The Rediff Special
'Terrorism can be countered only by counter-terrorism'
Nightmare of Flight 814, Message Board. Views verbatim, edited lightly.
Name:Sanjay Malhotra
Email:malhotra_sanjay@hotmail.com
Message:I am very happy that the ordeal for the passengers and crew of 814 is over.
However, the exchange of terrorists / criminals for hostages will have severe consequences for India and Indians. We will have to pay for this dearly and the day is not far when many such hostages and their families will go through such harrowing experiences.
We should not have released any of the criminals, irrespective of the cost. This step was not in the best interests of India. Unfortunately, the views expressed by various politicians were only to gain political mileage. Most of them did not even sound concerned. LK Advani, Chaman Lal Gupta, Sharad Yadav should be sacked.
Today our political bosses have proved that the lives laid down by our soldiers protecting the country from these very criminals was all in vain. To quote the father of one of the soldiers who died in the recent Kargil conflict, "we feel cheated". Who will mitigate the loss to Ripen Katyal's family?
I am of the view that the only solution to such problems lie in the fact that tough and harsh steps should be taken to counter terrorism. Any criminal like Maulana Masood Azhar should be given a quick 7 day trial and executed. No punishment less than Death should be given to terrorists and criminals who are waging war against the nation. No more should these criminals hang around in the country's jails (which also means protected and safe environment). It is a waste of our scarce funds / resources.
Name:C.S.Naha
Email:csnaha@rediff.com
Message:No.
Yes.
Yes.
Upon hearing the hijack the Government should have immediately isolated equal number of foreign militants now held in the jail including those whose release was sought and put them into chambers with identical condition of that of the stationary aircraft. Then they should have informed the hijackers that for the death of each of the passengers/crew one of these captive militants shall be butchered starting with Masood Azhar.
Name:Ram
Email:s_ramachandran@yahoo.com
Message:Yes, we need to save the hostages.
India should introduce visa and passport requirement for travels to/from Nepal. That would make some terrorist away. Nepalese govt need to be pulled up for allowing arms inside the plane. Dont the have metal detectors?
In future Indian security forces should kill the terrorists instead of capturing them. They should realise that once they enter Kashmir they might be shot dead. We lost so many lives due to this guy Azhar (remember those 5 western hostages?)
Name:rexy joseph
Email:rexy_joseph@hotmail.com
Message:whatever the government did was for safe release of the hostages.And i appreciate the action of the government by releasing the militants. It is true that the army lost its men in capturing those men but whats the use if it endangers the life of those innocent people.We lost a chance at Amritsar and it would have been foolish if a commando action was undertaken at khandhar.India`s national interest at that moment was in the safe return of the hostages.Thus I would like to conclude that the action of the govt. was well executed but a bit late.
Name:DEVENDRA GUPTA
Email:guptaji_2000@rediffmail.com
Message:Keeping in view the limited options, I feel the government has taken the rightest step.
It may result some increase in insurgency activities in Kashmir but the immediate danger
(threat to the 165 passengers + crew members + loss of one plane)would have proved India
negligent in protecting its citizens.
I feel Taliban and Pakistani government were behind this hijack drama.
If Taliban was really interested in helping the Indian Government then it would have
permitted Indian Government to use military option (Commondo action). Passengers' view
that initially hijackers were not having that much arsnel must be taken into consideration.
If we have to get rid off the terrorists, we must follow "KPS GILL Formula" to shoot terrorists
in fabricated encounters.
Name:Anu
Email:anu.nair@usa.net
Message:I feel this episode will, unfortunately, lead to an increase in militancy in the valley. Regarding the Indian Government, they seemed to have no other options, in the face of odds like the Taliban
whose policies they have been
stubbornly against. India
should evolve concrete steps
to overcome the increased terrorism and militancy across the border. This is all the more serious since they are up against the ISI,
ie Pakistan itself. This aspect must be given due priority so that no more such
happenings occur again.
Name:Raghu Kallur, CAMP USA
Email:raghukallur@hotmail.com
Message:I appreciate the efforts of Indian Government in securing the release of all the passengers and crew.
