A wake-up call

The danger the world faces at any given time from terrorism was reinforced when a lone gunman stormed Parliament Hill in Ottawa and got close enough to a members’ caucus room in the Canadian Parliament and as Prime Minister Harper was just a door away without any security.

The sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons shot the terrorist after engaging him in a battle from behind stately pillars.

The story had a swift conclusion, but its ramifications are deep.

The Western world, in association with some Arab states, is currently engaged in fighting one of the vilest terrorism movements in history.

The Islamic State, or ISIS, which has no compunctions about extortion, beheadings and selling petroleum on the black market to fund itself, seems prepared to go to any length.

Being a movement not without sympathisers in the West too, the ISIS poses a threat likely to cause even more collateral damage.

An alliance of nations that includes Canada has been pounding the ISIS in Syria and Iraq with air strikes in attempts to contain its influence and territorial advances.

It is clear from the history of events that it is not only Western democracies like Canada that are endangered by terrorism.

It is the duty of right-thinking nations to combat this modern evil which is not particular to any theological, social or political leaning.

The attack on Parliament in Ottawa is a wake-up call. A long fight lies ahead.