It's war -Francois Hollande

-        Anil Narendra

The fashion and glamour capital of the world, Paris was ensanguined by a terrorist strike on Friday evening (for us on Saturday early morning).  Armed with AK-47’s and suicide belts eight terrorists of the world’s most dreaded terrorist setup Islamic State (IS) attacked at six places in which 129 people were killed and more than 200 people injured. We remind you that this is being termed as the second biggest attack on Paris after the world war.

The attack on 13^th November 2015 was similar to the terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26^th November 2008. The terrorists attacked people eating in the restaurant, enjoying in the bar and outside the stadium. Emergency has been promulgated in France after the incident. An eye witness said that an attacker was talking about the French army attacks against the terrorists of Islamic State in Syria. The spot is just 200 meters away from the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine, where the jihadist had attacked in January this year.

At the time of the bomb blast, the French President Francois Hollande was watching the France versus Germany football match in the stadium. Eye witnesses said the attackers were shouting Allahu Akbar near the stadium.  An eye witness who was present at the rock concert in Bataclan said they were killing them one by one. They were talking about taking revenge of Syria. Four terrorists armed with AK-47 entered the stadium shouting Allahu Akbar and went on firing recklessly and killed 89 people there.

The question arises why terrorists are attacking on France time and again? In fact France is the target of the terrorists as it is involved in the alliance army in the war against the IS. It is striking aerial attacks since last September against the terrorist setup active in Syria and Iraq. French President Francois Hollande had announced some days earlier that it will send its biggest warship ‘Charles de Gaulle’ to fight with the IS. 

IS has made five attacks on France in 2015 itself. 20 people were killed in the terrorist attack on the office of a cartoon magazine ‘Charlie Hebdos’ in Paris on 7^th January 2015. Some masked people entered the magazine’s office and began to fire recklessly.  Four chief cartoonists and the chief editor were killed in this attack. A month did not pass, there was an attack on three soldiers watching a Jew Community Centre in Nice, but fortunately there was no casualty in this attack. On 19^th April an Algerian Jew attacked on two churches in which a woman was killed. On 26^th June suspected Islamic attackers in a gas factory in Eastern France cut down the throat of a person while wounded two others in blasts. On 21^st August a terrorist armed with heavy arms fired in Amsterdam bound high speed train in which four people were wounded.

French President Francois Hollande responded as a warning that the army of IS terrorists have declared a war on France. Now we will respond, there will be no mercy. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this attack is not only on France, but on the entire humanity. Everyone must unite against such powers. US President described it a coward attack while the British PM Cameron said the attack has made clear that threat from Islamic State terrorism is rising. Muslim world is also seen with France against the massacre in Paris. Though the Muslims in the western countries fear they are not targeted once again as happened after 9/11 attacks in the US. Attack on Saturday has the same importance for France as was of the 9/11 New York attacks for US. IS had brought down a Russian passenger plane in Sinai some days ago and now this attack on Paris. There are full chances of an emerging war. The US will have to change its strategy due to this attack. Now it should associate with the Russia and Asad. IS has become the most dreaded, dangerous setup and all the nations will have to collectively respond against it. Paris attack is a lesson for India also. Whenever there is a terrorist incident, the role of the media becomes important. The French media has shown that how media performs responsibly at such time. There was no blood-shed photo in the press nor the TV channels showed such pictures. The only aim and the focus of all coverage was — show unity, defeat terrorism. Be it Le Parisien or Le Figaro with a centre-left trend, all described the attack as a war against the nation. They said whatever action is taken by France takes against the IS, the entire nation is with it.

Terrorists hit three blasts to create stampede in the stadium. There were 80 thousand people including the French President present in the stadium. All of them watched the match in full, returned to the stadium and recited the national anthem and came out in controlled queues. Injured were helped by converting the city restaurants and hotels into hospitals. The opposition fully supported French President Hollande for starting campaign against the IS. Leader of the opposition Ringo Bert said that the entire nation is with the president. This unity was shown at such a time when France is going on provincial elections after 50 years. Neither there was any statement, nor the president was asked to resign and not even the intelligence lapse or failure was discussed or no statement was recorded in protest. At this tragic juncture we are with France and in the grief of the deceased families.