Inter/Independence day celebrations

We live in an era of interdependence. Although each one of us knows that man is a social human being, yet our mindsets are still firmly anchored in an era where nation, and national interests, came first. In reality, events somewhere seem to have ripple effects across the world. Following the scare about bombs in the UK targeting US-bound aircraft, Washington tipped off New Delhi about terror attacks planned around Independence Day, and India has gone into high alert. The Lashkar-e-Taiba is usually thought of as an anti-Indian group, but its chief Hafeez Saeed has been placed under a month’s house arrest in Pakistan following revelations of a LeT hand in the UK bomb plot. Unfortunately, terrorists display greater coordination than the democracies they target. It’s not just India that is hurt by terror emanating from Pakistan — all jehadis’ roads lead to Pakistan at some point, whether it is 9/11, 7/7, the Bali bombings or the latest UK bomb plot. Yet western democracies remain remarkably indulgent in their view of Pakistan, now one of the biggest beneficiaries of US aid. But it’s not just terror — everything from trade negotiations to the environment to fighting global poverty remains badly affected by the world’s inability to recognise our interdependence and evolve a common approach to its problems.

Amidst a lot of tensions from within and sourced from external terrorists and anti-national forces, it is a great pleasurable and joyous moment for each and every citizen of this great nation (India) to celebrate with greater levels of enthusiasm our 60th Independence day from foriegn clutches. It is true that we have a lot of ardous ordeals that are being encountered; a lot of separations and difference of opinions but there is one fine blend of relationship that runs as a strong undercurrent that keeps us knit together -- the passionate thought of being the child of Mother India.