PRAGOTI

The rejuvenation of jihadi forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan, its traditional backers in the Pakistani Army and the changed emphasis of the US vis-a-vis these forces, points to the failure of the Indian reliance on the "Am-Pak" strategy - using US leverage to take on terror directed at India, from within Pakistan.

The David Headly affair has exposed the duplicity of the US government in fighting terrorism.

Vijay Prashad comments on the reactions to the Fort Hood massacre in the US, where more than a dozen people were shot dead by a US military man.

''The strength of the human rights depends on the depth of the law, vitality of the society, vision of the rulers, vibrancy of the institutions and use of discretionary powers. Terrorism is one part of societal experience, which calls for unusual abilities and creativity. If one presupposes that terrorism has its roots in human ‘‘unreason” or “irrationality” the solution should spring from human reason and creative political potential. The tragedy of the governance has been that instead of bringing in higher values into a terror-stricken society, the State and more particularly the law enforcing agencies are ending up imitating and imbibing terrorist methods and culture. This is the inevitable fallout of mechanistic confrontationalist approach to the national or international turmoil which in essence is political. That is the crux of the crisis of civilised governance.'' -G.Haragopal and B.Jagannatham write in EPW.