Not difficult to empathize with the victims
The attack on Boston marathon is a highly condemnable act. The bombing was carried out on Patriots Day when hundreds of people had gathered to watch the iconic event for the city. Initially there are reports of three people dead including a 10 year old boy. Over a hundred are injured, including nine children. Many of the injured are in a critical state, and some with shattered limbs had face amputation. The possibility of more deaths cannot be ruled out.
The people of Pakistan have gone through tragic events of the sort for years now. Hundreds of families have lost their near and dear ones in terrorist attacks. Unsuspecting people traveling in buses, children attending schools and grownups offering prayers in mosques have been mowed down or turned into mincemeat. Similarly many innocent people have died in the US drone attacks which continue on their deadly mission unabated. It is therefore not difficult to understand the suffering of the affected people and their families in Boston.
What remains to be determined is who is responsible for the act. The FBI and police are highly trained and well equipped with the latest gadgetry to investigate crimes of the sort. Currently fingers are being pointed in two directions. A former FBI counterterrorism investigator told a British newspaper that the attack was reminiscent of the Madrid commuter train bombings, a coordinated attack using multiple explosive devices on March 11, 2004 which was attributed to an Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist cell. The Al-Qaeda has developed the skills needed to launch an attack of the sort while it has also an international reach. The other possible source of the attack could be the US homegrown terrorists of various sorts including the white supremacists. Last year alone a gunman claimed 26 lives including kids and teachers in a firing spree at an elementary school in the Connecticut state, the US Army veteran Wade Michael Page killed six in a shooting rampage in Wisconsin, another gunman man killed 12 in Colorado while two people were killed and at least eight wounded in a shooting outside the Empire State Building in New York.
President Obama has assured that whoever is found guilty after investigation will feel the full weight of justice. There is a need in the US to rethink the whole strategy of dealing with those responsible for such incidents be they Al-Qaeda related terrorists or homegrown killers. This is all the more needed because whatever measures have been taken in the past have failed to achieve the results.
