I have always taken pride in being a ?liberal? minded ?secularist? of Mumbai. Like a lot of the people of this large and beautiful city, I too, have remained aloof and distant to the politics occurring in our country. Terrorism for me was watching horror images on the television, of distant remote places and people that did not really touch my life. I feel very sorry to say this, but I was too self absorbed. I have also been greatly impressed with the western idea of being a secularist, with this strong media reinforcing the idea on a very regular basis. In fact, anything of even a slight religious overtone, I would shun. After all, it was so cool to be able to talk against one'sown religion, especially if the case was Hinduism. And if we were to respond back to the enemy in the language that it had chosen for communication, it called for strong condemnation. This made me appear so balanced and even minded and spiritual.
But now, no more pretensions, enough of being a nice guy. Enough is enough. Let'shave the courage to call a spade a spade. With these blasts that took place on July 11 in Mumbai, are we, this generation, paying a heavy price for the political policies adopted by our predecessors? I?m not sure. Did they lack the foresight to envisage this monumental problem that faces us today? And do we have to continue paying this penalty. Can any honest person disagree that the entire misconduct was not backed up by the state of Pakistan, and its official agencies like the ISI. The coming time will of course reveal the truth, is this not the continuation of Pakistan'sofficially announced policy by it'shitherto President and military dictator, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq to bleed India through thousand cuts. All Indians particularly the targeted Hindu population must unite as the Hindus. And are we going to continue an ignorant that we refuse to recognise the enemy? Are we so weak that we cannot openly point out and acknowledge who the enemy is? It wrenched my heart to see the images of the Mumbaikars on the fateful day. This was my city and these were my people. Am I going to allow the vile wretches destroy my life? Let'stake notice and be bold enough to speak openly about the perils of a religion that divides humanity. That has been ferocious and savage like for the past 1,400 years. That has only created devastation and nothing else. Let'sstop pretending that there is only a handful of the misguided fanatic lot that gets it'sinspiration from the ?word of God?. Let the ?word of God? be altered now and corrections be made. Corrections in the direction of binding us together, of peace, unity and brotherhood. Let the secular minded Muslims come forward for this task, let them defy the authority of the mullahs and imams that disallows critical thinking and a non biased judgment. But then, is it possible or ever likely to happen?
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