Terrorist attacks a wake-up call for UK

number of terrorist attacks have taken place in the UK in recent weeks that have rattled the British and have caused huge concern to the UK government. Now it has taken a turn for the worse when a man drove his vehicle into a crowd of Muslims. Obviously the UK government is clueless and appears to be not sure of the strategies that are needed to tackle the grim situation.

It is now absolutely necessary that the UK government takes some very strong steps to identify terrorists and punish them severely, creating a sense of fear among other extremists in the country. While the government would certainly be justified in taking such strong actions to protect its territory and people from terrorists, it should be recollected for a moment how it viewed the efforts of other countries in the past, who used harsh measures to protect their territorial integrity and put down terrorists and separatists.

In the past there were a number of instances when the UK gave asylum or permitted people from other countries to stay, who were accused of causing terrorism in some other countries.

When the affected countries appealed to the UK government not to allow such elements to stay in the UK and carry on their activities, their appeals were ignored in the name of protecting freedom.

The UK government now finds that it, too, has to adopt certain measures to protect its soil. Now, facing terrorist attacks on its soil, the UK government is experiencing how the terrorist elements can destabilise peace and cause havoc.

They have to realise that fighting terrorism cannot be a one way affair and they cannot ignore terrorism in some other parts of the world or describe anti-terrorist measures of other countries as human rights violations, while condemning terrorism on its own soil and taking harsh steps to put down such terrorism.

The reader is a freelance writer based in Chennai, India.