Loss of life is tragic, and looking at the pictures of those who lost their dear ones in the Mumbai carnage the other day reminds us of the human side of this tragedy and tells us that despite being many nations, our pains are common and single.
Yet a sinister parallel between this recent carnage and the so-called hijacking of an Indian plane in 1971 cannot be ruled out. At that crucial juncture in the history of Pakistan, India used the hijacking case as a pretext for banning Pakistani flights across its airspace and this participated in the severing of the two wings of Pakistan with the active involvement of the Indian Army a little later. It is now widely believed that the so-called "hijacking" was staged by elements secretly related to the Indian agencies themselves. For refreshing your memories, you can visit The Chronicle of Pakistan.
As human beings and as citizens, it should be the responsibility of the aware Pakistanis to see that the human misery of the victims of the Mumbai carnage should not get belittled by unreasonable politicization of the issue. Aware citizens of Pakistan are naturally in the best position to take this initiative, since it is also in our "self-interest" for obvious reasons. The best way of doing this might be by speaking not only for ourselves but also for the dignity of those victims: the human dignity of the victims demands that their memories should not be bartered for petty political and regional gains.
Even before the rites could be performed over the dead bodies of those victims, strained statements have already started coming out, such as:
- 'Pakistan condemns Mumbai attacks'
- 'Coordinated nature of Mumbai shootings points to shadowy Islamist group'
Time to think fast, and to speak up. If the aware citizens of Pakistan don't start talking, no one else might.
The picture is from Reuters, and is taken from the slide show at Yahoo! News
unfortunately i didn't have time last days to see and to ponder over this tragedy but what was my first impression on the pronouncemet of some'dakkan grp' was that its not necessarily be a muslim or even dakkan people behind this. i'm not mature enough to comment about world politics much but at least i think no muslim grp no matter how fanatic it is, could be involved in such a fullish attempt when every minute act of terrorism is blammed to be done by muslims and which does nothing except an increase in the agony of the muslims. i don't know may be it sounds childish but i think this tragedy a part of the propaganda started by am and india and all their allies alike against claiming the muslims as terrorists and to bann all kinds of reliefs to them. 'cause... i don't think the world trade center tragedy also as an act of muslims...i don't know how to say but..i think this way now..not that i don't blaim all the agony we're going through has nothing to do with our own dogmatism and fanaticism. It is more than 50 or 6o even 90 percent because of our own deeds but now at this pt of time no muslim could think of aggravating his own agony by such acts. OR.. could it be so? i completely agree with ur comparison with the past event of '71.
ReplyDeleteMuzzammila, Thanks. Unfortunately the events are developing in the undesirable and undignified direction.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis is very good and I agree with most of what you wrote.I have been glued to my computer to watch this tragedy unfold in Bombay. Partly because I have relatives there. I have no words to express my disgust towards the terrorists, and sympathy for the people of Bombay, who not only suffered these atrocious events but also feel cheated by their own government's response or lack of it.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid that aftermath could be worst, if Indian government and Indian people does not respond to this crisis appropriately. Unfortunately the officials have been belligerent, as I see it. From the very beginning the official attitude was, how we blame it on Pakistan rather than, who did it, why and how. This vengeful attitude of Indian government may give them instant gratification, but nothing good will come out of this show of aggression,arrogance and animosity. Pakistan may have been involved, even though there are a lot of reasons to believe that these attacks could have come from within. But even if it could be blame on Pakistan, Indian government should approach with great caution, because it is a neighboring country after all. All of the previous wars or near wars have resulted more misery and more desperation. Yes, one can argue that the other side suffered more, and that's about it. As the cliche' goes "its much easier to break than build!" It is sad that both India/Pak looks to the west to help diffuse their crisis, I believe the solution must come from within sub-continent through negotiations.