Just as 2010 also marks:
17 years since the Bombay serial blasts,
11 years since the Kargil war,
9 years since the Parliament attack, and
hardly a few days since we heard of the latest terror strike alerts.
Oh, and this is most certainly and most unfortunately, not even an exhaustive list.
Anyone aware of the way we have approached revisiting such bitter and tragic instances would know that such dates have turned into nothing, except a time for ceremonial platitudes.
Time for dishing out the usual rhetoric on every such anniversary.
Time for talking about the 'spirit' of a Mumbai and praising the much-abused Indian patience, resolve and statesmanship.
Sorry leaders, but we can totally do away with all the useless, spineless tokenisms that you choose to vomit/spurt/blurt out, on such days with unfailing regularity and predictability.
I tried to reflect on, and list, what all has happened/changed in the last two years since 26/11/2008:
- The main conspirators hiding in Pakistan are still scot-free. Worse, we are even today, as helpless in apprehending them as we were a couple of years ago (despite all credible evidence and intelligence inputs).What has ever become of Dawood Ibrahim, for that matter, in the 17 years till date that we should expect anything better or new, now?!
- The predictably unrepentant terrorist - the captured gunman Ajmal Kasab - is still languishing in jail, having already cost the exchequer many crores.
- Home Minister P Chidambaram has, today, despite having issued thousands of pages of voluminous dossiers, yet again noted/appealed to/told (take your pick, if you find any one of them better than the other two stances) Pakistan that it has to act against the conspirators.
- India has re-re-re-re-re-re-re-issued a stern warning and re-re-re-re-re-re-re-said it is looking forward to stern action from the Pakistani authorities, and re-re-re-re-re-re-expressed its displeasure and regret over lack of enough action on the ground, despite enough incriminating evidence.
Keep looking, I say! What better can you expect of the Pakistanis? But what better have we done ourselves after just saying, saying and saying...and then expecting them to say and do what we'd like? Sure, we should just keep expecting, keep looking and keep hoping, all of us - before (God forbid!) the next one takes off. Even after that, what can happen? A new series of statements (yes, just those) of renewed, reaffirmed displeasure/regret/hope would be unveiled and there we go again.
- David Headley has been accidentally unearthed as the lynchpin of the 26/11 planning team but punishing him from our side, through our courts, stays elusive since it's unlikely he would ever get deported to India.
The only good bit is that we can act on the leads received (and to be received) from him, in advance, and use him to trace and track all his co-conspirators.
Alas, this too would be possible, only after the mercy of, permission from, and dependency on - USA's co-operation.
- A movement that looked to create a difference through public unity and an outpouring of emotions against terrorists in the immediate aftermath of 26/11 did seem to have some muscle in it but that too, has since fizzled out.
WHY and for how long should we be expected to stay content with just pledging to act, repeatedly?
Hand on heart - have we done whatever it takes and is in our capacity to act? What have we done to improve our intelligence systems and beef our security apparatus, so that we are not sitting ducks, just waiting for the next bomb to go off somewhere?
I'm not one for blindly aping the US/West/anyone but what's good and worth emulating, must not be ignored.
Did the US do anything similar in the two years since 9/11?
Sure, we are not a superpower but can't we even show our intent (if we genuinely have one, to prevail against terrorism)?
How many years has it been since 9/11? How many repeats of (forget such attacks) any subsequent attack have we seen on US soil?
It's not even about results, for God's sake. It's about genuine, persistent intent translating into concrete action.
Have we seen the same earnestness and zeal to protect its borders and citizens from the Indian leadership and security agencies, as we have seen from those in the US?
As I said, it's not even just 26/11 - there are so many other instances that have left us bruised, battered, bereaved, and grieved. What has ever become of any of them?
Which is why, it is high time our leaders acttually be proactive and ACT to do everything to bring the perpetrators to book, and do all in their might to prevent a recurrence of any terrorist misadventure - instead of just vomitting their usual, empty rhetoric on such times.
Surely, we can do much better than just being dependent on Pakistan to act - expect (action against terrorists) and then regret and re-issue a strongly worded statement especially on such occasions, re-expect and re-regret, and on and on and on.
Till then, all that the Indian public can do is to keep its famed spirits alive by humming and believing in these lines:
Kuchh baat hai ki hasti..
Mit-ti nahin hamaari,
Sadiyon raha hai dushman..
Daur-e-jahaan hamaara.
Saare Jahaan se Achchha - Hindostaan hamaara!
