31
2008
This year is proving to be deadly for India - literally.
First, there were the horrific bombings in Jaipur, the capital of the western state of Rajasthan that attracts thousands of tourists every year. Then, on July 7th the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, was attacked in which more than 40 people, including an Indian diplomat and military officers, lost their lives.
If that was not enough, on July 25th, five serial blasts rocked the city of Bangalore, India's tech hub located in the southern state of Karnataka. Barely a day after these explosions, terror struck again, as sixteen bombs exploded in the span of ninety minutes, this time in the city of Ahmedabad, the capital of the western state of Gujrat. And in the last two days, several bombs have been found and diffused, in Surat, also in Gujrat.
Bloodshed and terrorism are not new to India. The post-independence rioting that followed the British departure and the creation of Pakistan when it was carved out of a large Indian state - partitioned - in 1947, was one of the bloodiest the world has seen. Some half a million people lost their lives and a million became homeless. Partition created one of the largest population movement in the history of the world where an estimated 14.5 million people crossed borders between India and Pakistan.
Most Indians, with their what-will-be-will-be attitude towards life are taking these bomb threats in their stride and are not pulling down the shutters just yet. Life has not stopped - it never does here. But, the new attacks are unnerving, offering a kind of pervasive violence that has come to affect daily life.
Terrorists now seem to be sending a clear message: They can strike anytime, using homemade, low-intensity bombs that may not kill as many but are sure to cause damage, create fear and tension. Bombs are planted in different locations and are set off consecutively in crowded areas in rush hours using mobile devices. In the past, terrorist groups planned attacks that were higher in intensity and usually, after a high alert in the country was sounded, they lay low for a while before striking again. And while that was in no way a preferable situation, it now seems that the extremists are more bold and fearless than ever, not waiting for time, or being daunted by security systems, wanting to prove that they are invincible. In the case of the recent blasts, e-mails had been sent to media outlets just before the bombs went off warning about the attacks. And if those messages are to be believed, it seems there is more to come, with Delhi, the nation's capital, said to be the next target.
Of course, some of the seeds of today's extremism were sown during Partition. It was an utterly bitter division, and ever since, the main bone of contention between the two countries has been the picturesque and hilly Northern-Indian state of Kashmir, a state where the majority of the population was, and still is, Muslim. The two countries have fought two wars over the state, which Pakistanis believe should be part of their nation. And since 1989, Muslim separatist and rebel groups - many of who are supported by Pakistan and some are said to have links with the Al Qaida - have been fighting for independence from India. In the last twenty years an estimated 40,000 people have lost their lives in Kashmir due to this violence.
The two most prominent of these extremist outfits are, the Lashkar-e Toiba (LeT) , meaning 'army of the pure', and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), who have at times claimed responsibility, or have been blamed, for acts of terror that have plagued India in the recent years, some of which have been extremely horrific, like the 1993 and 2006 bombings in Mumbai, India's financial capital, or the brazen attack on the Indian parliament in New-Delhi in 2001, to name only a few.
India, on its part, has repeatedly blamed Pakistan for supporting the separatist groups, a charge that Pakistan has as frequently denied. And though it may be true that the latter is not party to every incident of terror that occurs in India, there is enough reason to believe that Pakistan has been happy to fuel discontent in India by offering aid to groups that want independence from India. The U.S., in fact, recently admitted that a lot of the funds that it gave to Pakistan after 9/11 to counter the Taliban, have actually been used to fund separatist groups that are fighting India.
But, to come back to Kashmir, India too is to blame for all that is wrong with the state today. It's really a case of idle minds being the devil's workshop, for, India has failed to provide even the basics - jobs and infrastructure - frustrating hundreds of Kashmiri youth and making them vulnerable to influence from separatist groups. If the majority of Kashmiris had been gainfully employed, militancy would have not thrived the way it has now.
That is the problem India must try and solve first, before it can fight the extremists. After these recent blasts, the country is up in arms and is in debate about bringing back the controversial anti-terrorist act - The Prevention of Terrorism Act, POTA, which was scrapped by the present administration, since it believed - somewhat rightly - that the law was being used arbitrarily to round up innocent Muslims. But now, the question about the law has come up again and the government is being blamed for being too soft on terror.
India is now on high alert, since Independence Day - the 61st anniversary of Partition - is round the corner, on the 15th of August. As the day approaches, security is being beefed up in all public places but trying to guess where the next strike is going to occur is becoming a nightmare for the police force, especially in this overcrowded country. Attacks are probably being planned even as I write this, and there is a fear among the people that no place - cinema halls, airports, stations, markets - is safe. It's an unnerving feeling to live with the idea that terror lurks at every bend.