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| India-Pakistan |
| Terror in Mumbai threatens us all |
| 2006-07-13 |
| Pakistan must stop harbouring terrorists to be a true ally THE seven blasts that ripped through Mumbai's commuter rail system during the Tuesday evening peak hour, killing at least 190 people and wounding countless others, were more than just the worst terrorist atrocity India has suffered in more than a decade. Beyond maiming and killing innocent civilians on the way home from work, the co-ordinated attacks were a dagger aimed at the heart of the world's largest democracy and one of the most open and rapidly growing states in the developing world. The financial hub of a Western-oriented democracy with especially close ties to the English-speaking world, Mumbai should be remembered along with London, Madrid, New York and Washington as a city that has been stricken by the nihilist madness that is 21st-century terrorism. Although no one has yet claimed responsibility, all indicators suggest the attacks were carried out by a Pakistan-based and al-Qa'ida linked group such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (or Army of the Faithful), possibly in conjunction with the local Student Islamic Movement of India. India is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia, and this minority group harbours a series of grievances that range from perceptions of discrimination to anger over India's sovereignty over the northern provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. But regional events may have provided the trigger to the attacks. While the country already has a handful of paramilitary police stationed in Afghanistan, the Government of Manmohan Singh is debating sending troops to that country under the banner of NATO. This possibility infuriates Pakistanis, who are loath to see Indian troops stationed on both its eastern and western fronts. And the prospect of Hindu Indian soldiers fighting fundamentalist Taliban insurgents is anathema to radical Muslims. SIMI and other associated Islamic radicals have carried out a series of attacks in India over the past decade, including last year's bombings in New Delhi, which killed 60 people. Assuming that Lashkar-e-Taiba or one of its affiliates were responsible, yesterday's bombings highlight the two-faced nature of the Pakistani regime and its relations with the West, particularly Washington. While on the one hand, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been a valuable ally in the war on terror, his regime has all too often provided succour to Islamic terrorists. He has done little to smash local terrorist infrastructure such as training camps and madrassas. The Taliban is reasserting itself in Afghanistan now precisely because it was able to regroup in Pakistan. And Osama bin Laden is thought to still be hiding within Pakistan's borders. Yesterday's attacks make it all the more incumbent for the world community, and in particular the US, to take a much firmer line with Pakistan. Australia has a stake in this as well: Lashkar-e-Taiba has made repeated attempts to infiltrate this country and has close links with Southeast Asian jihadi groups. While the group has at its foundations grievances over Kashmir, from the mid-1990s it morphed into a more sinister organisation that sees itself as an arrowhead for al-Qa'ida's worldview determined to take the fight to non-believers wherever they might be – including Australia. Australian-born Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks joined Lashkar-e-Taiba before taking up arms with the Taliban. Convicted would-be terrorist Faheem Khalid Lodhi is said to have acted as Lashkar-e-Taiba's "quartermaster" for foreign troops at its camps in the mountains of Pakistan, and a Sydney medical student currently faces charges of having trained with the group. And when French terror suspect Willie Brigitte came to Sydney in 2003 to meet Lodhi and activate a sleeper cell, it was allegedly at the behest of a Lashkar-e-Taiba official named Sajid. As horrific as the scenes of carnage were, yesterday's bombings must not be allowed to derail India's progress as one of the most promising nations in the developing world. Although still desperately poor in many ways, India's economy is growing at 8.1 per cent annually – the second-highest rate of any major economy – and is home to a thriving middle class. India's vibrant and open political culture is a living rebuke to everyone who says democracy is incompatible with economic development. This fact punches an irreparable hole in the sneakily racist argument mounted by many progressives opposed to toppling Saddam Hussein, namely that democracy cannot take root in non-Western cultures. Economically, India boasts a vast entrepreneurial class that has forced the Government to embrace reform. Besides being "the world's back office" India is home to vast numbers of competitive private enterprises and a modern financial sector. John Howard rightly condemned the attacks as "an attack on the democratic way of life". And Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has pledged intelligence and forensic investigation resources to the Indian Government. This is a good start. But Australia can do more to come to India's aid. For too long, General Musharraf has been allowed to walk both sides of the street in the war on terror and to claim that essentially his country is in such a bad way that any improvement should result in Western reward. In the wake of the Mumbai outrage, that is no longer acceptable. Australia should bring diplomatic weight to bear on Pakistan, both directly and by encouraging the US to do likewise, to clean up its act and crack down on the likes of Lashkar-e-Taiba. |
| Posted by:john |