Messiah of Death

The recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto and a spate of suicide bombings over the last couple of years have raised pressing questions about the mindset and thought process that dominates the mind of these suicides bombers. While the initial bombings were considered more of a meteoric incident that sent chills down our spine for their sheer cold blooded intent and nature....these inhumane episodes have become more common place today and show their venomous face in different forms regularly whether it is aimed at the powerful and power hungry politicos or just target hapless innocents as an act to induce mass hysteria as seen in the 9/11 bombings ,to get their message across.
The attacks range from the usage of explosives on these self destructive entities to bombing of vehicles which are the most common modes, hijacking of airplanes and various other modes. With the type of innovation involved one never knows when and where terror will strike next. The repercussions of these attacks are far reaching and it will probably take thousands of victims and innocent spectators a lifetime to recover from the aftermath of this unprecedented onslaught. Honestly I think these scars are irrevocable.

I did a spot of research online and looked through some articles, blogs and even read some of the interviews with these suicide bombers and held some conversations with regular laymen about what they think about these heinous crimes. All of these leave me unsatisfied as to what is the propelling factor that draws hundreds of youth worldwide into committing such misdemeanors in the name of being fanatic about certain beliefs and propaganda. I have ended up with more questions than answers...

What is so important that suddenly ones own life is worth giving up for? What kind of brainwashing goes into creating such fanatics who do not have mind of their own? How much hatred does one harbor against certain individuals and why is this anger sown or may I say drilled into their minds by the "manipulative brain behind the scene"..??Is money and a more secure future for the families a luring factor??Who’s funding these organizations??

Where is our world headed to??Isnt peaceful co-existence beyond and above the boundaries of religion, beliefs, borders? Why can’t we live and let live??Is murder in the name of faith the only resort when ones demands are not met? Will people have the strength to stand up for their beliefs if death is the price to pay? Has life become so cheap? Innocents have been massacred in the name of a cause...while realms and realms of news print and television coverage has been devoted to the bigger names and faces that have fallen prey to mindless executions...maybe we should also spare some thought to the hundreds of innocents and their hapless families, who’s life's have been cut short so brutally...


While suicide bombings are a sure shot way of ensuring that there is a high level of effectiveness and certainty of death and murder of the target is executed to perfection, it’s a chilling thought that these bombers have no value for their lives...are they devoid of emotions? They do not even live to see the fruits/after affects of what would be considered a heroic act by the ethnic groups/causes they represent? What kind of martyrdom do they seek? What kinds of redemption do they gain in their willingness to perish? Is this their means of venting out frustration because certain amount of research quotes statistics where a substantial percentage of these suicide bombers are either crippled for life or suffer from life terminating ailments or are mentally deranged and are incapable of thinking for themselves or have endured intense emotional trauma.

At this point a curious thought rises in my mind. Once these people, who are victims in their own right are drawn into this conundrum of terror, can they ever back out...??If and when they do...do they still have to pay a price with their life's..??Most interactions with some of these perpetrators of death show a pattern of identity crisis, or unnerving belief and embracement of crime in the name of religion and ethics .A deep sense of hatred and remorse seem to be the underlying emotion.

Majority of these misdeeds have been attributed to two of these infamous groups who have no qualms about owning up to their acts of brutality namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who are fighting for a homeland for the Tamil ethnic minority in Sri Lanka
and the Al-Qaeda which is an Islamic terrorist organization who wage a holy war or Jihad against non-Islamic principles and practices.

A case to note is that most of these suicide bombers are very young. They fall in the age range starting as tender as 12, a classic case to note would be the 14 year old female suicide bomber, who detonated herself at an election poll booth in Sri Lanka to mid and late twenties, which goes on to show that young, impressionable minds have been identified, lured and brainwashed to fight for a cause they probably do not know much of or believe in. When you read articles about how children are trained in school to become suicide bombers you are dumbfounded. Another startling figure being a good number of these miscreants come from affluent,influential familities.


To quote some statistics I picked up from the thousands of pages on the net dedicated to deciphering the minds of these "human missiles", only going on to show the gravity of the issue - "The number of suicide attacks has grown rapidly, from an average of 4.7/year in the 1980s to 180/year in the first half of the 00s,[1] and from 81 suicide attacks in 2001 to 460 in 2005".These extremist elements range from the poor strata of society to the educated, affluent middle class.

...The most important question that crops up is how do we bring an end to this cult? The process is going to be next to impossible because how do you corner something that is so fearless and hence almost invincible? How do you combat such unrestrained aggression? It’s not like we have a specific target and with the mindset so cold and brutal, it’s going to be really hard to fight this formidable enemy. We do not even know what the kind of compromise they are looking at is or will they settle for??

While its heart wrenching to hear of these cold blooded killings and fill us onlookers with a deep sense of remorse and apathy, one can only imagine the magnitude of pain the kith and kin and immediate families and friends of these victims have to endure. In my opinion even these suicide bombers are victims in their own right, and it’s rather overwhelming and tragic to think of those millions of youth who are drawn to this circle of gore. My heart bleeds just as much for the victim as well as the predator.
~ Ireveller