Friday, December 30, 2005

Worse Than Crocodile Tears

Indian Express' lead editorial today is remarkable for its anti-terror toughness one typically only finds only on blogs.

A political-policy approach that started from killing an anti-terrorist law (Pota) because of pamphleteering, is now dangerously close to being seen as one that kills the anti-terror spirit because of pusillanimity. If the Congress thinks this doesn’t matter because it can always accuse the BJP of communalising terrorism, it must understand voters won’t be thrilled either with a party that seems to communalise the fight against terrorism. And whom do voters see as the government’s face on security issues? Shivraj Patil. The strikingly ineffective figure Patil cuts when representing official security policy suggests he would rather just nicely ask the terrorists to go away. Ministers, mind you, have to go away when they are asked.

Perhaps this is a welcome sign that sensible Indians are finally getting fed up with their government's soft attitude on terror. Incidentally, this includes our unacceptable "peace" talks with monsters across the western frontier where all this terror emanates. Hopefully, those who demand toughness on terror will also encourage the government to walk away from the ridiculous discussions with the illegitimate dictator in Islamabad.

On the other hand, it's sadly true that the same enraged Indians will soon cheer, by the hundreds of millions, their heroes playing cricket matches in the epicenter of global terrorism -- where the killers of our people come from.

BCCI should be boycotting these matches, our players should be refusing to play, and our citizens should be switching off live telecasts. None of this will happen, of course, because our outrage is infinitely more artificial than crocodile tears.

Nothing could be more disgraceful. No wonder we get the pathetic governments we deserve.

5 comments:

libertarian said...

PR hope you're right - that Indians are finally fed up. More smash-mouth less mouth-smashed is what we need.

The comment on crocodile tears is rather tough though, don't you think? I certainly agree with boycotting Pak in the cricket sphere (since India currently funds everything cricket-related). But discounting someone's outrage because they choose to watch a cricket match seems hard to me.

Anonymous said...

The policy of the government of India is absoultely ridiculous.
We have got to stop all cultural ties with Pakistan including cricket.
The buses, trains also should be stopped as they only abet infiltration and will increase terrorism.India should withdraw MFN status from Pakistan and slap wide ranging sanctions on it.
How can we expect the world to brand Pakistan a terrorist state when we ourselves are giving it all sorts of concessions?

libertarian said...

If we really want to get Pak talking, forget the buses, trains, MFN, trade. Just talk water. End of the day Kashmir is not about people or land - it's about water. If they had J&K, they would be upper-riparian for the 3 rivers that are their lifeline viz. Indus, Chenab, Jhelum as well as for Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.

If the Indian establishment really needed escalation, the most effective instrument is the Indus Water Treaty. It's also possibly a nuclear trigger.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the edit is the timing. The media is almost chameleonic in nature in pandering to Pakistan. Just after an attack there are fair chances of advising the "hard" line to be taken on terror. But check the same later on - just today I watched Rajdeep Sardesai asking Sonia Gandhi that "some people pointed to Pakistan, in a way indirectly sponsoring terror". (that was a recorded one, of course, previously).

Or, take the case of what the anchor on CNN-IBN said right after the Bangalore attack
"such mindless attacks really makes us question the motives of the terrorists"!!!

When the number 1 opinion former takes this approach, well, it just leads to more of what's happening now.

This does not happen with terror attacks on other countries for example. The Indian media regularly celebrates 9/11 attacks, condemning it, and the motives, but attacks on Indians are not treated the same way.

Anonymous said...

Dear Secular Right, it is quite naive to be thrilled at The Rabble Rouser Express's "lead editorial" against terrorism. A few years ago, terrorists attacked Indian parliament. A few brave policemen died in their attack. Their blood on the premises of the parliament hasn't dried yet, when the Rabble Rouser Express ran this headline:

UNDER ATTACK AT HOME, INDIA DRAGS PAK INTO FRAY

Editor of the Rabble Rouser was then the same fellow as now. So what has changed since then? The government at the center.

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