While we were busy celebrating our New Year and making our resolutions, things were topsy turvy in the air force base of Pathankot.
Pathankot is a district of Indian Punjab located in the north zone of the state. This district shares an international border with Pakistan as well as a border with the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. With two such borders, the district is quite vulnerable to terrorism and that is exactly what happened on the 1st of January. While the whole world was praying for a peaceful year and were trying to leave behind the wounds of 2015, India got struck by disaster.
The air force base of Pathankot is home to 1500 families. It also has helicopters and aircrafts apart from other military hardware.
When in the middle of the night (January 2) the terrorists attacked the base, it came as a curse for the New Year and marked itself as another horrifying day for India – a day which will continue to run chills through our spines for the many years to come.
The attack continued for almost 70 hours straight. With confirmed news of death of five terrorists, India lost some brave warriors who stood in front of the attackers to save the country from further disasters.
While the whole country is busy absorbing the shock and it’s after effect, some questions do come in mind. Firstly when the attack befell on the base, the responses from the rescue were rather delayed. Several warnings were sent out before the attack. But still the responses were slow. What was the government thinking while these warnings were being made? Why were precautionary steps not taken?
The lives that were lost in the due course of the attack were valuable. How come these lives are not taken care of? These people stand fearlessly in order to protect our country, they take the oath to lay their lives for the country, but what do we do? What responsibility do we perform towards these brave men? Mourning their deaths will not bring them back or lessen the trauma and pain of their families.
Another alarming fact that strikes the mind is that why does the world have so many ‘terrorists’ today? They do not just pop out of the earth and declare themselves to be the creator of terror. Something or somebody creates them. We should dig in deep in order to find the actual reason. This attack, as is being primarily suspected, was designed by a Pakistan based group named Jaish-e-Mohammad. What creates these groups is the big question. Why is there so much unrest and dissatisfaction among human beings?
Are ‘terrorists’ the only people who create terror? I am not at all justifying the actions of terrorism but what role do the organised crimes play that take place behind different veils? We are terrified at the idea of a gunman standing in front of us but we rarely grasp the terror that is hidden behind many political faces those supposedly lead our nations. Just after the attack a particular political group commented that the president should limit the exchanges with Pakistan in order to assure India’s safety. I mean come on, what was even indicated by this comment? Do we need to go back to the old age argument that Islam do not equalise to terrorism? Do we again need to remind our leaders that Pakistan is a neighbour and as we learn from childhood it is good habit to maintain a healthy relation with our neighbours?
While on the first day of the fresh year India shook with the sound of bombs, Manipur- Imphal was devastated with an earthquake. It evidently does not seem to be a really pleasant beginning for our country. Two disasters hitting this land are at the same time scary and sad. Though it is high time we realise that we are merely underdogs when it comes to nature, we can always talk with human beings. So, this year along with the personal resolutions, we can also resolve to combat the mental terrorism that has crippled us. Terrorism comes in different shapes and forms. We need to go to the roots and eradicate the germ even if it needs a worldwide revolution.
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