity to embody the divine to rise above our animal nature and forgive or love people who hurt us. The idea of rising beyond our animal nature seems to be a lesson in religions all over the world, and prophets, gods, etc., have repeated this idea throughout time...which is why repeating vicious cycles in the name of a religion makes no sense- none that I know of would condone that. From what I know of Islam, it's a religon pretty vehement about getting what you give after death. From the anthropology I've studied, that region of the world has been swift & harsh with punishment for millenia. Beliefs of judgment in the afterlife were some of the harshest I've learned about. So, according to their own religion, wouldn't these people be terrified of messing up in small ways in everyday life, let alone just blowing hundreds of innocent people up?
Which brings me another thought. What about honor? Throughout the world, people tend to have concepts of what is honorable throughout life- even during conflicts (why not just rule out physical violence? anyway...). There tends to be codes of conduct. For example, shooting someone without a weapon or killing civilians or innocent people, from what I've learned, tends to be deemed dishonorable or cowardly throughout time & cultures. Though personally I think there is no reason for war because we are humans capable of much more than just bashing our heads together, this is wise. When you lose codes of conduct and honor, you lose respect, and when you lose respect, you lose order. Without order, nothing can be done and you may end up losing pretty much everything that was ever accomplished. Sooo, if you want to keep civilization going, be honorable.
Carelessly killing 100s of people is not honorable. Acting so carelessly is a great way to make enemies, which threatens survival. ...Is that my human or animal side talking?
~Amy
Amy
You cite various reasons as to why you think these people "may not" seek to be terrorists.
Did you imply that socio-economic reasons is the only factor that promotes a person to engage in disruptive activities.
Hmmm, i beg to differ on that. There are homeless people all around the world, there are people who stuggle to feed their children one proper meal a day, people who lived well who got displaced ( refugees, asylum )....we dont see a sizeable number of those people draw arms against a state and kill innocent people?
To me, they become blinded. They are not able to see right from wrong. You are right and i think you bring in a excellent prespective to this discussion, their animal instincts take over. It is purely reactive...
I'm not saying socio-economic reasons are the *only* reason there's violent crime, but it is a big one. Look at the backgrounds of people in prison (though rich people often buy their way out of jail time, and I often wonder just how many violent crimes they do commit, but are never recorded). There tends to be a different set of crimes committed by wealthy people- look at Enron. Nonetheless, there is a correlation between poverty & crime. For instance, look at Scandanavia- they have very little poverty, and very little crime as well. Under Bush, poverty has increased in this country. So has violent crime. I'm not saying they're not other factors, there are...but still.
What is strange is that though they may be acting like animals, they are doing so in the name of a religion, which generally teach us not to act like animals...
~Amy
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