In his nearly 50-minute speech in Bangkok, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on a range of issues including the welfare measures rolled out by his government, his return to power with a bigger mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, strength of the Indian economy, importance of Indian diaspora in overall growth of the country and how India is emerging as a “major power” globally. He clearly gave messages that India has decided to eliminate a big reason behind sowing of seeds of terrorism and separatism.
It is clear that India has never bowed before terrorism and will never do. Enough is enough. It is a high time the government of India should take a firm action. The time has now come to teach Pakistan what is called terrorism in their words and the power of unity that our country has. Right from 1971, Pakistan has been playing with fire thousands of Indians including soldiers have lost their lives. We can’t walk on the path of peace any more just give a revolt and bloodshed to them and show the world that our peace is our strength not our weakness. We should know with whom we are dealing with. Even now if we go soft we will continue becoming soft target of Pakistan. Death of terrorists is not big for them but the loss of lives of our brave jawans is more valuable for us. How long this hide and seek game will continue? Our Indian army is our precious jewel and we can’t afford to lose anymore. Unless we act tough they won’t change. India needs to put an end to all the terror outfits situated in their land permanently.
Every terror attack is an act of war against India. India till date has been acting in a way too far and so called “matured and diplomatic” way, at the cost of its brave soldiers’ and their families’ lives and future, but with little fruition. Restraint is not a virtue that can practised without regard to the context and circumstances. India needs to have a strong anti-terrorism policy. It is a imperative to understand the terrorists’ operational environment and know their modus operandi and targeting patterns. There must be concerted efforts to gather intelligence from places where terrorists conceal themselves and seek to establish and hide their infrastructure. Terrorism is strongly condemned in all its forms and manifestations and stressed that there can be no justification whatsoever for any acts of terrorism. Terrorism of course is a major problem which is agitating every one of us. It is a greatest challenge for world society as it is not only causing human suffering but also impeding peace and development. Countries should ignore Pakistan and discontinue economic, cultural and scientific cooperation with them. Some leading nations of the world over last three decades have ignored menace of terrorism in some parts of the world. Modi has rightly declared that “We are united in our belief that terrorism its supporters have to be punished, not rewarded.” His hard line on Pakistan marks a departure from India’s tradition of strategic restraint. Modi’s approach has emboldened India’s neighbour to emerge as state sponsor of terrorism. We need a comprehensive national policy to deal with domestic militancy as well as cross-border terrorism. We should be pro active and must take some strict action before we lose more lives. There should be zero tolerance policy in action now.
We must remember that peace and harmony is the basic requirement of any nation. The citizens of a country feel safe and secure and can prosper only if a peaceful environment is maintained. Ideal peace demands the development of a non-nuclear, war-free, nonviolent peaceful world through conscious global efforts. The old thinking: “If you want peace be prepared for war” has to be abandoned and replaced by a firm faith in the principle of peace through non-violent means and peaceful international relations based on equality and respect for each other’s territorial integrity and nationhood.
We must also remember that the government cannot be held responsible for maintaining peace and harmony in the country. Each one of us should take it as our responsibility to nurture feelings of brotherhood with fellow citizens. In contemporary times, the most urgent and important international objective has been to preserve protect and defend peace against terrorism.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
