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The worst terrorist attack in New York after the 9/11 tragedy came on Tuesday. Eight persons were killed and 12 injured when a rented pickup truck ran them down in a bicycle lane, in Lower Manhattan. The driver, Sayfullo Saipov, was shot at and arrested shortly afterwards. He is an immigrant from Uzbekistan, and the killing is believed to have been inspired by the ISIS, even though not explicitly claimed by the terrorist organisation.
As the story of the immigrant-turned-terrorist unfurls, we see an alienated, frustrated, rootless man who was unable to adjust to life in the US. Yet, he managed to earn and provide for a family that he raised there. There is also the disturbing picture of how his frustrations took a violent hue and how he turned radical over a period of time. He was, allegedly, on the radar of the authorities and his conduct had raised concerns even among the preachers at one of the mosques he used to frequent.
Trump lost little time in blaming the Diversity Visa Lottery programme under which Saipov had migrated to the US. Trump also said that he would consider sending Saipov to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The President was unnecessarily critical of the federal justice system, which has delivered hundreds of convictions of terrorists since 9/11. Even as the law enforcement agencies and the justice system work in sync to bring the terror suspect to justice, New Yorkers in particular, and Americans in general, have shown the will to weather this unfortunate “new normal” in the life in America. As for the right-wing “nativists”, the message to them would be the same as was affirmed by the White House Press Secretary after the killings in Las Vegas by a US-born white terrorist: “There’s a time and place for political debate, but now is a time to unite as a country.”
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