Monday, March 28, 2016

Making of a terrorist ..

.. Its hard to accept that people are born wicked / cruel.. Why then some people turn to hate and violence in the name of revolution and a just war. How is it that young men and women don't flinch wearing explosives and blowing themselves up in some glorified idea of god and sacrifice.

Be it Ajmal Kasab from 2008, or Shivjit from the film 'Punjab 1984', almost always these young men are subject to unfair personal experiences that get exploited by people who practice the politics of hate, or are conditioned to believe that the world is against them and their people and they need to be the saviour of their own people -- even if this means they will have to kill innocents in the name of some 'holy war'.

One may argue, and I have had this arguments many a times, that the person being brain washed has a 'brain' of his/her own, and therefore should have the intelligence and humanity to understand that there is no bravado or holiness in killing the innocent. I would like to think that its simplistic to classify people who get conditioned into picking up arms against the innocent be to cruel; I think its important to understand why they do it -- possibly because it gives them a purpose to their lives -- a make believe purpose that they are redeeming their people and implementing the will of god.

I am not being a terrorist sympathiser here -- its unfortunate that the people who have turned to terror in the name of jihad or inqualaab or revolution possibly have lost their chance of being able to be distinguished from the fewer true fanatics and hence probably will face the wrath of the world and rightly so. But how can you stop more people from turning into Kasabs and Abdeslams? Surely indiscriminate bombing will not help -- it has never helped .. If wiping out a whole country or waging war was the solution, possibly we wouldn't have had this problem in the first place. If the rich countries like Saudi and America hadn't instated Mujahideens to fight the Russian Invasion of Afghanistan, we wouldn't have had Al-Qaeda. If there was no Al-Qaeda, then there would be no 9/11 and possibly no 'war-on-terror'. If there wasn't any war on terror, possibly it wouldn't have further disturbed the politics of the entire region which finally resulted in civil unrest and uprising in Libya, Egypt, Syria... And possibly if everything was calm in that region, we wouldn't have created a incubation centre for IS to rise from the ashes of Al-Qaeda...

War and indiscriminate killing only causes collateral damage and more hate .. but then how to exterminate people who are the cancer of the society..  Do you just put your finger in the troubled country and give a deadline for all the 'good ones' to escape the country and then bomb the living daylights of the country? But then how can one be sure that the bad ones did not escape in disguise of the good ones? War is surely not the solution.. If it isn't, what is? Maybe, the answer does lie in non-violence / peace. Maybe the situation in this world today is the collective result of the cunning few -  some powerful, greedy, crazy, heartless people -- and just like jesus had to bear the cross for sins committed by others, possibly unless we all bear the cross, this circle of hurt will not end.

Another 'pitiless war' is just going to result in another 'pitiless' suicide bombing. Possibly, its time to stop retaliating and letting the storm pass. They are few, we are many -- they will wear out surely. And once they do, there will be a fair chance that we start afresh with forgiveness and humility. Its surely easier said than done -- people grieved from terror attacks lash back at me saying I wouldn't say it if I were affected directly -- maybe i wouldn't, or maybe I will.. The husband of the lovely french lady who got killed in Paris talked of love not hate. I am sure there are more brave hearts who see beyond their own hurt and dream and wish for a better place for the generations to come. It takes a lot to forgive the killers of the people you love, it possibly time to realise that revenge will only risk more people. War and Retaliation are tested -- it doesn't work. Having said that, people should do all they can to stop and foil terrorist plans and bust terrorist propaganda, but another war and more bombs will only make more terrorists.

Was watching this film called 'Punjab 1984' -- its based on the aftermath of the infamous Operation Bluestar .. Its another shameful history of my country.. The film gets a bit dramatic, unreal and bollywoodish towards the second half; but nonetheless does remind us of everything that went wrong and all the hurt and pain men and women suffer when a few monsters decide to use innocent people as pawns in their foul politics of hatred.

Watch the film here.. Its a punjabi film, but has english subtitles ..

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Flags-Rise-Joby-Warrick-ebook/dp/B0116DHXVS/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459361105&sr=8-1&keywords=black+flags+joby+warrick