Let’s refocus where we all should; on eradicating Pakistan-backed terrorism!

“Every civilisation finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values.”

Not some random limerick from an Oscar-worthy performance on a human rights issue.

Not intellectual verbatim, the kinds you find pseudo-intellectuals spewing in some uptown jazz-bar after they’ve conveniently sneaked out of campaigning for an idea they’ve themselves backed albeit as an armchair activist.

That was Golda Meir, the late Israeli PM at the height of tension surrounding the innocent murder of 11 Israeli athletes who were remorselessly eliminated- for no rhyme or reason- by Jordanian miscreant Black September (a terror unit that was formed under the leadership of Yasser Arafat and King Hussein circa September 1970, continuing well beyond 1971) during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Who could have forgotten that? And what followed thereafter?

And why was this woman, fondly remembered and greatly admired as Israel’s Iron-Lady – and let’s not waste our brain cells in deciding what phrase would you much rather use here, PM or Woman PM- so candidly hinting at?

Well, Israel, the world knows has a way of dealing with terrorism. It’s a bit like mathematics, right? You either know Math or you don’t know, unlike grammar, which could improve with the passage of time.

There cannot be compromises on trigonometry even if one wished there were. 1+1 will always add up to 2. There’s no scope for a grey area- right?

So, when Israel puts itself at doing something, read getting after someone, they get it; out of their way. And when there’s no need, they aren’t some vile killing machines for them to waste their energies.

Isn’t it, with all due regards to the Jew-hating populace the world’s come to accept.

Truth be told, not that this is any secret document of the kinds you’d find the brilliant Wikileaks whistling about or a revelation that the CIA would do anything to hide, one by one, Israel got each and every terrorist that was behind the tumultuous events of the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The ‘Red Prince’, better known as Ali Hasan Salameh was blown, quite literally. Perhaps, singing songs of peace or echoing ‘peaceful negotiations’ while teary-eyed families of the innocents who were slaughtered weren’t the best way anyways of exacting Vengeance (also a great book by the way) from terrorists.

For those wanting to understand the great retribution that Israel led can read plenty of literature that has hit the bookshelves, not since the day before yesterday but from the eighties onward. Furthermore, Steven Spielberg’s 2005 controversial epic Munich explores a humanizing tale of the same incident.

Every nation has its own way of dealing with spine-chilling acts of terror.

Does it not?

Germany, albeit complicatedly, dealt with Bader-Meinhof, a menacing outfit that was responsible for kidnappings, bombings for the better part of the 60s and 70s, which is when Germany, already a war-ravaged nation (at the end of WWII) was only getting back on its feet in the past decades.

While one’s not sure whether Ulrich Meinhof’s name evokes a deaf silence today in Germany, what could be safe to say is that not every mind would go blank upon being reminded of that ghastly evil.

France is on its feet especially in the post-Charlie Hebdo-era.

Needless to say, DGSE (Directorate-General for External Security, CIA’s French equivalent) needn’t be quizzed on what they are up to in safeguarding a nation that’s given the world more than fashionable brands, envy-inspiring perfumes, iconic names such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Arthur Rimbaud, Joan of Arc and the unmissible wineries of Provence.

But where it comes to India versus Pakistan, an equation that often wears funnily patriotic fervour inside cricket stadiums, whether in Lahore’s Gaddafi or in Delhi’s Feroze Shah Kotla, there’s something to be done.

And this time, God almighty and the powers that be know, India’s got to act.

It doesn’t require an iota of grey matter to understand that an outcome of a cricket contest- endlessly engaging- that it maybe doesn’t do as much to reduce enmity between two embittered nations as does the sound caused by a piece of cotton dropped in the middle of a rock concert, what will help India is to borrow a leaf from book of nations that have gone after the right issue.

It’s not the country here but the focal point in the country that’s causing affliction, and not since now, for the longest time.

Can India afford to waste its time, precious that it is according to everyone- whether the spiritual uncle outside a temple, elders who fast every Monday or Thursday or in those drab classroom lectures- by war-mongering or raising false-alarms about the ‘possibilities of war’, one that perhaps none can be blamed for thinking seems just too real?

