Saturday's murderous blasts in New Delhi show once again that the war on terror will go on for a long time and will have to be fought on many fronts. They also add weight and urgency to King Abdullah’s suggestion some time back that an international center should be established to counter terrorism.
The death of 60 more innocent people will perhaps now push the international community further toward the creation of such a powerful body to root out terror. However much individual police forces may be pooling information and expertise on an ad hoc basis, there is clearly a need for properly structured coordination of the global effort to smash the evil of international terror. The menace is global. It must be confronted globally.
Nevertheless, out of the murder and mayhem in Delhi some potent good has already come. The political leadership of both India and Pakistan have shown that they will not allow a few murderers to dictate national policies. Even as the terrorists were heading off with their bombs, marathon talks in Islamabad between the Indian and Pakistani authorities were ending with agreement on the opening Nov. 7 of five crossing points on the Line of Control between the parts of Kashmir that they control. Despite last minute fears that the Delhi bombings would derail the deal, both stuck by the arrangement and the Pakistani government was forthright in its utter condemnation of the crime.
From a humanitarian point of view, it is unfortunate that negotiations have taken so long. Kashmiri families, particularly on the Indian side of the Line of Control, have been waiting impatiently for the chance to take assistance to friends and family on the other side where the death and destruction have been very many times greater.
However, the depraved bombings in the Indian capital underline the concerns of the Indians that the new border crossings could also be used by militants intent on death and destruction rather than rescue and aid. To their credit, however, the Indians have not been diverted from their determination to facilitate additional help for the quake’s victims. In acting generously and responding to the original suggestion from Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf that the Line of Control be opened, they have surely laid another important foundation stone in the slow normalization of relations between the two former rivals.
It was also notable that world press coverage of the Delhi bombings has been almost on a par with that devoted to the London and Madrid bombings — with many commentators remarking on the calm and redoubtable reaction of citizens in the Indian capital. The predominantly First World media clearly no longer view such horrors as happening “far away and somewhere else” but rather see every manifestation of terror as being an attack upon every citizen in every country. If the media can now envisage a global front line in this struggle with fanatical bigots, should not world governments be doing the same and creating an anti-terror center?
