- The attack has to be aimed at making those affected feel fear, hopelessness and a sense of inevitable doom, total helplessness.
- The individuals affected need to actually experience these feelings.
In actual fact, many victims of terror attacks fight back and try to save the lives of others, encourage their companions, negotiate with the terrorists and generally refuse to give in and give up. They die heroes.
My friend's son was one such hero. During the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks he helped at least 20 people to safety, and though he could have escaped himself, went in to help some more. He was a chef at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, one of the main targets of the terrorists. He was shot and killed. So many of the people trapped in the Taj and Oberoi hotels were helped by such heroes. They are alive today because someone died for them. These are victims of terrorist attacks, but NOT EVER victims of terrorism.
While on the subject, let us talk about the victims of terrorism that are never listed in news items as such. The wives who are terrorised by their husbands and in-laws for not bringing sufficient dowry, the daughters or sisters who are raped by their fathers or brothers, the neighbours who live in fear of those around them. They are killed or commit suicide, and are no less victims of terrorism than those who died on 26 November 2008 or the victims of 9/11. The fight against terrorism needs to be extended to include these victims too.
Conflict is as old as humanity. Using terror to get a certain result is not new either. The crusades, the witch hunts, the religious wars are all ways that groups use to subjugate other groups. Violence is not going to go away. We all need to be alert to attempts to terrorise us in our day to day lives and also to keep constantly vigilant so that mass attacks are averted. More than anything else, we each need to make a commitment to bring harmony into our lives so that we can be channels of harmony for those around us.