But was hurt when I read about killing of an innocent passenger. The reaction from some of my American friends
is that, Indian Government should have been more hard in their bargain. Immediately after the release of all the
passengers and crew, the Military air craft should have blasted the hell out of the vehicle of the militants. If it
was crossing of the international air zone.
Name:Gopa Dey
Email:Goapadey@hotmail.com
Message:The Govt. had to swap the 3 militants for the safety of the passengers.However now it should liquidate the 33 others whose release was initially sought by the hijackers.Anyway why are these paki thugs being given hospitality in Indian jails.They should be done with as soon as they are caught.We would then have no militants to release.
Name:krishnakumar
Email:krishna_thane@hotmail.com
Message:While I sympathise with the govt in view of the hobson's choice it faced, there is no denying the fact that the govt.machinery failed to react at a short notice.This fact, more than the exchange of militants, is worrying.
Are we going to take stock of the situation & wake up to the challenges threatining the security of our nation???
I am pessimistic....God save our nation!!!!
Name:C.JANARDHANAN
Email:dcjdb@md3.vsnl.net.in
Message:GOVT. MUST HAVE ACTED FAST AND IT MUST NOT HAVE ALLOWED THE FLIGHT TO LEAVE AMIRTSARS.
THEY MUST HAVE ADOPTED DELAY TATICS AND ENTERED INTO NEGOTIATION WITH HIJACKERS AND MUST HAVE FINALLY USED FOURCE.THEY MUST NOT HAVE RELESED THE PRISONERS.
Name:manda
Email:gkoshy@mailcity.com
Message:They deserved it!
Name:kalyan
Email:c_kalyan@hotmail.com
Message:It is always habit of us to comment
on the action government take.
One of the passenger kin said
when three terrorists are released
for the daugther of Home minister why not this
time.Had goverment not released the
terrorsits we must have commented same.
The act of releasing terrorists is
only option we have after letting it go from
our soil.But the next step is
crack down pak image as saviour of
kashmir and build a tough image even at the
cost of more lives.
Name:venkataraman
Email:ramvenkat@yahoo.com
Message:It is very obvious that the drama of hijacking was pre planned. Also as mr brajesh mishra, in an interview to star news clearly indicated that with the intercepts obtained, it has become very clear that it is only done by somebody who are not in good terms with our country.
But how long can we prolong this issue of Kashmir.Everybody says that there is only a solution across the table. But nothing actually happens. I really can't understand.I feel nobody is actually interested in solving the crisis.
There are also news reports that pakistan is spending over 5 crores a month in financing these bloody militants.What is the UN or the US doing in this matter.They just jump up on their heals when we test a just nuclear device.
In the interest of the people I feel that the govt has done the right thing. There was no other go.I think they have not sold our national interest.
It was very funny when the congress party accused the BJP of releasing the militants.What would they have done in this situation? On top of all that our eminent awardee politician of congress Mr Pranab Mukerjee says the trip of Mr Jaswant singh to Kandahar had to be investigated. I think all these people are just bunch of jokers.
I am happy that the problem is solved, but only govt has to take precautinary steps to combat terrorism.That's all.
I think we have efficient people in the cabinet to handle the situation.
regards
venkatraman
Name:tarzaan
Email:tarzaan_1@yahoo.com
Message:There has to be a move from falling victims to actions and then post-analyzing. In ther words, think tanks should prevent such incidents from happening. With so many people travelling to Kathmandu, why did not IA realize that they need to maintain their own passenger security, escpecially in wake of worldwide terrorist activity and ISI activity in Kathmandu? Also, at Amristar, why was not the bowser hooked up to the plane and then refuelling be delayed? This certainly would have prevented plane from takeoff, because it would be hard for plane takeoff when bowser is hooked up to the fuel tank. If anything is to be learnt, it is that Pakis may be planning other similar actions.Careful thought has to be given to allthe potential for terrorsit activity and prevention of such activity rather than always waiting for something to happen and then reacting. Also, obviously chain-of-management decision making has to be practised for emergencies and crises, response time should be quicker. Sniffer dogs should be used at airports in addition to standard security checks. Check-in baggage should also be screened by sniffer dogs.
