Army establishments.
National monuments.
Political figures.
These were the original terrorist targets.
But this didn't instill fear in the common man, so they started attacking places of worship, railway stations, cinemas, random marketplaces.
And then, they chose to attack a scientific establishment.
CNN IBN reported: An armed intruder opened fire at the Indian Institute of Science premises in Bangalore on December, 2005, killing former professor of IIT Delhi MC Puri and injuring four others. Intelligence sources said the attack might be linked to Abu Salem's presence in the city that time.
The intruder, came in an Ambassador car around 1845 hrs (IST) and started firing indiscriminately near the Tata Auditorium where a seminar, International Conference on Management Studies was being held. Professor Puri was among the 250 professors attending the seminar.
A symbolic target? Or just a soft and easy one. A kid who's just passed the KG level in terrorist training can be entrusted a rifle and let loose on such a campus. A campus where brain is at a much higher premium than brawn.
I mean, sure, there would have been some routine security checks at the gate but who seriously believed that a bunch of scientists gathered to discuss string theory or particle physics could be of interest to the Lashkar-e-Toiba?
Laymen envision all scientists as variations of Einstein. Unfortunately not all scientists are that photogenic - most look rather ordinary, and could have been working in State Bank of India except they dress shabbier and attend office on Sundays of their own free will.
Well, at least that's how scientists are. Which is also why the IISc shooting was something that was to be taken note of.
And of course people as usual asked : why was there no security? But although there was talk of scientific establishments being possible targets, army-like security was a little alien to the laid back culture on these campuses.
The question is: how many soft targets can you eliminate? How hard would it be to enter an IIT tomorrow and open fire at the crowd gathered ??
A terrorist attack is a terrorist attack be it on a military establishment or an educational institute. It is despicable. Terrorism has now become an industry and it is only flourishing with time. Innocent killings have to be deplored. The terrorists try to get targets that are vulnerable as well as something that will bring to their cause publicity. Sometimes the cause itself becomes a vested interest and is perpetuated without rationale.The cost is too high in terms of innocent lives snuffed out.
But looking at other side of the picture, it is not possible and even feasible to provide high security at all places. Not all the terror attacks that takes place in our country are religious in nature. The entire militancy in North-East, the MCC, the PWG...and to some extent LTTE was driven by various ideologies nothing to do with religion. And I condemn all of them, irrespective of any great ideal or religious reasons. Every movement starts with good ideals and intentions, but if the means are wrong (i.e. resortment to violence), they nevertheless degenarate to the levels we see today and finally hurt the same group which had espoused it in the first place.
Gandhiji was right! An eye for an eye will lead to the whole world becoming blind. If we trace down the issues to the grass roots, shouldn't we step up security at the points where people can come in? (Airports, seaports, borders etc). Our corrupt officials get bribes and let in people with fake passports, illegal documents and such illegal immigrants may end up being criminals. To top it all, I fail to understand, how some people who were born and brought up in our country, get conditioned by those illegal immigrants and are ready to bomb or attack people/places in our country? Shouldn't the country welfare be put before religion?
Why only the IISC, IITs and IIMs ..this holds true for any institution imparting education in India..Imagine tomorrow terrorists barging into a primary school...what would happen..Well the consequences will only be too grave to think off..We live in a very fickle world...we dont know what happens next and where ...
It's a fact that in the near future we'll have to live with this menace called Terrorism. And many more attacks to come. Unlike US or Isreal we are still caught with the our hands tied...Must we wait till we bleed to death...
The immediate reaction is to fortify places. But how many can we fortify and for how long? The next question in the mind is "why is it happening, how can we change this?" For a country with so many religions and tolerance record, how this ugly black pit called terrorism came to stay?
Mine is not a loney voice, there are so many out there , wondering helplessly. Can't we all join together and look for solutions at the grass root level? I am sure there are ways to curb these acts of hate. Shall we all explore together?
Because life is precious. More precious than any abstract ideology. Or concrete cause. Any motherland or fatherland. Any zid, jehad or junoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment