Terror must not be given power to destroy interconnectedness of our stories Amitabh on 2611 siege
Mumbai Nov 26 PTI Recalling the the dark night that stretched over three long days superstar Amitabh Bachchan on Friday said the 2611 terror strike has had a long afterlife and gotten entangled with the tumultuous history that still weighs down the subcontinentNo single act of terror should be given the power to destroy the interconnectedness of our stories and our plural solidarities Bachchan wrote in the Indian Express on the 13th anniversary of the 60-hour terror siege of Mumbai in which 166 people were killed when 10 terrorists from Pakistan sneaked into the city from the sea routeBachchan one of Indias most influential celebrities said India acted with remarkable sobriety and restraint in the aftermath of the strikeDespite immense pressure it did not give in to the temptation of military retaliation against Pakistan even as the capture of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and the revelations of David Headley stripped Pakistans military-ISI establishment of the alibi of non-state actors beyond its control and left it no fig leaf The 79-year-old star cautioned against letting ourselves be defined and deformed by fear and suspicionThe reality is that 2611 has had a long afterlife and it has got entangled with the tumultuous history that still weighs down the Subcontinent he wroteIt is not yet clear he added whether we have skirted all the traps it set for usEach year we count now its 13 years later and the dark night that stretched over three long days is still vivid in our collective memory That was also the terrorists aim the vividness was part of their design Bachchan saidIn his rare written newspaper article the actor said the stories we tell can often become larger than us skipping lightly across borders sometimes riding on cricket sometimes through filmSometimes they nestle in the warmth of the hug that went viral that Indias captain Virat Kohli gave to Pakistans Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam after the men in green defeated the men in blue in the first game of the T20 World Cup that concluded in Dubai recentlySometimes they revel in the smashing box office success in India and also in Pakistan of the 2015 Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan a cross-border tale about empathy and compassion an Indian mans struggle to reunite a Pakistani child with her family he wrote in the op-ed articleInvoking the famous Mumbaikar spirit where people look up to the sky and the sea with hope even when they are standing in a cramped space Bachchan said one must believe that better things are possible and that we can make them happen to usDark for the Mumbaikars Bachchan said is not something to be afraid of rather it is where magic resides and the imagination runs freeNo terrorist must be allowed to change the way we are in the dark or with our neighbour or ourselves No single act of terror must be given the power to destroy the interconnectedness of our stories our plural solidarities he saidBachchan also paid tribute to the city and said Mumbai is made and remade by those who come in from states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat Karnataka and Rajasthan and Bihar Just in case we forgot we saw many of them during the pandemic rushing back home in fear Many of them are returning coming back as they always do to remake their lives and in doing so to remake Mumbai our Mumbai Every year as he marks the day he said he discovers that the power of survival is linked to the power of humanity of our collective commitment that we shall not let the terrorists define who we becomeFreedom from fear means that we are more at ease with our neighbour and also with ourselves It means that we acknowledge that the terrorist tried to produce spectacle and stoke passions and make the currency of terror pervasive in our politics but we deny him that power over us the actor emphasized Thirteen years later and post a devastating pandemic which claimed the lives of many of the loved ones as we begin to see the first glimmer that is the promise we need to solemnly renew to ourselves Bachchan said PTI BK MIN BK BK
Mumbai Nov 26 PTI Recalling the the dark night that stretched over three long days superstar Amitabh Bachchan on Friday said the 2611 terror strike has had a long afterlife and gotten entangled with the tumultuous history that still weighs down the subcontinentNo single act of terror should be given the power to destroy the interconnectedness of our stories and our plural solidarities Bachchan wrote in the Indian Express on the 13th anniversary of the 60-hour terror siege of Mumbai in which 166 people were killed when 10 terrorists from Pakistan sneaked into the city from the sea routeBachchan one of Indias most influential celebrities said India acted with remarkable sobriety and restraint in the aftermath of the strikeDespite immense pressure it did not give in to the temptation of military retaliation against Pakistan even as the capture of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and the revelations of David Headley stripped Pakistans military-ISI establishment of the alibi of non-state actors beyond its control and left it no fig leaf The 79-year-old star cautioned against letting ourselves be defined and deformed by fear and suspicionThe reality is that 2611 has had a long afterlife and it has got entangled with the tumultuous history that still weighs down the Subcontinent he wroteIt is not yet clear he added whether we have skirted all the traps it set for usEach year we count now its 13 years later and the dark night that stretched over three long days is still vivid in our collective memory That was also the terrorists aim the vividness was part of their design Bachchan saidIn his rare written newspaper article the actor said the stories we tell can often become larger than us skipping lightly across borders sometimes riding on cricket sometimes through filmSometimes they nestle in the warmth of the hug that went viral that Indias captain Virat Kohli gave to Pakistans Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam after the men in green defeated the men in blue in the first game of the T20 World Cup that concluded in Dubai recentlySometimes they revel in the smashing box office success in India and also in Pakistan of the 2015 Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan a cross-border tale about empathy and compassion an Indian mans struggle to reunite a Pakistani child with her family he wrote in the op-ed articleInvoking the famous Mumbaikar spirit where people look up to the sky and the sea with hope even when they are standing in a cramped space Bachchan said one must believe that better things are possible and that we can make them happen to usDark for the Mumbaikars Bachchan said is not something to be afraid of rather it is where magic resides and the imagination runs freeNo terrorist must be allowed to change the way we are in the dark or with our neighbour or ourselves No single act of terror must be given the power to destroy the interconnectedness of our stories our plural solidarities he saidBachchan also paid tribute to the city and said Mumbai is made and remade by those who come in from states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat Karnataka and Rajasthan and Bihar Just in case we forgot we saw many of them during the pandemic rushing back home in fear Many of them are returning coming back as they always do to remake their lives and in doing so to remake Mumbai our Mumbai Every year as he marks the day he said he discovers that the power of survival is linked to the power of humanity of our collective commitment that we shall not let the terrorists define who we becomeFreedom from fear means that we are more at ease with our neighbour and also with ourselves It means that we acknowledge that the terrorist tried to produce spectacle and stoke passions and make the currency of terror pervasive in our politics but we deny him that power over us the actor emphasized Thirteen years later and post a devastating pandemic which claimed the lives of many of the loved ones as we begin to see the first glimmer that is the promise we need to solemnly renew to ourselves Bachchan said PTI BK MIN BK BK