Name:Atul Kumar Jain
Email:akshatbhomiaji@mantraonline.com
Message:There was no other way to get rid of this hijacking. As our plane was in other country with we don't have any relation. The Taliban were making pressure to reslove the case immediately and where demanding to hijackers
that they will force them to move from afganistan.So i think that there was no chance for our government and I think they have done best to save the 152 passengers life. I don't think it will impact the Kashmir insurgency because it is
going on before from long back. Now we should take the active action so that this incident should never happen again. India has not sold national interest. We people are very soft and our heart melt soon. Our Prime Minister has taken bold step
today declaring the Pakistan as terroist country. Now time has come and show the whole world about the truth of this notoriuous and terroist country Pakistan.
Name:Atul Kumar Jain
Email:akshatbhomiaji@mantraonline.com
Message:There was no other way to get rid of this hijacking. As our plane was in other country with we don't have any relation. The Taliban were making pressure to reslove the case immediately and where demanding to hijackers
that they will force them to move from afganistan.So i think that there was no chance for our government and I think they have done best to save the 152 passengers life. I don't think it will impact the Kashmir insurgency because it is
going on before from long back. Now we should take the active action so that this incident should never happen again. India has not sold national interest. We people are very soft and our heart melt soon. Our Prime Minister has taken bold step
today declaring the Pakistan as terroist country. Now time has come and show the whole world about the truth of this notoriuous and terroist country Pakistan.
Name:mrs p sayeed
Email:nures@vsnl.com
Message:well what ever happened for the best of innocent people but not in good taste for the Gov and now the Gov should immediately HANG the left over 33 militants and who all they have caught in encounters ,to avoid an action replay .
Name:Kanak
Email:kanak@vsnl.com
Message:Time we forget Gandhi and pick up the gun. We must stop taking prisoners & kill terrorists in encounters.
Name:Dr. V.H. Jokhi
Email:jokhidv@bol.net.in
Message:Amidst all the reactions, no one has looked at this episode from the spiritual view point. For instance, how would the Indian of the Millenium Mahatma Gandhi have tackled the situation. My opinion is that he would have gone as a single man negotiator, walked into the air-plane unarmed and offered himself in exchange of the hostages.The moral high ground and the impact such an act could have had on the world would have comprlled the hijackers to give up. In his magnaminity Gandhi would have forgiven the hijackers too. Impractical as it may seem, I would think this would have been a real victory for India. Also, in the event of the killing of Gandhi the world would have reacted in an unprecedented manner and got the hijackers and their backers to their knees. However, in the absence of leaders with such moral stature, I think the Government has handled the situation as best as it was allowed to do so. Insurgency in Kashmir will increase and has already done so. The solution to the problem is a basic recognition of the people of Islamic faith that there is no place in this world for an exclusivist ideology where persons folloowing Islam consider themselves superior to all and consider it their religious duty to destroy all who think otherwise.
Name:Ashok Kharya
Email:ashokkharya@hotmail.com
Message:Government did a good job. However it would be nice if the terrorist released were given slow poison so that they die thier death as a punishment to have killed innocent persons.
Name:A. Kumar
Email:kumar@GIS.net
Message:India should not have given in to the demands of the hijackers. India should join hands with Israel and USA to combat terrorism. I can see further terrorisms by the Islamists supported by Pakistan and Afganistan. Kashmir appears to be a lost cause now. India failed to act long ago. Now India pays the price of lost innnocent lives, money and eventually the state of Kashmir. It is too late to cotemplate on whether India should have caved in to the demands of the kijackers. What India should have done is to rig the jackets of these terrorists with plastic explosives and release them, and blow them all up after the plane was released. Islamic fundamentalists understand only hard-core rebuffs. I hope security is tightened at all public transport facilities to prevent further hijackings. Kumar
Name:Reghu A Gopinathan
Email:reghua@hotmail.com
Message:Will we ever learn from our past?
- A shepherd had to inform our security forces
about the insurgents in Kargil.
- Bombay blast killed thousands, when an Customs officer
let the terrorists smuggle in RDX thinking it is "normal" smuggling.
