The fallout of terror

The classical definition of terrorism is the use of terror as a weapon on a civilian population to forward political objectives.

On Tuesday, at least 168 people were killed and many scores more were injured as panic swept through pilgrims visiting a Hindu temple in the western state of Rajasthan, India.

Temple crushes are, sadly, commonplace during religious festivals in India: Crowd control is often rudimentary or non-existent. Tuesday's tragic event, however, wasn't caused by such poor organisation. Instead, the deadly stampede was caused by sudden rumours of a bomb about to explode.

Given the recent spate of bombings across India, few can blame the pilgrims from reacting in terror and panic. Once a stampede begins, it's impossible to stop. Sadly, the victims of Tuesday's temple tragedy are indirect casualties of India's terrorists, such is the level of fear those dastardly perpetrators have managed to sow.

As always, either directly or indirectly, it is the innocent who suffer.