BUILDING BRIDGES BREAKING WALLS

BUILDING BRIDGES BREAKING WA= LLS

‘Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one’…… John Lennon

   A few y= ears ago, rationality had prompted a few sentimental but wise German heads to get together to wrack and ruin the Berlin Wall. Even though it appeared to be an out of proportion asinine act, the entire world welcomed it. For walls, how= ever decorative, are concrete structures that create a barrier. But instead of talking about those that willfully adorn our globe, let us first concentrat= e on our very own Great Wall of Partition. Even though ‘Trains to Pakistan’ continue their routes to and fro, balancing precariously on political track= s, they often tend to ram into this invisible barrier. And ever since I rememb= er, this Wall has shown no signs of disintegration.
This Great Wall of Divide is somewhat like the Great Wall of China. N= ot only is it totally man-made, it is also steadfast, sturdy and formidable. B= ut I’m afraid the similarity ends right there because this wall was crea= ted not for the purpose of divide but was purposely created by the divide and r= ule policy. Secondly, it stands not on a foundation of whatever great walls are supposed to stand on but on the groundwork of Religion and Politics. Thirdl= y, it is built not with stone, bricks and mortar but with discord, hatred and enmity. And fourthly not only is it undetectable from the moon, this imagin= ary wall remains unseen even on the face of the earth. =

A few bricks = were indeed dislocated when a certain bus had advanced towards Lahore with great fanfare, trying to wi= nd its friendly way into the heart of its citizens. A few more were dislodged when= an affable Summit was held against the friendly backdrop of the Taj, in an attempt to redefine that universal epitome of love. A few more were fell= ed with the international marriage of sports, art and culture. But despite the noble or whatever intentions, these momentary elements were immediately cemented back. For the bitter truth is that however much we try to keep alive the good- fen= ces- make- good- neighbours policy, the barbed fence= s- make- barbed- neighbour strategy keeps bouncing= right back into our faces.
   It is easy for us to b= lame it all on political intrusion. But look into your hearts and you cannot ign= ore the fact that a silent battle is waged in many a civilian heart whenever th= ere is an Indo-Pak clash- be it on the sporting fields or on the battlefront. W= hat is it about Pakistan= that we hate so much? And what is it about = India that Pakistan cannot stand?

   The only commonsensical and obvious reasons would be (or should be) Kashmir, Kashmir= and Kashmir. Not to mention the little bit o= f ego involved. So, the rational question would be then, that if and when the Kashmir issue is resolved, shouldn’t the Wall automatically crumble? Or will the one-upmanship still continue to flourish with bigger divides like Religion, Religion and Religion?=

Having said t= hat, let us now turn the topic to grief, an emotion that is beginning to shade t= he entire globe with unimaginable hues. Even one death in a family is a tragedy and a cause for local mourning. If mishaps occur in hundreds, it merely bec= omes a statistic and the Nation collectively mourns. In natural disasters where thousands are wiped out, one begins to question His judgment and the entire world mourns. But if there is deliberate, cold blooded showering of a bloodbath, pertaining to the common and the inno= cent man and for no apparent reason whatsoever, I am sure even the Almighty̵= 7;s heart starts to bleed. The colours of anguish a= re the same worldwide. The global grief graph can never vary as the level of pain = is universal. And even if there = are no thousand methods to feel the pain of a thousand deaths, the echo of any gruesome tragedy often makes us experience it in a thousand different ways.=

     But does the terrorist feel even an iota of this grief? Does he even= for a moment ponder about the injustice he has inflicted upon humanity? Is he so gullible that he cannot understand the difference between right and wrong?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Or is he so vindictive that he doe= s not want to understand this discrepanc= y. Why is he so fearless, sometimes even forsaking his own life, to do something he feels is not wrong? Why is it= that with each step he takes he seems to grow. Why is it that with each step he takes, we seem to shrink?

Just as we do= not need to have cancer to analyze its symptoms, we also do not need to be a terrorist to analyze his views. So why does he do it? It cannot be for a ‘reservation’ of a seat in Heaven. It simply cannot because contrary to whatever beliefs, NO religion sanctions the mindl= ess massacre of innocence. It cannot be for the enrichment of his clan because = with every bomb planted he is also endangering the very existence of all his brothers the world over. The reason has to be something else, that which go= es way beyond the logic of the ordinary psyche.

   Faith c= an heal or faith can kill. It depends on the soul of the man using it. Therefo= re however clichéd this sentence may sound, however hackneyed its overtones, I firmly believe that a terrorist is an alien from a totally different planet. He may look like one of us, live like one of us, even beh= ave like one of us but in reality he is just a deplorable and misguided soul wi= th absolutely no sense of moral, righteous or religious direction. Sounds dangerous, doesn’t it? But it is the treacherous truth. Since knowled= ge is the enemy of faith he is programmed to be unknowledgeable too. A callous mass of flesh, he is robotically tuned to his hard nosed commanding officer. Someone who he thinks is his le= ader. Someone who thinks is the Boss.= With mechanical precision for an action and a clouded vision for a tool, he goes about the entire world killing friends, making enemies. Planting bombs, growing insurgency. Breaking bridges, building walls!

   Even if= the ‘why’ is unanswerable, at least we can try to attempt on t= he viable.

