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.”
After Reading your Post,i recollect the recent comment made by President of Pakistan where he said”In every indian there is a pakistani and in every pakistani there’s an indian” . I would Request you to Post your Comments at blog.blogadda.com where we are having a discussion on the same and it would be our pleasure to know what people from other side of the MAN MADE BORDER think..
It feels good their to see so many people express their views of solidarity. These feelings and words must translate into action.
Will the people in Pakistan and India stand up against all forms of violence? We see and hear stories of violence against the various religions and sects within the same religion, against women, against old and young. What about the passive terrorism against the poor that we all perpetuate on them either directly of indirectly?
Real action is required to channel the positive energy into concrete goals of curbing and overturning the vicious tide of intolerance, hatred, and injustice.
Any takers to run with the idea of coming up with a concrete plan of action?
I am deeply touched by the gentle tone of right thinking men and women of Pakistan on this site. The last thing I would like to do is inflame passions but would like to make two points:
1. I realize the Indian government has a tendency to blame Pakistan every time a terror attack takes place but the Pakistani establishment (read: military and ISI) is always in denial. In 1999 ISI planned, executed, supported the hijacking of IC 814 through Mr Cheema, welcomed Masood Azhar in Kandahar and drove him straight into Pakistan. And then denied the whole thing. Mastermind of 1993 Mumbai blasts and international terrorist Dawood Ibrahim lives in a palatial house in Karachi where any taxi driver can take you. But they deny his existence, Send army regulars in ‘mufti’ to the peaks of Kargil, call them Kashmiri Freedom
Fighters until they are found with id cards and pay books and still deny the whole thing. Plan and execute the bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul and when even the Americans agree it was an ISI plot….deny the whole thing.
This is the first time a fedayeen has been caught alive and he is singing like a canary! So what will they say? He’s been planted by RAW?
2. Even if you put the morality of this attack aside it’s in the world’s interest that Pakistani armed forces be made to realize that the cost of such adventures is too high otherwise they will be tempted to try again. Whether we like it or not the LeT’s successful fidayeen attack on Mumbai is the best recruitment messages for hordes of impressionable Pakistani youth. You can almost hear the lunatics from the pulpit boasting that if 10 mujahideen could keep the Indian state at bay for 60 hours, imagine what a thousand could do. After Mumbai, jihadis will not recoil in horror at the devastation their colleagues have done; they will intensify their campaign and engage in competitive bravado. And it won’t be limited to India…….there are many countries with a long unguarded coastline and an inept government! Retribution in this case is necessary….not for revenge but to drive home a clear message.
Please think about it………
I thank all for your sympathy. A few loony voices cannot drown the voices of reason.It his my hope,that in our lifetime,we will be able to rid this planet of the scourge of terrorism.Human life is precious, and no religion,creed or doctrine supersedes it.I do hope that we all live to see a better day.
I just read Mr.Watan Aziz’s article and wholeheartedly repeat wholeheartedly agree with him and wd request 24/7 to be more constructive.Pakistan Zindabad and Jai Hind