When words are not enough

AFTER the news broke about the Pahalgam terror attack, I initially avoided the urge to write. I wanted the fog of war to clear and the facts to emerge. And then slowly I realised that this was a tale as old as time: My god is better than your god. My religion is better than yours. I am the true believer. And the penalty for not believing in my god is death.

But clearly I was in the minority. Within hours of the attack, words started pouring in from everywhere. A veritable tsunami of words and thoughts and opinions. Journalists, politicians, activists, nationalists, Opposition leaders, left/right-wingers, the employed and the unemployed, everyone was bursting with words. And the words were anodyne, they were cliched, impotent.

What use are our words to the dead? What use are our words to children who saw their father being shot dead? What use are our words to those who will never utter another word?

Of course, this appeal will fall on deaf ears. Panellists on news channels will ask the Army to nuke Pakistan. There will be calls for cleansing of the enemy within. Words will go forth and multiply because that is their nature.

But what really matters is action. What should the Indian government and the Army do? Attack Pakistan — economically, militarily, diplomatically. We’ve already given them a bloody nose; this time, break it. But do it at the time of your choosing. Be cold-blooded. Be calculating. Public opinion is with you, so is the global opinion. I know some might find this opinion hawkish, but like it or not, we live in an international system where nations and nationalism reign supreme. We have to protect our citizens or risk annihilation.

What should the BJP and its supporters do? Don’t politicise this tragedy. Do not use this to stoke communal fires in India. For god’s sake, don’t Ghiblify the desperately sad images and use them as propaganda. Pakistan wants a divided India, do not hand it on a platter. Do not blame Kashmiri students or traders for this. Do not attack them in hostels. Do not prove Pakistan’s two-nation theory right.

What about the Opposition? It should stand with the Indian government and not use this tragedy to score brownie points. Of course, the security failures have to be identified and remedial measures taken. Hold the government accountable when the time is right.

What should Indian liberals do? Call a spade a spade. Do not say terror has no religion. It is an inconvenient truth that Pakistan cannot operate in Kashmir without ground support. And the reason it has this support is that a part of the Kashmiri society has been radicalised. It believes that Kashmir should merge with Pakistan or exist as an independent Islamic republic. If we do not accept this reality, we cannot find ways to fix it.

And what should the Kashmiris do? They should not glorify separatism — neither on the ground nor online.

Musings