Mumbai and India's Homegrown Insurgency

By Cernig

The Bush administration and its American media stenographers are getting behind the Indian narrative that says the Pakistan-aided LeK terror group was responsible for the Mumbai attacks - in a way they refused to do back in 2006 when the LeK really was to blame for bombings in Mumbai but ex-BFF dictator Musharraf had to be protected. However there's a deeper story which America's new regional BFF doesn't want told, one of Hindu-Muslim antipathy fuelled as much by Hindu supremacism as by Muslim extremism. The consequences in a nation that is 80% Hindu and where the Hindu supremacist party is one of the two largest, have been depressingly predictable:

The effect of this competitive demagoguery has been disastrous on many counts. Terrorism suspects have been picked up at random and denied legal rights. Allegations of torture by police are routine. Questions have been raised about the "encounters" between police and terrorism suspects. Suspects have been held for years as their court cases have dragged on. Convictions have been few and far between.

Commissions set up to investigate particularly gory incidents of religious violence have taken their time to produce reports. Few are opened for public debate. The recommendations in these reports have been routinely ignored or else implemented in a highly selective manner. Muslims convicted in some cases have been punished while Hindus have been let off lightly or not punished at all.

As a consequence, India's Muslims have begun to lose faith in the Indian state, its institutions and its instruments.

And as to the training, tactics and equipment of the Mumbai terrorists, at least one regional expert - Shlok Vaidya - points to the powerful Maoist Naxalite insurgency of Eastern and Southern India as the probable source, rather than the LeK.

The leaders of the movement have declared their intention to move past the traditional guerrilla model of warfare and instead implement a strategy centered on heavy shock troops conducting fewer but massive attacks. - Shlok Vaidya, Pragati Magazine, November 2007.

[The] Latest operation in India is pivotal because it reveals the complex interconnected nature of the multiple threats the country faces.

Tactical innovation. As discussed at this site in some depth, is the primary contribution of the Naxals. Additionally, large amounts of RDX are regularly stolen from mines in Naxal infested areas. These explosives traveled through the black market to representatives of the terrorists. It seems the lessons learned by the Naxals are in fact being adopted by other insurgencies operating in the country.

Vaida adds that deliberate references in the Mumbai terrorist's statements to issues linked to India's emnity with Pakistan are also part of the proclaimed Naxalite strategy, "designed to apply international pressure and expectations to that country which are unlikely to be met, thus providing more pressure within the country, thus driving up recruitment and funding for these militant organizations."

As Alexander Zaitchik noted in 2006 when he was living in India, the interplay of violent atrocities committed upon peasants by landowners and the reprisals for those attacks, which gave rise to the Naxite movement, is not something the Indian government wants to draw the world's attention to:

As foreign direct investment continues to pour into India, caste-conflict and a spreading Maoist rebellion is not the picture New Delhi wants projected to the world. Surrounded by Islamic militant-infested Pakistan and Bangladesh to the east and west, and civil war-wracked Nepal and Sri Lanka to the north and south, India remains by far the most stable and attractive destination for foreign money on the subcontinent. But the problems of Bihar and contiguous states along the red corridor will not go away just because the urban middle-class continues to expand. It is possible that India's Maoist problem, today little known, will one day become central to the country's image, as it now is to Nepal and Sri Lanka. This is not an immediate prospect, but to paraphrase a recent comment by Indian-born economist Amartya Sen, you cannot expect stability or prosperity from a society that is half Silicon Valley, half Sub-Saharan Africa.

Blaming Pakistan is also convenient for India's foreign policy goals. It wants to strengthen its opportunities in Afghanistan and Iran while  driving a wedge between the US and Pakistan. All of which is why, while it's still a distinct possibility that Pakistan's ISI provided aid at some level to the Mumbai attackers, Indian finger-pointing alleging Pakistani direction without evidence is to be mistrusted

Comments

[Rick Moran]

Jihadis? What jihadis?

Pathetic.

[Steve Hynd]

Rick, you moran, I didn't say they weren't jihadis, i just questioned the "sent by Pakistan" suffix to that appelation.

Stick to long-form posts on your own blog, because your short-form commenting on others always revceals a lack of deep reading skills.

