The afternoon of 22 April 2025 at the scenic place of ‘Pahalgam’ in Kashmir valley and the night of 07 May 2025 barely a fortnight later shall remain singed in the mental firmament of India when terrorism in its most ghastly form and country’s equally firm resolve to uproot this human scourge was set into motion respectively. Never ever in the Indian history save medieval times, was a section of population decimated for professing a particular religion. A new face of terrorism, that existed although but was out of the thinking radars of most Indians. The tussle for supremacy of imposition of one’s ideas either by willful acceptance or forced down on the masses on the anvil of usage of arms is nothing new for the mankind.
In its broadest sense, it is the use of violence against ‘non-combatants’ to achieve either political or ideological aims. This facet of ‘terrorism’ has within its ambit a plethora of definitions, with no single definition defining this scourge in its entirety. The fact that nation-states across the globe define ‘terrorism’ as per their long held beliefs in tackling it coupled with the sheer randomness of this evil rearing its head in its myriad forms emphasize an equal opportunity to stymie its ‘amorphousness’. Hence it’s lacking of a definite size and shape and abstractness of ideas from which it germinates is something that has kept best of statesmen and states in a constant state of flux grappling daily with its existence.
No other country in the world must have been put constantly on the line of fire of this scourge (terrorism) as India has been for centuries. The only difference being the constant change of faces of this evil facet ranging from the ‘Mongols & Huns’ of medieval times with Mughals and Afghans thrown in at random periods of time in history on the firmament of this great nation; with each face of terrorism lugging its own agenda of terrorist activities on the hapless populace of this sub-continent .
Some may argue that the great legacy that was left behind by the Mughals may not put them on the same footing as that of a modern terrorist. Those who indulge in this figment of imagination of theirs , ought to remember that the initial footfalls of the Mughals was a brazen act of terrorizing the nation into submission owing to their wielding of great fire power and their propensity to loot and scoot back to their central Asian abode the booties so captured by them. The modern terrorist albeit comes with a different baggage of narrative, but with the same mindset i.e. India being a ‘soft power’ and hinging on the centuries old Hindu belief of ‘Fatalism & Pacifism’ will have an abundance of reservoir of patience and fortitude to let go their misdemeanors.
Welcome to the great ‘National anti-terrorism day’that is rung on this day of 21 May year after year since 1991 in solemn remembrance of the terrorist act of most heinous nature when the late PM Rajiv Gandhi was brought down in a one off random act of bombing by a lady bomber owing allegiance to the outlawed LTTE at Sriperumbudur of TN. The primary aim of celebrating this day Pan India is to generate awareness in the masses about the clear and present danger which is gnawing away at the vitals of the country, its effects on the people, the society and the long term corrosive effects on the future generations unabated.
On this occasion debates, discussions, symposia, seminars, lectures etc are held in the schools, colleges, universities, and centers of higher learning. Many NGOs, social and cultural organizations too pitch in with their own programmes to highlight the ills that go by this seminal act of renegades on the society at large. Anti-terrorism pledges are parroted in all the government offices, public sector undertakings as well as other institutions of public importance. This day also sends the message across the world, India’s firm resolve and commitment towards curbing this menace with a heavy hand.
But is that enough on India’s part and thereafter bask in its glory, till the time next jolt of terrorist action makes the mandarins of power sit bolt upright, mouth fire and brimstone and thereafter go again in a state of limbo? One single act of terrorism of gargantuan proportions that carried with in itself ‘Visages of clash of civilizations’ with Osama Bin Laden’ as its head perpetrator across the ‘Atlantic swathe’ on 11 Sep 2001 burst the myth of isolationism of the US afforded by the great oceans of this planet. It reinforced the American might never ever seen since the infamous ‘Pearl Harbour’ attack during the 2WW to safeguard its national frontiers that stands solid even today lending credence to the fact that you can be caught off guard once , but not always.
The way US agencies including its famous ‘Home land security’ has meshed with all other national security agencies to make the American land, air and water absolutely impregnable from foreign terrorism is talk of the world even after 24 long years. Till date not a single terrorist action of that proportion has ever visited upon the American soil in the interim period. Nations, like human beings are not infallible. They do fail, but for a nation-state to adorn this act of fallibility far too often that too in the safeguard of its national boundaries ; goes to prove a fundamental fault line in its very existence. India fairly and squarely comes under this ambit of recurring phenomenon of fallibility, which to a self-respecting nation anywhere in the world is an anathema.
Coming to the latest benchmark of India’s counter terrorism operations, the simultaneous targeting of the entire length & breadth of our bête noire aka Pakistan (which has made terrorism as an extension of its state policy) in the form of ‘OP Sindoor’ w.e.f 07 May 2025 culminated in almost capitulation of its entire ‘Universities of terrorism’. The very fact that India, despite being put on the firing line of the terrorists for decades to no end showed restraint, does it count towards our collective strength or is it a sign of national weakness? That is the question which should be rankling in the minds of most right thinking Indians.
Showing an unparalleled restraint under gravest of provocations to its national fabric has become India’s wont that is now a visible manifestation spanning from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Mumbai to present day Murshidabad in WB. That these provocations have an outward linkage to forces inimical to our national interest is an open book for everybody to read.
Connected with the above issues is the all too important factor of cranking up the state machinery to go all out against these forces, be it internal or external. Is the democratic set up of India with its labyrinthine of political parties, slow bureaucratic response & a fractured mandate of the ruling dispensation at the center in the past proved its nemesis in taking head on this scourge? And also have the supine responses till the start of ‘OP SINDOOR’ few days back lulled us into a nation of ‘Rip van winkles’ only to be wide awake now after hearing the rumblings of a clear and present danger that doesn’t distinguish between humanity & deviltry?
Do these fault lines giving birth to the all too pervasive failing in safeguard of our country’s very vitals, the wont of our DNA? Or is it the making of our own? Are the cauldron of people, races, languages, castes and such like societal divisions the main ‘Casus belli’ thereby inviting a wave of terrorist actions in the country, or is it the geo-strategic positioning of India in the Asian landmass surrounded by a bunch of theological nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan etc that is giving an impetus to such humanmiseries?
Even If for a lark we do accept the above logic on its face value, then where has our centuries old experience tackling the menace in this region gone? Or is it that the country is suffering from a ‘collective- amnesia’ having got accustomed to the habituated ritual of decimation now and then, only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of its own follies? The latest mayhem perpetuated at Pahalgam in Kashmir valley is a pointer towards that end.
My aim of writing this article per se is not a token gesture towards celebration of ‘National anti-terrorism day’ year after year, but to quell the routine brouhaha that takes center stage after every such mayhem that is a blot on the name of humanity on the basis of dispassionate homework at the national level devoid of any rhetoric.
Time to salvage our self-respect, existence and past greatness of our Indian civilization that can only be given a combined heft based on a force generated by the 1.4 billion strong residents of this sub-continent.
(The Author is a retired army officer and a regular scribe of Rising Kashmir. He can be approached on his email at: [email protected])
