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Post 9/11

USA reaction to 9/11 continues to date. America's 9/11 has created many 9/11's for the rest of the world. One wonders how much different world would have been if America had thought through its line of action in the wake of the attacks. If they had reacted by seeking an understanding of the complexity of the situation, maybe 7/7 in London, 9/20 in Islamabad and 11/26 in Mumbai could have been prevented. Situation in Iraq is nowhere under control and Afghanistan is getting worse. America's reaction has generated a series of events that are getting worse as the time moves on and well into the 8th year we have a situation where another '9/11' has jolted the world.

One wonders also, what India's reaction would be. The initial signals coming from Delhi are not very promising. Before they even captured any attackers, Delhi pointed fingers at a 'neighbouring country' and it was no great puzzle who that 'neighbour' was. It reminded of long ago when there was only PTV in Pakistan and Doordarshan in India and we had RAW confessions of terror attacks in Pakistan and the same by ISI in India. Up until recently we laughed thinking of those days and thought that was propaganda through state run television and now even with a 'free media' we get the same kind of reporting. How far have we really come? How free is our mind?

Pakisatn as a reaction has been forthcoming but has underlined that if India brought its army to the borders, Pakistan will pull its forces from Pak-Afghan border and move them to Pak-India border. At a time when the world is plunged into an economic crisis and majority of the people in both countries are crying out for a roti a day, escalating tensions between these countries spell suicide for millions of people in both countries. It is for us to see now, whether India will react like a woken monster or will she seek out a saner response which may even be a step in the direction of preventing future 9/11's for the rest of the world!!

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