has abdul subhan qureshi , better known as tauqeer, become the ned kelly of india? or more aptly , doesnt he resemble a jason bourne or some other dapper spy hero from a robert ludlum thriller? this guy hacks unsecured computer networks to send terror emails , knows how to make bombs and plant them and most importantly , knows how to play the cat and mouse game with not just the cops, but the entire might of the indian state!the home minister has egg all over his face and it wouldnt be surprising to know that he has the RAW , the IB , the military intelligence and who knows even the CIA hot on this man's trail. tauqeer is typical of the new face of terrorism that has surfaced post 9/11 - he's smart , highly educated , urbane and a tech wizard to boot. the encounter with the delhi police yesterday may have had an undesirable and a wholly unforeseen fallout - the creation of a legend.tauqeer's exploits so far are , no doubt ,remarkable. a well educated boy from a well to do family from a big city throws away a comfortable life and hits the road that leads to nowhere , with full awareness of his actions and its consequences.must've taken a lot of soul searching. for he wasnt a poor oppressed peasant left with no option but to rebel against the system like many outlaws of yore or a hungry man taken to banditry to feed himself , like the infamous dacoits. this was a man who had pretty much everything that is there to be had and yet he desires none of it. there can be no doubt that tauqeer knew that if he chose the path that he eventually did , he would be labelled a terrorist. that the rest of his life would be very short and that most of it would be spent running away from the law and the end , when it came, would be brutal. he must've known that once he takes the plunge , there shall be no rest for him, that every moment, whether awake or asleep he would have to strain his ears and watch his back. he must've had a fair enough idea what life would be like being a hunted man. and yet he decided to become a terrorist. imagine what it must be like to tell yourself "i'm going to become a terrorist".
tauqeer certainly must've won a few admirers among the general public with his cheeky yet astutely managed attack on the indian state. but with his daring escapade yesterday , i'm sure , he has won more than a few followers. young , impressionable minds who are going to look upto him as a hero. and if he manages to pull off a few more of such audacious stunts or even if he simply continues to evade capture , i'm afraid the hero might end up becoming a legend.
it won't be long before parallels begin to be drawn with che guevara - the legendary argentinian revolutionary who gave up his career as a doctor to become a flag bearer for communism and revolutions all over the world. guevara won cuba for fidel castro and was offered a high post there. but he spurned it and instead went to africa to fight there with the revolutionaries in congo. he was a restless soul and died fighting in bolivia in south america a few years later.
tauqeer aint no guevara. he is a dastardly coward who kills innocent people. and he deserves to be hanged for it. but let's not create any martyrs here.