It’s now or never
Hari Jaisingh

The terrorist attacks on selective American targets must not be seen through narrow geographical or nationalist angularities. These cowardly and barbaric acts go against the very tenets that humanity stands for. Our hearts, in the first instant, go out to the thousands of innocent persons who have lost their lives or got injured in New York and Washington by the hijacked planes used as flying suicide squads by unidentified terrorists.

The dead do not speak. But their mortal remains are a grim reminder to the world's democratic leaders, especially the Americans, that they have not yet risen to the gravity of the threat posed by terrorists to innocent citizens, whether working in New York , Washington, Mumbai, New Delhi or Srinagar in today's globalised order.

Rhetoric sounds sweet. Resolutions adopted at world fora get into official files and slip into history without notice and for record. But mere pious declarations are hardly comforting. Words are meaningless when concerted action is required against those who train and groom terrorists in the name of religion and use them as cannon fodder against innocent persons to achieve their unholy goals and targets.

The USA has had the taste of such chilling attacks in New York and other parts of the world. Yet, its response against terrorist groups, particularly those swearing by Islamic fundamentalism, has been half-hearted, lopsided and hypocritical. The American leadership has neither appreciated similar terrorism-inflicted woes of other countries like value-based, secular and democratic India, nor has it extended the requisite support for counter-action to decisively and ruthlessly face such challenges emanating from the Osama bin Laden-inspired and Pakistan-sponsored terrorist activity in Kashmir and other parts of this country.

Terrorism knows no boundaries; nor does it have any genuine religious base. It has to be viewed as a crime against humanity and firmly dealt with as such. What is regrettable in the present global response is that saner voices of the mute majority of peace-loving innocent citizens get lost in petty geopolitical, economic and strategic calculations of the super power and other big powers.

It is never too late. There is still time to reflect coolly, quickly and sharply and draw appropriate lessons, followed by immediate and effective action. What was seen in New York and Washington on black Tuesday morning makes old policies and response systems against terrorism totally irrelevant. The new monstrous face of terrorism calls for war-like preparedness. It calls for a fresh look at the working of intelligence agencies worldwide, especially America. It also underlines the urgency for total annihilation of terrorist training camps wherever they exist, including the ones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In short, there has to be a total war against all terrorist groups which pose a big challenge to the civilised human order.

The world leaders, particularly President George W. Bush, ought to remember that they must not be seen in history as incompetent and impotent figures who betrayed humanity at a critical juncture. We are saying this because they have often not covered themselves with glory when faced with similar heinous acts in the past such as the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar, the demolition of the Buddha statute in Afghanistan, the killing of innocent persons by Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorist groups in the Kashmir valley and beyond.

It is time the world community started looking at the problem in a new perspective and launched a coordinated global drive against various terrorist groups whose activities pose a threat to peace, human values and the working of global order. Terrorism is a crime against humanity. It is not a matter of human rights. The world leaders and thinkers need to spare some thoughts for the human rights of innocent citizens lying in the debris of New York's World Trade Center, and the passengers who perished in the hijacked planes and thousands of those who have fallen victims to the terrorists' bullets and bomb blasts. The writing on the wall is clear. Terrorism has to be eliminated from the face of the globe. It's now or never.