Kandhamal, terrorism and national integration
Valson Thampu The Hindu Oct 15, 2008| When the state that fights terrorism of one kind remains an onlooker in the face of terrorism of another variety, the faith of citizens in the state is at stake. |
“You cannot begin to help the world,” said Confucius, “unless you begin to call things by their right names.”
What has been staged over the last several weeks in Kandhamal and areas adjoining it is, quite simply, terrorism by broad daylight. The fact that a veneer of religious zeal, peppered by calculations of mega electoral profit, is cast over it does not make it any less so. The seed of this national shame lies in the inability or unwillingness of the law-enforcing agencies in Orissa to book the killers of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and his followers. This would have, perhaps, arrested the ongoing carnage. It is regrettable that the swamiji was killed and justice must be done with respect to the killing. But, surely, raping nuns, killing priests, burning down churches and houses and driving thousands of innocent citizens into the forest are no way to bring justice to the late swamiji.
Terrorism must be identified not by who resorts to it, but by the nature and purpose of what is done. Our repugnance to atrocities should not depend on the religious identity of the perpetrators or their victims. It cannot be that avenging individuals or groups of a certain religious identity who resort to burning, killing, rape, destruction and spreading panic are not terrorists; whereas their counterparts in some other faith resorting to blasts and assaults are. All those who mock the rule of law belong together and have to be treated alike. To countenance terrorism of one kind is to lend legitimacy to terrorism of every other kind. more
No comments:
Post a Comment