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War against Terrorism - By- Sunanda Vashisht Sunanda was born in the beautiful valley of Kashmir, India when Kashmir was known for its unparalleled natural beauty and not as a cauldron of fear and terror. She did most of her schooling in Delhi and dabbled with several professions before moving to U.S last year. she is currently pursuing higher studies here. she likes to introduce herself as an explorer because she wants to spend all her time in this world exploring unknown. Writing for her is a cathartic experience. She can't remember when she began writing first but she does know that writing has always helped her to be at peace with herself and with the world around her.

Everything seemed perfectly normal when I woke up on Tuesday morning. The usual hurry to get to work, usual rush to beat the peak time traffic, and usual eagerness to be part of the rat race. I as usual had no time to watch morning news edition on the television. I started my car as I bit on my sandwich and almost mechanically switched on the radio. And then my world came to a stop.

The barrage of information dumped on me had me completely confused. I knew something was terribly wrong. I couldn't comprehend immediately what had happened. Amongst the cacophony of voices I heard on the radio, I heard about multiple air crashes, terrorist attacks and crumbling of buildings. I couldn't immediately put all the pieces of jigsaw puzzle together. As soon as I reached my work place I saw ashen faces and tears in the eyes of my colleagues. No chirpy good mornings and no bright welcoming faces. Nobody was talking. They were all glued to the TV and were sobbing. It was almost as if the time had stopped.

The shock was immense and nobody could say anything. As soon as I understood the enormity of the crisis, I felt weak in my legs. I must confess my first thoughts were not for the victims of the tragedy. Instead I almost immediately remembered the day, ten years ago, when I was fleeing from Kashmir with my mother. The images of my mother crying and holding on to me as we bid a tearful farewell to our home flashed through my mind. 'They have reached here too and how' was the only sentence going on in my mind when I saw the horrific pictures on TV.

In that room amongst so many people I was the only one who had actually suffered at the hand of terrorists and I knew exactly how every New-Yorker or for that matter how every American was feeling. It was a feeling of immense loss and betrayal from the people whom they had opened the doors of their country to and welcomed in their fold. Americans could not feel invincible anymore. The enemy had attacked the heart of America with the ruthlessness that cannot be described. The faceless enemy had struck again and this time besides killing and maiming thousands of civilians it had succeeded in hitting at the American pride and American psyche.

It is almost clear now that International Terrorism has come of age. There is no turning away from it. The Frankenstein has grown completely out of proportion and to tame it is not the job of one country alone. Terrorism has spread its tentacles almost all over the civilized world. Finally, West is experiencing what India has been repeatedly saying for a long time. It is time to tame terrorism, which is being fuelled by Muslim Fundamentalism. In the great American Tragedy witnessed on Tuesday morning most Indians saw what they had been witnessing in India consistently for last several years. As soon as we were able to quell Terrorism in Punjab, militancy raised its dormant head in Kashmir and India has been fighting this proxy war for more than ten years now.

It is shameful that Pakistan is among the select few countries that recognize the militant Taliban government and actually has been supporting Taliban economically and morally. This is no secret that Pakistan has close ties with Afghan militia and yet General Musharraf did not agree to discuss cross border terrorism when he had come to India. After all Pakistan has been harboring and training terrorists for years and we have evidence to prove that. Instead, all that General Musharraf had to say about the militants was that they were freedom fighters fighting for freedom. It made me wonder that how could General Musharraf suddenly do a volte-face today and agree to lend its air space to U.S. A classic case of permanent interests preceding over permanent loyalties.

It is quite interesting to study the rise of Osama Bin Laden and with him the rise of Islamic Terrorism. The fact that Osama was trained by CIA and during Afghan struggle against Soviet Union had the access to immense arms and wealth. After the collapse of Soviet Union, Osama suddenly became jobless and since he is only trained to spread terror around that is what he has been doing ever since. In Kashmir, in bombing U.S embassies and destroying American military ships. I hope that the west realizes now that all militancy whether it is for us or against us is dangerous. The militants are just perpetrators of evil and murderers. They are not freedom fighters or extremists. They are anti-social elements and threat to civilization. What we saw on September 11 in New York and Washington was the worst terrorist attack in the history of the world and there will be many more such attacks if immediate action is not taken. We have no time to ponder on the rise of Islamic Militancy now. It is time to react to all these forces and react forcefully in destroying Militancy carried out in the name of religion.

I am positive that Osama Bin Laden is no more a devout Muslim than most peace loving muslims. He just runs a multinational organization, which sells terrorists around the world. He cannot be a good Muslim or a good human being because good human beings don't trade terror. I hope all the Muslim Countries realize Osama is a stigma on the name of Islam and he is just using the name of religion to run his worldwide organization successfully. He is a criminal and no country should harbor him. They owe it to the world and to the humanity to hand him over to United States where he is wanted for so many crimes.

As the world comes to grips with the battle against Terrorism, and the world joins in fighting the worst war in the history of the world against the faceless enemy, our thoughts go the victims of Militancy all over the world. We owe it to all the innocent people who have lost their lives to return peace to the world. Fight against International Terrorism is a long and sustained battle but we need to fight it with will and determination.

Until we connect again....

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