Editorial
Russian hostage crisis
Moscow's handling of the situation not above board
The horrific images of wounded, hungry and dehydrated children and adults looking frightened and running for their lives outside the school premises at Beslan in Russia will remain in our conscience for a long time. There are very few words to condemn such brutal, cold-blooded nature of terrorism involving innocent children. Keeping hundreds of children and their guardians hostage for two days, denying them water and food only showed how vile and barbaric the militants were. It was the most condemnable, abhorrent and despicable act of terrorism in recent history.No matter how justified one's cause is, taking innocent children hostage and putting them through such unimaginable ordeal to fulfil that desire cannot be accepted either. Though reportedly a large number of lives were saved, we cannot help but feel somewhat disillusioned with the way Russian government handled the crisis. In fact the government's handling of the crisis has left a lot to be desired. It appears that the lack of preparation for any sudden development at the crisis site only compounded it. The injured were taken to hospitals in private cars, medical teams were not posted at the site and most alarmingly the Russian security forces seemed totally unprepared thus were caught off guard. Putin's government was also not in favour of negotiation with the terrorists. Though in principle we support the logic, negotiation can and has always been used as a tactic to solve a hostage crisis like this. In fact it is a useful way to buy time and plan and also leads to a peaceful solution. Putin's failure to handle such a crisis with panache and professionalism has been evident in the past too. The way a similar kind of hostage crisis was resolved at an opera house in Moscow in 2001 is a stark reminder of that. The mishandling of the Beslan crisis should be an eye opener for all and create international awareness on handling such terrorist acts. The lesson here for all of us is, not haste or hurry but patience that saves lives in such circumstances.
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