TERROR
STRIKES AGAIN
our city of Hyderabad in bitter fury after half a
decade and, as always in such incidents, it is generally the innocent, ignorant
and lower sections of society that suffer. Long back [in the 30 September 2008
issue of our journal]
this problem of terrorism was amply covered in the editorial ‘Combating Terrorism’ when such terrorism as that indiscriminately kills
and maims non-combatant innocents on whatever ‘noble principles’ or ‘high
ideals’ advocated in its support was unequivocally condemned, and also this
analytical statement of Marx was quoted: “Terror consists mostly of useless cruelties
perpetrated by frightened people in order to reassure themselves…” Only difference here is, it
is not frightened people but scheming, vengeful fanatics who seem to have
plotted and struck. Of course it also appears to be a part of the calamitous
consequences, already warned by us, of the opportunist vote-bank policies of
the political parties – both which unjustly hanged Afzal Guru as also which try
to garner support by appeasement and even encouragement of the so-called
‘minorities’ even when those become so aggressive and cruel. However, all said
and done, we are fortunate to be in a far less violent and frightful jumble as
compared to our neighbors Pakistan or Bangladesh, and certainly so in regard to
the many Arab and other third world countries, so far as the breadth and
intensity of terror strikes are concerned but that is no cause for any
complacence. On the contrary, we should be ashamed of not being able to
maintain adequate caution and orderliness in administering our cities, even the
metro-cities, and at not being able to inculcate the needed civic sense and
discipline among the people and tidy the muddle – especially our cities are in
such a wretched, chaotic condition that it becomes so easy for any miscreant to
easily meddle with. Not only the executive and legislature, but the judiciary also
needs to share the blame – not even a single Judge seems to have visited the
terror site, or the victims in hospitals to at least assuage their hurt
feelings, nor did our superior courts seriously intervene for upholding the
causes of civic sense and order for quickly clearing up the dirty mess in our
cities at least. §§§
