"I AM OK, YOU ARE NOT OK"-A SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS WORLD VIEW OF A RELIGIOUS TERRORIST!

I AM OK, YOU ARE NOT OK!”---SELF - RIGTEOUNESS OF A RELIGIOUS TERRORIST!




It is truism that TERRORISM, RELIGIOUS TERRORISM to be precise, is not a new phenomenon faced by the mankind. It has been there ever since the dawn of civilization. “Terror” has been used as a weapon by kings and emperors; tyrants and pirates; individuals and communities as well as religions and races. Men have killed men with as much ferocity and brutality as a predator in the forest, ripping apart the intestines of its victim. What HITLER was to JEWS; BRITAIN was to INDIA. What SADDAM HUSSEIN was to KURDS; USA Is to IRAQ. They are two faces of the same coin i.e. “TERRORISM”. Who is the obverse side and who is on the reverse side is subject to the mental inclinations of the VIEWER? Check out, dear!

“GOD” and “RELIGIOUS PIETY” have never prevented man from slaying his opponents. “SLAY THY ENEMY” is, in fact, the central theme of all these godly religions—deeply inscribed in all the holy books and sanctified by “CRUSADES”, “JIHADS”, “ETHNIC CLEANSING” and “HOLY WARS”. Modern man is, therefore, only carrying forward the “LEGACY OF THE PAST”. Education, knowledge, awareness, rationality and scientific advancement only strengthen man’s resolve to kill in the name of GOD. It is a fallacy of the INTELLECTUALS and the SECULARISTS to think that TERRORISTS HAVE NO RELIGION. It is a self-deceit of the LEARNED MEN to believe that NO RELIGION PREACHED TERRORISM, while all the religious scriptures advocated ‘HOLY WARS’. Let us be clear once for all that RELIGION WAS THE MOTHER OF TERRORISM OF 21^ST CENTURY. We need not qualify and single out—it encompasses all religions. There are no more ‘HOLY COWS’. ‘KILL’---in the name of GOD---‘KILL’---this is the singular message of all “HOLY MEN”. Those who do not preach this are not reckoned as “HOLY MEN”. This is the acid test of ‘MODERN HOLINESS’.

I will put it in a more candid manner : WHEN MANKIND IS ALMOST TRANSFORMING AND TRANSITIONING FROM THE “THIRD WAVE” INTO THE “FOURTH WAVE”, SIMPLY PUT TRANSGRESSING FROM “KNOWLEDGE ERA” TO “COSMIC ERA”, IT IS ONLY THE RELIGIOUS MEN WHO ARE “TERRORISTS”. Tell you what, “Knowledge Era” had reduced the importance of religion and God. The coming “Cosmic Era” would turn them into a non-entity. In the womb of the ‘mother future’ lie the graves of all religions, as also would be of the ‘nation states’. Thus, the reduced importance is actually a sign of disappearing identity. The battle is for ‘preserving the PAST’ or ‘safeguarding the ‘IDENTITY’, against the fast flowing CURRENT OF THE RIVER OF TIMES. This is the cause of friction, nay the violence and also the terrorism. As GLOBALISATION spreads and SPACE is conquered, ‘NATIONS’ and “RELIGIONS” would be consigned to dustbin of history. The ‘COSMIC MAN’ would find no use for these obsolete themes. But we all know that FLAME OF A LAMP FLUTTERS MORE BEFORE IT EXTINGUISHES. It is in the transitional period, when they are about to lose their significance in the human affairs that religions have become more vocal to sustain their identity. RELIGIOUS TERRORISM, therefore, is the reality of today in our lives and it just can not be wished away, Dr Man Mohan Singh?

Most of you would have read THOMAS HARRIS and his famous book, “I am OK; you are OK”. The book is about the interpersonal communications and the attitudinal inclinations adopted by a man during the process of his growth in infancy years. According to him, while growing up from a child to an adult, a human-being acquires one of the four states which describe him as a grown up adult. It could be any one of them: “I am Ok, you are OK”; “I am not Ok, You are Ok”; “I am not OK, You are not Ok” and finally, “I am OK, you are NOT OK”. As for as TERROISM and VIOLENCE are concerned, the last state enunciated by HARRIS, is the most dangerous one. The first one is of course a very sought after human mind state. Second and third states only represent defeatism and withdrawal in a person. He might not harm others but resort to personal harms that might even culminate into suicide. It is this last state of mind which sows the seeds of HATRED and DISLIKE. And RELIGIOUS TERRORISM is all about HATRED of others and singing songs in praise of OWN SUPREMACY. INTOLERANCE, RIGIDITY, INFLEXIBILITY, SELF ACCLAIMED GREATNESS and EMOTIONAL BLINDNESS are the hallmarks of RELIGIOUS TERROISM. It is more brutal and genocidal in its execution.