The leader= s:

   The lea= ders should first and foremost realize that when elephants fight it is always the soft grass beneath that ends up getting crushed. So when decisions are take= n in air conditioned boardrooms, they should be tough and not spineless ones. Th= eir pronouncements should be embroidered not with silk but with steel. And solutions should be stable not volatile, with eyes fixed not on future political aspirations but on the pa= st faith that the naive citizens have entrusted them with. But most important,= all assessments should be made keeping in mind that those who terrorize the wor= ld by brandishing religion as their tool, DO NOT embody the millions of others that follow a certain religion. And by fighting ‘them’ the world leaders are NOT fighting any particular religion.

  The Media:=

    I= nstead of living in constant fear of missing the ‘big’ story, the new media should concentrate on the aspects of responsible journalism. Instead = of intensely furrowing their eyebrows with a feigned concern for viewer sensibility, repeatedly reporting and portraying the raw magnetism of human catastrophe, thereby unconsciously trying to stoke the dying fires, they sh= ould learn to depict reality with integrity and an anxious truth. Nothing is as = sick as sensationalizing or romanticizing a tragedy just to keep it alive and kicking. Terming the Mumbai blasts as ‘7/11’, when we don’= ;t even record dates the American way, was nothing short of a sick impersonati= ng melodrama.

The Islamic voices:

  Since in recent times most of the global terror is caused by terrorists feigning to be Islamists, it should become the duty of the vocal and politically active Mu= slim voices to come out of their defiant cocoons and to humbly accept the truth- that their sacred religion is beginning to get a flawed image. Their preced= ence should lie in showing the gullible the futility of such acts by modernizing their institutions. It should become their priority to show the intelligent= and educated but ‘lost’ ones that Religion and Terrorism can never = walk hand in hand. They should discard their absurd beliefs that Islam is a syno= nym for ‘straightening the globe’. Instead, they should start by sh= edding their aloofness and attempt to be at parity with the rest of the Non-Muslim world. But most important of all, the Islamic clerics should be willing to change their rigid stance towards outdated laws by accepting a contemporary interpretation of the Quran and concentrating not on the Jehadic values but on the Islamic intellectual heritage. Only then can they educate their warped brethren and send out a stark message- that by hijacking religion on= e cannot terrorize people. And by hijacking people’s minds, one cannot idolize religion.   =

The Indian= s:

Enough is eno= ugh! Local minds cannot be trained so that= local trains can be mined! It is time to stop brainwashing young men into becoming callous brutes. It is time to challenge the fiery speeches that are doled out in spurts by frenzied clerics. It is time to give out a message f= or them to stop interfering in our internal affairs. It is time to stop being indoctrinated and motivated by revenge. It is time to stop justifying terrorism. And it is time to begin identifying our enemies.

But it is als= o time to stop forming an enclave opinion about a certain community just because of the actions of a few fanatics. It is also time to stop justifying that this Democratic Republic called Hindustan is = the sole prerogative of only the Hindus. And it is also time to filter out the innocents and to punish only the guilty. Not with a collective rod of suppositions and speculations and guesswork. But with a non-discriminatory action and an unbiased probe!

We, the pe= ople of the world:

   Even if reluctantly, let us force ourselves to permit a momentary intellectual foray into the impossible. Let us explore ourselves, not as Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Jews but as sensible individuals, each with a reasonable mind= and a rational heart. Is it so difficult for us to replace wars with global peace? Is it so terrible to substitute hatred with love? Is it so tough to = swap ego with humility? This may sound like hanging on an intellectual suspensio= n of disbelief, but humanity is a universal religion. If we want to believe in G= od, let us believe in God. Where is the need to believe what Man says about him? History has proved that a war is not the answer to every question on earth.= If it were, then all the time we were probably asking the wrong question. Scie= nce is aware that Nuclear weapons are not the solution to every predicament. If= it were, the root to all problems would be deracinated from the earth. History would become history and there will even be no geography to prove anything.= To anybody!
    S= o if the question is what can be done, the answer is insultingly simple. That is= if we care to open our minds and s= ee from our hearts. It lies not with m= e the person but = we the people. It is not what I think but what we think. It is not a lone task but a united effort. And for this joint ventur= e, I’m afraid there is absolutely no place for any kind of hatred, debat= es or enmity amongst each other. It cannot be we, against the world leaders against some organizations against = some communities against the media against our desi leaders against our neighbours against the blah= blah blah. It has to be j= ust one United Front. WE against the TERRORISTS!

In terrorism,= the main aim is to cause terror. And h= owever callous this may sound death is just an offshoot. The terrorist knows this well. He also knows that fear is an intense motivator and therefore he alwa= ys will have the upper hand. But we should kill this fear. Just like miraculous Mumbai did immediately after the blast. So, whenever a terrorist plants a bomb the world leaders should take a united a= nd steely resolve and see that it cultivates not panic but immediate attention. Whenever there is infiltration it should be dealt not with diverse and edgy appeasements but with a cohesive and instant action. And whenever a terrori= st continues with his indefatigable attempts of building a wall, we, the world= have to come forward, destroy it a= nd build back a bridge instead.

But if each f= or all continues with the endless blame game, if none want to make any compromises whatsoever, if there is no end to our external and internal raging hatred, = if inane skirmishes keep getting carried forward from our backyards to the boardrooms to the battlefields, if we continue to talk the talk but walk our walk and if we persist with the= lame excuse of how it is much easier to make a wall than it is to build a bridge- Well…. then I’m afraid the terrorist has already won.=

Nargis Nata= rajan