The white snowy landscape of Kashmir has once again become drenched in red as yet another medieval maniac in modern disguise has killed and spilled two score sons of our soil and their blood. That just one motivated madcap can pull off such a planned and precise attack of immense damage proves not just the hostility that India faces but also its poor preparedness.
My blood boils as it should for every Indian. The heart reaches out to the bravehearts who had laid down their lives and my soul quakes at the thought of their souls crying out for having been martyred without a fight. The cowards who have inflicted this ignominy, however, ironically, deem themselves as warriors in a holy war en route to paradise. Aah, what a wretched place it should be with such inhabitants infesting it.
Indeed, the inhuman jihad – whatever spiritual justifications that theologians try to wrap around it – is intrinsically a manifestation of cunning cowardice. The jihadis are the cutting edge of this raw religious violence and, make no mistake, the Paki war on Bharat is downright religious in nature whether the government there is democratic or military.
This battle is both external and internal, the latter being more potent. The goal is to Islamise infidel India. And secular and liberal Hindus be warned that they too are as much kafirs as the rest of the believing and ‘communal’ Hindu populace and, therefore, as much a target. The bombs and bullets of jihadis are blind to finer distinctions amidst Hindus, whatever the latter’s leanings. So, the next time the liberals advise restraint, they may well take note of this sweeping threat.
Even assuming only a few indoctrinated ones are at it, that few is growing in size and strike potential. Clearly, we infidels can’t take chance as is borne out by the fact that the current attacker is wholly local albeit on the payroll of Jaish, a Pak-rooted terror outfit. Promoting, prompting and pitting an ‘Indian’ lone wolf against Indians is the most insidious aspect of this cross-border terror. And India has blindly lent itself to this supreme danger by its failure to check unbridled immigration, from all directions.
As generations pass, collective amnesia has set in on Bharat and a historical and, yes, geographical lie lies buried in national memory. This infectious disease has to be extinguished forthwith so that the lie doesn’t become permanent and then parade as truth. J&K, which sits atop the map of India like a crown, is not fully India’s de facto. Half of this crown, the de jure territory of sovereign India, is in the control of Pak and has remained so that way since Independence under the shameful and wholly anti-constitutional nomenclature of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
This semantic monstrosity combined with the physical distortion of India’s sovereignty is at the root of all evil knocking at our northern doors. If the present political and ruling class, who still have some hangover of history do not act now, future generations may remain insulated from a historic legacy rightfully theirs.
To put it simply in the context of the present and in practical terms, unless India makes a bold bid to cross the wholly imaginary Line of Control and take over PoK, the buffer breeding ground of anti-India terror, there will be no respite. Provocations are abundant and proof for action is on a platter. The political prevarication and procrastination, not to speak of perceived public opinion, have been the only deterrence and very costly at that.
From Pak to PoK is a stone’s throw but to India it is out of bounds though touted as its territory. This enduring blot on our national psyche is all the more painful because it is ‘our own land’ that is also the launching pad for the jihadi war against us.
Almost all the terror organisations doing divine duty in and against India can be traced to this region. In a perverse way, Pak is right. Its claim that its land is not being used for terror against India is actually true. After all, Pak knows PoK is not theirs. Only India is confused. Compare this with the US that has no qualms in crossing continents and oceans to protect itself against real, perceived or even non-existent threats.
A jawan’s life is several times valuable than an ordinary citizen’s. His death does not just orphan a family but renders thousands of citizens defenceless. Just a back of the envelope calculation of the ratio of jawans to the population will prove that every one of them is the protector of quite a chunk of people, much, much more than the voters of a people’s representative. But alas, it is the honourable but pampered political class who are vested with the key decisions, even military.
Even a child shakes its fist or at least stares back when a slap lands on its cheek, but even a day (at the time of writing this), after the carnage and after having clearly identified and declared the Paki hand, retaliation that should have come spontaneously and immediately is nowhere in sight. It was now or never and the now has already passed into the blank pages of history. Any action now can only be retribution for which already there is a long list of terror attacks awaiting redemption.
Forget the paeans on peace from the liberal bleeding hearts, such proactive pacifism on the part of the government, particularly the nationalist Modi government, would puncture all national indignation. The latest episode offers one final opportunity. Indian public opinion and global sympathy are favourable. Pak is cornered with Bharat’s blood on its hands. The iron is hot for the strike and to keep striking.
Any country with our kind of experience and history, with a hostile neighbour, and with a sense of shame will not be surgical but sweeping in its strategy. Kashmir, the full crown, should be ours not just on the map but in our minds too, even if it warrants waging a counter-jihad. Retaking PoK, a constitutional obligation, will not just be a final solution for this festering cancer but also a fitting tribute to the legions of jawans who have fought and sacrificed their lives in impossible conditions against a treacherous enemy within and beyond.
We beg, hope and pray that this fearless 40 also do not become just another statistic.
e-mail the writer at
[email protected]