Aftermath or After-THE-Math.

Staying in Pakistan has its share of disadvantages. I haven’t watched the news since a gazillion days. I only get to read the newspaper when I use it to absorb excess oil out of freshly-fried French fries or samosas. That’s how ignorant and intellectually-isolated I become. I came to know about the Mumbai blasts while I was waiting for my bus in the Daewoo waiting lounge on November 28. The large LCDs blared out news about the number of casualties, the second-to-second updates about the military operation in the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, and the escalating tension between Pakistan and India, the United States and Soviet Union of Asia. I was absolutely dumb-founded at the news, I couldn’t believe how I could have missed out on such big a calamity! I remember in December 2005, while I was in Lahore for my winter break, I had no news about the Tsunami, which had wrecked havoc around the world. That’s just how much busy and oblivious I had been. My eyes were transfixed at the Pakistani newscasters as they talked to one minister after another and then contacted their Indian counterparts covering the event live from Mumbai. Since the blasts had taken place a day before, it was old news for many, but I was in a state of my own. I could feel people around me eyeing me with curiosity, as if I had seen TV after a very long time. When toddlers stood in front of the screen or when adults smoked in front of me and blocked my view, I would cuss at them in my head and feel the sudden urge to sweep them all away with just a flick of my finger, so that I could watch whatever I had missed out in my ignorance. I watched as different statements appeared on the news strip running at the bottom of the screen. A statement from Condoleeza Rice competed for attention with a statement from David MIlliband, another statement from Mahmohan Singh tried to overshadow our Yousaf Gillani’s condemnation. It all seemed a rat race, a mess created out of verbal diarrhea. As soon as I boarded my bus for the four-hour long ride to Islamabad, I immediately asked the hostess for a copy of the day’s newspaper- I was suddenly so “thirsty” for updates. The first page was full of Mumbai, not a single column focused on anything else. I tried to concentrate on each and every word that each reporter had written, trying not to miss out even the smallest details given. I never really got the chance to sit down and watch the news like civilized humans, but whatever I got out of the glimpses I caught off the TV and from the news was enough to compel me to create a separate entry to address this issue. I take interest in politics, but I’m not really the kind who likes to engage in heated political debates that usually result in nose bleeds and torn ligaments, I like keeping my views to myself for the sake of convenience and make them public only upon need and circumstances. I’m not going to waste my blog space by analyzing the “political factors” that might have stirred up this fiasco or affected it in any way, I think Larry King, Hamid Mir and Burkha Dutt and many others from the same genre are doing a very fine job doing just that. I just wanted to express myself in relation to this tragedy that unfolded just a few days ago. The name “Deccan Mujhahideen” seems so nascent that it becomes too hard to believe that such a gruesome assault could be launched by newbies on the block. Analysts are debating about possible links with the Al-Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Tayabba, but I don’t want to play the blame game over here. Isn’t it too late to relay the blame from one shoulder to another? Shouldn’t we all be extremely ashamed of ourselves because we fail to understand fundamental values and morals that each religion, whether Islam, Hinduism or Christianity preach? Those who shook the living foundations of Mumbai were humans just like you and me. Then why did they feel the need to carry out such a drastic measure to make their presence known? Was it because they were ill-treated? Ignored? Ostracized? Have we ever bothered to look upon this aspect? Why is that we label them as terrorists immediately after they carry out such attacks and give them so much coverage when we could have easily recognized them as a group and heard their voices before such a large scale dilemma? I’m in no way trying to justify the bombings that took place in Mumbai or around the world. I’m trying to relate the existing prejudices in this world that result in injustice and unfair policies, which do nothing but increase already escalating frustration levels in the human race. First we divide the world and then we wonder why the world’s crumbling apart. Ironic, isn’t it? So many people lost their lives in those bombings. According to the news the attackers targeted foreigners, mainly Israelis, Americans and British. Do I need to say why? I don’t think so. Had it not been for the loop-hole-laden treaty that the British hurriedly signed after World War 2, Palestine wouldn’t be a disputed territory and the residents of a country wouldn’t have to take refuge elsewhere. If the Americans hadn’t attacked Iraq with the totally lame excuse of “weapons of mass destruction”, forget the Mumbai bombings, so many other events around the world wouldn’t have taken place. I’m not the kind who likes to dump the debris of blame on the three common and so-called top favorite culprits of the Muslim world, Israelis, British and Americans. If and only if we all had fulfilled our social responsibilities of tolerance and acceptance in the light of truth, this world could have been such a better place. We wouldn’t have to light candles under portraits of the deceased, we wouldn’t have to dig trenches under our houses or let war sirens break the silence. Everything in the world follows a pattern. Something happens in India and automatically the Indian finger finds Pakistan to point at. Likewise, anything goes wrong in Pakistan, India’s RAW has to be involved. It’s like two children fishing for reasons to get back at each other. Nobody can be blind to the cold war-ish competition that exists between the two nations ever since independence in 1947, but unfortunately some external and internal forces don’t like water flowing smoothly. They just have to throw in pebbles to observe whirlpools. After the Mumbai blasts, an Indian official didn’t waste a single second in concluding that the ISI was involved. The next thing we know is that India is contemplating to place its troops on the Line of Control, in response to which the Pakistani troops are ready to take their positions as well. Sighs. A usual drill that people at both sides of the border are so used to seeing now. To top it all up, petty and crappy statements from the so-called “foster father” United States to remain calm and brush the blame off Pakistan’s shoulder become prevalent in no time. I fail to understand the mess at hand. I don’t think that anyone be it even the world’s so-called super power, the U.S of A, can solve such issues between India and Pakistan, if the two aren’t serious and mature enough about it. 61 years isn’t a very long time, but still, it’s long enough to mature and start looking in the right direction. Blame games are easy to play, but hard to win, since such games have no decisive ends. We also need to understand that there is a major difference between being a Pakistani and an anti-Indian. I’m Pakistani and I have great Indian friends, who I love talking to and spending time with. My deepest sympathies are with the people who have lost their loved ones the blast. On one hand, our religion Islam teaches us not to be racist or prejudiced, yet we have become so myopic in this professed ‘21st century”, it’s sad really. We also need to understand the major difference between a Muslim and a terrorist. A terrorist has no religion, because there isn’t a single religion in the world that justifies unjust killing of innocent civilians.
Such calamities are not to be blamed on one person, group or nation, it’s to be blamed on the entire human race. Such events could be easily prevented if all of us had done our due amount of social work. May Allah Al-Mighty bless us all and show us the right path. Ameen.
I have said enough.