In Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s magnum opus novel Devdas, we had the lead character resorting to alcohol because he could not unite with the love of his life Paro and this ultimately led to his death. This is not restricted to movies and novels alone and in real life too, numerous people have taken to alcohol owing to love failure. There have been numerous occasions when jilted lovers have resorted to suicide for the very same reason and most hill stations in India would have a ‘Suicide Point’ as a tourist attraction. But these things have now become old fashioned. As per the latest rage in social media, kids resort to alcoholism, adults commit suicide. What do legends do? Legends join a militant organization like the Hizbul Mujahideen and murder innocent people. One such legend is Sabzar Ahmed Bhat, a commander of the Hizbul and successor to Burhan Wani, who was killed last year.
Sabzar Bhat was a close friend of Burhan Wani and apparently turned to terror after his marriage proposal was rejected, as per our media. What do they want us to do with this piece of information? Are they expecting us to sympathize with the slain dreaded terrorist? Are they trying to convey that had Sabzar’s marriage proposal not been rejected, our army would have had to deal with one terrorist less? Our media has this age old dirty habit of glorifying terrorists and giving a message that they took up to radical extremism because of certain wrongs that are inherently present in the system and these terrorists were the victims of the system. Even when Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter, he was projected as a poor headmaster’s son, who was a victim of the system. Social rights activists like Shabnam Lone go the extra mile to make martyrs out of Burhan and Sabzar.
When 26/11 attacker Ajmal Kasab was given the death sentence, we could hear similar stories about how Kasab was a victim of poverty and as a result of that, he was brainwashed by radical Islamists to take the path of jihad. There was an article on Times of India saying Kasab sang in jail the night before he was hanged and he wanted to eat tomatoes. Numerous human rights activists tried their best to stop the hanging by petitioning the president. After he was hanged, we all know the famous headlines in Indian Express.
When blood thirsty Maoists are killed by our CRPF forces, the left wing parties and our media unite and portray that Maoists are Gandhis with guns and it is because of their economic condition that they’ve gone astray and have resorted to violence. The same sympathy can be witnessed for Nirbhaya’s juvenile rapist with counselors saying he was a victim of poverty, he fears for his parents and is a changed man now.
Let us get one thing clear. The citizens of India are not one bit interested in the history of a terrorist or anyone who has committed a heinous crime and do not care about his love life or what is the profession of his father. The fact is, if the person has harmed and killed innocent people in the name of a flawed and violent ideology, he deserves to die. It is as simple as that. Nobody can help if that person is getting brainwashed by radical elements and is committing crimes as a result of that. As far as economic conditions of a person are concerned, we have seen numerous cases of people from humble background working hard and reaching great heights. Shahid Nabi, who is also from Jammu and Kashmir, cracked the AIIMS medical test and is yearning to join the country’s premier medical institutes. He is the son of a farmer and is from the Tral, which is the hotbed of militancy. Shah Faesal was the first Kashmiri to top the Indian Civil Services from Kashmir. He faced the wrath of radical Kashmiris when he made a statement that Kashmir is safe with India. The great APJ Abdul Kalam himself came from a very humble background and went on to become one of the most respected presidents of the country. So the argument that circumstances lead a person to take up arms and commit crimes is a silly one.
Message to the media – Do not try to make heroes out of hardened criminals and terrorists. You are almost actually justifying them taking up arms and killing innocent people.
The background of a person, the family he belongs to or his economic background cannot justify a person getting influenced by other terrorists and committing dastardly crimes on innocent people. If the system needs to be cleaned up, some tough decisions are needed to be taken and we do not want to hear impractical preaching about reforming hardcore criminals and abolishment of the death penalty. We do not care if Sabzar’s marriage proposal was rejected or if he ever got over his love failure. He was killed by our army for the various sins he committed and for having a flawed ideology and this is the ultimate truth. Period.