And yet another loss at the hands of what may perhaps be the most imminent threat to the global amity, what we refer to as 'terrorism', but what a fierceful minority refers to as 'jihad'. Yesterday, yet again this minority proved to the whole world that no matter what the political demagogues across the globe are conferencing about, these cold-hearted warm blooded animals will soon be writing laws and 'constitutions' for the fastest growing religion in the world, which already has a fifth of the population in its arms. Never before in Pakistan sports history has such a despicable act taken place like yesterday. Shocking! but though not surprising. So I think about the attack on Lankan sportsmen. And then I think about the Mumbai attacks. Hostages held at gunpoint in Taj and Oberoi Trident, later shot to death. Then somehow, no clue how, the first thought that strikes me is the ominous September of 1972, Munich.
However absurd it might appear to most of the readers, I still could'nt overlook the striking similarities between these two recent events combined and the Munich masaccre. Perhaps my thoughts are reinforced by the biggest dissimilarity, ironically, which I will mention below.
11 Israelis were slaughtered while the Olympic games were still on on the other side of the village housing the ill-fated players. 7 shot to death. 4 shot and incinerated in a helicopter blown up by a hand granade. Among those murdered was Moshe Weinberg, the wrestling coach. The Black September group put forward a few demands. When the German officials tried to negotiate with them, in a hope to mellow down their flamboyant wishes, the hostage-takers threw the deadbody of Weinberg out of the door, to demonstrate their peremptoriness. Israel's response was immediate and absolute: there will be no negotiation.
Not even a week had passed, on 9th September, Israeli planes bombed Palestinian targets in Libya and Lebanon. But that was just the beginning. It took Israel nearly 20 years to seek their vengeance, when in 1992, the Head of Intelligence of PLO was brutally assassinated in Paris. And even today Israel has maintained its policies, rigid though highly criticized, but lets not forget, the only Jewish nation surrounded by the most chaotic Arabic states has made its statement to the world: quid pro quo.
But I wonder will our prime minister and defence minister ever orchestrate a secret strategy to eliminate those 10 gunmen who defied all laws in Mumbai and now Lahore like Golda Meir, the then Prime Minister of Isreal did?. Is our government ready to face criticisms for secretly tracking down and killing those allegedly responsible for these attacks like Israel has been facing for past decades? Is our government capable enough to launch an operation similar to Israel's immediate response 'Operation Wrath of God' and 'Operation Spring of Youth'? However desperately we might want an affirmative response, it will nevertheless end in a sarkari 'NO'. Instead, our officials are adept in holding press conferences and blabbing out those cliched statements 'We will bring them to justice'. Inspite of having complete profiles of those accused, we hand over the dossier to the whole world and wait for their responses. Its like when a kid is slapped by a bully, he cries, complains to his mommy and spends time searching for reasons and alibis to consolidate the allegation. As he is not equipped enough to meet the bully with equal force, he waits and waits with no self respect, untill finally one moment, he is given a candy and he forgets the whole story. The 'candy' here being anything like Slumdog Millionaire's Oscar streak, after which the media and the parties forget the grave tasks ahead of us and then India again becomes a 'great nation'.
Even today, Israel is in bad books of the human right activists and the UNO. They still have pending cases against them in the so called 'International court'. But they have always proved that nothing is strong enough to destabalize their national intergrity and no force however ferocious should dare to spill their children's blood, or it will be met with heavy and brutal force. I wondered if our reputed policy makers will ever learn something from what Bill Gates refered to as the world's high tech superpower, Israel. But then all the wrath and hope for a reprisal was vanquished when I realised the very essence of our doctrine. I just remembered that we offer our right cheek in return to a slap on left.
Finally, its best to simply quote General Aharon Yariv, the general overseer of the secret operation of Israel, who said that they had no other option but to exact justice.
