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.”
Wonderful post, Adil. I wholeheartedly agree with you and the other commentators who say that everyone from both sides of the border must not only feel and emphasize what is going on in both nations, but also to stand in solidarity against such acts (including state terrorism, not just violence by groups and/or nonstate actors) and collaborate together for a better India and Pakistan.
However, I am somewhat baffled as to why there are some Indian posters here– and Friedman’s ridiculous article that has been posted in some of the comments for Pakistanis to read– who are sending urgent appeals to all Pakistanis to categorically condemn the attacks and do something about them because allegedly, the perpetrators were from Pakistan-based LeT. As if every single one of the 165 million Pakistanis somehow has direct control over the LeT, and personally abet the LeT. This is absurd. I do not know whether the Bombay attacks were at the hands of LeT members, and if so, if ISI elements involved. But I’m unsure why an entire nation of people– who also face violent acts themselves– is asked to say this and that as if they have a hand in these organizations themselves.
In the end, I’m comfortable with demonstrating passionate solidarity with denouncing all forms of violence on both sides of the border, holding politicians accountable, and looking at the media with a critical eye (Indian television journalism, BTW, has a long way to go, if the coverage on the attacks is anything to go by).
I’m not comfortable in drawing camps between Indians and Pakistanis, looking across those lines, and collectively holding the peoples of either nation as either representatives of their respective country, or conspirators in whatever happens in India or Pakistan. And no calls to bomb the other.
(Shame of Friedman for continuously publishing inane articles, including the latest one on Pakistan. I ask myself out of frustration when the hell he is ever going to shut up, knowing full well that we’re going to hear from him for at least two more decades.)
Unfortunately the media in both countries is still immature and much better at spreading hatred than promoting understanding.
Adil, I salute you for providing this leadership and understanding the pain of innocent civilians.
Frankly, even if it were not LeT’s act, what
Interesting article on an Indian website, from the point of view of Pakistan. The article raises lots of questions. Loosely translated, some of them are like this:
1.Who will benefit most in Pakistan by Mumbai attacks? Someone who wants to overthrow the civilian government in there?
2.The mercenaries were trained in commando warfare and were so cruel that they annihilated every human being who ever set eyes upon them ( slain crew on Kuber trawler, blown to bits taxi drivers whom they had hired to reach their destinations). Then how come they left their satellite phone on the trawler, kept making mobile phone calls to Pakistan, purchased things in Pakistan and left the tags intact? Did they deliberately want to provoke India against Pakistan?
3. Where was Mushharraf when this war was taking place? Is it a co-incidence that he left Pakistan for a week on 23rd Nov, just 3 days before the attacks? Is it a co-incidence that the first
Glad to see some sensible Pakistani feedback on the Mumbai attacks. Not everyone (http://tinyurl.com/6yphpd) has a good experience with Pakistani bloggers.