Adil Najam
I, too, am a Mumbaikar today.
I wish I could reach out and for just one moment hold the hands of the woman in this AP photograph. Maybe shed some tears on her shoulder. But I do not know what I would say to her. I do not think she would want me to say much. The expression on her face matches the feeling I have at the pit of my stomach and in the depth of my heart. I think - I hope - that she would understand how I feel. I can only imagine what she is going through.
And so, in prayer and in solidarity, I stand today with Mumbaikars everywhere. In shock at what has happened. In fear of what might happen yet. In anger at those who would be so calculated in their inhuman massacre. In sympathy with those whose pain so hurts my own heart but whose tears I cannot touch, whose wounds I cannot heal, and whose grief I cannot relieve.
The solidarity I feel with Mumbaikars is deep and personal.
The first time I ever visited the Taj Mahal Hotel was with my wife. We had been married just weeks and were not staying at the Taj but went to the historic “Sea Lounge” at the hotel for tea and snacks during a short visit to Mumbai. We went to the Oberoi Hotel the same visit in the naive and mistaken belief that we would find Bollywood bigwigs hanging out there. In later years I would come back and stay at the old wing of the Taj - down the corridor from where Ruttie Bai Jinnah and stayed - I would even present in the grand ballroom whose pillars, supposedly, had been brought from her father’s estate. Each time I passed through Victoria Terminus I stood in awe of the pace as well as its presence. In awe of the architectural structure, but also of the sea of humanity around me. I cannot hear of terrorists attacking these places without my own muscles twitching in anger.
But my feeling of solidarity with Mumbaikars is much much more personal than these few fleeting visits over many years. Deeply etched into me are the horrific echoes of 9/11 in New York and the string of terrorist attacks on Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and all over Pakistan whose reports have become all too familiar - but never bearable - on this blog. I know what living with terror feels like. I have thought too much and too deeply about what it feels like to be the target of violence propelled by hatred. I know the pain of helplessness one feels as one stands stunned in grief, wanting so desperately to do something - anything - but not knowing what to do. This is why I identify with the expression on the face of the woman in this picture. This is why, like so many others in the world, today I too am a Mumbaikar.
This is why I stand with Mumbaikars everywhere, in prayer and in solidarity. At a loss for words but with an urge to speak out. My words of condemnation will not change the actions of those who have committed such heinous murder and mayhem. Nor will my words of sympathy diminish the agony of the victims. But speak out I must. In condemnation as well as in sympathy. To speak against the inhumanity of hatred and violence. To speak for the humanity in all of us that we all must hold on to; especially in the testing moments of grave stress.
But, today, I have no words of analysis. What words can make sense of the patently senseless? I do not know who did this. Nor can I imagine any cause that would justify this. But this I know: No matter who did this, no matter why, the terror that has been wrought in Mumbai is vile and inhuman and unjustifiable. And, for the sake of our own humanness, we must speak out against it.
And, so, to any Mumbaikar who might be listening, I say: “I stand with you today. In prayer and in solidarity.”
Glad to see some sensible Pakistani feedback on the Mumbai attacks. Not everyone (http://tinyurl.com/6yphpd) has a good experience with Pakistani bloggers.
Bharat, I agree with you that the violent are in a smaller number but I would say they are way smarter because in the guerrilla ways, they very successfully go about whatever their mission is while we, those more in touch with the human side, spend all our time using softer methods.
I am a HUGE fan of Rang De Basanti the movie and although I don’t subscribe to the view that we should respond to violence with violence but we definitely need to do something stronger than just writing about it or lighting candles. Something needs to be DONE - something result-oriented. Like the cleansing of the Lal Masjid. Pin-point the terrorists and finish them.
I dont know where to begin with all of us Pakistanis whether on this blog or not condemn the terrorist attack on Mumbai and we stand with ur indian brothers and sisters in this time of pain but what sadden me the most is the response we got from them … i have read in so many interent blogs and have heard in so many news how ordinary indians and celeberities alongwith their politicians are blaming Pakistan for this.. Comments like ’send those dead terrorist back to Karachi’ or ‘Indian military should bomb militants camp in Pakistan’ leave me flabbergasted …i just want to ask why India always blame Pakistan for whatever happened on their soil …. I’m no intelligence expert neither im fully aware with international marine laws but still the idea of few person carrying heavy arms traveling in a boat from one country to another without getting noticed seems so absurd… if thats what happened then i must say that Indian marine security agencies and navy are just a bunch of idiots …. and why on Earth terrorist from Pakistan will tack the pain to go to India to kill Americans and Europeans???? India has a long history of communal riots but i dont remember that Christians, Jews or Hindus be ever a target of Terrorist attack in Pakistan … all i can see is lots of dirty politics going on and i request people on both sides of border to please think positive ….
wonder ful healng words by Nazam.Alas such type of people would have been more in number. rational thinking people though may be more in number but the warmonger , very few in no. always dominate because they are so hardened in wrong ideology which gives them strength for such heinous crime against huminity.but good word must be said with good action as well.
Wonderful post. But who is going to bell the cat? Do Pakistanis really believe that the ISI or (to repeat a trite and overwrought word) “rogue” elements in it was not complicit?
@S.Bones
Well Said.
@ Adil Najam & Others
Ok so instead of talking, lets take some action. I propose we sign a joint petition, and this site can host the petition, to stop the countries from falling into the trap of terrorists. We need to work together to root out terrorism.
What say you all.
Lets please all stop.
We are wasting such powerful words from Adil Najam but mimicking the filth we are seeing on our TVs
Are we, on both sides of the border, really so stupid to fal for these war mongerers on our media.
I stand with Adil Najam. Against terrorism everywhere. In India and in Pakistan.
If others want to stand with violence and war (which is what the terrorists stand for also) then go ahead, you are no better than them!
@ ashok:
When has India ever protested any attack that happened on Pakistan?
If you’re saying that Pakistanis should protest b/c the bombers may have been trained in Pakistan, well then India openly supported the uprising in Bangladesh so that Pakistan (as we knew it then) would disintegrate. When did the ordinary Indian protest - or even acknowledge - that?