Daily Times, November 17, 2008
Who benefits from Mumbai?
by Brian Cloughley
The problem for India — and for Pakistan — is that extreme Hindu nationalism has been fed mightily by the Mumbai murders. Zealots like Rajnath Singh are rubbing their hands and licking their lips because they want to get rid of decent men like Dr Singh
When notable incidents of violence occurred in the time of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago, the writer, philosopher and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero embarrassed some people by asking “Cui bono?” — “who benefits?” This is a wise question, because identification of those who might benefit from acts of terrorism can be interesting.
Let’s remind ourselves of the purposes of terror. The aims of these evil operations, whether they be conducted by assassination, suicide flights of airliners into buildings or tossing bombs at marketplace crowds, are basically the same: first, they are intended to sow fear among the inhabitants of the attacked city, region or country by killing people; then there is the aim of creating distrust of the government and authorities in general by the country’s citizens. Next is the objective of encouraging overreaction on the part of government, linked with the intention of generating or increasing international suspicion and hatred.
The overall goal is to cause instability, because terrorists thrive when people are confused, frightened, and distrustful of authority. When security precautions are increased dramatically in order to supposedly counter threats, this adds only to frustration and fury on the part of ordinary citizens. But terrorists are rarely affected.
How many terrorists have been caught in the US since the preposterous ‘Patriot Act’ in the US came into force? America had perfectly adequate measures in place to deal with terrorism before 9/11: the problem was incompetence, not lack of systems. But politicians have to be seen to be taking dramatic action, no matter how ludicrous or unproductive that might be.
Confusion breeds panic, and panic plays right into the hands of terrorists. And the sowing of even more panic seems to be the speciality of many politicians and others who engage their tongues before their brains. An idiot British Home Office minister, Lord West, declared recently that “another great plot [is] building up again” because of “a huge threat” from Al Qaeda. Just what his announcement was meant to achieve is beyond understanding, because if you’ve detected a plot the last thing you want to do is publicise the fact, thus letting the plotters know that you’re on to them. No: it was just the usual flatulence from a self-important fathead who felt he had to justify his position.
But India’s prime minister, a man of urbane commonsense, has taken things in his stride. Although understandably irate, his response has been measured. Certainly he has blamed Pakistan, without naming it, because his intelligence people have assured him that the ten terrorists came from Pakistan (but not that they were in any way officially sponsored by the government).
Some of his ministers have sailed closer to the wind, but, as reported by the Press Trust of India, “Rajnath Singh, the leader of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [the main opposition group], urged India to ‘avenge the repeated terror attacks’ by striking Pakistan, and declared that ‘There is a need to avenge the repeated assault on our people and democracy.’”
Rajnath Singh is the man who stated that the Indian police investigation of the Hindu extremists’ bombing in Malegaon in September was “a huge conspiracy” against Hindus, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the arrest of a serving army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, for involvement in planning the atrocity. Singh is also the man, according to the Indian magazine Frontline last year, who asked Indians to “give the BJP 10 years [in power]”, and declared that if this comes about, “by 2016 we’ll do away with this policy of appeasement of Muslims forever.”
So that’s the BJP agenda if they win the elections next May.
The problem for India — and for Pakistan — is that extreme Hindu nationalism has been fed mightily by the Mumbai murders. Zealots like Rajnath Singh are rubbing their hands and licking their lips because they want to get rid of decent men like Dr Singh and the equally cerebral Mr Palaniappan Chidambaram, who has just been appointed home minister in lieu of Mr Shivraj Patil, who took responsibility for the decidedly unstructured response to the attack and most honourably resigned. (British politicians please copy. Fat chance.)
Who benefits from the Mumbai slaughter? Certainly not India’s Congress-led coalition government, tottering as it is with shaky allies. Not the attackers, because all but one are dead, and he’ll never see the light of day again. And certainly not Pakistan, which has quite enough problems on its plate at the moment without getting involved in foreign forays. (According to the UN, some 1445 civilians were killed in Pakistan in the first eight months of 2008; about 800 by homegrown fanatics and the rest by illegal foreign airstrikes.)
So who, then, benefits?
One answer, unfortunately, is the BJP and its supporters in such sinister organisations as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and the Shiv Sena (SS). In November, the Independent reported the SS leader, Bal Thackeray, as having written that “The threat of Islamic terror in India is rising. It is time to counter the same with Hindu terror. Hindu suicide squads should be readied to ensure the existence of Hindu society and to protect the nation.”
All of these organisations looked with approval on the massacres of 2000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and scores of Christians in Orissa this year. One fanatic of the Bajrang Dal paramilitary group involved in the Gujarat pogrom said proudly that “There was this pregnant [Muslim] woman, I killed her... They shouldn’t even be allowed to breed... Whoever they are, women, children, whoever...cut them down. Thrash them, slash them, burn them... The idea is, don’t keep them alive at all.”
These are dangerous, vicious extremists. And they all benefit from the Mumbai carnage. Which is bad news for the sub-continent.
Brian Cloughley’s book about the Pakistan army, War, Coups and Terror, has just been published by Pen & Sword Books (UK) and is distributed in Pakistan by Saeed Book Bank
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