 |
The toll from a series of attacks in India's financial capital Mumbai has risen to at least 195 dead and 295 wounded. (Reuters photo) |
Terror attacks attributed to Islamic fundamentalists have been on the rise in India, killing almost 700 people in the past three years. But none was rattling enough to make the entire world sit up and take notice, until Mumbai attacks happened.
A band of incredibly efficient and ruthlessly focused terrorists sailed into Mumbai's seafront on hijacked trawlers.
They struck with AK-47s, first a tiny restaurant, then a railway station, and a hospital before seizing two luxury hotels full of foreign nationals, and a Jewish residential apartment for 52 hours.
The deadly siege—dubbed as India's 9/11— stands out for many firsts.
For a country that has otherwise seen enough terror, it marks the entry of the al-Qaeda brand of globalized terror.
The terrorists were remarkable for picking on Westerners. It also brought suicide terror missions for the first time into the heart of mainland India from the outback of Kashmir.
Globalized & Sophisticated
| That's how global terror has worked here: local groups inspired by al Qaeda plan and execute prototype attacks. |
The Mumbai strikes are different. They definitely don't appear to have been motivated just by the killings of Indian Muslims in faith clashes in the Indian province of Gujarat in 2002, a signature rhetoric repeated by many terror outfits in their e-mails.
Here's one reason why the Mumbai attacks were a prototype of globalized jihad. It targeted Westerners in India, as pulling off strikes in the US, UK or European mainland had become increasingly difficult.
Also, for the first time, Pakistan offered tangible help to Indian authorities to investigate the attack. Islamabad has acceded to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's request to send Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief to India to assist investigations.
However, this doesn't mean the two neighbours have come any closer. On the contrary, an indefinite chill could set in, in Indo-Pak relations. The Indian PM has blamed Pakistan for the attacks, saying it wasn't doing enough to prevent terror.
The ISI has been blamed for steering major attacks in India, including the daring attack seven years ago on India's Parliament. So, Indian authorities were not jumping the gun when they pointed a finger at Pakistan.
The perpetrators could be the Pakistan-based extremist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, (Army of the Pure), which has been officially blamed by the Indian government. They could be a mixed crew of Pakistanis, British jihadis operating out of Pakistan and even Afghanis. But they have clearly imported al Qaeda-style warfare into India. And they have had clear support from local elements. (The Daily Telegraph has reported that the terrorists monitored British newspaper websites and Arabic websites popular in the north of England.)
That's how global terror has worked here: local groups, inspired by al Qaeda, plan and execute prototype attacks, killings civilians.
In India, it's easier to find local support and even executioners, where terror outfits have already kept Indian authorities on tenterhooks. India's 130 million-strong Muslim population largely stands alienated. Serial bombings in at least five cities have been attributed to home-grown terror, motivated by perceived harassment and killing of Muslims by majority Hindus in religious riots in Gujarat.
A relatively new outfit, called the Indian Mujahideen, is believed to have carried out several blasts but its tactics have remained unsophisticated and crude— nothing compared to the precision of those who attacked Mumbai.
| The disenchantment of Muslims, who are out of India's economic boom, has allowed extremists among them to synchronise themselves with global terror. |
Multiple Actors
Terror in India has multiple faces, actors and perpetrators. Foreign outfits like Pakistan's ISI and Lashkar-e-Toiba (Army of the Pure), and Bangladesh's Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) have traditionally been well known for exporting terror into India. All of these allegedly have had one principal backer: The ISI.
In the past two years, home-grown terror— thought to be supported and perpetrated by aggrieved Indian Muslims— has become a growing concern.
The Indian Mujahideen group, for instance, has stated in its e-mails sent to media that its bombings in cities like Mumbai and Delhi were done to avenge killings of Muslims in Gujarat.
The disenchantment of Muslims, who are out of India's economic boom, has allowed extremists among them to synchronise themselves with global terror.
Why are Indian Muslims angry? To begin with, they are poor. It's a different matter that for this they may have to blame themselves more than anybody else.