- Punjab taught us one lesson. Murderer will have to be given the same
treatment.
Will we ever be pro-active?
Name:Sangita
Email:
Message:It was a very difficult situation and no solution was the perfect solution.So although the majority of Indians were against the release of the terrorists(including me), I think the government did not have a better option. This incidence also revealed some negative aspects of our Indian mentality. Some people kept demanding the release of the militants and kept citing the example of Rubaiya Sayeed and kept criticizing the govt and politicians.I could not see any difference between these people and the so-called selfish politicians. It proved that we Indians (whether ordinary mass or corrupt politicians) are only interested in our own small world and do not care what happens outside it.One passenger even praised the hijackers for releasing him on ground of health!!! It really saddened me. Out of fear, we even try to make the villians look like heroes and express our gratitude to them for not killing us! In that interview, I didnot see this particular passenger expressing gratitude to anybody else - not to his country people, not to the negotiators - none.Perhaps this attitude of ours explains why we were under foreign rule for so many years.While most of the messages on the message board clearly indicated the positive change in the mindset of the new generation, we still have to go a long way . It is high time we stop criticizing the government for everything that goes wrong and start asking ourselves about our own contribution to the nation.
Name:madhu
Email:manukota@netzero.net
Message:I'm still in a shock that indian gov't has traded terrorists for hostages.This
will positively have a big impact in future,the same people or different people might do it again to get the freedom of other militants sitting in kashmiri jails.
This is not only embarrassing situation for india but also
tells the weakness of the gov't, and the way it handled
the situation,in the first place, the gov't should never
have let the plane leave AMRITSAR,when the plane landed
in indian territory for refueling.That tells itself the inefficiency of the gov't.
Name:Ramkey
Email:ramchabi@yahoo.com
Message:If this was the only way to ensure the release of the passengers, then I think the Indian govt. did the right thing.
How can this lead to selling our national interest? Is national interest not in saving the lives of the hostages??
The more important questions in my mind are:
1) How did the militants get weapons into the plane?
2) If this was due to problems in Nepal, do we need to revisit our security measures?
3) Why was the flight not stormed into at J&K when it landed, in the first place?
Name:Genghis Khan
Email:genghis007@reddiffmail.com
Message:Kargil was a first time.
The "sophisticated" hijacking orchestrated by Pakistan and the Taliban is another first. \
The will be be many more firsts, simply because offensive action always has the advantage of creativity, surprise and first-mover.
The country can take preventive, defensive action for acts it know can happen but not for those that are yet to happen.
India's long history of failure against foreign invasions has always been due to an exlusive reliance on defensive strategies. No one in India really cared to attack and dismember a Ghazni or a Samarkand when they had the resources and the might ot do so.
It is time to get creative and go aggresively on the offense. Otherwise, history may repeat itself.
For the "secular" pacifists, I have one simple reminder: Mahatama Gandhi was successful against the mighty British because he went on the offensive. He could be creative and kept the British on their toes.
Name:falgun
Email:vora25@hotmail.com
Message:India can not afford to be civilized with uncivilized people.
Laws for dealing with the terrorist has to become stricter and
punishment for their crime to be given immediately.
Name:patriotic_guy
Email:bheeshma@netscape.net
Message:leave alone the hijack,,,
just think if the PLANE WOULD HAVE DIVED or CRASHED into a mountain,,,, FROM who are we waiting for SIGNALS or ACTIONS to be taken.....
where are the people in the MONITORING post...???when the plane was going out of its trajectory motion from NEPAL to NEWDELHI... they must have alerted everybody...!!!iam ashamed that our people were waiting for the PILOT to spread the "hijacked" message.... what a pity ???
again, my question is if it the PLANE would have crashed in the himalayas (just for example) ... i think there is no way to know WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLANE.....
is anyone listening.....
Name:Kabir
Email:uvee_ten@hotmail.com
Message:Yes thay should have released.
