Blasts and more

(bdnews24.com, January 28, 2011)

The bomb that went off in an airport in Moscow killed 35 people. By any reckoning, it is not a huge figure considering the fact that casualties of terrorism have been numbered in thousands in the not too distant past, but it is, obviously, painful and devastating for both the victims and the world. Just think of it — people are wandering about the airport, Moscow’s largest and busiest, minding their own business, waiting for luggage, picking up friends and family, spending time before a flight when, suddenly, there is noise and fire and flying metal and then, as a horrific silence palls for a few seconds, bodies and blood and cries of agony. Is that a way for a life to end?

At least 35 lives did end that way. And 180 or so others could be in danger, injured, critically or less so, in hospital or back in their own homes. The bomber, who knows; it is theorised that it was a woman, all dressed in black, carrying a case and kneeling alongside it when the bomb exploded. The cause? Nothing yet from news reporters. The blame? Being passed around, as is always the way it goes when something like this happens. Will the perpetrators of the villainy be caught and punished? We all assume so, trusting the law and the governments concerned to do the right thing.

It has always been a complete mystery to me what terrorists hope to achieve by killing the innocent. If you have a reason for protest, I always thought, you try and express that to those who can help find some kind of solution. You speak to the people who can solve the problems you have, you look for ways around the issue, you could even kill, destroy or otherwise violently address the matter and sort it out. Why get people who have no real involvement in the problem hurt? Why involve them at all? It is indeed a very naïve way of looking at a world that is not a place where you can find easy solutions to simple problems, but it does seem a neater and more practically logical way of dealing with a difficult situation. I may live with my little delusions on this one, but there is no way I can be convinced that destroying the lives of so many who have absolutely no connection to an issue can be seen, even potentially, as a way of sorting out that same issue. And by killing, hurting, maiming, does the issue get solved or does it just get worse?

Some years ago, my own city of Mumbai, India, was shocked by a series of bomb blasts. The explosives were set near popular and crowded locations – the Stock Exchange, an airline office, the passport office, petrol pumps – and aimed to cause maximum damage. The ‘bad guys’, so to speak, were trying to destroy a spirit rather than a people, but in spite of the results of the blasts, which show in certain parts of the city even today, Mumbai went about its business without faltering for too long. It is, after all, the commercial centre of the nation, the place where money is the focus; and nothing can stop life from rolling on, especially where business is concerned. While it is known who the real villains of the piece are, the case is still in court. Justice takes a while to be served but it will be served…eventually.

Some years later, bombs went off, one after the other, in the local trains, killing and injuring more innocent people, commuters wanting nothing more than to go home after a long day at work. Again, the wheels of justice are grinding along, albeit slowly. A couple of years ago, horrifyingly and unforgettably for all of us who know this city and its landmarks well, a group of terrorists went beyond the anonymity of bombs placed in suitcases or hidden in cars and attacked people in two local luxury hotels, in the train station, in a hospital, on the street. Many were hurt, scores traumatised, 164 dead. The only one of them who is still alive is in jail; his trial is in progress.

There have been more, in my city and elsewhere, too many to list here. There will be others, because that is the way this world and the discontented work. And more editorials will be written. But will the violence stop? More relevantly, will the violence actually work – will those who believe in it, use it, perpetrate it, propagate it, win for their causes? Or will they, like their unnamed and uncounted, uncountable victims, die and never know what their death has achieved? In this unbalanced, insane and unreasonable existence, that tiny spark of sanity and courage that demands an end to killing and pain has to be fostered, nurtured and, always and for ever, kept growing.