Suicide is no Tool

Unfortunate and sad to read the news that a Ph. D. scholar had to commit suicide under whatever the pressure may be. I strongly believe that those who stand for the righteous cause should be stronger enough to carry on with the fight without ending life that’s so precious. Nothing can be achieved by killing own self. The battle can only be fought by being in the battle ground even if it means being exposed to the harshest of circumstances.

It is equally important the national security can’t be put at stake by setting up Yakub Menon’s memorial. Why that terrorist's memorial in the first place? Having spent four and half years on the campus of JNU, I have seen how some of us support terrorists like Afzal Guru and Yakub Menon. No nation can afford such a mischief at the cost of national security. No doubt we have social structures that have subjected us to unending backwardness but to fight against such latent violence, we certainly can’t support the anti-national and anti-human forces. All sections of society must be with security apparatus of the country in the larger goal of eliminating such elements on our land.

The fight against atrocities and discrimination that we are subjected to must not be misinterpreted. We must not forget that these terrorists have destroyed the magnificent statues of Budha in Bamiyan.

Countering the Danger Outside and Within

The fidayeen attack on Pathankot air base of the Indian force that hosts the squadron of MIG-21 and other fighter planes and helicopters is yet another alarming sign to the Indian government and defense establishment. Such a development must be taken seriously.

Today no country has remained untouched by the dangers of terrorism inspired by religious fundamentalism that doesn’t have any place for values based on rationality and reason. Such individuals devoid of simple sense towards humanity are detrimental to the existence of humans on the planet earth.

The Pathankot air base incident also paves a way to believe that these terrorists have local support so much so that their handlers have penetrated their spies within defense establishment e.g., Ranjith K K fell prey to honey trap.

Fortunately we have a NSA like Ajit Dhowal whose career time is spent working on this area. His idea, ‘offensive defense’ must be implemented ruthlessly. We may have difficulties in extracting out terrorists from foreign lands but on our own soil we must haunt them to the hilt. We can’t and must not extend humanity to the inhuman. Statecraft is not the business of Utopians. It’s the business of ruthless pragmatists.