Osama must die... but should we celebrate?

May 02 2011, the dawn that saw the end of most wanted terrorist on the face of the earth, i.e. Osama bin Laden. In the wee hours of 02 May, a small contingent of US forces conducted a raid using two army choppers and engaged the residents of a palatial house at Abbotabad. Couple of hours later, all the five residents were found dead and one among them was Osama bin Laden. The US forces took custody of the his remains and broke the news to their boss who was more than happy and congratulated them for a job well done. At 23:00 hours EDT, the world heard of the news from the US President Barack Obama about "justice done" after 9 1/2 years. The President was cautious and told his fellow Americans that the war on terror was not won as yet. This news brought large crowds of Americans into the streets of New York city and many other cities all around the US. People were seen celebrating the death of a terrorist who had inflicted a major damage to the US in recent history. Most politicians extended warm greetings to fellow Americans on this day of victory and joined in their celebration. This forced me to think, should we be so happy about this event? Have we, as a society become so vengeful that we celebrate the killing of people who have wronged the society. I can understand the families of people who died in the 9/11 carnage feeling a sense of justice, but celebrations were way over the top. It was a solemn event and I expected the President (whom I admire) to advice his countrymen that this was not an event to rejoice but an event to stand solidly behind the US Marines who are working so far away from home to bring those people to justice who wronged the Americans. It was an event to feel sorrow for the loss of another life and the irony that it was necessary in the larger interest of society. Rejoicing the event of death does not speak well of a civil society.



Ever seen a judge rejoice the event of awarding a death sentence to a convict? Even if the accused has committed a heinous crime that owes no leniency, the judge awards the death sentence only in "the rarest of the rare" case. It shows the sacredness that we attach to life, like the old adage "when ever blood is spilled, humanity dies". In a society, where justice that takes away the life of a convict is treated as a solemn event, public rejoicing of the killing of one's wrongdoers, seems a little barbaric. In any case, the fight against the scourge of terrorism did not start with Bin Laden nor will it end with him. It is a continuous process and has to carried out always. There are several layers to that fight and each one of us can contribute in a major way. The security forces should have to interfere only in extreme cases and we should be aware that lives will be lost in that eventuality; so it should never be the first response to terrorism. Terrorism breeds with the insecurity and one person's terrorist is another person's hero. This can be known from the facts that there was a huge following for the likes of Hitler, Bin Laden even though they authorised mass murders. So the problem are not these individuals, its their ideology. If we as a society have to defeat terrorism then its time we stop hunting down Bin Ladens and Al Zahawaris or radical religious groups. Pointed killings take a racial/ethnic/religious overtone and creates a mistrust among the society. If we have to defeat these groups, we have to defeat their ideology and to defeat an ideology, one has to bend a little to pick up the people around you. If we are too stubborn to bend or are not accommodating to other people's views, then this war on terrorism will be a perpetual one. I hope the better sense prevails among the leaders of the world after the demise of one of the most wanted terrorist and they use the event to reach out rather than to celebrate.



So long....