Mumbai Terror Attack: What The World Is Saying
Niranjan Rajadhyaksha -
Saturday, November 29, 2008 9:07 AM
Indian newspapers have taken the lazy way out and looked at what the same handful of newspapers in the US and the UK have had to say about the terror attack in Mumbai. And that is passed off as what the international media has been saying.
Here are gleanings from a more representative group. This is being written on Saturday morning, after Indian commandos have taken control of the Taj hotel.
Update: The wave of comments in response to this blog post show how angry and bitter citizens are. And one of the targets of their ire is the entire political class. It is cruel irony that Mumbai's politicians were trying to outdo each other, just days before the mayhem, on the silly issue of what type of snack best represents the culture of Maharashtra. Please read this blog post on Mumbai's vada pao battles that was written just a few hours before the killing began.
I will update this blog as I come across more international newspaper opinion. Readers are welcome to point me to anything interesting they come across.
1. The Jerusalem Post does not pull any punches, saying it is a clash of civilizations.
"The bloodbath reminds us that, though Muslim
extremism is often traceable to some local grievance, it's in essence
part of a larger conflict between civilizations. Islamists are
violently affronted when Hindus, Jews, Buddhist or Christians are
sovereign over a Muslim minority."
"Israelis feel at one with the people of India,
especially at times like these. Both countries are modern incarnations
of ancient civilizations. We share common political values, overlapping
security concerns and a growing commerce."
"Israelis have long argued that no political
grievance, no perceived injustice and no religious creed can ever
justify waging war against civilians. Others have sometimes made
excuses for "resistance" movements."
2. The Asahi Shimbun vacillates, but also frames the issue in religious terms.
"The situation of India, which is frequently targeted by terrorists,
is becoming increasingly complex. But one thing is clear. At the root
of the problem is religious antagonism within the country. Hindus make
up 80 percent of India's population of more than 1.1 billion, of which
slightly more than 13 percent are Muslims.
In conflicts stemming from religious antagonism in India, Muslims
have often been the victims. While India's economy has grown rapidly,
its Muslim society has been left behind, and the gap with Hindu society
is widening.
India first needs to squarely face these problems, which provide a
breeding ground for extremists, and promote social harmony.
We cannot overlook the fact that the incidents occurred at a time when India and Pakistan were moving to improve relations."
3. The People's Daily is silent right now, but I will update as soon as it offers its opinion.
4. Dawn says in a careful editorial that India and Pakistan should fight terror jointly.
"If India believes that Pakistan is compounding that problem
in its neighbour’s territory, then it is in the interest of every
Pakistani to know what is going on. The Indian prime minister or any
other official should come forward with names, identities, phone
records, bank statements or any other proof that shows a Pakistani
connection. After all it is in our interest to unearth and destroy
sponsors of yet more terrorism in our midst. But without a sensible
approach from the Indian side, Pakistan is bound to bristle and react
defensively, sparking a new round of blame and counter-blame. Following
the attacks on the Indian parliament in December 2001, the cycle nearly
ended up in a catastrophic war between the two countries. The only
winners in the event of an escalation in hostility between India and
Pakistan will be the terrorists in both countries. But Pakistan cannot
afford to be smug as India suffers. We have a grave problem of
militancy and the attacks in Mumbai are a grim reminder of the endless
possibilities of terror."
5. Beirut Daily Star says Islam would never condone the acts of barbarity in Mumbai.
"The atrocity that occurred on the streets of
Mumbai will unfortunately add to the pressures that ordinary Muslims
around the world must face in this age of the global "war on
terrorism." There will be those who will point to the attacks as
"proof" that Islam is part and parcel with intolerance and barbarity.
Muslims will again be forced to correct the ignorance that assumes the
worst about Islam by ignoring a simple truth: that no religion in the
world would condone such acts of depravity, least of all Islam."
6. The Mail & Guardian in South Africa says it is an attack on globalised India and "on all of us".
"This was not just an attack on the India
that continues to face off with Pakistan over the future of Kashmir or
with the Maharashtran Hindu chauvinists who have in the past
orchestrated pogroms against Muslims. It was an attack on globalised
India, which is to say an attack on the world we all live in now, a
world where rich countries are increasingly dependent on goods and
services produced in developing countries, where new flows of trade,
capital and ideas are radically altering social relations, for better
and for worse.
To see these attacks simply as products of India's long war with
Pakistan or its internal divisions would be a disastrous
oversimplification. They are attacks on all of us. That realisation
should not only deepen our anger and sadness, it should remind us too
that the project of combating terrorism and its roots is not just for
American imperialists, it is a global imperative that is desperately in
need of new and more effective solutions."
8. Der Spiegel has not written its editorial as yet. But Gregor Peter Scmitz writes from Washington that the terror attack is Barack Obama's first test.
"The crisis could be Obama's first big foreign policy test. The world is going to dissect his response."
Update: Sunday, 10 am. Still no editorial from Der Spiegel, but the German newspaper has carried an opinion piece by Claus Christian Malzahn saying that India is pointing in the right direction.
"It is still not clear who exactly carried out the terror attacks in
Mumbai this week. But the actions speak for themselves. The murderers
expressly went after Britons, Americans and Jews. In the world's
largest democracy, attacks were carried out by a determined minority
against the will of an overwhelming majority. The crimes bear the clear
and bloody fingerprints of militant, political Islamism."
He also steers clear of the view that the root cause of terror attacks in India is Muslim alienation.
"The attacks struck the heart of an Indian civil society that has always
functioned fairly well, despite recurring conflicts between the
country's Hindu majority and Muslim minority. The terror struck a
country that is closely allied, politically and economically, with the
West. The terrorists' mission can be neatly summarized: political,
economic and cultural destabilization of the whole subcontinent."
He does not spare Pakistan either.
"... a lack of evidence does not mean Pakistan had nothing to do with the well-planned attacks.
On the contrary: The Indian embassy in Kabul was made the target of
a bloody attack earlier this summer. Western intelligence services have
traced the attackers in that case back to the Pakistani intelligence
service, the ISI. Pakistani groups in the past have often been
responsible for terror attacks in India. Of course, there are also
"homegrown" jihadists in India as well. But in Pakistan, above all in
its tribal area near the border with Afghanistan, these fighters have
the territory they need to plan the spread of their war beyond its
local confines."
9. The Sydney Morning Herald calls for solidarity with India.
".. this week's atrocity bears the hallmarks of the global jihad
that brought us the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Bali, London
and Madrid bombings. Targets included transport infrastructure,
five-star hotels and restaurants frequented by westerners, as well
as a Jewish centre. The assailants were young men, heavily armed
and well trained.
It is not yet known if they were imported for this purpose or
were home-grown terrorists. India has known both in the 62 years
since independence. At times, Pakistan has done its best to pour
fuel on India's internal fires, and India's Prime Minister,
Manmohan Singh, has been quick to warn of serious consequences if
the latest attacks are linked to neighbouring countries
"It is to be hoped that a rush to judgment - egged on by
India's highly competitive news media - will be avoided."
10. Canada's National Post too takes the ridiculous "root-causes" line, but points fingers at Pakistan and Bangladesh as well.
"Among India's one billion inhabitants are nearly 140 million Muslims,
many of whom feel politically and economically disenfranchised. Some,
especially in the majority-Muslim state of Kashmir, share the
radicalized agenda of Islamist terrorist groups in neighbouring
countries. With Muslim Pakistan and Muslim Bangladesh bookending India
-- both nations full of groups with axes to grind against the
government in New Delhi -- a likely scenario is that local terrorists,
urged on and financed by foreign elements, were behind Wednesday's
killings."