9/11 remembered!

The twentieth century undoubtedly was the bloodiest century in the history of mankind. The two deadly wars and the subsequent human suffering caused by the resultant devastation left millions of people dead, and yet a greater number of people were rendered homeless. Fortunately enough, at the same time, the equally accelerated growth of science and technology in the same century did compensate for all the irreparable loss caused by these two greatest catastrophes. Now, we are in the beginning of the 21st century. But the tragedy is that this new century too, that had dawned in two years before, seems now far from a promising one.

It is on this very day exactly a year ago that "The pride of New York", i.e., the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were turned into a mountain of debris – a shock the world still finds hard to take for granted even one year after of the ghastly incident that rocked the entire globe. The solidarity the whole world exhibited towards the New Yorkers in particular and America in general is clear evidence that the world is now one and remains unconditionally united against violence and terror immaterial of the fact where the incident take place. The near and dear ones of the 2800 hundred people who lost their lives in this heinous and dastardly act of terror are to be reminded that the ordeal they went through was not only a tragedy that snatched their beloved ones from them but also was a setback for the whole of the civilized humankind.

Despite the tragedy that followed the simultaneous events of 9/11 last year, it must be admitted that a positive change has certainly occurred in the world politics -- the emergence of a grand coalition of practically all the countries of the globe which is rallying in support of the US-declared "War on Terrorism". Immediately after the maneuvered plane crashing that left thousands dead, President George Bush declared that the time had come to fight 'terror' and that it might take a considerable time to corner the unseen enemy and root out terrorism from the face of the world. And indeed, even after 12 long months, the "War on Terror" can not be said to have reached a decisive stage as yet, because the fear of an uncertain nightmare still haunts the western people and to be more specific the Americans. There is a wide spread apprehension that there can be another "9/11" at any time because the perpetrators of the sad event were still at large.

President Bush and his European allies, together with the world leaders, are all set to lead the world in its decisive fight against evil. Should they all be successful in their noble cause, then what can be better for our future generations? Because even an ordinary mind can pretty figure out that a world without terrorism will certainly make a heaven on earth. But looking at the development of the affairs so far, it hardly seems sensible that a mere rush of military paraphernalia against the al Qaeda, or for that matter against the Taliban, will bring about the desired result and make the world terror-free. Because their war on terror has coincidentally come to be an action against the Muslim world, though it in no way is the intention of the Bush administration. The entire Muslim world is interpreting the superpower move aimed against their religion and the former and its allies have not been that successful in convincing the latter that the moves in essence were not aimed against their religion but against those who champion the cause of terrorism. The US and her allies must concentrate their efforts in this direction in order to assure the Muslim world that it was not a war against their religion and that their religion was equally near and dear to them as well. The US must convince the Muslim world that acts of "'terrorism" can't be linked up to any religion. Terrorism is terrorism and hence it has no religion. Failing to do so may ignite the religious instincts of the Arabs and the rest of the Muslims scattered in the world thus, could lead them to unite on religious grounds, which will be but a great threat to the war against ever widening terrorism.

The European Union, which was a key ally in the Gulf War of 1990, is in strict opposition to any probable attack on Iraq, and to which the US government apparently is turning a deaf ear. Listening to Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, what could be guessed is that the US might proceed to penalize Iraq even if it failed to garner support from countries like Germany, France and even from the UNSC. It would be advisable to the US that it enjoyed firm and full support from all the nations including the UN and the Russian Federation and China as well before it decides to wage an all out war against Iraq for obvious and understandable reasons.

Finally, we in Nepal wish that there were no repetition of 9/11 any more. We also wish to extend our sympathies to all those who had to bear the trauma of the 9/11 which was directed, as the new New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg says, against "women and men of virtually every ethnicity and religious belief from 91 different nations of the globe". We wish that terrorism in any form or guise should be dealt with firmly. We wish that the present world coalition against terrorism should continue ad infinitum. We in Nepal well understand what terrorism means.

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