India's Leaders Need to Look Closer to Home

[Heba E. Husseyn]

Good piece  


The Assault on Mumbai
By Tarek Ali
Counterpunch

The terrorist assault on Mumbai’s five-star hotels was well planned, but did not require a great deal of logistic intelligence: all the targets were soft. The aim was to create mayhem by shining the spotlight on India and its problems and in that the terrorists were successful. The identity of the black-hooded group remains a mystery.

The Deccan Mujahedeen, which claimed the outrage in an e-mail press release, is certainly 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 M V Alpha) were linked to Somali pirates, implying that this was a revenge attack for the Indian Navy’s successful if bloody action against pirates in the Arabian Gulf that led to heavy casualties some weeks ago.

The Indian 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.

But this is a meditated edifice of official India’s political imagination. Its function is to deny that the terrorists could be a homegrown variety, a product of the radicalization of young Indian Muslims who have finally given up on the indigenous political system. To accept this view would imply that the country’s political physicians need to heal themselves.

Al Qaeda, as the CIA recently made clear, is a group on the decline. It has never come close to repeating anything vaguely resembling the hits of 9/11.

Its principal leader Osama bin Laden may well be dead (he certainly did not make his trademark video intervention in this year’s Presidential election in the United States) and his deputy has fallen back on threats and bravado.

What of Pakistan? The country’s military is heavily involved in actions on its Northwest frontier where the spillage from the Afghan war has destabilized the region. The politicians currently in power are making repeated overtures to India. The Lashkar-e-Taiba, not usually shy of claiming its hits, has strongly denied any involvement with the Mumbai attacks.

Why should it be such a surprise if the perpetrators are themselves Indian Muslims? Its 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.

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 defense 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. Its best to come out and accept that there are severe problems inside the country. A billion Indians: 80 percent Hindus and 14 percent Muslims. A very large minority that cannot be ethnically cleansed without provoking a wider conflict.

None of this justifies terrorism, but it should, at the very least, force India’s 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.

[Zainab_M]

Yes nice article, a realistic one. 

Thanks for posting it, sister Heba .. Salaam Alaikum and peace.

[N. Truth Seeker]

Yes, I read this at Counterpunch yesterday.  It's a very interesting piece.   

So now the Indian govt claims that the lone attacker who was captured alive 'confessed' of his links to Laskar-e-Tayiba in Pakistan.  It somehow sounds like a doctored confession.  What do you guys think?

[Zainab_M]

Yes, I too think it's doctored.  The Western media is misreporting like mad.  Whatever we get to hear from them is what the Indian govt claims .. that's all.  Other than India's claim, there's no concrete evidence if any attacker is in custody at all.  Even if one or two of them are in custody, there's no evidence if they're still alive.  Then again, even if they're alive, they're surely not entitled to have a lawyer nor to speak to the media nor make any public statements.  As we know, the "world's biggest democracy" is totally unacquainted with such civilized etiquettes.  We also know that the Indian intelligensia (RAW) is notorious for applying brutal torture tactics on prisoners for extracting confession.  So even if the person or persons in custody did 'confess' having links with Lashkar-e-Taiba, how can anyone be sure that the confessions weren't co·erced?  There are tons of questions unanswered.  Yet the Western and Indian medias are going on with their propaganda in full swing.  It's just too pathetic and crazy!

[Heba E. Husseyn]

Very interesting observation.  Makes lot of sense.  You see, right now the Indian govt is feeling pretty humiliated.  The terror attacks proved one big intelligence failure on their part.  I would presume such attacks are planned months ahead.  Yet the Indian intelligence didn't seem to have any clues.  As usual, America is saying now, six days after the attack that the CIA had warned India about it two months ago in October.  One can take that for another lie as it is CIA's standard practice to say "I told you so" after the event. 

Then, after the attack, the Indian govt began pointing fingers at Pakistan. 

Now, after their so-called capture of one attacker, they're claiming that he 'confessed' to having links with Lashkar-e-Taiba, being trained in Pakistan and all that guesswork.  By doing this the Indian govt is trying to show its 'success' and thus impress the Indian people.  Through this tactic the Indian govt has also diverted the anger of its people from itself to Pakistan.  These people were before blaming their own govt for its intelligence failure. 

Besides, the attackers were apparently several in number.  Considering this, it's again shameful that the Indian law enforcers were able to capture alive just one.   

[Ruhi_Rose]

Yes, exactly.  First the Indian people were let down by the inefficiency of their intelligencia, and now they are being duped by their govt into believing a false success. 

Very informative thread.  I also read the other posts on this topic.  They were all fantastic.  I'll send them around through email.  Thanks everyone. 
Assalaam Alaykom and peace.