Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Vote For Change - Terrorism in India

India was introduced to terrorism in three forms. Terrorism from north-east has been a result of frustration in educated youth and poor development. The problem has not been addressed till now, only attempt was made by setting up north east developmental council. As much I get to hear from my friends from that region, nothing substantial is visible on ground. It can be noted that terror in north-east is predominantly regional and not religious. Terrorism from Punjab was an offshoot of a political move by a prominent political party to tame growth of Akalis in post emergency era. Though seeds were sown many years ago, but they failed every time as Sikhs could not accept alienation from nation. This movement died quickly as Sikhs as community remain committed to national cause. Some sporadic incidents (mostly comments) may happen, but they are of no major significance. Now we come to third and most potent form and that is from J&K. It is interesting how this was dormant for many years. Again frustrated youth from J&K initially supported militancy. I remember an article in late seventies that described how money meant for development ended up with ten prominent families of J&K and no prize for guessing that they were all political families. Terrorism from Kashmir soon acquired serious proportions, thanks to support from across the border and its close association with a particular religion that gave it the name of Jihad. Our political leaders have not helped because they continue to alienate one community to nurture their vote banks. This community is repeatedly told how insecure they are, yet none take any affirmative action (no I am not talking of reservation here) to bring this community in main stream. Some will be surprised that it was NDA government that encouraged education in madrasas at par with other schools so that students from Madarsas could compete at level ground, and I know several embraced the idea, yet, a large chunk of politicians projected it as attack on their culture (wake-up across world Muslims learn technology and do well) and made the community more insecure. Primarily you cannot term terrorist attack during a regime as reason to claim inefficiency of government. You must consider the response. Now consider this
1) what was the response of Akshardham attack, can you recollect any other major attack in Gujarat, yes there were several attempts. What Modi government did well was it nipped it in the bud. Major crackdown on crime is one such initiative.
2) You must agree that terrorism has to be supported by criminals, be it Dawood or Chhota shakeel; they use their network and people. For long time security agencies have been screaming hoarse about growing threat from illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Can you recollect any action taken by this government?
3) Can you buy a Kolkata SIM in Pakistan, I guess no. What is UPA government response to Taj Attack – handiwork of Pakistan. Come on... our security is not Zardari's responsibility, and if you ask security experts they would tell you that such attacks cannot be executed without local support that most certainly came from gangs operating in Mumbai. Blaming on Pakistan can never absolve you of your responsibility; you may also compare this to parliament attack response from NDA government. NDA government was quick to work on local links of attackers along with taking it up strongly with Pakistan and other countries.
UPA government's failure in handling aftermath of Taj is clearly demonstrated how India failed to garner support from international community. By blaming everything on Pakistan, they also made sure that terrorists local links remain un-investigated. This can only lead to bigger problem at a later date. Is UPA government willing to take the responsibility???

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