Mumbai, the financial capital of India, witnessed another act of barbaric carnage LAST Tuesday. June 11, 2006, will be remembered by Indians and people around the world as another attack on humanity.
Shortly after the anniversary of the London train bombings, the world has seen another outrageous criminal act by the enemies of peace and freedom. As the news unfolded on my television screen, my heart missed a beat. I was worried for family members and friends who live in Mumbai and could have been in the midst of the attacks.
The world is witnessing a threat that we have never known before. Slowly but surely, we are being told that innocent, peace-loving citizens are not safe anywhere, not on land and not in the skies. There is nowhere to hide, because evil has infiltrated everywhere. The nameless, faceless, spineless evil is in the midst of us.
As I look at images of mothers looking for their children, wives looking for their husbands amid flesh, blood and broken limbs, I feel sick.
I don’t care who these people behind the attacks are. I don’t care about their ideology. I don’t care what they want. All I want to know is, do these nameless people have a heart beating in their chests? Do they have children they dote on? Do they have parents they care about, and do they have spouses who wait for them every evening for dinner? I believe not, for if they did, would they commit such a heinous attack on innocent civilians who were coming from a day’s hard work back to their homes?
There should be no doubt that we are at war. Only this war is something the human race has never seen before. There are no geographical boundaries, nor is the enemy known. No rules of engagement have been set, nor has a war zone been defined.
Therefore, all of us who love peace and believe in co-existence are part of this war. Anybody who believes that all world religions teach peaceful co- existence is under attack.
There is a silver lining, though. I know that in this war, peaceful citizens of the world outnumber the fanatics. All of us, irrespective of religion, color and gender, need to stand up to the Islamic fanaticism that is spreading its tentacles everywhere. We need to stand up in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in our cities and states and reach out to like-minded people.
In this world, where doubt has taken precedence over everything, the only truth that has withstood the test of time is that righteousness prevails over evil. I know righteousness will prevail. We just need to stand up against the fanatics.
My family and friends are safe, but my heart goes out to all those who lost their loved ones in the Mumbai blasts and other terror attacks all over the world.
Let us make sure that their deaths were not in vain. I know the people of Mumbai will not let the terror rule their hearts and minds.
I salute the spirit of Mumbai and the spirit of humanity.
Indian native and writer Sunanda Vashisht lives in Centennial.
