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Mumbai 7/11: A Week Thereafter
by Dr. Subhash Kapila

Mumbai, 7/11, the horrific snuffing out of over 200 innocent Indian lives and over 700 wounded, by terrorism bombings on the suburban railway line has seared the psyche of India at large. It has seared the psyche of the Indian Public in the same manner that 9/11 seared the psyche of the minds of United States citizens at large.

The Indian political leadership presumably believes that Indian public memory is short, but its masterly inactivity would come to haunt it in the near future as it would do to its main coalition partners – the Leftists and regional parties.

A week thereafter of the Mumbai 7/11 bombings the picture obtainable is as under:

• India’s Congress Government dithers on the roadmap to counter Pakistan based terrorist organizations.

•  India’s Congress Government made a feeble response by postponing Indo-Pak Foreign Secretaries level talks in July 2006.

• India’s TV networks became a willing tool to subdue the horror of Mumbai 7/11 bombings under pressure from the Government.

• The Congress Government clamped down on blogger websites which had started reflecting the sentiments of an enraged India.

• In the absence of dithering responses to Mumbai 7/11 bombings, the international responses in terms of condemnation have been neutral. No blame has been apportioned as the Indian Prime Minister himself confused the issue by saying it was the handiwork “from across the borders”, without defining which borders?

The Indian intelligence agencies are not amateurs. They have been dealing with Pakistan sponsored proxy war for over 20 years now. This author refuses to believe that firm leads and evidence are not available with Indian intelligence agencies.

The National Security Adviser, himself a former head of the Intelligence Bureau, had squarely told the emergency Cabinet Meeting following 7/11 (as per media reports) that the bombings bear the unmistakable signature of Pakistan’s ISI. All available reporting suggests that the mastermind is Pakistan ISI and the bombings operationalized by the ISI protégé, the Lashkar-e-Toiba in collusion with Indian Muslim fundamentalist organizations like the SIMI.

If the Indian Government is not making public the assessments and evidence provided by Indian intelligence agencies then the conclusion is obvious. Indian Government silence on this is reflective of the fact that political consideration of minority vote banks is the main hurdle.

Adoption of this line of policy action by the Government weakens India’s case in international fora besides encouraging doubts about the Government’s sincerity and credibility to seriously tackle India’s terrorism threat which now seems to be manifesting itself as a potent combination of external and internal participation of Islamic fundamentalist organizations.

July 23, 2006

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