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Straight
Talk
The
End of Innocence
Nadia
Kabir Barb
I
wonder what goes through the mind of a suicide bomber just
before he presses the detonator and blows up a group of innocent
people. Does he or she really believe that any cause is great
enough to justify taking the life of even one human being?
Do they realise the tide of grief they leave in the wake of
their handiwork? If they did, would they even care? It would
be highly inconvenient to develop a conscience just before
slaughtering a group of people who have no idea who you are
and may never have heard of the cause you are fighting for.
We have heard of the Japanese Kamikaze (kamikaze meaning divine
wind) pilots during the Second World War flying their planes
into American warships destroying both the target and losing
their lives in the process. Although not a doctrinal belief,
there was a popular notion that Kamikaze pilots would earn
a free trip to heaven by dying for their country and emperor.
Terrorism, hostage taking, suicide attacks as carried out
by the Kamikaze pilots are not necessarily a new phenomenon.
However, now we have the sudden emergence of a new breed of
suicide bombers. The thought process might have been similar,
i.e., dying for a cause, attaining greater glory, etc., but
the difference is that Kamikaze pilots did not target civilians
and previously the number of hostages taken and people killed
did not spiral into the hundreds or thousands.
Prior
to September, 2004, how many people were aware of a place
in Russia called Beslan? It will now forever be remembered
for its horrific ordeal and massacre of over 350 people, most
of them children. The militants took over 1000 hostages in
a school in North Ossetia. The hostages were allowed no food
and water during their ordeal. In fact some of the children
had to resort to drinking their own urine. On the last day
of the siege, after an explosion was heard inside the school,
Russian troops stormed the school and bloody gun battle ensued.
Not only were the family and friends of the hostages waiting
outside the school with bated breath but so was the whole
world. Watching the survivors being carried out blood-stained
and the children almost naked was heart rending. It could
have been our children, it could have just as easily been
us. The lists on the wall with the names of the dead and the
number of people still not identified or missing are events
that are never going to be erased from the minds of those
who lived through it and the images beamed to our television
sets will stay with us for a long time. To lose a loved one
is painful enough but to lose them in such a gruesome way
is unthinkable. How could the militants look upon the people
they held captive, especially the children, and not feel a
shred of compassion? How could they look into the eyes of
their innocent victims and not falter even once? How inhumane
does one have to be to not even allow food and water to be
sent to the hostages? It is one thing to say you would die
for something but it is a totally different matter to kill
for it.
Is nowhere
sacred or safe anymore? I think the simple answer to that
would have to be "No". Whether you talk about your
place of work, train station, shopping centre, theatre, cinema
hall, or as we have witnessed even schools, are all targets
for terrorists. How many places can you make safe? There are
always going to be vulnerable areas that are prime targets
for terrorist activities. The threat of violence is growing
ever closer to home. In fact it is not a threat anymore but
a reality. The assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina and
the subsequent deaths that resulted from the grenade attacks
in Dhaka last month was another reminder that these acts of
violence do not just occur on television and countries far
removed from our own but right on our doorstep. Hikmatul Zihad,
a previously unknown group is said to have claimed responsibility
for this atrocity. Now we have yet another extremist organisation
to contend with. I was not aware that claiming the lives of
innocent people was a part of Jihad. In fact I was under the
impression that taking the lives of any other human being
was deemed as murder.
In my
mind it shows cowardice on the part of all terrorist groups
to target people who are unable to defend themselves. Where
is the glory in shooting a child? Where is the honour in blowing
up a building full of unsuspecting victims? In most religions
Suicide and Murder are both cardinal sins but it seems to
have become easy to manipulate religion into a tool where
any actions that are heinous in their nature are supposed
to become commendable if you do it in the name of your God
or religion.
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2004
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