It is high time we shed our illusions about Pak,

War on Terror

It is high time we shed our illusions about Pak

Islamabad has raised the ante against India in Afghanistan

and we must take corrective steps

By Kanwal Sibal

Not India, although it is arguably the biggest victim of externally promoted terrorist activity. Our seats of power, religious sites, commercial and scientific institutions, our trains, the streets and bazaars of our cities, have all been targeted by terrorists. Numerous innocent lives have been lost over the years. Each bloody incident is strongly condemned by government, with declarations of resolve to eradicate all extremist violence and determination not to be cowed down by it. But no decisive action to strengthen our legal apparatus is taken as a demonstration of zero tolerance of terrorism by the state.

Ultimately, state policy reflects the value society attaches to individual human life. If society at large is moved to its core by the loss of even a single innocent life to malignant acts of terrorism, the state will set up the mechanisms of self- protection. But if society becomes inured to periodic human loss, and there is declining expectation that the state is ready to assume its responsibilities, then public indignation passes and terrorist incidents remain a private tragedy. In India little effort to mobilise society at large to confront the terrorist affliction is visible.

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