With the arrest of Abu Hamza , and with his subsequent investigation, India has been finally able to the join the scattered pieces of 26/11 plot. But the investigation also reveals some disturbing facts. How a small town, shy, studious boy turned into a dreaded terrorist? Deeper analysis of his life reveals that this transformation had its roots in the communal riots of  early 90s in Maharashtra, where his town and his life was ravaged by these riots. Similarly, there is a documentary on net, shot after few years of Gujrat riots by a NGO which shows that children as young as 10 years in the relief camps, wanted to avenge the killings of their near and dear ones..  

All these facts points out that it is the situations created by us or our protégés that led them to take the terror path.  Our neighbors have exploited these feelings in our youths and have turned them into killing machines.  If things continue the same way, most probably we will see a violent future.

I am of the firm belief that terrorism and extremism cannot be wiped out if the local community has a soft corner for the terrorists. We have examples of Kashmir and Punjab in front of us. It was only when the local people revolted against the extremists that terrorism ceased to exist in Punjab. Other extreme examples are Kashmir, Bodoland, Manipur etc. where there is huge presence of security forces but terrorist activities continues unabated.

I feel contemporary Indian society has majority of peace loving people but there is a minority who for one reason or the other creates situation which leads to tension among the communities. And this minority is able to do that because we, the majority, remain mute spectator to their actions. This inaction of ours results into catastrophies which haunts the majority only. A case in point is social networking sites specially facebook which is being used by these people to advance their sinister aims and create a wedge between the communities. And we just ignore their posts or at the max remove them from our friendlist.

We have to understand that pluralism, with its implicit tool of checks and balances, is the best choice we have. It would create a dynamic society where there is respect for each other’s cultural attributes. Monoculture although seems attractive today is doomed to fail. Diversity is the fundamental principle of nature. We can here discuss the example of Pakistan which had its foundation on “Two-Nation Theory” meaning that Muslims and Hindus cannot live together and muslims needs to have separate land for themselves (it is on this theory that Pakistan demands Kashmir (muslim majority province)). And see whats happening in Pakistan today, Shias fighting Sunnis, Sindh with Punjab, Baloch with rest of Pakistan and NWPF with everyone else. It is for this particular reason that Pakistan is called a failed state today. I am thankful to God that Punjab extremist did not succeed in creating a separate homeland for Sikhs.

Akbar had to face fierce opposition from religious groups when he put forward the idea of marrying the Rajput princess. But he argued that he wanted to show the world that when people from two different religion can live happily under the same roof, then people from different religion can definitely coexist peacefully in the same country. Same level of commitment is required of us today.

It is the responsibility of the government to see to it that there is equity among various sections of the society (for this particular reason that the policy of positive discrimination is justified). Sachar Commission, set up Government of India, and a private survey conducted by prestigious TISS, have documented the deplorable condition in which muslims of India are living today. Low level of education, prevalence of Madrasa education, under representation in public services has turned them into nurseries of extremist ideology. I consider it the failure of government in general and various other personalities from the community whether it is Kalam or our Bolywood stars in particular, have not come in a big way to help the community from falling into the hands of extremist ideology.

Today the onus of creating a just and equitable society based on the respect for the heterogeneities, falls on the shoulders of the youths of India. Political class with its sole aim of vote maximization cannot be trusted to deliver on this front, they would rather exploit these differences. I request all the citizens of India to give peace a chance and respect each other cultural differences. That way we would be able to build a strong and prosperous India. Once we are internally strong, no external power can dare to destabilize us. Our energy would not be diffracted dealing with these non issues but would be used to make India a strong and prosperous country.