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9/11: a Year Later - G.N. Raina G.N. Raina retired from Indian Information Service (I.I.S.) in 1983 after completing 35 years as a distinguished editor, correspondent, commentator and administrator; Editor, AICC Journal, Varnika, (Jan.'84-Dec.'90); Editor-in-Chief, Koshur Samachar (March'91-Oct.-'95; Presently Editor, Sanatana Sandesh, an official publication of South Florida Hindu Temple, Miami.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the unspeakable tragedy in which the World Trade Center was transformed into a towering inferno, our hearts go out to the victims of the savage acts of the heartless terrorists and to the brave souls, the men in uniform, who laid down their lives so that we may live in freedom.

Armed with nothing but hatred and box-cutters, a handful of madmen on a suicide mission hit their targets on 9/11/01 with remarkable precision that left the sane world gasping for its breath. It certainly was an act of a diabolic mind. No cause, however just, can justify the killing of so many innocent people. No ideology can validate the scale of destruction wrought in New York and Washington D.C.

What happened on that black Tuesday constituted one of the worst crimes against humanity, worse than Pearl Harbor where Japanese struck Hawaii and did not reach the US mainland, let alone its political and financial capitals.

The September 11 attacks not only felled two skyscrapers and snuffed out nearly three thousand lives, but also shook the very confidence of America and gave rise to what one may call fear psychosis. What was perceived, as a safe haven was no more beyond the reach of fundamentalists and religious zealots whose despicable acts instilled in the Americans an acute sense of vulnerability and insecurity. One year later, we are not, perhaps, the same.

The attack on Americans on American soil vividly brought into focus the danger posed by international terrorism to the democratic and civilized societies the world over. In fact, terrorism has been taking its toll in India, particularly in its northern State, Kashmir, and other places in the world in a big way and yet the world would watch indifferently. But when tragedy hits one’s backyard in an unprecedented act of terrorism, one is roused to an unimaginable level of fury and indignation. What a terrible price to lift the US out of its apathy!

And yet Washington did not react the same way when, in the space of just three months after the disastrous attack on WTC and the Pentagon, terrorists made the Indian Parliament the target of its sinister designs on December 13, 2001. The two attacks bore family resemblance inasmuch as the terrorists and the Islamic fundamentalists targeted the central symbols of the two biggest democracies in the world. But, whereas the Indian government and media rose as one to offer their sympathies to Washington, there was no shock or outrage in the US at what happened in New Delhi. What was most outrageous was President Bush’s advice of restraint to India in the face such a grave provocation and national calamity.

All said and done, the question remains as to how can one reconcile and cope with the relentless dance of death and destruction taking place around us. What should one do and who should one turn to in times of such crisis? The answer, perhaps, lies in faith in God and in the four-letter word, LOVE.

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