Now Indian Intelligence should hunt them down
and fix the situation
Name:Raja.M
Email:mraj_icl@yahoo.com
Message:No,In my opinion Indian did not have any other option than releasing the terrorists since the operation went out of our control once the plane took off from amritsar.this act should not be taken as selling of national interest because obviously national interest lies only in the release of over 150 hostages.i don't think that this will lead to kashmir insurgency but the pressure on pakistan from west will be gripped further.
Name:yk sardana
Email:yk.sardana@eil.co.in
Message:Govt. has taken the right step.
Name:Kushala Vishwanath
Email:kv3@lucent.com
Message:The Government has taken the right decision in this regard.
Not that the Govt or the people are happy about the release of these terrorists n even the hijackers,but we were in a circumstance so inevitable,and
if we had not reached this decision it would have cost us 150 odd innocent lives.Could the 150+ lives if lost be brought back,but some day or the other we will definitely catch these terrorists and hijackers,this is my justification.
The various political parties are accusing the Govt only cos their political motives,we could not have had the CAKE and eaten it too,we either had to sacrifice innocent people or get them back,there was just one option,and it was the right decision in right time.Why are people talking about something could have been done at Amritsar,why dont people understand that the hijackers did not want to be on Indian soil at any cost!!!!!!
Now that its all over,we as a country should prepare ourselves for any such eventualities and fight all such ANTI-SOCIAL elements as a Country unitedly,without bringing caste,creed,politics n other such things into picture.
Name:g.k.mohan
Email:gullapallimohan@usa.net
Message:what india has done is exactly
correct,because this government is running on peoples mandate,if common man
has no values then there is
question of this government
continuing in the power.
opposition is always involved
in destructive criticism.
regarding national interest
the priority must be given.
for this the government should
take support of the countries
who are being troubled by the
terrorism like israel.
Name:ANUJ KHANNA
Email:anuj7700@yahoo.com
Message:Under such circumstances what govt did was allright but i just want to ask a question "What for these millitants who have been in prison for so long time not put to trial and sentenced ".so far there had been several attempts to get Measood azhar released ,what for then he was been kept in the prison and not tried.If the govt. can reply to this question of mine i would me more than satisfied.
Name:Sunny
Email:sunny_revor@hotmail.com
Message:I think what the Indian Govt did was appropriate in case of solving the hijack drama. But the only point worth noting is they took more time in doing doing so. Had they resolved little earlier it could have saved the additional trauma for the passengers and the crew.
Name:Suresh Dhanuka
Email:rahul@address.com
Message:The Govt. should not have released the militants as this will forward a bad impact on the Kashmir issue.
All the passengers and crew had become the soldiers of the nation , willingly or unwillingly and they should have been ready to sacrifice themselves in the interest of the nation.
Name:gkchamy
Email:gkchamy@yahoo.com
Message:no, in the process of releasing the 150 odd passengers, the indian govt. has given a jolt to the 90 crores of the people by releasing the the hard-won three dreaded terrorists to the hijackers.
to the next, i would say yes again. because it will give a shot in the terrorists' arm and they would continue to reign supreme in the valley.
as i have said earlier it's a big sell out as the terrorists have preplanned it meticulously and we were just a mute witness to the terrorism of international magnitude.
Name:Nupur Saxena
Email:Tapati.Bose.Saxena@chembio.ntnu.no
Message:It is high time that India should be strong and determined to eradicate the menace of terrorism.
All the terrorists should be killed after sqeezing out necessary informations of them. They should not be allowed to live at the cost of our expense. Just kill them in encounter. 'Na rahega bans, na bajegi bansuri'. If they want a vote let them vote for living in POK or IOK. They are free to select where they would live. But we would not sacrifice an inch of our land.