"We had no choice. We had to make them stop, and there was no other way… we are not very proud about it. But it was question of sheer necessity. We went back to the old biblical rule of an eye for an eye… I approach these problems not from a moral point of view, but, hard as it may sound, from a cost-benefit point of view. If I’m very hard-headed, I can say, what is the political benefit in killing this person? Will it bring us nearer to peace? Will it bring us nearer to an understanding with the Palestinians or not? In most cases I don’t think it will. But in the case of Black September we had no other choice and it worked. Is it morally acceptable? One can debate that question. Is it politically vital? It was."
I wonder how many options we have that we are just 'talking' about it.
12 comments:
In all this talk of reprisal and an eye for an eye.. one must not forget the virtues of democracy... of the power of negotiation... no peace is everlasting in the shadow of violence and revenge... Israel has been and still is in the throes of constant terror and if you go deeper into the history, i would say recent history and not pre historic one, of creation of Israel, division of Palestine, you would begin to understand the immense hatred that lurks in everybody's hearts... its not so plain and simple, there are moneybags, lobbyists, power, politics everywhere...
yes thats true...I am very well aware of the historical reasons for the jew-arab fallout..but the same hatred lurks in our hearts too..and infact the same reasons exist here too...the 1947 UN partition plan rejected by Arabs was very much similar to India-Pakistan partition, in the crux.. virtues of democracy have lead us nowhere and more than 50 years have passed, we are still a developing nation....nd if this continues we will never become a superpower..every nation be it America, the UK or Israel, has traded off a few virtues of democracy for their motherland's dignity....power of negotiation failed there also every time someone took the initiative be it US or Egypt or ne other nation...it fails here also...nd the reason is precisely as u put it...moneybags,lobbyists,power nd politics...
I somehow agree to ideas in this blog, though not completely. History has been proof how nations who are called callous and condemned all the times (read the US) have dominated the world scene. And what has democracy given us, other than chameleon Amar Singhs, attention seeking Raj Thackerays, and worthless Muthaliks. What has been Pranab Mukherjee doing this while. He has been trying to convince nations that it was Pakistan at fault. Who does not know that???? The need of the moment is to nail the enemy, not try to get the world agree to you. It wont be long when Talibanis would knock our doors and many more 26/11's would follow. Flaunting is not that bad anyway. And given that it would give an indication that we are strong too, nothing could be more appropriate. But yes then comes the issue of violence which has to be thought about. A good idea would be to deploy those who are eager to show off their capabilities, the Ram Senas, Shiv Senas, Narayan Senas etc. We do have abundance of youth who cannot contribute to GDP, growth or economy on a whole. But there is muscle power. So we can continue to be diplomatic (everybody is) and still use our henchmen to destroy enemies. There is absolutely no mistake in doing so.
hey faddu! Good blog man! i really do resonate with your thoughts on this issue here. With all the international condemnation on Israel with its strikes on Gaza, it still continues to do so to protect its national integrity. Rather than urge a sudden orgy of nationalism, we should do this to protect our own. We should support Sri Lanka on this issue and hunt down the perpretrators of these heinous crimes. A line from V for Vendetta comes to mind.."The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous"
To start I find the analogy with a bullied child the most apt way of describing the situation. While we be maybe the nation of tolerance and ahimsa (as laid down by u kno who), but that has led us no where. Our relations with Pakistan are at the worst heights ever. And still our government is more bothered about adopting 'Jai Ho' as an election anthem.
Dhoni might have made a statement that we are lucky not to be there and it is very unfortunate,it is wrong to say this, but I wish the Indian team was the one attacked in Pakistan. In a nation where cricket is religion would the government try to build another dossier to send to the leaders of the world?
@Zander..
hhehe true man...wish this had happened...would burn their asses off...but the only change perhaps visible would be breaking news channels earning crores of rs. in profit. Another dossier being prepared and distributed across 150countries waiting for their response..while PM licking his thumb and watching..
"We had no choice. We had to make them stop, and there was no other way… we are not very proud about it. But it was question of sheer necessity. We went back to the old biblical rule of an eye for an eye…"
Jew general quoting BIBLE ??!!
