Does It Matter?

“ As terrorism spread its footprint across India through the 1990s and first decade of the new century, reaching a horrific, televised climax in Mumbai when gunmen, armed and trained in Pakistani sanctuaries , a dilemma has ebbed and flowed through the tides of Indian public opinion. Can outlaws be contained through the binding laws of a liberal democracy ? Should right to life, a fundamental tenet of our Constitution, be extended to those who kill innocents , arbitrarily, bomb buildings, hijack aircraft, or target places of worship in order to inject poison into the demographic veins of India? Theory has the good fortune of living in a black-and-white textbook . Reality is grey. Terrorists thrive in shadow wars, protected by a paradox: since they are out of uniform, they can always claim innocence until the moment they pull a trigger. We forget the number of alibis that were floated even after something as self-evident as the 2008 Mumbai attack and some were repeated in Parliament by a Cabinet minister in the UPA government. Our security forces have to hunt in such treacherous fog. Their job is to succeed before the trigger is squeezed, to find Indira Gandhi’s and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins before they have succeeded, and to stop a thousand attacks on civilians during a festival or any other day.””(M.J.Akbar)

 When 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan was killed by the police way back in 2003 (?),there was a whimper . There was  no standard response. Most people have probably chosen their sides over Ishrat Jahan. The CBI’s chargesheet is enough for those who believe she is guiltless. Others stress the IB version that David Headley, convicted of terrorism, mentioned her name; or wonder what she was doing in the company of three men recognized, even by the CBI, as terrorists.The storm has once again gathered as the elections beckon people who love power .First the Ministry of Home Affairs said that she was a terrorist and now they have backed off saying that they cant part with what they shared with the Americans about Headleys statement .The game is very simple –Ishrat was shot dead for whatever reasons .Now over her dead body others are  trying  to get a pot shot at one of Indias most dynamic men .(Please keep in mind what M J Akbar has written above ).The simple question that remains unanswered is –what actually  was she doing with 3 criminals ?The bodies of two of them were never claimed because the mouthpiece of the LeT had acknowleged that all 4 were on their rolls .It took them 2 years to say they had made a journalistic error !!Why would the police kill 4 of them ?From all accounts (if it was a planned encounter),it took a lot of logistics and planning to stage it .Were they not convinced that these 4 were out on a mission to kill the CM of Gujerat ?And if they were certain about the motive –should they have waited for them to pull the trigger ?These are some questions that need to be answered and not politicized .I saw first hand the anti Sikh riots of 1984 .I was a married man when my brilliant I.A.S brother in law was shot by terrorists in Patiala.I have very little sympathy for terrorists or suspected terrorists   

Only one thing is  very clear in this ding dong battle of the vultures as they try to feed off the remains of those who were killed .None of them is interested in the truth .To hell with it .It never mattered when Sikhs were massacred in the aftermath of the assassination of Mrs Gandhi .One had to hop over dead bodies to reach a particular house in Trilokpuri .Everyone saw who were leading the assassins as they shouted the same slogans as the mobs in Naroda Patiya .Grieving mothers clutched on to young lives before being sliced like butter  with a hot knife .Yes ,we very conveniently forget the past the moment the next horrendous riot takes place .We should set up museums in Godhra ,Naroda Patiya ,Trilokpuri -highlighting the cruel march of time on those fateful days .Like the Americans and the Western World have done to build museums to highlight the holocaust that was unleased on the Jews .But nothing happens here . The lawyers who are fighting the cases are interested in the big buck .The egoistic TV journalists are interested in the TRP ratings .The police are interested in getting medals or settle scores with people who think differently from the way they think .And the political parties are interested in making it a “secular” vs “communal “ issue .So sad that the mighty value of truth is buried in the greed and manipulations of the small human mind . A  simple  reality has been converted into a legal issue of FIRs and Chargesheets. A  complex reality has emerged turning the issue into a  campaign fodder in election season. Politics is the petrol that can turn such a fire into conflagration.

We sit and watch .Helplessly .At the moment it doesn’t concern us –does it ?I would rather watch “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” tomorrow and go out to the Marriott for dinner tonite .