Mumbai and India will bounce back

In the wake of the ongoing terrorist attack in Mumbai, the most dastardly attack in India so far, it is clear that it is a tough time we, the Indians, are going through. My heart goes to all those innocent souls, Indians and foreign nationals, brave cops and commandos who've lost their life and those who have sustained life threatening injuries. But I feel that this tough time will pass and it is inevitable that Mumbai and India will brave this terror attack. And Mumbai and India will bounce back.

The whole world is condemning this attack on India and is showing solidarity to India's war on terror. We must be grateful for this gesture of the world community but I must state that this is our war and we have to fight our war with or without any support from others.

In response to the breaking news of the terror attacks in Mumbai on New York Times' website, I found the following noteworthy comment which I consider as a representative of world community's feelings towards the terrorism and its unfortunate impact on India, the largest democracy in the world.

32. November 26, 2008 5:04 pm, Link

For too long, this war on terrorism has been used in the US as a bludgeon to advocate a specific set of policies disproportionate to its risk and more in-line with the long-term interests of the Bush administration. It's not that, here in the US, we should not have been scared after 9/11, but maybe we were too scared, and gave up too much, to the point of hysteria. That overreaction lent itself to manipulation by those with disingenuous motives, and risked the sincere support of America's friends and allies.

Now India is being hit by terrorist attacks matched in drama and fear, if not yet in scale, to 9/11. India froze the assets of foreign terrorists suspects for the US after we were attacked 7 years ago. We responded with a weak and unfocused policy in the region, which included propping up a destabilizing dictatorship with India's tensest foreign relationship.

It's time America did right by India, and issued a statement of solidarity in light these attacks. It should not include a plan of action that the US takes, but instead a commitment of resources to help India investigate or go after the groups that perpetrate these crimes. The mandate should be qualified to free us from obligation to be involved or support unilateral activity on the part of India in territory it disputes with Pakistan, so that we're not rattling any cages. But in any case, it's time this war on terrorism meant something more than a cash hole, long lines at airports, and the Bush administration projecting its idea of force onto the 21st century. And it's time America meant something more to a country like India than an entity only slightly more troubling and dangerous as an enemy than as a friend.
— Pierce, Atlanta

Such comments also indicate a change of the perception of the world community towards India and in other words the realization of the ground facts about ground facts about the active involvement of India's neighbors in the terrorist activities withing India and also around the globe. India should realize that it is time to capitalize upon these positive sentiments.

Our democracy and the political system is like an elephant. An elephant walks slowly, changes its course slowly. But it is an intelligent animal too. The elephant becomes unstoppable for the wildest animals on the earth when it starts running with a motto and a mission in mind. I am sure that our system will become wiser with each such experience and start acting firmly and proactively to counter each of such attempts, to destabilize the integrity of the nation, and even to go further to eliminate this menace in its roots. Sooner is better.