Beyond The Fringe

Mumbai is ablaze. A well-armed and organised posse of radicalised youth calling themselves the Deccan Mujahadeen undertook an urban assault against those whom they perceive to be the source of their cohort’s woes – the US, UK and Israel and India, within which Muslims are a comparatively underprivileged minority at loggerheads with extremist Hindus since the ill-considered British partition. Holders of UK and US passports were taken hostage and the Jewish Chabad House occupied. In contrast, other recent terrorist acts in Mumbai have been primarily directed at locals.

The Indian government has been quick to point the finger northward to Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Pakistani ISI rather than focus on the considerable alienation and discontent within its disadvantaged Muslim minority population. Abdullah Muntazir, head of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JUD) which is the political wing of LET, denies LET was involved, while its close links with the CIA makes any ISI participation problematic. The incident has serious potential to destabilise further already shaky relations between India and Pakistan, although it is unlikely the Pakistani government is involved. It may also be used conveniently to justify continued illegal, counter-productive US bombing within Pakistan, exascerbating further revolt in tribal areas. Al Qaeda, that simplistic epithet encompassing a loose, decentralised multi-headed underground hydra, is blamed in the US media, though doing so highlights the fact that its leader embarrassingly remains at large and the war against terror is still unwon after 7 years of bloodshed and profitable arms dealing.

Bogged down in the Graveyard of Empires, the US and its beleaguered minions languish in an unwinnable war which bleeds them as all who have attempted to conquer and hold Afghanistan have been bled in the past. With root causes left unaddressed, in particular the inflammatory spectacle of Israel tightening its death grip on the Palestinian people with the blind support of the US and the festering sore of colonised Kashmir, violent fundamentalism, which flourishes in climates of injustice, ignorance and inequality, thrives.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 8:21 pm and is filed under Afghanistan, India, Israel, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.