An article I read in this morning's paper has shocked me into confronting one of the faces of poverty head-on. The link between poverty and terrorism. The article was on the 21 year old boy who was caught during the terrorist attack on the railway station in Mumbai. His family belongs to an underprivileged caste. The father runs a snack cart, the mother is a homemaker. The lad is the third of 5 children. The eldest son works as a daily labourer, and the older sister is married. Two younger siblings are at home. The boy was an indifferent student at a local Government school ( local Government run schools are terrible at best), and dropped out after the 4th grade. With nothing to keep his mind occupied or his energy harnessed, and so terribly poor, he was a perfect candidate for recruitment to the terrorist outfit. He and his friend joined a terrorist group, not because of any Islamist convictions, but so that they could eat, had a place to stay and were kept occupied by the rigorous training they were receiving. He did so well that he was selected to be a part of the group that was to strike Mumbai. His sacrifice would enable his family to get Rs.1.5 lakhs – something that would ease their poverty.....He is not the first and he won’t be the last....
Poverty kills the human spirit as nothing else and here we see just what economic deprivation can do. Along with economic poverty comes the poverty of the mind because unless, through education the intelligence is not harnessed, and the mind not kept occupied, what is to prevent all kinds of negative thoughts from entering the mind? Then, when all is so dark and negative, the heart becomes numb to all else including all humans . The targets that the terrorists chose were the haunts of the rich and famous. Something that they could not even imagine, something so alien. And because they were not educated, they did not have the tools to reason and question what they had signed up for, and what they were training for and what they would have to do. In any case how far will the 1.5 lakhs take the family? What a gulf between the haves and the have-nots. How unfair. How unjust. And so they struck - young men, all, -and as many young men will continue to do......
