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Mumbai attacks spotlight Indias internal problems
* Tariq Ali says terrorists can be radicalised young Indian Muslims fed up of Indian political system
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The aim of the Mumbai attacks was to create mayhem by shining the spotlight on India and its problems, and in that the terrorists were successful, writes Tariq Ali in a commentary.
According to Ali, the identity of the black-hooded group remains a mystery, as the Deccan Mujahedeen, which claimed the outrage, is a new name probably chosen for this single act. But speculation is rife. A senior Indian naval officer has claimed that the attackers, who arrived in a ship, the MV Alpha, were linked to Somali pirates, implying that this was a revenge attack for the Indian Navys successful if bloody action against pirates in the Arabian Gulf that led to heavy casualties some weeks ago. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has insisted that the terrorists were based outside the country. The Indian media has echoed this line of argument with Pakistan - via the Lashkar-e-Taiba - and Al Qaeda listed as the usual suspects.
Homegrown: Ali calls the allegation a meditated edifice of official Indias political imagination, the function being to deny that the terrorists could be a homegrown variety, a product of the radicalisation of young Indian Muslims who have finally given up on the indigenous political system.
To accept this view would imply that Indias political physicians need to heal themselves. Al Qaeda, as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently made clear, is a group on the decline and has never come close to repeating anything vaguely resembling the hits of 9/11. Osama Bin Laden may well be dead and his deputy has fallen back on threats and bravado.
As for Pakistan, Ali believes that its military is heavily involved in actions on its Northwest frontier where the spillage from the Afghan war has destabilised the region. The politicians currently in power are making repeated overtures to India. The Lashkar-e-Taiba has strongly denied any involvement with the Mumbai attacks. He writes, Why should it be such a surprise if the perpetrators are themselves Indian Muslims? It is hardly a secret that there has been much anger within the poorest sections of the Muslim community against the systematic discrimination and acts of violence carried out against them of which the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in shining Gujarat was only the most blatant and the most investigated episode, supported by the chief minister of the state and the local state apparatuses.
Ali points out, Add to this the continuing sore of Kashmir which has for decades been treated as a colony by Indian troops with random arrests, torture and rape of Kashmiris an everyday occurrence. Conditions have been much worse than in Tibet, but have aroused little sympathy in the West where the defence of human rights is heavily instrumentalised. Indian intelligence outfits are well aware of all this and they should not encourage the fantasies of their political leaders. It is best to come out and accept that there are severe problems inside the country. None of this justifies terrorism, but it should, at the very least, force Indias rulers to direct their gaze on their own country and the conditions that prevail. Economic disparities are profound. The absurd notion that the trickle-down effects of global capitalism would solve most problems can now be seen for what it always was: a fig leaf to conceal new modes of exploitation.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
* Tariq Ali says terrorists can be radicalised young Indian Muslims fed up of Indian political system
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The aim of the Mumbai attacks was to create mayhem by shining the spotlight on India and its problems, and in that the terrorists were successful, writes Tariq Ali in a commentary.
According to Ali, the identity of the black-hooded group remains a mystery, as the Deccan Mujahedeen, which claimed the outrage, is a new name probably chosen for this single act. But speculation is rife. A senior Indian naval officer has claimed that the attackers, who arrived in a ship, the MV Alpha, were linked to Somali pirates, implying that this was a revenge attack for the Indian Navys successful if bloody action against pirates in the Arabian Gulf that led to heavy casualties some weeks ago. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has insisted that the terrorists were based outside the country. The Indian media has echoed this line of argument with Pakistan - via the Lashkar-e-Taiba - and Al Qaeda listed as the usual suspects.
Homegrown: Ali calls the allegation a meditated edifice of official Indias political imagination, the function being to deny that the terrorists could be a homegrown variety, a product of the radicalisation of young Indian Muslims who have finally given up on the indigenous political system.
To accept this view would imply that Indias political physicians need to heal themselves. Al Qaeda, as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently made clear, is a group on the decline and has never come close to repeating anything vaguely resembling the hits of 9/11. Osama Bin Laden may well be dead and his deputy has fallen back on threats and bravado.
As for Pakistan, Ali believes that its military is heavily involved in actions on its Northwest frontier where the spillage from the Afghan war has destabilised the region. The politicians currently in power are making repeated overtures to India. The Lashkar-e-Taiba has strongly denied any involvement with the Mumbai attacks. He writes, Why should it be such a surprise if the perpetrators are themselves Indian Muslims? It is hardly a secret that there has been much anger within the poorest sections of the Muslim community against the systematic discrimination and acts of violence carried out against them of which the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in shining Gujarat was only the most blatant and the most investigated episode, supported by the chief minister of the state and the local state apparatuses.
Ali points out, Add to this the continuing sore of Kashmir which has for decades been treated as a colony by Indian troops with random arrests, torture and rape of Kashmiris an everyday occurrence. Conditions have been much worse than in Tibet, but have aroused little sympathy in the West where the defence of human rights is heavily instrumentalised. Indian intelligence outfits are well aware of all this and they should not encourage the fantasies of their political leaders. It is best to come out and accept that there are severe problems inside the country. None of this justifies terrorism, but it should, at the very least, force Indias rulers to direct their gaze on their own country and the conditions that prevail. Economic disparities are profound. The absurd notion that the trickle-down effects of global capitalism would solve most problems can now be seen for what it always was: a fig leaf to conceal new modes of exploitation.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
