Terrorist mastermind eliminated!

The day broke with the announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, which is the lynchpin of Islamic terror worldwide had been killed in an encounter with U.S. special troops ‘deep inside’ Pakistan. The man who is wanted dead or alive by the police forces of more than a dozen countries was staying incognito in Abbotabad, near the Pakistani capital city. The decade-long hunt by American agencies finally bore fruit and the world was relieved of one more malignant tumour in its bodymass. The massacres performed at the behest of this seemingly calm and handsome terrorist are blood-curdlingly cruel and inhuman. What more can we say about the man who plotted to ram a plane full of innocent people into a building occupied by ordinary people going about their daily lives? America deserves credit for steadfastly going after the perpetrators and its determined efforts to bring them to justice, which they have done at last. Well done, Obama and U.S. forces, India is proud of you.

As more details emerged later, it became clear that Pakistan was not even informed of the assault until it was over and bin Laden’s dead body was carried off to U.S. military base in Afghanistan. Then the Pakistani government began to whine, accusing the Americans of violating international law by carrying out an armed raid inside their sovereign territory. May be legally valid, but the protestations painted that ill-fated country’s plight in a dismal setting. Its secret forces, which effectively rules the country had utterly failed to locate this guy who was staying right under their noses for ten years. In fact, their fight against terror constituted only the protestations after U.S. strikes in their soil.

This is a historic moment when terrorism has been served a deadly blow. But, will it end? Not likely, as the seeds of terror are sown deep and widely dispersed. Al Qaeda is still very active and its machinery is in place for another deadly strike somewhere in the civilized world. Terrorism will end only when the Islamic clergy heeds to the voice of their moderate bretheren and rein in the extremists with good ‘fatwas’. So far, no imam or mullah has come up with a fatwa against bin Laden. This silent permission fuels the fanatic fire in them and the stage is fast reaching when they have to reap what they sowed.