Name: Yogyata,Vivek Bhushan
Email:ykhullar@fascinationinfotech.com
Message:Whatever happened was very sad, there is no doubt that our fellow countyrmen. It should not have happened at the first place and the plane should not have been allowed to leave the country at any cost. The precedent was already set when the govt. relaeased 5 millitants for a minister's daughter and their justification is acceptable if they bought freedom for 150 innocent lives in exchange of 3 deadly terrorist. What the long term effect will be it is difficult to say at the moment but surely it will encourage the millitancy not only in Kashmir but all over. One can now expect similar incidents happening. The govt. did fail to get the international pressure on Taliban govt. for a commando ation. The picture is more clear now that Taliban Govt. did have a "soft corner" for the hijackers if not a hand behind the hijakcing. And as for Paksitan their policies just amaze us when their own country has gone to dogs, they have the gall to interfe
Name:VENKATESH
Email:venkateshvimala@rediff.com
Message:the govt was in a desperate condition and has to release the terrorists in exchange because the plane was landed in a country that is branded as terrorist nation and india has no bilateral relationship with the taliban. And all these drama happened on the eve of the much hyped millenium, the people want toenter the millenium on a happier note and not as a hostage. and moreover since we couldn't storm the plane we had to accede their demands.
yes, 12 civilians death reflects this. now the terrorist feel they have a upper hand .
though we submitted to the terrorist demands, it is high time to act intilligently and control the terrorist activity in the valley, so that we can rebuild our image.
Name:Nayan P
Email:npadiyar@hotmail.com
Message:If Indian goverment did not release the militant the hostages would have been killed and the wrath again would have fallen on the Indian goverment. It was an option to take but both would lead the government to dead hands.
On the other hand the passengers should have been more bold enough though the whole country was behind them they should have realised that the scarifice made by so many soliders so many families to get hold of these militants was not worthy of their life and if they had made this decision and stood boldly in front of the hijackers they would never have harmed them because they were islamic people and it is bad if they kill in the holy month of Ramdan
The message should have been also delivered to the relatives and families who were rant and raving for the goverment to do something when their family was in the airbus but what did they do when the soliders were dying day and night in the Kargil what scarifice did it show.
The goverment is made by the people for the people so the action done by the people made the goverment take a very bold step to do this.
It is the peopole to be blamed not the government.
Name:virsehjain
Email:vireshjain@usa.net
Message:yes ,india did a wrong thing by releasing the militants.now tese 3 will kill more than 150 than who will be responsible.it is a thing wrong done to the life who died for the sake of the country(our brave soldiers>
Name:Nirav Sheth
Email:sheth_nirav@hotmail.com
Message:According to my knowledge, indian Govt. has no choice. They have to meet demand of terrorists. Actually indian govenment must change its judicary system, as they keep this terrorist in indian jail for so long period so they get enough chance to put pressure or doing this type of nasty activity. New govenment must pass new law to settle this long term terrorists problem. it is not that india sold any national inerest, but any Govt. have to take similar steps, what has taken. Only in initial stage, Govt. taken very slow decesion, and they miss the chance in Amritsar.
Name:Gaurav Gupta
Email:gupta69@hotmail.com
Message:I think that the govt. did the right thing to have released the terrorists in exchange of the passengers.
My veiw is that the govt. should execte all the terrorists in the Jails so that when they are not alive there will be no demand for there release.
I do not understand why they keep them in Jail???
Name:human
Email:-
Message:kill rest of the 33 demanded
millitants.
Name:Lakshmi Narayana
Email:gsln@hotmail.com
Message:Yes! I agree with the Indian governments decision.
Name:bijusnair
Email:bijusnair@rediffmail.com
Message:The decision taken by the govt is going to be too costly for india. The govt did not feel the importance of thousands of soldiers dieng every day fighting terrorism. There sacrifices have been made invaluable.
They have been cheated. This incident is going to be a morale booster for the terrorist. There activities will increase in the coming months. I feel that it is"nt worth sacrifising once life for the terrrorism when the govt is taking such decisions
Name:mario
Email:mariod@rediffmail.com
Message:the govt of india definately sold us out. the bungeling at amritsar is unforgivable. vajpayee and his cronies might as well spit on the graves of our brave jawans who have died in the service of our motherland especially in kashmir which is without doubt an integral part of india. i supprted the b,j,p, coz i thought they would create an india all indians could be proud of. i am starting to regret that decision as i'm sure most of my friends are.
and if the pakis are sitting pretty gloating over what they see as a "great victory", think again all you'll have done by the senseless murder of an innocent man ( one cannot expect better from a pack of cowards ) is further alienate the moderate indian who by the way lives in a free society and is not brought up in an atmosphere of lies and hate and religious fanatism
Name:ras
Email:asukumarr@yahoo.com
Message:I dont know if the terrorists should have been released but I think Vajpeyee and all the politicians in India should be declared hijras. that is all they are fit for. We should probably have left Laloo in the terrorists' midst. it would have been like a cat in a bird's pen. I was proud to be called an Indian but today I am ashamed to be called an Indian. I admire Pakistanis more.