The seeds of RELIGIOUS TERROISM are primarily sown at home. ‘Over dose’ of religion by parents, more often than not, leads to a state of mind whereby either a child rebels or totally submits to it. If he rebels, he gets to have his own world view of surroundings and his environments. If he submits, he becomes a diehard follower who loses the urge and the ‘will’ to apply his own mind. THAT’S WHY THEY SAY THAT TEACH THE CHILD ABOUT SPIRITUALITY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE BUT DO NOT STUFF IT INTO HIM. ‘OVERDOSE’ IS JUST AKIN TO STUFFING HIM AND ‘LOCKING UP’ HIS BRAIN IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD. Thomas Harris says in his aforementioned book that most of the children adopt such attitudinal postures within first five years of age. As the child grows up, he encounters situations in life which were not in conformity with the beliefs formulated by him in the childhood. He will either accept new realities or reject it. If he accepts, it is because he had grown with an open mind and there was no OVERDOSE of RELIGIOUS REGIMENTATION at home. In most of the open and liberal religions, it is so. But the trouble begins with the closed, non-growing and inflexible religions which not only snuff out internal freedom and debate but also propagate authoritatively on the RIGHTEOUSNESS of their ULTIMATE TRUTH. There is no challenging this TRUTH. The minds are trained to drop shutters, if opposing thoughts appear.

In the latter case, it is emotional blindness which locks up ‘the reasoning mind’ for ever. NO MATTER HOW MANY DEGREES, DIPLOMAS and QUALIFICATIONS one obtains, the ‘closed shutters of the mind’ never open up. “Doctors of Death” are victim of this overdose of religion at home in their childhood. The TIMES OF INDIA dated July 10, 2007, quotes their mother to put the blame on her husband to say he had contributed to their RELIGIOUS INFLEXIBILITY. Therefore, they set out to rectify the perceived wrongs or seek revenge on those who had caused this wrong. End result –an attempt to blow up the GLASGO AIR PORT. Their ‘Thought Regimentation’ was under the tutelage of their father, who believed in the PURATINISM of his religion—PERFECT and TRUE in all respects. It was the ULTIMATE TRUTH for the children—NO INQUIRY; NO QUESTION. Such is the stamp of HOME GROWN RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM. Father, a DOCTOR by profession, was an ‘ideal—a ROLE MODEL for the growing children. Their own application of mind on the ‘RIGHT and WRONG’ part of the issues had been authoritatively blocked for ever in their childhood. FATHERS and TEACHERS are the biggest PHILOSOPHICAL role models of CHILDREN. As they grow, they tend to think like them. Degrees and Qualifications only add to the prejudice and bias of the supremacy of their ONLY TRUTH: ‘WE ARE OK; BUT THE WORLD WAS NOT’. It is in the pursuit of this belief that GLASGO AIRPORT ATTACK WAS CARRIED OUT. But the real fact is that they had become DEATH DOCTORS while still in their infancy.

‘INNOCENCE’ and ‘GOOD BEHAVIOUR OF THE PAST’ are most often the repeated excuses forwarded in defence of the alleged perpetrator of ‘TERROR’. An argument is often extended by those who defend the alleged accused of terror acts that so and so person can not do such an act as he was very nice and decent. The certificate of INNOCENCE is produced, matter of factly, by friends, supporters and parents. In fact, the THUMB RULE or the GOLDEN PRINCIPLE OF COUNTER TERRORISM was that the ‘innocent- looking- persons- only’ were always SUCCESSFUL TERRORISTS. This beats all other disguises and covers. It might be noted that TERRORISTS do not move with a HEAD BAND. If they do so, they will not survive for even a single day.

