It is Paris again. The barbarians masquerading as Islamic warriors and shouting ‘Aallahu-Akbar’ killed at least 130 people on Friday night, reminding the world yet again that piecemeal solutions to contain the jihadi madness would just not do. This was the deadliest assault on Paris after the January attacks at the satirical magazine — Charlie Hebdo — in which 18 people were killed. Friday night’s attacks were well-coordinated and simultaneous. Islamist gunmen, armed with automatic assault rifles, attacked a city concert hall, taking the people hostage. At the same time other gunmen shot people dead at random in restaurants, bars and five other places in Paris. Close to the stadium a friendly football match between France and Germany was on, with President Francois Hollande and 80,000 other sport buffs among the spectators. Loud explosions were heard. Millions more were watching the match live on television. After the first explosion, the police whisked Hollande to safety while the stunned spectators invaded the ground at the end of the match as the word spread about the terrorist killings. By Saturday afternoon the toll was said to be over 180 but the fear was that some of the critically injured might not live. This was the deadliest attack in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings. Seven attackers self-destroyed themselves, probably after activating their suicide vests, while one died in the exchange of fire with the police. A state of national emergency was declared by a very shaken French President Francois Hollande, who addressed the nation on television after an emergency meeting of the cabinet. All public places were ordered shut. People were asked to stay indoors. Hollande called the attacks a horror. The concert hall attack he termed ‘an abomination, a barbaric act,’ and swore to wage a ‘merciless’ fight against terrorism. Curfew was imposed in Paris and 1,500 special troops were called to help the local police. World leaders condemned the slayings and expressed solidarity with the French in their hour of grief.
Security experts have always dreaded simultaneous attacks at multiple places in crowded cities, just like the Mumbai attacks in early 1993. But clearly suicide squads can always take the best of police and intelligence services by surprise. No city in Europe, or for that matter, India is free from the threat of Islamist terror. Those entrusted with the onerous task of making citizens’ lives safe have a very tough, very difficult assignment. A deranged gunman motivated by the maniac jihadi Islam can always surprise them. It seems the gunmen in the concert hall while spraying bullets on all and sundry loudly muttered that this was what France asked for when it sent troops to quell the forces of the Islamic State in Syria. It could be that the Paris attacks were a response to the reverses suffered by the IS in the last couple of days. Whether the attacks were also connected with the reported elimination of the British Islamist known as Jehadi John who was behind the widely reported beheadings of several British and American hostages was not clear. Jihadi John is said to have died in the American air attacks in Syria. At the time of writing, the nationality of the attackers was unknown, though it is most likely to be French. How and where they formed a jihadi cell and if any other members were still lurking around was the immediate headache for the French authorities.
But what is known is that the deadly poison of jihadi Islam has infected a section of the sizable Muslim population in Europe. It is now a constant source of agonizing fear for the peace-loving citizens and a huge nightmare for the security forces. No police force in the world is capable of preventing a lone-wolf attack from a maniac jihadi willing to kill himself. Indeed, a handful of radicalized Muslims render a vast majority of their peace-loving co-religionists in the European society objects of fear and suspicion. Actually, the Islamists might see percentage in provoking backlash against ordinary Muslims. This should be avoided. But the barbarians who kill innocents in the name of religion must be fought to the finish. Given that almost the entire free world, including India, is now vulnerable to such attacks, the US must take the lead under the aegis of the United Nations to frame a global charter of action to neutralize the growing threat of jihadi Islam. The task cannot be put off any longer, though after each such attack such resolve has been expressed only for it to be dissipated with the return of `business as usual.’ The Paris attacks are attacks on the idea of freedom, on the democratic way of life. Unless the free world wakes up and quells this barbaric challenge more such attacks await the free world.
