" LET'S LEARN FROM ISRAEL "- MUMBAI TERROR ATTACK

The way terrorists have once again been successful in inflicting tyranny of terror at the heart of India's financial capital-Mumbai on November 26 onwards for over more than 60 hours, with impunity has once again shows the moribund state of our intelligence networks that fails again and again in predicting such premeditated terror attacks, yes once again and three cheers for it!! These phrases of "once again" as either prefix or suffix have become an endless affair.

After every such terror attacks also comes volleys of condemnations, sympathy, calling for maintaining communal harmony and above all once again trumpeting the resilience of Mumbaikars and then happily going to their respective safe cocoons for a deep slumber till another spate of terror attacks rocks some other parts of India. This lame duck UPA Government suffers from a strange Chamberlainian paradox whose appeasement policy towards Hitler's Nazi Germany was severely criticized by Churchill thus, "The Government cannot make up their minds and go on in strange paradox, and so they decide only to be undecided, resolve only to be irresolute, are adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful only to be impotent!" This has become an unbreakable vicious cycle. Once again the talk of having a Federal Investigating Agency and talk of strengthening intelligence agencies will do the rounds and the terror stricken nation will have another "100 days of finishing terrorism" as lollypop while the Government will sing all those rhetorical tones as sweet lullaby to put the Nation to sleep. Nation must sleep; otherwise another common man will rise to take law into his or her hand to eliminate these terrorists as he or she-I or you will naturally do when dirty cockroaches sneak into our kitchens. Terrorists and their terrorism have become like these endless breed of cockroaches, challenging our freedom in our kitchens as these mindless armed breeds do, challenging the might of the Indian State . They, the anonymous terrorists, are relishing their joy of reducing the omnipotence of the Indian State into sheer impotence, once again , by now. What are we waiting for or are we waiting for a "Wednesday" (as syndrome) to descend upon from reel life to real life with thousands of still potent aam admis armed with hit sprays to finish these bloody cockroaches once for all-for their security's sake, for the sake of freedom of their families, children's et al will hit the streets across India. Anarchy will engulf India , because if the Government blinded by its political expediencies fails to protect its citizens, then citizens-the aam janta will decide to protect themselves and the State will be compelled to show the same knee-jerk reaction to it as it has been doing so since time immemorial in fighting terrorism-the enemy of our freedom.


Let's learn from Israel , how they have managed to not just survive but flourished even with inheriting a rocky barren terrain as homeland and at the top of it being surrounded by hostile neighbours who pose as existential threat to this tiny Jewish Nation. They can, because they know how to deal with scores of enemies of Israel across the world. Their formula is simple- not an eye for an eye but both eyes for losing one eye, not tooth for tooth but the whole jaw for it. Israeli counter-terrorism responses have always created its desired results, which is to terrorize the very terrorists. Instead of the bloody hordes of terrorists, it is the Israeli retaliation that let loose a reign of terror in the hearts and minds of the terrorists. The terrorists, no matter how strong they are, always get the right message from Israel- "Don't mess with the Jews". The way they manage their borders and internal security is highly commendable and one can write a hundreds of pages, if not books or articles, on it. Every Jew is proud of their Nation, because they know like them it also cares about its brave citizens, not through tough talk but through tough action and that's why it invites awe, not pity, from others-even from its staunchest critics. In this hour of crisis, just one single statement from David Ben Gurion, Founding Father and first PM of Israel can act magic in raising the morale of all the nationalistic Indians of this great Nation soar high. He said to Ariel Sharon, former Defence Minister and later PM of Israel just before his death which has gone on records as the greatest Jewish anecdote ever- "Let me first tell you one thing: it doesn't matter what the world says about Israel, it doesn't matter what they say about us anywhere else. The only thing that matters is that we can exist here on the land of our forefathers. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won't survive." The message for all of patriotic Indian citizens and its Government, irrespective of its political colour, is clear- mere words as platitudes won't do; only tough actions will do the talking. If we still fail to act, in spite of these entire bloodbaths as our own 9/11, we are heading for becoming another failed state worst than even cancerous Pakistan , i.e. Somalia , for sure. Posterity will, then, surely mark all of us as impotent Indians of a sterile Nation- India . That will be our worst nightmare becoming reality. Let's show the world that the potency of this 1billion plus great Nation can never be relegated to a pitiable dysfunctional impotency because the almighty Indian State will remain omnipotent. Its writ will ultimately prevail as good over evil, always as ever.

Article by Vineet Chaturvedi