How Many More Times??

It's been five years, half a decade, since the most misguided terrorist plan reached fruition. A few days ago, when India was attacked for the nth time, this time at a mosque and market in Malegaon, I watched, in stunned silence for the nth time, as the sight of innocent blood visited my sitting room, for the nth time. I switched channels to BBC and CNN (not CNN-IBN) and there were lifestyle shows being aired. No breaking news, no terror warnings, not even a ticker. Malegaon is a miniscule blip on the Western radar. Why would they care? It wasn't like Delhi, where the heart of the tourist district was hit. It wasn't like Mumbai, constantly in the international eye. It wasn't even Kashmir, that mythic place that the Indians and Pakis can't seem to get over. It was just Malegaon. It isn't just a "War on Terror" now. It's a "War on Terror .... where and when it suits us".

Oh Well, here's the list. Shocked at the number of attacks in the last 13 years? I was.

1993
March 12: Mumbai car bombings in India leave 257 dead with 1,400 others injured.

1997
March 22 - Sangrampora Killings - 7 Kashmiri Pandits were killed in Sangrampora village in the Budgam district.

1998
January : Wandhama Massacre - 24 Kashmiri Pandits are massacred by Pakistan-backed insurgents in the city of Wandhama in Indian-controlled Kashmir .

February 14: Coimbatore bombings -Bombings by suspected Islamic Jihadi groups on an election rally in Indian city of Coimbatore kill about 60 people.

1999
December 24: Indian Airlines Flight 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India is hijacked. One passenger is killed and some hostages are released. After negotiations between the Taliban and the Indian government, the last of the remaining hostages on board Flight 814 are released in exchange for release of 4 terrorists.

2001
October 1: A car bomb explodes near the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly in Srinagar, India killing 35 people and injuring 40 more.

December 13: Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament.

May 13: 12 people are killed in the Jaunpur train crash in India, caused when Islamic extremists cut the rails.

2002
September 10: A train derailment in India kills 130 people in the Rafiganj rail disaster. Naxalite terrorism is suspected.

September 25: Two terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group raid the Akshardham temple complex in Ahmedabad, India killing 30 people and injuring many more.

December 21: Kurnool train crash, Islamic extremists derail a train and kill 20 people in India.

2003
July 13: Qasim Nagar Attack - Armed militants believed to be a part of the Lashkar-e-Toiba threw hand grenades at the Qasim Nagar market in Srinagar and then fired on civilians standing nearby killing twenty-seven and injuring many more.

August 25: At least 48 people were killed and 150 injured in two blasts in south Mumbai - one near the Gateway of India at the other at the Zaveri Bazaar.

2005
July 5: Terrorist attack on Ayodhya – Six terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba storm the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhomi complex in India. Before the terrorists could reach the main disputed site, they were shot down by Indian security forces. One devotee and two policemen were injured.

July 20 Srinagar Bombing - A car bomb exploded near an armoured Indian Army vehicle in the famous Church Lane area in Srinagar killing 4 Indian Army personnel, one civilian and the suicide bomber. Militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attack.

July 29 Budshah Chowk attack - A militant attack at Srinigar's city centre, Budshah Chowk, killed 2 and left more than 17 people injured. Most of those injured were media journalists.

October 29: Multiple bomb blasts hit markets in Delhi, India, leaving at least 61 dead and more than 200 injured.

December 28: Two or more unidentified gunmen open fire at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, killing a retired professor of mathematics and wounding four others.

2006
March 7: Bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, India kill 28 and injured more than 100.

May 3 militants massacred 35 Hindus in Doda and Udhampur districts in Jammu and Kashmir.

July 11: A series of explosions rock commuter trains in Mumbai, India, killing at least 200. Approximately 700 civilians are injured.

June 12 one person was killed and 31 were wounded when terrorists hurled three grenades on Vaishnodevi shrine-bound buses at the general bus stand here this morning.

August 16: A bomb exploded in a Hindu temple near Imphal, India, killing three and injuring more than 30.

September 8th: At least 2 bomb blasts target a Muslim cemetery in the western town of Malegaon. The blasts kill 37 people and leave 125 others wounded.

The only upside is that common folk aren't falling prey to commualism anymore. Like Malegaon. It's all easy for me to sit in the comfort and safety of my home and comment on not reacting to it. There are people out there who are putting it in practice in the face of all this senseless violence. I bow down low to them all.