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FROM
THE EDITOR IN CHIEF
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Our covers on bin Laden and Terrorism |
Tuesday,
September 11, 2001 saw the world in a state of stunned disbelief at the
most audacious act of terrorism ever committed. In a devilishly brilliant
plan designed for maximum impact, terrorists hijacked four planes and
had three of them crash into America's most prominent buildings within
a span of 60 minutes. The needle of suspicion for these dastardly acts
is presently pointing to the megarich Saudi perched in the mountainous
deserts of Afghanistan-the notorious Osama bin Laden. Strangely, we had
him on our cover two years ago in the last week of September-close to
our present date. It was the time he had announced from his hideout, "India
and America are my biggest enemies and all mujahideen groups in Pakistan
should come together to target them." Although we have lived with
terrorism for the past two decades, these are frightening words now that
we know the scale of terror he is capable of unleashing. The attack has,
of course, brought home to America with sledgehammer force the danger
Islamic terrorism poses to their own country and to the world.
The attack on the United States has many dimensions
and by calling in correspondents based in New York, Washington and Islamabad
we have tried to examine these in depth. Many impact directly on India:
politically, the event could dictate a shift in the US-Pakistan and Indo-US
relations and perhaps an introspection on the US foreign policy as a whole
that has generated much hatred for it in parts of the world. Economically,
the shutdown of the US stock market and downturn in the world economy
could hit our own business hard. Finally, tragically, on a personal level,
hundreds of Indians have lost family members and friends.
New York-based correspondent Lavina Melwani
was an eyewitness to the shock of a city and a society known for its energy
and confidence. Associate Editor Ashok Malik, who is now in the US and
wrote our lead story, says, "America has stopped and realised it
is no longer invincible. It has been a tragic and rude awakening."
The US response will dictate how the world tackles terrorism from now
on.
(Aroon
Purie)
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METRO TODAY
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