Date: 7/25/2006
http://www.kashmirherald.com/online/print.php?t=O&no=158 ///////// OPINION ///// Posted on: July 19, 2006 /////// War The Only Option ////////// LALIT KOUL /////////// Deja vu all over again. A new day. A new massacre. But how do we, as a nation and as individuals, react to such horrendous terrorist acts? We get hit, we fall down, we get hurt, we get up, we brush off the dust, we nurse our wounds and we move on. We proclaim that no terrorist act in the world can cow us down. We feel proud that we are resilient and thus capable of recovering in no time. ////////// But is that enough? Is it just the physical wounds that we need to nurse? Is it just the economic wounds that we need to recover from? What about the wounds our nation is inflicted with? What about the pride of the nation? Are we as a nation going to just keep ignoring these dastardly acts of terror? Are we as a nation going to just keep moving on? And feel good about it? /////////// Like millions of Indians, I too anxiously waited to hear what Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh would have to say to the citizens of his country. I was hoping for the words of assurance from him that his government will leave no stone unturned in bringing justice to the terrorists who were involved in the latest Mumbai bombings. I was hoping that for once the Prime Minister would stand up for India's security. I was hoping that Dr. Singh would finally live up to the oath of office he took at the time of taking over the office of PM. I was hoping that for once the government of India will wake up and focus its energies on the root cause of the terrorist activities in India. But alas, I was hoping too much. ////////// More than 200 innocent Indians get killed in a time span of 11 minutes and what does our Prime Minister tell the citizenry? Very little. And of absolutely no substance. //////////// "Let me say, no one can make India kneel. No one can come in the path of our progress. The wheels of our economy will move on. India will continue to walk tall, and with confidenc.I urge each one of you to remain calm. We will win this war against terror. Nothing will break our resolve." ///////// Thus spoke the Prime Minister of a country whose citizenry have been repeatedly subjected to Islamic terrorism for the last two decades. Every time, Islamic terrorists strike in India and kill innocents Indians, Indian PMs have asked its citizens to remain calm. And it is OK to ask the citizens to remain calm. But does that mean that the government of India too has to remain still? What about the government's responsibility to protect the country's sovereignty and its citizens? ////////////// Here is a brief reminder of some of the major Islamic terrorist onslaughts on India and its citizens: ////////// March 1993: Islamic terrorists carried out multiple bombings in Bombay, killing 257 innocent Indian citizens and wounding more than 1,500. ////////// December 2001: Islamic terrorists attacked India's Parliament in New Delhi, leaving 14 innocent Indian citizens dead. ////////// September 2002: Islamic terrorists attacked Akshardham temple in Gujarat, killing 31 innocent Indian citizens. /////////// March 2003: Islamic terrorists exploded a bomb on a passenger train in Bombay, killing 10 innocent Indian citizens. //////////// August 2003: Two taxis packed with explosives were blown up near Gateway of India in Mumbai, by Islamic Terrorists, killing 52 innocent Indian citizens and wounding more than 100. //////////// October 2005: A day before Diwali, Islamic terrorists exploded three bombs in Delhi's busy markets killing 62 innocent Indian citizens and wounding hundreds. /////////// March 2006: Islamic terrorists conducted two bombings at a train station and a temple in the holy city of Varanasi killing 20 innocent Indian citizens. /////////// July 11, 2006: Islamic terrorists triggered eight bombings on Mumbai trains killing more than 200 innocent Indian citizens and injuring hundreds more. ////////// So even after all these terrorist attacks, the government of India is staying calm and going through its ritual motions of issuing press statements of condemnation. Time for just talk is long over. It is time to disrupt this endless cycle of violence and take the war to the enemy's camp. Yes, you are right. I am referring to the failed state of Pakistan that has been sponsoring the Islamic terrorism for many many years. //////////// The government of India has to take the final and decisive step of declaring the war on terror and that war starts and ends in the fields of Pakistan. Resolute force needs to be implemented to blow up those fields where the Islamic terrorist training camps are still operational with complete support from Pakistani government. Just dusting off the shrapnel from our bodies and carrying on with the daily economic activity is not enough to keep the country together and safe. It needs focused, determined and decisive leadership that will implement the policies and strategies to protect the sovereignty of our great country. ////////// India needs to stop pretending as if nothing is wrong with the peace process with Pakistan. Peace process with Pakistan does not exist and even if it exists on paper, it is useless. One cannot go on having peace talks with Pakistan while Islamic terrorists use the land of same Pakistan to get arms training and then cross over to India to wreak havoc. Pakistan needs to be told in clear cut terms that everything is off the plate now and we are going to pursue the terrorists wherever they are. Whether it is Maulana Masood Azhar or Hafeez Sayed or Sallahudin, India shall engage in hot pursuit and not stop until these terrorists are caught dead or alive. Like Israel, India needs to cross the border and bombard the hell out of terrorist training camps in Pak-Occupied-Kashmir and other places within Pakistan. Picking up few clues from Israel, India needs to selectively take out the terrorists masters by whatever means and irrespective of where they are located. India has a right to defend itself and its citizens and in that process she shall go wherever the terrorists are and hand-deliver the justice to them. ////////// Pakistani Foreign Minister Kasuri's words of linking the Mumbai bombings with Kashmir issue unashamedly expose the nexus between Islamic terrorists and Pakistani government. Islamic terrorist acts all over the world during past few years have exposed the disingenuousness of Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf's claims of supporting the war on terror. //////////// Whether it is the Islamic terrorist act inflicted upon India or Indonesia or England or Spain or America, one fact that has been consistently common in all those acts of terror is the connection terrorists had with Pakistan, All of them have undergone terrorist training in Pakistan. ////////// How many more innocent lives we need to cremate on a mass cremation ground before the spirit of nationalism emerges in our souls? What else should happen to make our blood boil and not demand the ultimate action of war from Indian government? ///////////// My fellow Indians, please stand up for what is just and what is the absolute need of the hour. Please talk to your local and national representatives and demand action from them. We all live in a democracy and in democracy peoples voice is the ultimate voice. It is time we speak up and speak up loud and clear so that our motherland India survives for us as well as for our future generations. ///////// Are we ready? ///////////// © 2001-2010 Kashmir Herald. All Rights Reserved www.kashmirherald.com 000000000
[_private/ftarc.htm]