It is Time We Questioned Pakistan's Right to Exist

In international media the Delhi Bomb blasts did hog some space, but for a day or two only, after which the media focus turned elsewhere. What this lukewarm coverage proves is that as a nation we are on our own! No foreign power in the world gives a damn about 50 or 60 blown to bits in an Indian city. The problem of Islamic terrorism that we face is our problem, and it is for us to find a solution to it.

As we begin recovering from the blast's aftermath we should take this opportunity to reflect - on what has made this nation such an easy target for terrorists? The socialist regimes ruling us since independence have failed utterly in creating adequate defense mechanisms against terror attacks. But the government is not the only entity to blame. Another enfeebling factor is our culture, so mired in the past that it has no energy left to devote towards building a vibrant future.

Our culture encourages us to be truthful, obedient, loyal, faithful and God fearing, it inculcates Ram like qualities. Ram's ways could have been helpful in fighting Ravana, the villain of satayuga, but to fight the modern-day villains, the terrorists, who happen to be vastly more iniquitous than Ravana, another kind of mindset is needed. We need to become vicious, which Ram was not.

We have to ditch much of the deductions we have picked up from our lengthy history, we have to ditch the ridiculous theory of Ahimsa, which instead of stopping terrorism only goes on to encourage it thorough a cloying process of appeasement of terror that has become a hallmark of Indian politics, and we have to ditch our corrupt socialistic political system which has only lead us into a series of disasters and poverty.

A leader of the caliber of Ronald Reagan can arise from our midst only when we imbibe a wholly new set of values. When Reagan came to power in US after defeating the leftist Jimmy Carter, inflation in US was 18 percent and unemployment was growing at an alarming rate. The Soviet Union was on an offense in Afghanistan, Angola, Mozambique, Grenada, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

By doing away with the bureaucratic and legislative roadblocks and implementing a free trade regime, Reagan was able to turn the US economy around. But it was in foreign policy that his successes were most pronounced. Within eight years of his inauguration as president, the Berlin Wall fell. And two years later the Soviet Union disappeared. Who can forget Reagan's great speeches! He became the first president of US to call Soviet Union what it was- "an evil empire".

What India needs is a leader of strong beliefs like Reagan, who can free the economy by doing away with the festering shackles of socialism and Marxism. We need a leader who has the courage to stand up on the world stage and call Pakistan what it is- "a terror sponsoring evil empire- that has no right to exist in a civilized world".