I came across this news item where a reporter actually visited the village of in Faridkot near Depalpur, Pakistan. Still need to verify the validity of this article but the article does show us another side to the whole story
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/57251.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/120708dnintindia.3e15dbb.html
But village mayor, Ghulam Mustafa Wattoo, confirmed that a man named Ameer lives in Faridkot, with a son named Ajmal. But he said Ameer claimed his son was not the man captured by Indian authorities. But everything in the village fit the details leaked from the Indian police interrogation of Ajmal. Indian police identified the father as Mohammad Ameer, who earns a meager living selling home-made snacks from a mobile cart, and his wife as Noor. At the tiny family house, located on a narrow street deep inside Faridkot, the McClatlchy reporter on a second visit Friday noted a mobile food cart lying in the courtyard. Ameer, 44 and his wife, Noor, 47, were nowhere to be found. According to several villagers, who asked not to be named for their own security, "a bearded mullah" took them away during the night, likely, they thought, to be a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Islamic extremist group accusing of being behind the Mumbai attack.
When I read this bit from the report, my heart went out to the family including the dreaded terrorist. It was easier when terrorist is just another faceless demon whom we all hate and see as the enemy which has to killed at any cost. After I read all this I feel incredibly sadder; likely the enemy is not what we see or someone to whom the facts point to! I know many many people will laugh and say we should not be weakened by emotions; but it does, I begin to empathize. Think if this family was not so poor and this person was educated and had better means in life, how much is the chances that he would have chosen the path which he chose? Well, there is another aspect about highly learned people joining wrongful cause but then its an informed decision and surely I would react completely differently. When I dig deeper, I find no country no religion no clan at fault. The fault is so human, its the feeling of hatred which is getting propagated for years, decades and even centuries!
Yes, in a very philosophical way I will say, Enemy is indeed the hatred which people feel and the only antidote is love. There has to be a way by which we can all come together and say forgive and forget the past, lets start a new chapter now.
How much?
12 years ago
4 comments:
There is always the other side but think of it this way, there are millions of people in worse condition than this person (and his family) but they do not take the kind of decisions that he took. None of this justifies the killings. He is worse than a mad-dog and needs to be treated like one.
Think if this family was not so poor and this person was educated and had better means in life, how much is the chances that he would have chosen the path which he chose?
You mean to say that poverty & illiteracy justify being a terrorist? There are millions of people both in Pakistan & India who are barely able to put together a meal every day; loads of them poorer than perhaps this terrorist's family. Have they all taken up arms & become terrorists?
Isn't it time we come out of the 70s bollywood mentality where we used to empathize with the hero of the movie who'd taken up arms & become a bandit because he didn't have enough to fix a meal for himself & his old mother or younger sister & because the lala of the village tried to exploit his situation? :)
And the leadership of these terrorist outfits & upper level officers & commanders are neither poor nor illiterate and yet they are what they are. So what good did the riches & literacy do them except making them more dangerous to humanity than this poor & illiterate terrorist who was arrested in Mumbai?
Do you know Osama Bin Laden is a filthy rich guy from Saudi Arabia from a very influential & rich family? He donated money from his own pocket to Taliban when fighting against Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s. And he is quite well educated as well. And I think you don't need me to tell you what he is & how dangerous he is & how dangerously his mind works!!
So I think its time we all stop being blinded by compassion. Compassion is good, it differentiates between a human & a fanatic but being blinded by compassion so that it leads to our own doom is nothing but pure foolishness! :)
Amit, I did make point about educated people participating in terror though didn't elaborate. At the same time just killing these people will NOT solve the terror problem. Hanging Kasab or Afsal is meaningless; they came with resolve to die but survived. What do we gain by killing them, at least their life ensures we get more details and verification of facts which will come up in investigation.
I think you will realise compassion is the way out and prudent too.
Well, I didn't say that killing them was the solution! :) I too support capturing them alive & then milk them for information & when all they know has been milked out then they should be hanged!! Keeping them alive after getting all the info is not worth the taxpayers' money which will be spent on them!!
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