Time for India to start talking to Pakistan?
It has been more than a year since the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai and many commentators have been advocating restarting the peace process between India and Pakistan.
Is the time ripe?
The process that seemed to have restarted with Sharm-al-Sheikh statement stalled after the outcry in India over the statement’s drafting and the subsequent revelations about David Headley.
But a major development since has been Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan which involves a troop surge and announcement of a tentative withdrawal date around July 2011.
This has prompted some commentators to stress the fact that Pakistan will continue as a challenge for India much after the U.S. recalibrates its involvement in the region.
And therefore India needs to re-engage with Pakistan.
The argument roughly is that India needs to strengthen the moderate elements in Pakistan like its civilian government over hawkish elements like the ISI or the army who survive by scaremongering over India.
India’s 26/11 – religion no bar
A year ago, after the three-day siege of Mumbai ended and people took to the streets with candles and banners, a group of young Muslim men, carrying a hand-written poster, walked quietly with the surging crowds.
Seeing them, people began to clap spontaneously, applauding their assertion that Islam was a religion of peace, and not terrorism.
Since then, people in Mumbai, which has witnessed some of the worst communal riots in the country in the past, have come together in their grief, crossing barriers erected by politicians in the name of religion.
Some have accused the media of not highlighting enough, the fact that the militants asked their hostages what religion and then killed non-Muslims.
Others have speculated that the few thousands of Jews left in India would leave the country because six Jews were killed in the attack on Chabad House.
But in Mumbai today, just days after the explosive report on the Babri Masjid demolition was made public, there is a sense of community and togetherness. A big difference from 1992, when riots between Hindus and Muslims that followed the demolition killed hundreds.
And so today, multi-faith prayer services are being held everywhere in the city and there are countless stories of inter-faith friendships that blossomed in the days after the attacks.
Great work.The examples mentioned show that the common man has little to do with the nuances created by politicians in order to save their seats and fundamentalists that wish to bring the world to an end.India stands united by the side of all those who have lost loved ones.Vande Mataram.
26/11 – Lasting images, limited impact?
Ahead of the first anniversary of the Mumbai attacks, India’s financial hub is on heightened alert.
Metal detectors and scanners “beep” in office blocks and malls, snipers and sniffer dogs keep guard at hotels, and barricades are in place around high-profile locations. And various talking heads have made power point presentations to show the city is now safer.
In the past year, several measures have been put in place to tighten security in Mumbai, including a hub for elite commandos, and new weapons, armoured vehicles and speedboats for the police.
But how safe is the city that has been a target of bomb attacks before and remains a magnet for militants bent on hurting India’s status as an economic powerhouse?
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has said India remains just as vulnerable to another attack, but that our capacity to deal with them has improved.
But some security experts say little has changed, and the fact that there have been no major attacks in the last year has little to do with India’s improved ability, and more to do with the greater pressure on Pakistan. That it is only a matter of time before the Lashkar-e-Taiba launches another attack in India. That the revamping of the police force that is needed to secure the city has not been done.
Even in Mumbai, at the main train station where militants gunned down the most number of victims last year, door-frame metal detectors stand unmanned and bags go unchecked. And the coastline, which was easily breached by the gunmen, remains largely unprotected.
If post 9/11 USA can go in Afghanistan,bomb the country throw Taliban out all in the name of securing their homeland.. my question is y cant we Do the same thing wid all d camps in PoK and inside Pakistan? – our army knows where exactly these camps r! We also have a right to protect our homeland right?It is not an eye for an eye!Its only a slap for an eye. Pak is lucky we dont bomb them like USA
Is the Lashkar-e-Taiba plotting another Mumbai?
The Jamestown Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank, has warned of a renewed threat to India from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
It quotes intelligence sources as saying the LeT’s marine wing may be planning a Mumbai-type incursion to target vital installations in the coastal states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa.
The group is also reported to have funneled huge amounts of money from its Gulf-based networks to fund activities in India.
It is not the first time such a warning has been issued, since the attacks in November. The U.S. embassy still has a warden message on its website dated June 2, 2009, warning U.S. citizens there is a “high threat of terrorism throughout India.
India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram wasn’t too happy with the advisory when it was issued, arguing the country was safe to travel. But if his own intelligence agencies are talking of a second 26/11, you have to ask yourself if you should not be taking these warnings seriously.
The Jamestown Foundation said the LeT was using the Gulf networks and hawala channels to route money for operations not just in India, but in Pakistan itself.
What is Justice , Raja ?
Killing, burning and religious genocide, forced exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from their own homeland, by using an ‘imported’ terrorist religion ?
400,000 Hindus had been displaced and killed by Islamic terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir,before the Indian army moved in.
Would you justify Direct Action Day, 1946 the same way you are justifying the 26/11 attacks ?
from India Masala:
The Mumbai gawkers
Imagine taking a DJ to a funeral or U.S. President George W Bush taking Oliver Stone along to Ground Zero after the 9/11 attack. Would you call it inappropriate? I think the word doesn’t even begin to describe Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s actions on Sunday afternoon.
On a visit to the ravaged Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, he was accompanied by his son, actor Riteish Deshmukh, and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, both of them strolling around as if it were a normal walk in the park.
That a city already grappling with rage and grief had to see images of Varma walking around the Taj like he was location hunting for a new film, speaks volumes about the sheer apathy and callousness of the people in power.
Varma says he was never invited to the Taj, nor does he intend to make a film on the terror attacks, telling Reuters in a text message that he “just happened to be with Riteish, whom I know very well.”
TV channels are reporting as I write that Deshmukh has offered to resign, as has his deputy R R Patil.
In my mind though, this callous attitude is not just limited to our politicians alone. We criticise them for being insensitive, but what about the thousands of people who came out to gawk at the burning Taj and click pictures of themselves in its backdrop?
Oh god! Someone at last shares the same views. There are lots of Indians who just act like monkeys in chaotic situations. I cannot comprehend, what is that they want to see, they just do not understand the concepts such as civics, responsibility and politeness.
Its definitely foolish, to start talk to Pakistan. India has already declared her terms for the talk. Now if Pakistan wants to talk, fulfill the terms and resume the talk process.
The again and again initiation of the talk process from the Indian end will be presumed as weakness of India. It will be presumed as Pakistan will do what it like, to disturb peace in Indian territory, and after few months the World Politics will pressurize India to talk again.