Going Deeper
Terrorism in Mumbai
THE mindless massacre in Mumbai defies any explanation that would be acceptable to reason. Under any law of war, India would have the right to get its pound of flesh only if such an action had not been so costly to all parties concerned. According to the US National Counter-Terrorism Center, in 2007 India had the second largest number of casualties, after Iraq, from terrorism.
Bruce Riedel, an advisor to Obama on South Asian affairs, described India as a target of the jihadist movement. One takes note of Fareed Zakaria's piece in Newsweek that the initial response of local Indian authorities was incompetent. Besides, he finds weakness of modern India being reflected through a dynamic, efficient and responsive private sector as opposed to a governmental sector plagued by patronage, corruption and incompetence.
India also has a Muslim minority problem. Muslims feel disadvantaged and under-represented at all levels, making their youth vulnerable to fundamentalism and radicalism. Despite one of the suspect's reported remark demanding a return of Muslim land, apparently referring to Kashmir, specialists find departure in the Mumbai attacks from the past assaults waged over Kashmir.
Despite Indian suspicion of Pakistani involvement, specialists consider it premature to reach "any hard and fast conclusions on who may be responsible for the attacks, but what we are seeing is reminiscent of past terrorist operations of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e- Mohammed." The British think that the attacks were inspired by Islamic extremist ideology, and Indian involvement, if any, would be through the Students' Islamic Movement of India.
Obama asked specifically if India could take action against terrorist camps in Pakistan as he had advocated bombing of al-Qaeda training camps there during the election campaign, and said that every sovereign nation had the right to protect itself. "My administration," Obama added "will remain steadfast in support of India's effort to catch the perpetrators and bring them to justice. I expect the world community to feel the same way… We cannot tolerate a world in which innocents are being killed by extremists based on twisted ideology."
Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani telephoned the Indian PM and strongly condemned the acts of terrorism in Mumbai. He reminded the Indian PM that Pakistan itself was a victim of terrorism. Singh told Gilani that preliminary reports pointed towards Karachi as the base of the operations and requested that the Director General of Pakistan's military intelligence -- ISI -- be sent to Delhi. He also demanded that twenty suspected terrorists be handed over to India.
Zardari, in a telephone call to Sonia Gandhi, strongly condemned the attacks and called for elimination of "militancy and extremism in all its forms," and for India's cooperation. Foreign Minister Quereshi asked for both countries to be "calm, composed and supportive of each other," and to avoid knee-jerk reactions.
Perhaps Indian allegations about Pakistani involvement resulted from the sensational disclosure of the lone terrorist caught about the terrorists' training in marine warfare conducted by Lashkar-e-Toiba. He also revealed that all other terrorists were Pakistani nationals.
He said that the group set out on November 21 from Karachi and was supplied with arms and ammunitions by a Pakistani vessel. On way they commandeered an Indian vessel and reached Mumbai on November 26.
President Bush called the attack an attack on "human dignity." Condoleezza Rice has been in constant touch with Pranab Mukherji and Zardari since the attack. US media by and large reflected the Indian allegation of the terrorists' links with Laskar-e-Toiba, and reported in detail the story narrated by the captured terrorist. NYT reports of US officials' fear that the Bush administration may not be able to hold back Indian military response as it had done after the attack on the Indian Parliament -- and the bombing of the Indian embassy at Kabul -- because the provocation in this case was greater than anything in the past.
One hopes that democracy in Pakistan will be given a chance to survive, and civilian control over the military will be ensured. Any increase in Indo-Pak tension will be a victory for the extremists. All concerned must exercise utmost restraint or South Asia will indeed prove to be the most dangerous place in the world.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments