The Great Debate (India)
from The Great Debate:
A credible counterterror strategy needed
-- Brahma Chellaney is professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi. The views expressed are his own. --
The brazen Mumbai terrorist assaults are just the latest example of how the world’s largest democracy is increasingly coming under siege from the forces of terror.
The attacks, which bear the hallmark of al Qaeda, are also a reminder to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama that even as he seeks to deal with the financial meltdown, the global war on terror stands derailed, with the scourge of terrorism having spread deeper and wider.
International terrorism threatens the very existence of democratic, secular states. Yet the U.S. occupation of Iraq not only helped fracture the post-9/11 global consensus to fight terror, but also handed a fresh cause to Islamists and gave a new lease of life to al Qaeda.
The Obama administration will need to bring the anti-terror war back on course by building a new international consensus.
The Mumbai attacks were exceptionally brazen and daring, even when viewed against the high level of terrorism now tormenting India. Indeed, since 9/11, the world has not witnessed terrorism on this scale or level of sophistication and coordination.
The most troubling questions arising from the latest terrorist attacks - the eighth in a spate of attacks in India in the past five months - relate to why the country has become an easy target for terrorists.
There is no absolute flawess counterterroism strategy. For example, in this current Mumbai siege. The militants are described as engaging in terrorist activity. However, if you boil it down to the simplest sense, they are commiting hostage-taking and murder. How do you then stop a person or a group of people who wants to commit such crimes? We can’t pull off a ‘Minority Report’ on them, arresting them before they commit a crime, unless the authorities have hard evidence of them plotting one, which most of the time they would not have. There is no country in the world that can boast zero crime rates
However, this is often intepreted as a “weak political will”, because the adminstration appears to do nothing when in reality their hands are tied.
In the end, social integration and economic benefits for all would be the only way to reduce violence and that is what the Indian government should and is focusing on, instead of trying to demonstrate their “strong political will” by arresting people before they have done anything.
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The Wall
The patience of the world is running out. Pakistani leadership needs to deal with the Islamists quickly and forcefully. Pakistan IS the problem in this region of the world and for the sake of the many law abiding citizens of Pakistan their leadership needs to get its act together quickly. Time is running out.