Author: Arvind Panagariya
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: December 16, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/myths-from-mumbai/398860/
Introduction: Indian and Pakistan are not
in the same boat, and this was not about Indian Muslims
Following the Mumbai Terror attacks, politicians,
pundits and the press have created many myths, confusions and falsehoods.
These deserve to be exposed in favour of clearer thinking.
Myth 1: "When it comes to terrorism,
India and Pakistan are now victims of a common enemy."
President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan has
expansively promoted this myth and many in the West and some in India embrace
it. In an interview on CNN, Zardari said: "The state of Pakistan is of
course not involved. We're part of the victims." A week later, he wrote
in the New York Times: "Not only are the terrorists not linked to the
Government of Pakistan in any way, we are their targets and continue to be
their victims."
But this is a treacherous claim. True, Pakistan
has been subject to several terrorist attacks recently including the one on
the Marriott
Hotel that killed more than 50 people three
months ago. But India and Pakistan are not victims of the same terror groups.
Pakistan suffers at the hands of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda groups whom it is
now fighting on the Afghan border alongside the US. But Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
that sent terrorists to Mumbai recently and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) that attacked
the Parliament in 2001 do not terrorise Pakistani citizens.
Instead, they have had a history of receiving
patronage from Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI. It is only under intense
international pressure that Pakistan has recently arrested the leaders of
these outfits. The ease with which the Pakistani army was able to round them
up testifies to the cozy relationship between the two.
Myth 2: "Pakistani government bears no
responsibility for the recent Mumbai attacks."
Zardari makes this claim calling the terrorists
stateless actors. Indian and US officials have also avoided directly implicating
the government of Pakistan in their statements. Yet, the statement is substantively
false. For some time now, there has existed an "Army-ISI-Jihadi complex"
in Pakistan whereby retired officials of the army and ISI routinely participate
in terrorist-training camps that jihadi outfits such as LeT and JeM run. In
turn, these outfits actively assist the ISI. Therefore, even if there was
no official contact between the government and LeT specifically on the Mumbai
attacks, the army and ISI bear responsibility in an essential way.
Myth 3: "A silver lining in the aftermath
of the Mumbai attacks has been the absence of any retaliatory attacks and
riots within India."
Western observers frequently mention this.
Taken literally, the statement is true. But its unstated implication that
terrorist attacks in India are usually followed by retaliatory attacks and
riots is entirely false. In recent years, India has been rocked by a series
of terrorist attacks, originating both externally and internally. But in no
case has there been a retaliatory attack by either Hindus or Muslims. Indeed,
in the aftermath of the May 2008 bomb explosions in my own hometown, Jaipur,
both Hindus and Muslims lined up at hospitals to donate blood for surviving
victims. In a similar vein, following the recent Mumbai attacks, the government
has been unable to find a single Muslim group willing to accept the bodies
of nine Pakistani terrorists for burial in its graveyard. Those who raise
the spectre of retaliatory actions following terrorist attacks confuse them
with communal riots. While communal riots by definition divide Hindus and
Muslims, terrorist attacks usually bring them together.
Myth 4: "All Muslims are not terrorists
but all terrorists are Muslims."
The falsehood of this statement is made obvious
by the facts that a Tamil terrorist assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
and Sikh guards, guided by Khalistani militants, shot Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi. White supremacist groups have had their share of terrorist acts in
the US. Even a more restrictive claim that "all transnational terrorists
are Muslim" is false. In the '70s, terrorist groups in different Latin
American countries cooperated with one another as well as Palestinian, European
and Japanese urban guerrilla groups. Nor is modern day transnational terrorism
in Africa Muslim in character.
Myth 5: "India itself is to be blamed
for the terror attacks because of its ill treatment of Muslims at home."
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks,
commentators in the Western media disproportionately focused on domestic ills
as the principal source of terrorism facing India. Though strong signals of
Pakistani involvement had begun to emerge within 24 hours of the attacks,
some among these observers continued to cling to the idea that discrimination
at home had led local Muslims to carry out the attacks. Others naively believed
that outfits such as the LeT would not send terrorists if India did not discriminate
against Muslims.
But these observers largely rest their case
on association: If discrimination against Muslims exists - and there is plenty
of it - it must be responsible for Muslim terrorism. But this is wholly insufficient
reasoning. For instance, listen to what LeT head Hafiz Saeed said at a rally
in Karachi in 2000: "There can't be any peace while India remains intact.
Cut them, cut them - cut them so much that they kneel before you and ask for
mercy." Is this a man who will stop sending terrorists if India stopped
discriminating against Muslims?
Likewise, those connecting domestic terrorism
to discrimination must answer why despite its existence for decades, we have
witnessed systematic bomb explosions by a Muslim terrorist group only over
the last year? Why is it that
Dalits, who have suffered from discrimination
even more than Muslims and are today worse off than them, have not resorted
to similar terrorist attacks? And why is it that, according to at least tentative
evidence, even Hindu groups have begun to engage in terrorist attacks? Connecting
terrorism to discrimination by association may make one popular but it does
not make for sound analysis or policy-making.
Myth 6: "No amount of intelligence, training
and equipment can prevent determined terrorists from striking."
Taken literally, this is true but in substance
it is false. The US has successfully prevented attacks since 9/11. Given its
more vulnerable borders and the limited appetite of its citizens for searches
and security alerts, India's task is more difficult. Nevertheless, significant
reduction in attacks and the damage from them is possible. Multiple checkpoints
equipped with bulk-cargo scanners can make terrorist entry difficult. Intelligence,
especially at local levels, can help catch some terrorists before they attack.
And better weaponry, protection devices and training can improve the chances
of the security personnel subduing terrorists in case the latter succeed in
attacking. The best need not be the enemy of the good.
- writer is a professor of economics at Columbia
University, New York
