By Brig Neil John
Terrorism and the context in the case of the Indo Pak strategic geo political conundrum is complex. What makes it different is that it’s not about ideologies or ancestral land theories. It’s about two nations that were carved out of one. It’s about the existence of the Pakistani military and mostly about a geo strategic game play by the Chinese. Let the Pakis keep the Indians occupied, allowing China to concentrate on their 2049 mighty military dream, in competition with the United States. Creation of Bangladesh and Kashmir as a revenge factor also has a part. The ever ready to blame reasoning is Islam. We have pockets in the Indian mainland who practice radical Islam and take it to militant levels far more than Kashmir (North Kerala, North Karnataka, UP, Assam, West Rajasthan).
The analogy of bleeding with a thousand cuts, was well thought of. It worked. We have the heaviest deployment in J&K even when we constantly keep tom tomming that China is our main adversary. Incidents with China are enormous, but the comparative media content minimal. While any incident with Pakistan is all over the news and plays to the emotional quotient of every patriotic Indian. It’s not about Hindutva khatre mein hai, like every left winger wants it to become. We have this consistency today to blame everything on religion. Decrying the ills and historical aspects that we call facts. Islam was propagated in India by the sword no doubts, but that’s a long time back. Today we have approximately 22% of Indian population that is Muslim. Worst comes to worse even if you want to put them in ships and send them somewhere? Ask yourself, where? If you want to ostracise and isolate them, please also tell me how? If you constantly create fear and push one society towards the wall, caging them, all you are doing is creating angst, that’s a tool for easy exploitation.
Pakistani terrorism is the least of our worries. What is more likely to create horror is the terrorism, that we are forcing a community to practice, due to our ill perceived threat. The ingrown and the natural born terrorists. The propagators and the responders both.
Indian politics is marred with exploitation of religion, the unemployed and the illiterate. But lately the literate are also falling to these narratives. Look around you, in the military too, so much anti religious bias. The exploiters would like you to believe that the country’s failings lies in one community and religion. It is for us to ask them then to help heal that void and set the fault line right, instead of further dismembering the nation by propagating a criminal narrative.
In the military zone, why do terrorist acts happen? It happens when the men operating in these terrorism prone zones become callous. When the peace seems lasting and is taken for granted. When we start doing sadbhaavna as priority over military operations. While intelligence gaining becomes only the RP havildars job. When military men start talking politics.
We need to put in measures in India fast. We need Education programmes, compulsory social and military services, closing of all religious schools, one syllabus, uniform civil code, one law for all, two children norm, compulsory education, no foreign styles of indoctrination, compulsory education on nationalism, no subsidies and no caste based vacancies. We can do a lot. There was a time when Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai lived together and proclaimed bhai bhai, what happened? Do we want to lose the uniqueness of India and the beautiful democracy that was individualistic to all of us.
A terrorist like they say, is a freedom fighter for some. Pakistani based terrorists will be easily neutralised, what about the home grown ones?
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