• JIHAD IS NOT A REACTION, IT’S A CREED UNTO ITSELF. It is considered as the sixth pillar of Islam and is a valuable instrument of policy of every Islamic state be it Pakistan, Daesh, Iran or Saudi Arabia. It is the holy path of duty which takes every Believer to the promised Jannat . Jihad is not need-based, or reactionary and is independent of non-Muslims’ existence or their actions . It is incumbent to wage jihad against non-believers , a mission to be accomplished, whether they resist or not.

The series concocts clever explanations as to why sundry jihadis are hell bent on wrecking havoc. Moosa Malayali , the chief antagonist, joined ISIS  to seek  revenge for Gujarat riots. A puppy jihadi (who had not yet made his bones),who gets killed in an encounter, was radicalised  after being thrown out of a cinema hall for refusing to  stand when National Anthem was being played . Snippets on beef –related lynchings pushed him further down the road of  extremism. Another prominent Kashmiri jihadi in the series swore revenge  after his innocent brother was mercilessly shot dead by  occupying forces (Indian Army) while he was participating in a peaceful march at  Lal Chowk , Srinagar.

By the end of second episode, I had begun wondering if I was watching a Paksitani or a Turkish web-series !

 

2.)Do NOT Feel GUILTY for bloodthirsty,impressionable Muslim youths turning to jihad.

Indian Hindus have been brutalised, raped, killed, converted and trod upon for past 1300 years. Not one of them has gone on to become a terrorist. Somnath and Kashi Viswanath temples were demolished multiple times. How many reprisals against innocent Muslims happened  ? The state carried out systematic pogroms against natives during the Sultanate and Mughal eras, but no Hindu became a fidayeen ! Despite their genocide and forced exodus, how many Kashmiri Pandits have considered the option of eliminating Kashmiri Muslims through mass killings ? Hindu population has gone down from 23 to 3 percent in Paksitan . Has any Hindu adopted the creed of violence ?  If past was the justification, Hindus would be involved in an endless war against Christian and Muslim proselytisers. But civilisations don’t sustain in that manner. Compromise, amnesty and reconciliation are the way forward. Appeasement of perceived and imagined grievances is not.

 

The action-reaction theory is the refuge of apologists and appeasers. There is no plausible justification for picking up arms and swearing to liquidate human beings. This is a psychological ailment whose origins do not lie in crimes of history, but in the future promises of jannat hoors for shaheeds and conversion of darul-harb into darul-islam. It’s the promise of Islamic Utopia, governed under Shariat, that shines at the end of the tunnel. That is the ultimate motivation.

 

3.)Jihadis don’t love their MOTHERS more than the act of killing in the name of Islam .They shall never go back to save them (as is shown) because they don’t mind Qurbanis on the road to Darul-Islam.

Moosa Malayali tries to turn back the clock on the terrorist activity he had begun, so that he could go back and extricate his mother from the proposed site of mayhem. This is a desperate liberal attempt at humanising a jihadi who would not think twice before sacrificing his own mother in exchange for seventy-two hoors. One has to give them full marks for motivation and capacity to inflict self-harm .

 

4.)Not every Indian is as weak, selfish  and TREACHEROUS as the gay operative at the chemicals factory, although every jihadi is completely motivated to press buttons of  total annihilation. The reason why India and Indians have managed to survive and continue to thrive is only because we apply common sense during existential crises, and do not turn into doormats in the face of violence.

 

5.Its simply not possible for an NIA officer/agent to hide his JOB PROFILE and live like  a  buffoon at home. It is not a part-time desk job that can be performed clandestinely. Neither are kids as naïve today that they would accept long hours and neglect without proper justifications .Besides, what is the point ? The series never quite explains it.

 

6.It is neither cool, nor naïve sort of vigilantism nor should  one hope to  feed BEEF  to non-eaters and expect the other side to be  reasonable in their  reaction. The puppy jihadi might have shot dead the lyncher-in-chief, or his partymen if wanted to speak up. That was on. But trying to feed beef to numerous other cow-worshippers was not  valid form of protest by any stretch .

 

7.Shooting to kill under reasonable grounds can never be considered an operational mistake. The beef-feeders had a gun, one of them shot at the cops, who in turn had reasonable grounds (floor plan, guest list,use of drop box etc.) to assume that the trio were a band of terrorists and upto some mischief . Once the shooting began, how were the cops to ascertain the antecedents of the perps ? To see a cop with a bleeding heart is not an anomaly . Indians are not professional killers afterall,but in this case there was not much need for sympathy ,primarily because the slain were well on their way to becoming hardened jihadis.

 

8.One cannot expect Pakistan to COOPERATE with India in warding off any potential threat . One must not forget that bleeding India by thousand cuts by formenting terror  has been their national policy ever  since independence. It is not a responsible state player, but the marinator ,incubator and promote  jihad. It grooms and provide refuge to jihadis.  It is not like  a  few  elements have  gone rogue , rather the nation itself wishes deaths upon Indians . The series tries to show as if the civvies in Pakistan wish for aman-chain but are hamstrung by their inability to keep bad apples in check. Reality cannot be more different. Joint Terror MECHANISMS were as hollow as liberals and leftists.

 

9. The southern districts of Kashmir-Shopian,Anatanag, Pulwama, Kulgam – are strongholds of jihadis. Baramulla and Kupwara are always on the boil. Stone pelting is the order of the day, slogans of Azadi and Pakistan zindabad can always be heard and flags of ISIS are not rare sights. Locals even raid and pelt stones at encounter sites to aid those under seize. For a senior army officer to apologetically suggest that Kashmir is suffocating because of AFSPA is downright irresponsible. AFSPA is not a choice. India cannot do away with AFSPA. Cross-border infiltration and local radicalisation have forced India’s hand. It is only Kashmiris who can now help themselves. Peace cannot be expected as alms, it is always purchased in lieu of building trust.

 

The Family Man also got some stuff absolutely spot on-

1. Once a jihadi has reached Syria, he is CONTAMINATED irreversibly . It requires insatiable hatred, supreme skills, immense will-power and ability to fox the local law enforcement that let him realise the dream of joining ISIS. He is too far gone to be allowed back in .India cannot and should not waste time or take risk by relying upon hoax programmes of deradicalisation .They should be placed under permanent surveillance.
2. A nerve attack that succeeds in killing millions in Delhi or Mumbai is the WET DREAM of every jihadi, or wannabe. The climax must have warmed the cockles of their hearts.
3. The no-holds barred FISTICUFFS which turns into a fight-unto-death between the two mujahideen at the climax is the high point of the series. If one of them were  a Shia and the other a Sunni,it would have made perfect metaphorical sense .
4. In the hospital, a Malayali nurse falls prey to Moosa’s charm in the name of linguistic ease.It is her innate PROSELYTISING instincts that take over as she places a Mother Mary image on his bedside to help and guide Moosa through the bad times. We have often experienced these blatant attempts by nurses and missionaries to foist their religious images and symbols upon us in a bid to ‘save us’. Moosa used language and vulnerability with deadly effect.

 

 

Manoj Bajpayee is the soul of this series. He brings an easy charm that co-exists with sense of duty . Priyamani is stiff,  while Gul Panag looks lovely in her small role. Neeraj Madhav shines as Moosa, as does Darshan Kumar in his role of an ISI officer-gone-rogue. Other characters do not have much to offer. There shall be a  season 2 , but I am not looking forward to watching a battered India’s response to the nerve gas attack . I rather wish to find out  how the makers further justify or wish away  this heinous attack in  Delhi in their bid to buy and sell dreams of aman ki asha.