Regards, C

[Satish]

Who is this Moran Cernig??? Is he a Pakistani in disguise!!! When all evidence is no pointing towards Pakistan ISI.. who is this guy refuting it... It is typical of a Pak to say they did not do it.. reminds me of criminals whose first words that come out says "I did not do this"!!! Pakistan has been the hub of terrorism for a long time.. USA needs to wake up & smell the roses.. In recent weeks these things have come to light to USA & its adminstration!! If USA can go and bomb Afganistan for 9/11, India is justified of bombing Pakistan now... Nuke Paksitan.. it will solve 80% of world's Terror problem!!!

[cp]

Wow ! What a dumb and ignorant post! It's equivalent to saying that since there were internal history of black and white violence in past, and black youth are disillusioned, hence 9/11 was caused by blacks ! Or maybe white extremists ! Your logic is thaaaat dumb.

Eat your words: the terrorists have been identified from specific regions in Pakistan with call logs to pakistan.

India is the most vibrant country in the world, and hence there are bound to be problems; especially after they were left with no dimes by the brits. Minorities write their own laws and are allowed to have their own teaching institutions. The place is dotted with more mosques. Moreover, unlike abrahamic religions, eastern religions (Hinduism, Budhism, Jainism) consider ALL religions (including western ones) lead to same ultimate truth. But Muslims take advantage of this tolerance too many times; and unfortunately some hindus are getting radicalizes with this continuos attack on a tolerant society.

Try looking for agenda of these Pakistan-based terrorist organizations...they don't just want Kashmir, they want whole of India and create an Islamic empire from Europe to Indonesia.

[Suvro]

Hi,

Those who believe that PaK is a friendly state and there are no terrorist element involved. I have something to say - Why in aftermath of 9/11 all PAK nationals in US were targetted for detailed questioning. Why immigration control in UK for PAK is very very strict.

It is well known that ISI used to train misguided youths. Many passports are found in many terrorist attacks before.

I am not sure if ISI is involved now, particularly because of so much US pressure now to curb terrorism, but I fear that Frankestein monster is already born in Pak soils that they do not have any control on.

One thing I believe that home minister of India should resign. With 1 billion people, for every incapable person, 10 supremely capable people can be found. There is no place for mediocracy. Lack of intelligence is truly apalling. No wonder it is happening because ATF was very busy trying to make scape goat of some hindu terrorist (huh! ) rather than collecting real evidence of real terrorism.

[Steve Hynd]

Oh dear, the Hindutsva nationalists have arrived. Try hitting the archives, keyword "Pakistan" on the sidebar, to see if I am usually pro-Pakistan when it comes to the ISI and terrorism.

CP, if there's evidence, there will be a public show-and-tell. Until then, anonymous official sources saying something isn't evidence, particularly when they have an agenda to uphold. Occam's Razor says that there's sufficient anger, expertise and personnel inside India for these attacks, without postulating external actors.

Regards, C

[Cyberholics]

This is not just a couple of hotels under attack in a faraway land. The consequences of Mumbai attacks will hurt America.

The attacks in Mumbai were executed by ex-SSG (Pak Army Commandos) controlled by ISI. These will lead to Pak Army being moved from the Afghan border to the border with India, taking pressure off AlQaeda.

For our new administration to have any impact on terrorism the breeding ground of global terror in Pakistan has to be eliminated quickly.

[empty]

Hi C,
My first reaction to hearing about the Mumbai atrocities was that the Naxalites had broadened their area of operation. I remember back in the 70's reading stuff in the Naxalite magazine Chingari (IIRC) which fits in with the approach taken by the group in Mumbai. The discipline and planning demonstrated by this group seems to be of a different level than the LeT crowd and more in keeping with the Naxalbari movement. But, I've been out of touch in recent years so I am probably just connecting dots where there are none

[nishant]

The writer is an idiot. WTF do u mean by hindu supremacy. Its like since the US went after all terrorists after 911 u say its christian supremacy. The hindu nationalist party as u say is a secula party which is against minority appeasement for the sake of vote banks. Get ur head out of ur ass.

[nishant]

And for those idiots crying about evidence. The chief of ISI during 911 was declared a terrorist who had directly funded the hijackers. If the Indians have proof they are not going to show and tell to Pakistan because the entire ISI machinery will then start to destroy evidence they didnt know existed. You are morons.