Turning the other cheek?

It has been fifteen years since the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, hundreds of people have lost their lives in countless terror attacks since then, and when it comes to reacting to such incidents I think we can guess exactly what the reaction from our leaders is.

Every time something like this happens, the news channels announce that the prime minister has "condemned the blasts", sometimes in the "strongest words possible". And then he goes on to "appeal for peace and calm". Yes, that ought to make the terrorists feel guilty and ashamed of themselves and will probably make them walk to the nearest police station and turn themselves in. I guess that is the PM's general expectation from these terrorists who seem to be able to strike whenever and wherever they wish! And as if to strengthen the people's faith in the government, the home minister adds that these acts are committed by those who wish to "disturb the communal peace and harmony in the country" and that these people are cowards 'jo chup ke vaar karte hain'.

But hello, is that enough? From where I see it, these "cowards" are winning hands down. As I write this, I'm watching a news programme on NDTV, and they're showing the home minister Shivraj Patil's reactions to the countless blasts that have shaken the country for the last few months. Amid a host of cameramen, microphones, cameras and mobile phones, he screams out to the country, "We will find those responsible, we must take all possible measures to ensure that the people responsible for this are punished as per the law and that such incidents do not happen in the future!" And needless to say, he would invariably have done nothing but "condemn the blasts".

They're also pointing out that after the last terror attack in Delhi, the govt had installed CCTV cameras in many sensitive and crowded areas of the city. In fact, some of the areas where the bombs went of yesterday were covered by these cameras, and they could provide crucial evidence for an investigaton into these blasts. But as it turns out, the cameras don't work! They are just mounted on some pole or the other and are just there, benignly pretending to watch over everyone. After all these years of apparently fighting terrorism, we lack in even basic precautions like this!

I also came across a statement made by our PM in today's paper, where he mentions that prevention of terrorism is now the government's first priority. I mean, really, our people have been dying in bomb blasts throughout the country for so many years, even places that have so far been known to be peaceful like Bangalore for instance have been attacked, and that was over two months ago, and they've put terrorism on top priority only now? And for how long will it remain a top priority, I wonder. Perhaps until the next blast takes place and claims another fifty lives. (Then of course, the PM will condemn those blasts, appeal for peace, and the home minister will say that these people are cowards and must be brought to justice).

Well, occasionally we do hear about the two or three terrorists who have been gunned down over a hostage crisis, where a few civilians also lose their lives. But the real threat still roams around among us, they continue to run free, and the rest of the citizens continue to be sitting ducks. A bomb might just explode in the multiplex you have gone to watch a movie. Or a mall, or under a seat in a bus or local train, or as in the latest case, in a dustbin in a market. True, who is going ot go about checking dustbins every day to check for bombs? But something needs to be done. We are obviously at war with these terrorists, and if we can't smoke them out we a least need to make sure that we take precautions all the time. It could help to have a bomb squad constanly on the alert, making a quick scan of sensitive places like markets, malls and so on every two to three hours. It may not sound feasible but the other option is to start scanning the markets for bombs after five of them have already gone off and killed 20 people! (which is what happened yesterday too)

But it would help to see some change in security measures. When i walk into gold adlabs in pune, this security wala holds a metal detector to my shirt pocket and then tells me to go ahead. Really, he might as well go home and do his thing, what is the point in hanging about and doing something SO important with such utter callousness? There needs to be a blast somewhere in the country which kills a lot of people to make us aware that we need security; there will be stringent security measures in place for the next five days, and then "the city will limp back to normalcy". Basically, after these five days, we are sitting ducks again!

For God sake, the National Parliament was attacked by terrorists, and all that our leaders did was "condemn" the attacks! Which is as good as turning the other cheek. As good as saying "You attacked my parliament. Here, attack the India gate too. "