The first principle of COUNTER TERRORISM is to look for signs of deep rooted innocence to flush out the TERRORISTS. Simple looking persons with pleasing manners, repeatedly showing friendly overtures, non-harming, unassuming, respected, deeply religious and manifestly god-fearing persons in your neighborhoods might be the deadliest terrorist masquerading as your trusted friend. TERRORISM survives and thrives on such silly arguments of civilized society. AS A COUNTER TERRORIST FOR 25 YEARS I CAN VOUCH THAT FLOURISHING PROFESSIONS SUCH AS ‘MEDICINE’, LAW and REAL ESTATE; GOVERNMENTAL JOBS AND OVERLY PROTECTED AREAS ARE THE SAFEST SANCTUARIES OF TERRORISTS. In PUNJAB & ASSAM of yesteryears and J&K of today, it had become abundantly clear that ARMY CAMPS & CANTONEMENTS; POLICE LINES or THEIR FAMILY HOMES and the HOUSES of TOP BUREAUCRATS & LOCAL POLITICIANS WERE THE SAFEST PLACES FOR THE MILITANTS TO HIDE.

I remember, in utter frustration, one of my immediate superiors, well-meaning and sincere, had to take action against certain high officials of civil administration of a district in ASSAM in 1990. He was sacked, no doubts. But this is the dilemma of the COUNTER TERRORISTS everywhere. Innocence is, therefore, no guarantee that person is not a terrorist. These highly intelligent people leave no traces of HARD EVIDENCE. They will chide you to produce hard evidences b’coz LAWS of the civilized world, particularly in INDIA, are inadequate and incompetent to deal with this kind of terrorism. Didn’t TALIBAN and AL-QUEDA, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 INCIDENT ask the civilized world to produce the hard evidence of their involvement? There was none—only INFERENCES were there to point towards this.

It is only an ACADEMIC QUESTION WHETHER USA SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR THE HARD EVIDENCE BEFORE ACTING IN AFGHANISTAN? This was purportedly the game – a well chalked out strategy, which failed b’coz USA did not buy the bait. TALIBAN and AL-QUEDA had not counted on the immediate action. If it had any doubts on the use of NORTHERN FRONT by USA, it had supposedly nullified it by killing its war lord two days before 9/11 episode. It is a different matter that it didn’t work.

IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE RESPONSE to an act of terror is the crying need of COUNTER TERRORISM. But such acts are always not in conformity of the LEGAL FRAME WORK of civilized world. We forget that laws of the civilized world are for the CIVILISED PEOPLE only. Therefore the modern laws are inadequate to deal with INTELLIGENT, SMART, EDUCATED, AFFLUENT AND TECH-SAVVY TERRORISTS who are also REGIMENTED, DOGMATISED, BRUTALISED and DESENSITISED. These INNOCENT-looking ‘TERROR MACHINES’ have no SHAME in KILLING and ASSASSINATING INNOCENT PEOPLE, INDIVIDUALLY or COLLECTIVELY. 9/11 INCIDENT, London-Tube Explosions, Blasts on the MADRID railway station, attack on INDIAN PARLIAMENT are links in the same chain of RELIGIOUS TERRORISM. Today, PAKISTAN the cradle of religious terrorism and its unashamed exporter, tastes its flavour in LAL MASJID in ISLAMABAD. What says thou?

In silence, a COUNTER TERRORISTS looks for his own methods to compensate for the inadequacy of the laws. The COUNTER TERRORIST is often harassed by HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS –who are generally flourishing on the foreign money. Look at the way POLICEMEN who did a yeoman’s service during the hey days of militancy in PUNJAB are being disgraced and humiliated. Some of them have committed suicide in sheer desperation. All these human rights organizations had gone into hibernation, when PUNJAB was in flames. Media used to crawl when asked to bend. Media, in fact, not only glamorizes terrorists but also serves as the oxygen for terrorism. I know of a lot of them who used to shiver but now hog the limelight as heroes projecting human right cases. Beneath the razzle-dazzle on the SURFACE of MEDIA & HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS lies their real UGLINESS. Less I talk of them, better it is. Let courts first know the difference between PEACE and disharmony; Rule of law and Lawlessness as well as law-abiding and law-flouting citizens. Let lawyers argue about the innocence of TERRORISTS in the courts. My question is: WHY SHOULD THE COURTS HEAR THEIR CASES WHEN THEY (TERRORISTS) DO NOT ACCEPT ITS JURISDICTION OVER THEM? If the LAWMEN want to fool themselves, so be it. What do they say: BHOLI BHALI SOORAT WALE HOTE HAI JALLAD BHI (EVEN THE MEN WITH INNOCENT FACES ARE ALSO BUTCHERS)? Lawyers, everywhere whether India or outside, will learn their lessons one day as PAKISTAN is learning today.