Tomorrow it could be us

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard —
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!

That is Kipling’s admonition to England,‘Recessional’. He wrote it in Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee year. It was a slap on the face of empire from the laureate.

The United States of America is the reigning super-power. But doesn’t Kipling’s rebuke still hold merit? ‘‘Reeking tube and iron shard’’ are truly all that’s left of the World Trade Center.

I am writing from London, where for 16 hours everyone has been riveted before television screens. Three thousand miles separate this land from the horrors unfolding in New York but the shock-waves are rocking us too. There was, until the Blair administration pulled all civilian aircraft away, a definite frisson when one heard a plane overhead, a certain feeling of ‘‘Could we be next?’’

But distance offers perspective. While Britons share the grief of their American cousins, there is also a hope Americans will finally understand how it feels to be on the receiving end of terrorism. As British governments have been saying for decades, the chief source of funds for the terrorist Irish Republican Army is the United States. (The Irish government itself has often expressed its distaste for these so-called patriots.)

If that is how the British feel, how would Indians react once the first shock was over? The first reaction would be fear. (Many of us have friends and relatives in New York.) Next, the hope that the Indian government will step up security measures. (Many grumble when flights are cancelled or delayed on occasions such as Independence Day; we have, I hope, learned why these measures may be required.)

But there is, and always has been, some impatience at the ‘‘frantic boast and foolish word’’ in India. We know the homilies from the chancelleries of Europe and America. ‘‘Make peace with Pakistan!’’ they would urge, not bothering that Pakistan was both a safe haven and a training-camp for terrorists who carried on their trade in the name of Islam.

President Bush has vowed to take the battle not just to the terrorists but also to those who harboured them. Well, who does so if not Pakistan? It is fatuous to state that Afghanistan is Osama bin Laden’s refuge. Take a look at the map. How do bin Laden’s agents leave Afghanistan?

To the west lies Iran, a nation that loathes the Taliban so much they almost went to war two years ago. To the north lie Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan — whose governments joined Russia to combat Islamic fundamentalism. A tiny slice of Afghan territory touches China — which beheads Muslim fundamentalists. Who does that leave?

The Taliban is a creation of the Pakistani army. A few years ago, American intelligence estimated that ‘at least’ one quarter of the Taliban’s officer corps was actually Pakistani. Has anything happened since then to weaken those links between Pakistan and the Taliban?

Yet all evidence of Pakistan’s complicity in abetting terrorist activity was ignored. It was more gratifying to treat Pakistan (the invader) on a par with India (the victim). Wasn’t it just a month ago that Secretary of State Powell gratuitously offered his services to help us negotiate with Pakistan?

Today, the United States vows to lead the war on terrorism. Well, here is a fact Americans have consistently ignored: more Indians have died because of terrorist attacks than have citizens of any other nations. No, there has never been nothing as dramatic as hijacked planes plunging into world famous landmarks. But you can kill just as efficiently in smaller numbers if not as spectacularly.

The litany of infamy is long. Over thirty thousand in Kashmir. The dead of the Bombay blasts. The unavenged men and women
of Coimbatore in 1998. Deaths in the Northeast where the ISI has
begun is strengthening its hold. Crude bombs disguised as dolls or radios to trap the unwary in the streets of Delhi itself. These numbers mount up.

But why should we blame the United States alone? Have we not heard donkeys braying over lighted candles at Wagah come Independence Day? Don’t they too demand peace at almost any cost? Don’t they ask us to negotiate with General Musharraf, to recognise his ‘‘difficulties’’ with the militants in his own backyard, to cut a deal promptly?

They scold the Vajpayee administration for refusing to negotiate until Musharraf shuts down the terrorist factories in his country. But even that, I fear, will not be enough. For 50 years, Pakistanis have been drenched in anti-Indianism and, much as some fear to admit it, in anti-Hinduism. The result of this is the production of cannon-fodder — as in those terrorists who thought nothing of suicide if it would plunge New York into chaos. Or, for that matter, Delhi...

Accept one brutal truth: India, Israel, and the United States are the three chief quarries of Islamic fundamentalism. We, in India, are the softest targets, thus the ones who suffer most.

I end as I began, with Kipling. Ponder over him as you watch the news, you peaceniks, and recognise that we are at war:

God rest you, peaceful gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
But — leave your sports a little while — the dead are borne this way!
Armies dead and Cities dead, past all count or care.
God rest you, merry gentlemen, what portent see you there?
And what shall be next to blaze, good sirs,
On such a pyre to blaze?
God rest you, thoughtful gentlemen, and send your sleep is light!
Remains of this dominion no shadow, sound, or sight,
Except the sound of weeping and the sight of burning fire,
And the shadow of a people that is trampled into mire...
And who shall be next to fall, good sirs,
With your good help to fall?

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