Watching the horrific images on my TV screen of various hotspots around Mumbai burning for the last two days, I could not help but recall that it was barely two years ago that my children and I had breakfast at the Taj Palace Hotel in this bustling city before sauntering off to the Gateway of India, a stone’s throw.
While it is too early to know the exact nature of groups and precise motives behind such a heinous act of terror against innocent civilians in which 125 people have so far been killed and over 300 others injured, one thing is clear.
This is not a one-off act. More than 600 people have been killed and hundreds maimed and devastated in terror strikes in India in the past six years. Just this year, violence and terror hit various parts of India. At least 45 civilians were killed and over 100 injured in 18 terror bombings across Assam last month. In Imphal, 17 people were killed in a powerful blast near Manipur Police Commando complex. Also in October, eight people were injured after a bomb planted on a rented bicycle went off in Colonel Ganj market in Kanpur.
Five people died in Malegaon, Maharashtra in September after a bomb hidden in a motorbike went off in a crowded market, while a lone pedestrian was killed and several people were injured after a bomb went off near a mosque in Modasa, Gujarat.
Even the capital of India, New Delhi, was not spared. Six blasts across the city rocked the capital killing 26 people, while another bomb blast in the crowded market of Mehrauli claimed three lives.
A couple of months before that in Ahmedabad, 57 people were killed after a series of synchronized bombs went off within two hours of each other, and one person lost his life to an act of terror in Bangalore, following the explosion of a low-intensity bomb.
Even the regal city of Jaipur was hit when on May 13, 2008, 68 people were killed in a series of bombings. And the list goes on and on. Following this latest act, India faces the greatest challenge to its adopted stance of secularism. Hindu-Christian, Hindu-Sikh or Hindu-Muslim violence of recent times indicates deep-rooted divisions. Government must heal such divisions if India is to emerge as an Asian economic superpower.
While the Indian government points to foreign hands behind the Mumbai carnage, many in India are skeptical. They point out to the existence of some 100 or more groups of various religious and ideological hues, fighting the Indian state and people, including Hindu terrorist groups.
It has been reported that 600 Christians were killed a couple of months ago by Hindu extremist groups, and approximately 2,500 Muslims were burned alive in the 2002 Gujarat carnage. There are also reports of Kashmiri, Dalit, and other minority women being subjected to abuse or religious oppression.
Global intelligence officials, basing on initial clues, believe homegrown terrorists are behind the attack on India’s financial capital. British-based Jane’s Information Group said it thought the attackers could be Indian. “Terrorist attacks in India have targeted civilians, often in busy market or commercial areas, and in communally sensitive areas with the intention to foment unrest between Hindu and Muslim communities,” said Urmila Venugopalan, Jane’s South Asia analyst.
Kashmiri separatists could be another player in this latest gruesome drama. Perhaps it is time that India gave in to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and allowed them the right to self-determination.
It would be premature at this junction to point the finger in any direction, foreign or otherwise. The important point is that no terror acts must be explained away or condoned. And the political parties in India should resist the temptation to exploit the situation for electoral gains, as had often been the case in the past with tragic consequences.
It is time that all Indians stood united. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and others have to cross over religious barriers to preserve the sanctity of this nation. This is what is needed if their country is to assume the role it richly deserves on the world stage.