Pakistan released India’s hero, Wing Commander Abhinandan, who is safe and back home.

Well done Pakistan. You have India’s regard for that ‘stellar’ move. Special mention to Mr Imran Khan, the handsome, suave, former cricketer turned politician and now, the supreme political leader. It’s a fine gesture, even as to some, it could be a stunt or gimmick.

But well, what are you going to do about the terrorism that you produce, cultivate, plant and so passionately harbor?

Here’s a number that you and I cannot conveniently escape from.

In the past 5 years, the deaths of Jawans in J&K rose by 106%. Data from South Asia Terrorism Portal suggests that in 2018 alone, 457 security personnel were killed in terror attacks vis-a-vis 354 from the previous year.

What on earth are you doing Pakistan? Are you, quite frankly, the rotten hell hole of evil that none of your educated youth, capable entrepreneurs would not want you to become?

Again, it doesn’t increase the bank balance of the author by a single penny to down a neighbouring country that has, lest it is forgotten, taken a hell lot of positive steps, including toward the eco-system, such as planting 1 billion trees, in a nation-wide greenery drive. Maybe, other nations that are doing their best at ravaging the environment can learn a thing or two from it?

We must also acknowledge with profound regard the various contributions of Pakistan to the spectre of literature, art, cinema, sport, and whatnot.

Long before Fawad Khan even arrived to capture the women’s hearts, this irrefutable land of melody, albeit one that needs fine-tuning today to cut out the acrimony and deceitful lyrics, birthed maestros like Mehdi Hasan and Farida Khanum.

This is more than just the land of Karachi Halwa or where timeless jewels and expensive brands can be sought by simply stepping into the charming Mall of Lahore.

Pakistan, after all, birthed a man who could perhaps be called India’s greatest debonair. After all, it doesn’t get better or bigger than Dev Anand, one of our finest matinee idols, right?

The ball, whether anyone likes or not, lies in India’s court. It’s time for India to go beyond ‘Deuce’ and compel its people to sing in unison, with pride, “Advantage India!”

Something’s gotta give.

Something’s got to be done about terrorism- right So can India, for starters, understand that alleviating terror by merely hitting back or answering back cannot be the solution.

Does taking medicine to stop the growth or spread of cancer quantify in ending the anomaly in one’s body? We’ve got to remove the cancerous cells, right?

The world doesn’t need bloodshed or hatred or wretched acts of evil and terror ever. It didn’t need it back then. It needn’t go that way.

But it does appear that Pakistan, who, according to an analysis done in 2008 by the Brookings Institute was found to be the ‘most active sponsor’ of terrorism, needs to be issued a clear statement of intent. Warnings won’t do. They won’t suffice.

Either they co-operate with India in ending the terror-backed hegemony through which they’ve been crushing innocents for decades together.

Or, here’s a simple answer.

They’ll have to prepare for an absolute annihilation of terror camps and outfits, which, regardless of where they flourish which security agencies are well aware of- whether in Abbottabad’s insides, the tribal region bordering with Afghanistan and the treacherous sponsoring of terror activities in Kashmir- shall be the answer.

While peace is certainly a beautiful word, more than a pretentious hipster symbol. Let it also not be forgotten that it is peace that compels one to put the head down and desire equanimity (which isn’t wrong) but can that afford India the safety of its lives, with so many of them having been lost to the ravages of Pak-brutality?

The Barbadians don’t dwell in the articulate beauty of the English language- do they?

They aren’t there to beat Shakespeare, Shashi Tharoor or Giedon Haigh in the mellifluence of language.

One couldn’t be blamed for thinking that 26/11 was, in its truest sense, evil of the most abominable form that Pakistan was ever able to execute on Indian shores.

But that is when, a decade later after Mumbai’s horror, we saw the level to which the bitter enmity between the two sides could bring lives to; a halt and in a perpetual state of disarray.

That said, one is not sure if tactical means or simply resorting to dialogue and diplomatic interventions would fetch what India wants from Pakistan, which is end of this great unrest, something that’s only increased in the past decades.

Time to learn something from countries then, India that sleep with one eye open? Anyways, who am I to take a call!