I stumbled upon this piece of newspaper while rummaging through my old files. It’s almost 20 years old and the picture of Gautam Navlakha immediately grabbed my attention. It was so shocking to read what he had written two decades ago and realise that he himself is a victim of the dangers he warned us then.
The discussion was on POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) ordinance issued by the then NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Challenging the official justification for such a law, Gautham asked these uneasy questions.
What is terrorism? What is the link between terrorism and the prevalence of real injustice? Is not state terror a way to circumvent issues of oppression and exploitation? Can empowerment of the security agencies be delinked from the reality of the collapse of civil policing with its emphasis on detection of crime, illiteracy of the police about people’s rights and encouragement given to the to “kill” for reward and promotion? Will this promote persecution and encourage the politics of retribution to graduate to terrorism?
Most governments shy away from defining terrorism and stick to defining “terrorist activity” because it enables them to use their subjective directions to clamp down on some groups while letting others go scot-free. The NDA government is doing just that. It neither wants to bring the security agencies nor Hindutva forces under the purview of the anti-terrorism law.”
Terrorism cannot be fought with repressive measures but by removing injustices and isolating hate groups. It was the demolition of Babri Masjid and the anti-Muslim carnages that led to the Bombay blast. The promotion of Bhindranwale, the attack on Golden Temple and anti-Sikh carnage caused terrorism…..In J&K militancy began to give away to cross-border terrorism after 1994-95, which became predominant by 1999-200. And throughout the 12 years, the aspirations of the people received short-shrift. To remind blind to all this could prove calamitous for our democratic polity.”
The prophetic words of Gautham stare us more menacingly today than it was written 20 years ago………..