| »The Honest Truth by Ajit Dayal |
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An abstract becomes a reality 2 DECEMBER 2008 Terrorism - of any kind - on any one cannot be pardoned.Bombay has, yet again, fallen victim to terrorist attacks. While the terrorist attacks on South Bombay, specifically in the Taj and the Oberoi/Trident, may not be the "worst" we have had, terrorism is terrorism. Murder is murder. It cannot be condoned. In March 1993 a series of bomb attacks knocked out the Bombay Stock Exchange, battered the Air India building, but the attacks were scattered all over Bombay. More than 250 people were killed in those attacks. In August 2003, two taxis filled with explosives blew up in the Zaveri Bazaar area, also in South Bombay: 50 people lost their lives. In July, 2006 bombs ripped through the trains across Bombay - including those in South Bombay: 209 people died. -------------- Now or Never -------------- Warren Buffett Book: Free for All This opportunity will end TODAY. Act Now! Click here for details. 10 people die every day on the train tracks in Bombay - that is over 3,600 people every year are killed by an uncaring government entity. That is terrorism of the bureaucracy. There is one farmer committing suicide every 30 minutes in India; over 50 every day. 8 people have died every day in Kashmir for the past 18 years. While these are larger terrorist attacks - in some cases perpetrated by the failure of government - they were an abstract for most of us living in South Bombay. Till we saw the Taj and Oberoi/Trident in flames. So, while we - rightfully - scream for blood, maybe it is time to step back and see what the origins of some of these problems are. Why fires burn One can write a book on this. Some commentators have blamed the surge in Islamic terrorism on the Palestinian issue. Some on Kashmir. Some blame it on the export of the Wahabi version of Islam practiced by the Saudi Arabians who are enriched with petro-dollars. Some blame it on the fact that Muslims in India are at the lower end of the wealth spectrum. Some blame it on lack of education. Some say the Hindu mobs that destroyed the Babri Masjid were frustrated and fed up with the slow government - they were terrorists. Some say the Hindu terrorists who destroy churches are retaliating against the Christians for their forced conversions. An eye for an eye, said the Mahatma, merely makes the whole world blind. I have no love for countries that support terrorists - or religious leaders and politicians who mis-interpret their religion so that they can bless violence. But pointing fingers at Pakistan for everything that goes wrong in India is the easy way out. When we "blame" someone there is an implicit assumption that we are all looking after our own people and this "foreign hand" is messing us up. Terrorists carry a country’s passport as an identity card - to cross borders - not because they believe in the laws. Has anyone asked Sri Lanka whether they think that India is a terrorist state? There have been reports that training camps in India have helped the Tamil Tigers in their fight against the Sinhalese. Does that make India a terrorist state? Or do we pardon that because we have many Tamils in India? And if we are a "terrorist state" according to Sri Lanka, what are we doing about it? Or do we ignore them because they are a small nation and we are 50 times their size? Members of the underworld are known to be harboured in many countries in the middle east. Have we banned Indian businesses and labourers from going to those countries? Do we stop the Indian cricket matches that are played there? Are we silent because we need their oil? If Pakistan was to have a huge oil and gas discovery tomorrow and they agreed to sell it to India - would we change the way we view Pakistan? We have many home-grown terrorists. The Naxalites are fighting for a redistribution of the wealth of land. What is "foreign" about them? The Naxalites have grown in might because the Indian government has not delivered on the promises laid out in the Preamble and the Constitution. Corruption of our laws So, when I see some industrialists and businessmen on TV blaming the government and the politicians the question to be asked is: have you ever been a part of the "system" and been a partner to corruption? -----------Subscriber Speak----------- Have been an avid reader of J.Mulraj's columns from the days he used to write in Times Of India..and how lucid and rationale they were..Haven't seen such clarity and unbiased views... Click here to read and sign up for the Straight From The Hip! It's free! If a politician knows that he needs to generate one business deal a month for his businessmen friend - on which he gets a nice cut - why should he worry about the voters and the people? When the next election comes, all the policitian needs to do is bribe the voters with a few gifts - which the corruption money can easily buy. The political system is not judged based on what they have "delivered" to the voters every day over their 5 year tenure. They are judged on the spoils they share with their henchmen and the voters in election month. And they are willing - like an efficient prostitute - to sell their bodies to the highest bidders: many times a day. Let’s take the example of this clamour to protect India’s coast line. In 1993, argue those on TV, boats were used to transport RDX that were used in the Bombay blasts. Yet - we are told by these indignant businessmen on the various TV channels - 15 years later there is nothing done to protect India’s coast line. But India does have a law about its coastline. It says that there can be no construction within 500 metres of the sea. The law may not be a good law and it is disliked by many - but it is a law. Drive along the coast of western India and see how many homes and buildings are within this 500 metre zone? The ones that were constructed after the law came into force stand aloof because things have been "taken care of". Your willingness to pay a bribe to break the law, has given the administrator the opportunity to set up a parallel business with its own parallel economy. When a college issues a fake identity card, it is because - somewhere in the system - there was a breakdown. Maybe some rich son’s kid wanted to go to a bar even before he reached the legal age limit. No problem, he works the system. He hears about how the father works the system every night at home over dinner. Of course, somewhere down the line a fake college identity card may be sold to a terrorist trying to blow up a hotel in South Bombay. There are rules in Bombay about the time that bars and clubs must close. Like the coastal zone rule, it is disliked. But it is a law. Drive around at night in Bombay and you will see bars open till later than what the law states. Things have been taken care of. The law enforcer has been bought. If the enforcer can be paid to look the other way to keep a bar open beyond legal times, how much would it cost to look the other way as a van or truck winds its way down the roads of South Bombay? Is the enforcer going to ask: do you have Ak-47’s and grenades in there? Does the enforcer ask the bar owner: do you declare your earnings to the tax department or do you serve hooch or foreign liquor? The Special Economic Zones and the large real estate development projects? Were they policies built on a transparent process? Or were these another way of those with good connections getting what they want? Helping people break the law - or create laws that help a few - has become the major focus of many politicians and administrators in modern India: they get paid well for it. Bribing the enforcers of law has become our birthright. We are Indian. So, if you really want India to get on the right track: stop paying bribes. In fact, if someone asks you for a bribe send a letter to the editor of all major newspapers in the country naming that person, why they wanted the bribe, and how much they wanted. And, yes, if the TV channels had to get an honest declaration of "I have never paid a bribe" from people they invited on their shows, there would be a different breed of panellists on the talk shows. Marginalise the politicians, not the political process There have been many suggestions made by others that sound pretty good:
But even though we know the raging response this time around stems from the fact that the island city of South Bombay is now officially a part of India, the fact is that there is anger. And anger, channelled with calm thought, can lead to wonderful change. We need to recognise that terrorism is not going to disappear.But one can lessen the impact by: "Enough is enough" said NDTV and the hundreds of people they spoke to. These are symbols of what we stand for...I walked through this hotel just to feel good...and I will be more than happy to help... If the politicians were to come here today, they would be killed We are a lawless people; we have no respect for the law. And my favourite: You cannot eradicate terrorism, but we can defeat it by continuing to live life normally. And we can help remove the reasons for home-grown or foreign terrorism by eliminating corruption and weeding out the politicians who have debased the political process.
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