London: Not the same

It will be a long time before London is able to revive its spirit. We all feel haunted, with fear and foreboding, writes Vijay Dutt.

The expected happened. London has had this past week its own version of 9/11, which is being referred as 7/7. New York has even after so many years been unable to get back to the carefree spirit of pre- 9/11, so one can imagine the state of emotion in London. It has turned out to be the first city in Europe to be devastated by suicide bombers. I am afraid London will not be the same old one, full of fun, free movement and eternal freshness. It has been bombed from within, unlike during the war when Hitler's hordes of bombers used to drop bombs in thousands. They could be counter-attacked. What does one do when ones own turn killers?

Since July 7, not one day has passed without security alert sounded at some or the other part of the city. The whole of Whitehall, with Foreign and Commonwealth Office, War Secretariat and 10,Downing Street was sealed on Wednesday morning. Helicopters hovered overhead and the pace seemed to be swarming with police.

The expression on faces of the commuters on buses and in underground trains and the furtive sideways looks they exchange tell it all. The fear has got etched in the psyche. No one is sure whether a return home is certain. True, how can one be sure of safety if the police themselves say that more attacks are a distinct possibility?

The finding that all the four killers were British-born and at least three of Pak-origin makes one dread more. The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens was derided and accused of dividing communities when he said that the killers were definitely homegrown and that there were at least 3000 that went to Al-Qaeda terror training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now there is every reason to believe his assessment that there are around 200 would-be suicide bombers in Britain.

Four caused such mayhem. What would the hundreds others like them would and could do? This is the worry not only gnawing the police but the people as well. The biggest problem is that the mastermind and the bomb-maker are said to have left the country before 7/7. No one knows what locations have been decided and how many bombs have they left for more carnage.

The message Londoners are being given, do not give them dignity, do not glamorise the bombers by showing fear. In a way this is the right way to raise spirits. But that does not help most Asians, particularly Indians, and that include Muslims from India, who have never been terrorists or their supporters. They too have worries. As a columnist put it " No more looking for reassurance in a stranger: do not look young and Asian on tube or bus. So what should they do? In London there is no other way to travel, unless you have been a jackpot winner and can afford a taxi.

A spate of opinions has flowed since the bombings. Tony Blair has been accused of being the real culprit, the Iraq war, it is said, has angered members of the Muslim community and given Imams the chance top preach hatred. Then there are others like Alice Mills in the Times who says, " Make the Imams answer. Tell them to let their women speak…. We have done softly, softly. We have pandered to fears about religious hatred… we should insist they cannot continue in a state of alienation from the rest of society…. They must become ordinary."

I fear that with conflicting opinions the society here will take long to regain its multi-cultural and pluralistic character. London, and the rest of the country, has been put on high alert, for a long, long time.

The show goes on

I marvel at the smooth manner in which the programme of the Indian Prime Minister was kept on schedule despite the chaos and confusion caused by the explosions. In fact Dr Manmohan Singh not only offered condolences but also expressed solidarity of the Indian people with the tragedy-struck Londoners, in their moment of grief.

But it was a pity that celebrations scheduled to commemorate the 75 years of India House on July 8 had to be cancelled. It was the right thing to do. With the city in mourning and the Union Jack flying half mast, it would had been in extreme bad taste to hold celebrations. An Asian show for which crowd-gatherers like Kareena Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Kajol and Saif Ali Khan was also turned into a low-profile affair. As I said it will be a very long time before London is able to revive its free spirit. We all feel haunted, with fear and foreboding.