Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: October 3, 2001
Monday's fidayeen (suicide squad)
attack on the Jammu & Kashmir(J&K) Assembly complex, which killed
30 and injured another 60 people, should end all speculation as to whether
events in Afghanistan had led to the easing of militant activities in J&K.
Indian intelligence agencies had
claimed to have intercepted messages from Mullah Omar advising, in effect,
all jihadis operating in J&K to return to Afghanistan to fight the
Taliban's battle against the US. There was speculation then that the same
may have been a clever disinformation campaign to deceive the Indian security
forces into letting down their guard, and in the process enable the jihadis
to prepare for a major strike. The sight of mangled bodies in Srinagar's
Lal Chowk, the very heart of the city, and the destruction wreaked both
outside and inside the Assembly complex, has effectively nullified all
facile assumptions about a downturn in terrorist activities in J&K.
More than the heavy toll of human
life, or the audacity of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (a twin organisation of the
Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin, which was recently banned by the US), which has claimed
responsibility for the attack, what disturbs most is the complete disregard
among these terrorist groups for the mood of world opinion. That a suicide
strike would conjure obvious associations with the September 11 strikes
on the US seems not to have been deterrent enough for the Jaish. What is
also lost on the perpetrators of Monday's crime is that such an association
holds the possibility of J&K terrorists being painted by the same brush
that has damned the Taliban. This raises two distinct hypotheses. One,
that the terrorists operating in J&K are no less fanatical than the
Taliban. Despite support from, and control by, Pakistan, there can be no
assurance that, even in these changed times, when jihad has become an almost
dirty word, will the terrorist in J&K desist from playing their deadly
game of terror and death. The other possibility is that Pakistan, more
specifically General Musharraf, is testing the waters on how far he can
go with respect to terrorist incidents in J&K without inviting the
wrath of the US. Since the US needs him in its war against Osama, the General
could willy nilly have been tempted to practise brinkmanship in J&K,
primarily to address the growing unrest among his domestic constituency
vis-à-vis his commitment to Islamic causes.
The Prime Minister convened his
Cabinet Committee on Security immediately after the attack and the External
Affairs Ministry promptly issued a strong warning to Pakistan about fostering
cross-border terrorism. The question that the Government of India can now
legitimately ask the US is that if it is justified on the latter's part
to carry out "cross-border" strikes against "cross-border" terrorism, why
should India feel constrained not to explore a similar option. If the US
is firm in its resolve to blot out terrorist camps across the world, and
if the grand coalition of democracies against terrorism is one with it
in such a resolve, why should the international community not support,
indeed insist on, Indian strikes on terrorist camps across the LoC? It
has been widely acknowledged post-September 11 that suicide squads cannot
be restrained or reasoned with. Apropos, to expect India to "negotiate"
with the agents of terror would be hypocritical. The US, we are told is
getting impatient. It is time India did too.