Name:S. Narasimhan
Email:shirleynarsi@hotmail.com
Message:The Govts. bungling of the hostage crisis will most certainly encourage further acts of outrage. Our Govt. and indeed every political party in the past in India has ensured that the hasproven not only to its cititzens but to the whle world that they are incapable of handling any crisis. They messed up on Kargil, then Orissa and now 814. The truth is we the people are just not safe from anything. And our politicians are to blame. They don't and never have given a damn to anything but thier own petty survival.
Indeed this entire episode has made me ashamed of our capability as a country. prhaps we are only fit to write software.
Name:pratik shah
Email:vinodtxt@wilnetonline.net
Message:there is nothing to admire from this incident. if we learn somthing and would able to improve our security for future course., i hope so.
Name:Tarun Gupta
Email:tgupta@netbasecomputing.com
Message:The pace of gentle heart ia always subdued by the practicality of life for almost every Indian.
We certainly have sacrified our national interest in front of a bunch of Gundas which we are unable to deal with. Now, can my politicians guarantee that there will never be any hijacking or such demands. NO NO...a big NO. This has increased the confidence of hijackers and a novice layman like me can easily think of doing the same. (Yep..its easy...Ha Ha)
Our 160 martyrs (if in rarest of rarest situation)could have shown the world and the coming generation that we can and will never bow to such demands but most of them weren't soldiers in the lot.
This is true that for one daughter of a big shot we had get our numerous people killed(you all can deduct this very easily) but our countryman on the hijacked plane should have shown the courage(though there were a few but a very few) and then the whole scenario would have been different. One person who got killed...I would rather say he came up with the courage; he is true Indian in every sense. I am not a relative of that great person(I don't know his name even) but that's a fact.
Perhaps this is the end of such games(Game seems to be most appropriate).
Name:Parag
Email:stoop5@hotmail.com
Message:I guess,there was no other option left for the government other than releasing those 3 militants.And yeah,its definetly going to boost the morale of all those anti-social elements who are being trained by Pakistan.I think we should now wage a war against pakistan and destroy it completely.Thats the only solution left,if we wanna live peacefully.
Name:Pravin Bolangady
Email:pbolangady@bigfoot.com
Message:I think the government had little choice in this matter.
This incident will surely embolden the terrorists and their sponsor-country to carry out more such dastardly
acts. It also is a wake-up call for our govt. We need to
heavily invest in counter-intelligence and anti-terrorist measures. It is not going to be enough to 'know' where and what they are doing. We have to build a force which can covertly destroy the enemy targets, their resources. We have fight them in their games by playing the same dirty games ourselves.
Name:aashish
Email:
Message:what i think is that india should fight back to these attacks by the neighbours , by giving cruel death sentences shown on tv , to the militants held in our jails , so that the ones who are being trained would be forced to think once again on what they might have to face in india.we all feel very guilty and sorry for all the sacrifices that have gone in vain by all our jawans in the kargil conflict , who paid with their lives for these activites being carried out by all these so called good neighbours of ours , may god show mankind the correct path to togetherness and co-existence , this is my wish not only for us but the whole world . Amen .
Name:M. Satsangi
Email:satsangi@hotmail.com
Message:There's no point in analysing
whether the negotiation team
was right or wrong.
What next? is important.
The govt. needs to storm J&K
with full strength of our
army and flush out the militants
and pakistanis in one shot.At
present we have international
support and we should not delay
action.
Name:Giridhar
Email:giridhar@bom6.vsnl.com
Message:I would rate whole event as an expression of shallow nationalism and illogical media.
