New Delhi, Sept 12 : India would certainly not have wished a tragedy of this scale to buttress its war against international terrorism. But there is little doubt that Tuesday's tragic events will serve to make the world sit up and take note of a phenomenon which has taken a heavy toll of lives here over the past decade.
Although no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks in the US, Osama Bin Laden seems to be emerging as the prime suspect. As the Bush administration gets down to tackling the domestic fallout of the unprecedented attacks, India can certainly hope for a more empathetic Washington to extend support it has been seeking to close in oil this master terrorist suspected of funding much of the militancy in Kashmir.
Former Foreign secretary J.N. Dixit said: "The levels of cooperation and exchange of information with the US have increased over the years. But after this, we can certainly expect more substantive interaction on the operational front. We must gear ourselves for that if we are serious about waging an international war against terrorism to help us in Kashmir." He felt that countries like Pakistan, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, which are accused of exporting terrorism, will be on the defensive and India should be agile enough to drive home its advantage against both Pakistan and Afghanistan where Bin Laden is suspected to be in hiding.
Significantly, the government has chosen not to press the point at this stage, realising that it is not the right time. But the alacrity with which the MEA reacted and the fact that a CCS meeting was summoned on Tuesday are all indications that India is acutely conscious of the implications of Tuesday's developments for its war against terrorism.
The government's repeated pleas
that terrorism cannot be passed off as a freedom movement and that millitants
or jehadis cannot be equated with freedom fighters are more likely to make
sense now than ever before. Certainly, a right-wing Republican Administration,
reeling under the blow of today's attacks, may be amenable to make common
cause with India. In recent months, exchanges with the US on the terrorism
issue have tried to take a holistic view of the millitancy problem in the
Valley, looking beyond the dispute to the threat posed by the Taliban regime
in Afghanistan to the social, economic and cultural stability of the region.