Nostalgia for olden days keeps growing although we know that we are living in an age when life could not have been more comfortable, that is if you are reading a few popular books that say so or you have absorbed the Ikigai philosophy and know “a reason for being.”Take for instance Steven Pinker, the Professor of Psychology of Harvard University, who thinks the world is growing less violent.
But then he does not live in this part of the globe where a 70-year-old rivalry seems never ending - akin in scale to that of the Arabs and the Israelis.
There is never going to be a let-up in terror masterminded from across the border in Pakistan. Whatever the world may say about that state, it has been known for long enough that Pakistan is a rogue nation that uses terror as an instrument of state policy. Of course, the bomb blasts and the guns are directed at themselves more as internecine conflicts rage in a country which has never had too clear an idea of what constitutes civilisation.
Pulwama of 2019 has left a scar that may never heal. The sight of bodies in caskets draped with the national flag was too cruel a sight for anyone to stomach. These braves are the ones without the wherewithal to fight such guerilla tactics in fidayeen attacks. The loss of lives is never going to abate.
There will only be intervals as radicalised Valley kids learn the ropes of spreading terror even as their will power to meet their maker early hardens with levels of indoctrination being stepped up all the time.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad is the deadliest group operating in the region even if it has been banned, on paper at least for the last 17 years. We know the background of the Kandahar hijack drama from which emerged the one prisoner in India who has become the world’s biggest ogre and who is considered beyond reproach by China. But such is the geopolitics of the region that Pakistan will be pampered by countries near and far on the premise that it is the bulwark state standing between Afghanistan, where they are still fighting the ‘forgotten war’ and the eastern world.
The only positive that Pulwama may have achieved is it has united India, at least until the bodies are tended to in last rites. And then the political war over the elections may emerge again. But until then India stands united in its grief as well as in its resolve to avenge the deaths of close to 50 bravehearts whose trip from Jammu to Kashmir was their last one. We will forever regret not having closed the roads for the CRPF convoy but that is an afterthought. In any case, who knows where the suicide bomber would have found a way to come through and ram a truck in the convoy.
The reality of Kashmir of today is too many youngsters have been swayed to think abnormally. The avowed recent trigger is said to be the killing of Wani, a hero figure when so young and just for being a symbol of a fight against India. That kind of hero worship can trip the young into a war they can never win. The State will prevail even if it takes the hits. The pity is this will always be the new normal with a fractious Valley troubling the nation, regardless of who runs Kashmir, be it the Centre or those the Kashmiris elect as their leaders.
The road ahead is going to be a difficult one as the realisation dawns on everyone that violence only begets more violence. A strike across the border in the rogue state of Pakistan may bring temporary relief for a united India even though it is said that revenge is best served cold and not in haste when consumed by the flash of anger and outrage. A mature approach would be to await the perfect opportunity. The region won’t change as Afghanistan remains a battle zone and Pakistan a haven for terrorists wishing to cross for some R&R.
The price we pay for our freedom may be high. Most of the world may sympathise with us at this tragic moment. But, as each new day breaks, this is our fight against terrorism that has to be fought by us. An eternal vigil, sharper intelligence about homegrown terrorists like Adil Ahmed Dar and well-planned
counterterror and counterinsurgency operations in our home land would constitute the best way to keep ourselves secure from Islamist terrorists, whether they are crossing over clandestinely from across the border or are from the youth growing up in our India.
Islamist terror may be much like terror of other varieties like that of the ideologically indoctrinated Maoists. It is, however, our greatest challenge. Let’s resolve to stand up to it in every way we can. We must often remind ourselves that this is our fight and must continue to battle on for the sake of humanity, for civilisation.
