The blame game

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November 29, 2008
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As efforts continue a day after the synchronized terror attack in Mumbai that claimed 125 lives to free
hostages still held at luxury hotels, the blame game is well underway. In a televised address, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh made a barely veiled reference to Pakistan when he stated militant groups
based in 'neighbouring' countries were responsible for the attack. Police say they believe the militants may
have come aboard rubber dinghies, quickly fanned out across Mumbai and then struck in various places as
planned, targeting western and Israeli nationals. To do so with the precision of the attackers, targeting a
caf that would be known only to someone familiar with Mumbai, is to suggest that they had excellent
local intelligence although Indian security forces claim that one of the attackers is from near Multan!
Indian authorities also claim they have seized two merchant ships from Pakistan, which they believe may
have been used to bring the terrorists and their ammunition to Indian waters. They do not say why these
boats were not detected by patrols or how they reached Mumbai's shore without detection. The Pakistan
navy has emphatically denied that any of its vessels is missing and has stated it has no ships that go by the
names of those captured in India. The Pakistani leadership too has been in contact with counterparts in
India, condemning the violence unleashed on India's business capital and denying involvement of any
kind.

India's government, facing a barrage of internal criticism over intelligence failures, security lapses and an
inability to bring the situation in Mumbai under control even 26 hours after the attacks, has taken the
easiest, and most cowardly, way out. As has happened before, it has raised the convenient Pakistan bogey,
hoping in this way to deflect the barbs and arrows directed its own way, from citizens and from its media.
In doing so it completely ignores the reality in India. This reality includes the presence of increasingly
restless groups of Muslim youth angered by the discrimination they face. The problem posed by these
home-grown radicals has never been addressed by India. Instead the scourge has been allowed to grow.
While New Delhi likes to paint itself before the world as a liberal, secular democracy, striding confidently
into the future, the fact is that many communal tensions and undercurrents lurk amidst its vast and diverse
population. This mass of people includes Hindu extremists, who in the past have proven just as capable of
staging terror attacks as their Muslim counterparts. They also have links in important places. Colonel
Prasad Purohit of the Indian army has confessed to obtaining the ammunition used to blow apart bogeys of
the Samjhota Express in 2007, killing at least 60 passengers, and also for the 2008 blast at the textile town
of Malegaon in Maharashtra that killed six people. The colonel was working with a group of fanatics eager
to turn India into a Hindu state. At the time of the Samjhota blast, India, in what was apparently a knee-
jerk reaction, had blamed extremists based in Pakistan.

Such responses do a great deal of harm. New Delhi would do well to desist from childish finger-pointing
antics. If indeed it comes up with evidence of any kind of cross-border involvement, this must be shared
with Pakistan. The two nations have, after all, already agreed to step up cooperation against terror while
Pakistan's foreign minister, currently in India, offered all possible assistance in the Mumbai violence probe
hours after the mayhem that engulfed that city broke out. This is despite the fact the current government in
Pakistan clearly has no sympathy for terrorists. New Delhi is also, quite blatantly, attempting to swing
world opinion to its side with its accusations. Pakistan's response so far has been mature and well-planned.
It has instantly condemned the tragedy in uncompromising words and stressed the need for the two South
Asian neighbours to act together in ending a terrorist menace that has greatly damaged both nations. It
must, at this moment in crisis, remind India of the risks inherent in raising tensions or pushing forward the
distrust and suspicion that exists in either country. Doing so amounts to playing into the hands of the
extremists and to the hawks on either side of the border, who oppose a more peaceful future for the region.

As it struggles to recover from a terrible act of terrorism, that has left people shaken and bewildered, India
must focus first of all on putting its own house in order. It must face up to the fact that dangerous extremist
outfits operate within its territory as do some of the world's most notorious mafias and underworld gangs.
As the saying goes, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. This is something India needs
to keep in mind in the aftermath of the events it has seen unfold in Mumbai. The tragedy is bad enough.
Foolish actions will only make its aftermath worse.