Nice blog faddu bhaiya. I believe the idea of covert operation would have been discussed, might even be already underway. As of outer display of military strength, the situation in middle east and here is a lot different. Iran and PLO haven't got a nuclear weapon yet... once they do, there is every reason to believe Israel would only be too willing to sound all diplomatic and flexible..
@Sparrow
Agreed man but can u say that they will get all diplomatic just on the basis of availability of nuclear weapons with their neighbours? Perhaps a sound reasoning but that implies that India would have attacked Pakistan had she not been a nuclear power..but here my point was that our policies will never allow an eye for an eye reprisal..secondly, its about doing rather than talking which persists in India..thanks for your comments though :-)
PS: there is Hebrew bible and jew very much follow it.
Very very true.... the ineptness of the government makes your heart wrench with anger and shame. Will there ever be a change?
well...
first of all india is not israel..india cannot undertake an act of external aggression(war on pakistan) if that will weaken her internally...we have the second largest muslim population...not to mention an attack on palestine caused unprecedented drama on the streets of srinagar..even surgical strikes in POK will weaken the indian unity considerably..so in my opinion u cannot bomb like the israelis did...
i agree with u that we should have launched covert operations..our RAW is capable of doing much more than wht ur blogs boasts about the MOSSAD...RAW is directly under PMO and well u need political will for tht..political will ceases as the elections near..i might be bold enough to say that the mumbai attackers utilized the election issue for timing the attack to perfection...i sincerely feel that the recent instabilities in NWFP of pakistan area do have an indian hand..also pakistan has been completely isolated in the international community because of tough diplomacy..remember the PM has been making statements that India will go to any extent for fighting terrorism repeatedly..tht indicates a lot of things..
well the israelis are fighting for their very existence...so it calls for unprecedented methods..we are fighitng cowards,to say the least..cowards who brainwash a few and use them for their nefarious agendas..so in a sense the whole of the neighbouring country is not our enemy..those few responsible should be eliminated by covert operations or tough diplomacy..
like u i also feel tht our RAW should be given a free hand for dealing with pakistan..but tht simply is not the case..u need political will and also indian muslim support...otherwise u may be two wars ..one on the borders and other on the home front in the form of riots...
Nice post.. Though its not a new rationale..
1> The government doesn't want to appease a few young educated people like us who dont even bother voting in the elections... They would rather concentrate on their entire vote-bank and mass-appeasement policies which will keep them in power...
2> None of today's politicians have the aura about them to carry out such a plan AND be able to come out of it untarnished .. And the later is all that does matter to any politician to stay in the game..
Also, I cant see why the US reaction is considered a "benchmark" in such terms...
1>They were guilty of devastating an entire country because 1000 people died in two buildings in NYC.. Im sure atleast 10 times that number have died in India in the past decade in terrorism related acts..
2> They totally ruined Iraq on the still unproiven suspicion of possessing "biological weapons of mass destruction"..
People question Israel but why does no one question these acts?
RAW should be given free hand : agreed.
RAW is stronger than MOSSAD : Disagreed.
You are probably not aware the MOSSAD is technically one of the most sound intelligence agencies( one of the, not the most)across the globe. And the lack of a structural rigidity and determination in RAW is apparent by the fact that 2 senior most officials of RAW resigned soon after the attacks.
Indian muslims are against India: Disagreed.
Although it started with religion, but ultimately it has boiled down to nationalism. Today there are millions of muslims in our desi streeets who cheer for India against Pak in a cricket match, who condemn the Mumbai attacks, who have developed a hatred for those who have misinterpreted Quran and are playing bomb and bullet hiding under the cover of religious doctrines.
Just yesterday every news channel was showing Pakistani youths condemning the blasts and the attack. So its not about attacking Pakistan. No. Its about attacking those miscreants, who are undoubtedly sheltered in Pakistan.
So I dont think we will have a backfiring from Indian muslims( there might be such a group, but I dont think that outcasts the huge muslim population who favours India not muslims )
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