| Jumat, 28 November 2008 |
| Murder in Mumbai |
We will learn more in the coming days how terrorists managed to invade India's financial capital Wednesday night, killing more than 100 innocents and wounding hundreds more. But there are already two lessons emerging: The war on terror is far from won, and it is migrating to democracies with weak antiterror defenses.
India is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia, and it has struggled with jihadist violence for two decades. But Wednesday's attacks were particularly brazen. Jihadists attacked at least 10 sites across Mumbai, including two five-star hotels, a hospital and a Jewish center. As we went to press, 101 people were reported killed and more than 300 injured, and an operation was under way to free hostages at one of the hotels. An Islamic group called the Deccan Mujahideen has claimed responsibility.
These attacks put India back on the international terror map because they targeted Westerners explicitly. The jihadists reportedly sought out Americans and Brits after they stormed the hotels. Until now these scenes of horror have been inflicted mostly on Indians. Since 2005, India has suffered more than 12 attacks. This year alone, New Delhi, the tech capital of Bangalore and the tourist mecca of Jaipur were hit, among others.
One reason is because India is an easy target. Its intelligence units are understaffed and underresourced. Coordination among the country's 28 state police forces is poor. The country's broader legal infrastructure is also weak; there is no preventive detention law, and prosecutions can take years.
A lack of political leadership is to blame. Yesterday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised that "every perpetrator would pay the price." Yet his Congress Party has done little more than bicker with its coalition allies over the past five years on how best to fight terrorism, as Sadanand Dhume writes here. Or it has tried to deflect responsibility by blaming Pakistan. It may pay the price for its incompetence at the national polls next year.
India isn't the only place where the lack of counterterrorist capabilities has made it easier for jihadists to escalate their attacks. Across the border in Pakistan, terrorists have exploded bombs in almost all of the country's major urban centers over the past year, in a challenge to the newly elected government. In Afghanistan, suicide bombers attacked the U.S. embassy in Kabul yesterday.
Like Pakistan, India's 150-million strong Muslim population is largely moderate and not easily radicalized. But that moderation can't be taken for granted. Islamic radicals have been broadly tolerated in India's free-flowing democracy.
This can't continue. Wednesday's attacks should serve as a wake-up call not only to New Delhi, but to all democracies. |
| posted by intermis @ 08.25 |
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