Name:Sriram
Email:k_n_sriram@usa.net
Message:India has bowed to a terrorism act that was not handled properly. imagine our brave martyrs who gave up their lives just for not letting out a small defence secret.
tomorrow any terrorist group will kidnap a vvip or his/her relatives in exchange of a militant!!
as simple as that!
Name:Rakesh Raghubanshi
Email:rakeshraghubanshi@att.net
Message:To begin with, I don't think the government of India has sold out our national interest. It is quite unfortunate when we have to weigh the lives of hostages vs. releasing these terrorists. We Indians are funny in that at one point we say that meet the demands of the hijackers to save the hostages and on the other hand we blame the Indian govt. for giving in. The sad thing here is that instead of thinking for the good of the nation they think in terms of political fallout over their decisions. This is the same mentality that has given birth to the myriad of problems that India is facing today. In the US when the news of the hijacking broke out, the media stated that the hijachers are from Indian-held Kashmir. First we need to clarify that it is not Indian held Kashmir rather it is India. India needs to take a stance which is Kashmir belongs to us. No one will take it away from us. The second thing we need to do is to forget about amnesty international and the foreign governments and press. They will always be sitting there passing judgements on us. We need to stop worrying about what others are thinking or saying about us and take care of this problems. My question to countries like US would be that what if the spanish people in the State of California, which has a very large spanish population, decide they want to be a part of Mexico. What would the US do then. If they come into our country and start problems then they will have to reap the consequences. My ideology is very radical. Perhaps a lot of people may not agree with it. However, if it were me handling this situation I would pull out two terrorists for every hostage, from the Indian jails, and start executing them until they released the hostages. And if they don't then kill some more terrorists. Atleast next time before they try something like this they will think twice.
Name:rain
Email:its_rain@hotmail.com
Message:India has once more shown that it is a soft state! It has not only sold out national intererst, it has also sold out national pride. In exchange for 150 lives we set free 3 dreaded terrorist who must have killed at 500 people between them. Not to forget those who sacrificed their lives in Kargil. All that sacrifice is a waste. All this will lead to increase in Kashmir insurgency and more lives (both civilian and army) will be lost. When will we learn to take harsh measures like Israel! If we don't wake up now, we shall be pushed to into eternal abyss of sleep!
Name:Pradeep
Email:agalp@magix.com.sg
Message:Government and Mr. Vajpayee
It was very clear after the Kargil war that terrorists have challenged that India will have to pay a price.
What did we do?
There are number of attacks on army hq in J&K, what have we done?
What are we doing now to avoide this again?
Shouldn't we comb J&K and eliminate Terrorists from the area?
What about international reaction, how did we manage it? No one is supporting us and everyone is behind Pakistan, why?
Are we saying that we are not competent to do that.
It is already very late, do something ASAP to save the country and it's people.
Thanks
Name:Dr. G.K. Suryanarayana
Email:gksurya_99@rediff.com
Message:Terrorism can be countered only by counter-terrorism, the way MOSSAD or KGB does it. The Government should have used the 35 odd jailed militants to secure the release of innocent passengers, the crew and the A300. When Rupin Katyal was killed by the hijackers, the Govt. should have got a few militants killed in "Encounters" as exchange. Only when the reaction is very very strong, will the enemies be scared of hijacks. For example, Israel has enemies all around its borders. But why is it that no Israeli aircraft are hijacked?. Obviously, the Israeli Govt. deals with hijackers in an extremely ruthless manner. We indians have to learn from the Israelis on tackling this militant menace.
Read what other readers said:
'Get into Afghanistan and kill the hijackers'
'The Govt should directly talk with the hijackers and release the passengers without succumbing to their demands'
'Distract the hijackers, storm the plane, shoot the criminals and rescue the hostages'
'An SOP must be in place, formulated without a second's delay'
'We should do an operation a la Entebbe whatever the consequences'
'The Govt should avail of all diplomatic means to get the passengers released'
'Never give in to terrorist demands'
'The relatives' behaviour is understandable --- they are under emotional pressure'
'It is scary to think what the 35 terrorists would do if they were released'
'Indian are and will always be ready to sacrifice their lives for the nation'
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