There is hardly any credible Muslim political leadership. India's Muslim leadership largely overlaps with its religious leadership. The same set doubles up as both politicians and members of the clergy. They have seldom allowed Muslims to come out of their minority mindset.
There is a "Hindu India" and there is a "Muslim India". "Hindu India" has aligned itself with global modernity. Bollywood is more like Hollywood; Mumbai's fashion is more like Paris; Hindu businessmen compete globally and Hindu societies generally are more in tune with the times.
Muslims however have unbelievably trapped themselves in a time warp. They have resisted modernity, with large sections preferring to go to traditional madrasas than modern universities. They do not have good business leaders who would create Muslim wealth.
Making matters worse, deadly riots have targeted Muslims, a heritage mosque has been razed and police action is often perceived as harassment. The result: Muslims are socially disenfranchised, alienated and on the boil.
There has been a third kind of terror, of the retributive kind that came up as a reaction to so-called "Islamic terror". It has been attributed to Hindu fundamentalists.
This is what sets terror apart in India. Unlike elsewhere, it has multiple perpetrators and security agencies have often confused one for the other. When bombs went of at a mosque in Hyderabad and in Malegaon during evening prayers this Ramadan, they were attributed to Muslim outfits wanting to incite faith clashes. A horrible miscalculation.
Now, two Hindus seers, including a woman, and a top-ranking army officer with affiliations to right-wing Hindu groups have been arrested for allegedly setting off the bombs to kill Muslims.
| Few are aware that the FBI has set up an office in Delhi and started operations in India. |
Indo-US Cooperation
The first casualty of the Mumbai attacks could be India's image as a country far more safe than many others for visitors from the US, Israel and UK. This image now lies shattered.
Global terror needs global strategies. India is likely to ramp up its anti-terror co-operation with the US, as Pakistan increasingly gravitates towards internal chaos. America would seek to work ever more closely with India on tackling terror, as the country works to make the world secure for its citizens.
Indo-US cooperation is likely to increase, regardless of which government comes to power after the Indian general election scheduled early next year.
The two countries have been quietly working on joint anti-terror strategies for quite sometime now.
Few are aware that the FBI has set up an office in Delhi and started operations in India. It works out of the US embassy's legal attaché in Delhi. It of course doesn't take part in physical operations but works to provide inputs.
Though India hasn't been able to leverage US help to counter terror, American counter-terrorism tactics should go a long way in helping secure the country in the future.
The US department of homeland security has also set up a bureau in India. These two, along with the Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, are working on a range of issues, most importantly terrorism.
FBI trainers recently held a week-long programme for the CBI in bomb blast investigation. It was aimed to provide best-practices in "crime scene training" based on "post-blast techniques developed by US investigators".
The state department's Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program (ATA) has been active in India since quite sometime. The US has spent over $4 million on this and joint exercises have been held in India and at DSS training centres in Washington, Louisiana and New Mexico.
| As it looks for ways to counter global terror on its soil, India has to frequently look inwards, rather than abroad. |
Uphill From Here
India's battle against terror is going to be all but tough, complicated and multi-dimensional; from global terror and home-grown Muslim extremists to Pakistan-directed terror and Hindu radicalism.
Fighting terror will not be possible without Muslim help. The Indian government has to address Muslim grievances and tackle Hindu radicals. It doesn't pay to have unhappy citizens, of whatever religion.
As it looks for ways to counter global terror on its soil, India has to frequently look inwards, rather than abroad.
One reason why the US hasn't seen another attack after 9/11 is because of lack of local support.
Eliminating local support will require taking Indian Muslims into confidence and stamping out Hindu radicals.
Once this is achieved, a social plan to immunise locals to global terror can take place. The Muslim clergy has already begun the process, with influential Darul Uloom seminary issuing a fatwa against killing of innocents.
The Mumbai siege has been the occasion of havoc but also of hope: It could actually help India acquire new skills to fight terror.
|
