Author: Shri K Subramanyam
Publications: The Times of India
Dated: September 13, 2001
Sub-title: Democracies Must Ally
Against Jehadis
The terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center totally destroying the two landmark towers and on the Pentagon
have been compared to a second Pearl Harbour. Such a monstrous terrorist
act has not been witnessed since the end of World War II, and its impact
will be felt in every nook and corner of the globe. There was a feeling
of triumphalism among the jehadi terrorists when the Soviet Union withdrew
from Afghanistan. Many of them, including the Saudi engineer who volunteered
to work for the CIA, Osama bin Laden, used to tell the Americans who trained
him in special operations that the jehadis had defeated one superpower
and thereafter it would be the turn of the other superpower.
The precision, meticulousness and
the thoroughness of the operations leave one in no doubt that these acts
of terrorism have been perpetrated by highly trained and skilled people.
The Pentagon was chosen as a target to show the world that the jehadis
can strike at the heart of the US military command and control. The World
Trade Center towers were presumably chosen since its destruction would
hit three nationalities which the jehadis hate -- American, Israeli and
Indians -- and cause large casualties among them.
The Pearl Harbour attack finally
brought the US into World War II and made it the leader of the alliance
of democracies fighting the Nazis and militarists. Till then, the US adopted
a neutral stand even as the Nazis and fascists were overrunning Europe.
Before that, the western powers were passive vis-a-vis Hitler and Mussolini
since the latter were anti-communists. Their anti-communist obsession blinded
them to the dangers posed by the Nazis to democracy in the world. The Nazis
finally turned on the democracies. Similarly, the obsession with defeating
the Soviets in Afghanistan had made the US blind to the dangers of stoking
Islamic fundamentalism, arming the jehadis, training people like Osama
bin Laden and being permissive to their expanding the narcotics trade.
The Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
was made necessary by a whole host of factors. The mixture of religious
fanaticism, the training received and the availability of arms and narcotics
money made the jehadis believe that God was on their side and that they
could deal with the US too after the Soviet Union. Taking advantage of
the US obsession during the Afghan war, Pakistan also obtained nuclear
weapons and missiles. The Pakistani leadership and the jehadis felt that
on one side they could advance towards Ferghana, Babur's home in Central
Asia and on the other side, seize Kashmir and cause the fragmentation of
India.
This led to Yusuf Ramsey's first
attempt on the World Trade Centre in 1993 and Mir Aimal Kansi's shooting
down of CIA operatives and the attacks on Iranians and Shias in Pakistan.
There were talks about Pakistan acquiring strategic depth. In 1994, General
Nasrullah Babar unleashed the Taliban and Pakistani servicemen and ex-servicemen
under that banner swept through Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden became a mobile
state bent on waging jehad. He enjoyed the advantage of not being territorially
defined and attacked. The reactions of the US and the West to the proxy
war in Kashmir and terrorist outrages in India, including the Mumbai explosions
of March 1993 (a smaller version of what happened in New York), were not
strong enough. The Taliban could not have occupied 90 per cent of Afghanistan
without Pakistan's help and Osama bin Laden could not operate from that
country without the permissiveness, if not active support, of Pakistan.
The US reacted only to acts of terrorism
against itself, such as the CIA shootings, World Trade Centre bombing,
the destruction of the US embassies in Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi and the
attack on the USS Cole. The US and other western democracies did not build
up a strong enough alliance against international terrorism. The Shanghai
group -- China, Russia, Kirghizia, Tadjikistan and Kazakhstan -- formed
a separate front against terrorism. India, a major victim of terrorism,
had to act mostly by itself. There was always the blackmail that if any
pressure was applied to the pro-jehadi regime in Pakistan, its successor
would be more fanatical. Because of this, the US and the West failed to
quarantine the states which supported jehadis just as Roosevelt's call
to quarantine dictators was ignored. That shortsightedness, at that stage,
led inexorably to the first Pearl Harbour. Now the world has before it
the second Pearl Harbour. What happened on Tuesday is the declaration of
war by jehadi terrorists on democracy.
Now the US should ally itself with
other democracies and impose a quarantine on states supporting jehadi terrorism.
In this endeavour, the Shanghai group and Iran are valuable allies. President
George Bush has talked about the solidarity of democracies against terrorism
and has proposed that the US and India should host a lunch for leaders
of democracies during the UN General Assembly session. This idea should
be pursued. During the UN session, the UN convention on terrorism should
be promulgated.
The Security Council should be convened
to monitor the state of international terrorism and formulate practical
measures to quarantine states supporting or being permissive of terrorism.
A global mechanism needs to be devised for nations to exchange information
on terrorist activities. What happened in New York, Washington or Mumbai
could happen elsewhere too.
The war against terrorism is a global
one and an undivided one. Permissiveness of terrorism in certain directions
can only encourage terrorists to try new adventures. The successful attack
on the Pentagon may result in the triumphalism of jehadi terrorists with
adverse consequences to other potential victims of terrorism, primarily
India. For a start, India has to tighten its security in practical terms.
Prime minister Vajpayee's forthcoming visit to the US should be utilised
effectively to forge this new global alliance of democracies against terrorism.
The main lesson from the incidents
in New York and Washington is the imperative need for India to devise whole
range of measures such as nuclear command and control, ensure the safety
and security of political and military leadership and put in place alternative
command centers. Above all, professional institutionalised mechanism
to monitor the effectiveness of our intelligence must be set up.
While all these steps have to be taken secretly, there must be efforts
to create public confidence that these steps are being taken.
