“WE are responsible!”

Though this statement may sound very controversial, I stand by it and say, “We are responsible”. Here “we” do not belong to any religion neither to any region; “we” are just the “stupid common man”. We crib at every security check and every nakabandi and when the attack happens, we crib about the security in the country.

Dear friends, please do not feel offended, but it is we who are responsible. We are being targeted and hence it is we who would have to retaliate. We say that the government we elected has done nothing. Then do we believe that the government that we elect again will do anything better? Let us revisit the latest attack. The terrorists attacked, they killed and got killed. In all the mayhem, we had politicians coming to take-out the political mileage out of the issue for the upcoming elections. In a situation where every security person’s value becomes immense, these politicians come around a consume some of the resources that are needed elsewhere. The promise huge compensations, which comes from the taxes we pay and not from their own pockets! Has there been any politician who has reduced his own security for this cause or has there been anyone who has said “I’ll train my men and ensure such attacks don’t happen?” Today, the Home Minister, Maharashtra CM and Deputy CM resign. They will be replaced by someone else. The attacks will still happen and there will be resignations again happening. This is like a musical chair where the terrorists play the music of death blindly and the politicians exchange seats. We demand resignations and get a new face on the chair…to be replaced after another set of attacks??

If we look into who is affected…is it the country’s economy? Or is it the “common man”? Yes, it is the common man who is majorly affected and he is being attacked as he runs the country, he elects the leaders and he is the economy of the country. And time and time again, it will be the common man who will be attacked. It is said that if the government was more proactive in calling the NSG, then the number of casualties would have been lesser. Well, the attack would still have happened! And it will keep happening as long as the “common man” does not answer.

So now the question arises is “what do we do?” We cannot be trained like militants in weapon handling and killing. So the most common of all questions “what can I do?” As a common man, we can take on self-defense tactics. We currently hesitate participating in mock drills and evacuation practices terming them as waste of time. We need to change this! We rush to the attacked site to pat the commandos...little do we realize that we are hampering their execution. We expect the news channels to provide the latest of information "live", not realizing that the same information would be used by someone with a different intention. All I can say here is we (and that includes me as well) need to change.

“There can be another attack anytime…let’s be prepared! Let’s learn to save ourself and save our country. And terrorism will die its own death!”