In fact, since the Indian media called it the 7-11 attacks, there was also a measure of sniggering here, especially in the blogosphere. After all, 7-11 is associated with convenience stores in the US, often run by Indian Americans. And caricatured in the form on Apu on The Simpsons.
So, really, it happened in India, it couldn't be taken that seriously in terms of impacting the world, especially America.
Think again.
The plot to blow up airliners from London to the United States has highlighted the manner in which groups that have traditionally targeted India, using the "Kashmiri cause" as an excuse, have spread their tentacles. The reports have been heavy with references to the Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed. Both these groups concentrate on fomenting violence in the Valley but now, going beyond that, they appear to have graduated to international terrorist organization with possible linkages to the Al Qaeda.
It is because they had already created the infrastructure, the training grounds and the funding was established, that, like a corporate entity which has flourished at home, they are able to take on a multinational dimension.
So, it'll be interesting to gauge how the Western media comments upon terrorism in Kashmir in the future, now that they are threatened by the same groups at home. Will they still be using the adjectives "freedom fighters" or "militants"? Or will they actually evolve to the fitting and simple "terrorists"?
It is, of course, far to soon to tell in this case. But the reality is that terrorism, whether it occurs in Mumbai, Srinagar, Madrid, Tel Aviv, New York or London is terrorism. And every group that espouses such violence, whether it's the Jaish, the Lashkar, Hezbollah, Hamas, none of them are of localized character. They have become part of a larger terrorist ideology and they feed off each other. Of course, there's lesson there for India as well: There can't be any "good" terrorists, like those in Palestine. If we pretend that's so, it could come back to bite us in the future, just as the West is discovering, very very slowly.
first published:August 26, 2006, 04:30 ISTlast updated:August 26, 2006, 04:30 IST
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When terrorists struck Mumbai's train system on July 11 this year, the reaction in the US media was predictable. It was virtually dismissed as a "local" attack, in the sense of being peculiar to India, and attributed to factors such as Kashmir. This "local" mantra was repeated ad nauseam on television newscasts and in newspapers such as the New York Times.
In fact, since the Indian media called it the 7-11 attacks, there was also a measure of sniggering here, especially in the blogosphere. After all, 7-11 is associated with convenience stores in the US, often run by Indian Americans. And caricatured in the form on Apu on The Simpsons.
So, really, it happened in India, it couldn't be taken that seriously in terms of impacting the world, especially America.
Think again.
The plot to blow up airliners from London to the United States has highlighted the manner in which groups that have traditionally targeted India, using the "Kashmiri cause" as an excuse, have spread their tentacles. The reports have been heavy with references to the Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed. Both these groups concentrate on fomenting violence in the Valley but now, going beyond that, they appear to have graduated to international terrorist organization with possible linkages to the Al Qaeda.
It is because they had already created the infrastructure, the training grounds and the funding was established, that, like a corporate entity which has flourished at home, they are able to take on a multinational dimension.
So, it'll be interesting to gauge how the Western media comments upon terrorism in Kashmir in the future, now that they are threatened by the same groups at home. Will they still be using the adjectives "freedom fighters" or "militants"? Or will they actually evolve to the fitting and simple "terrorists"?
It is, of course, far to soon to tell in this case. But the reality is that terrorism, whether it occurs in Mumbai, Srinagar, Madrid, Tel Aviv, New York or London is terrorism. And every group that espouses such violence, whether it's the Jaish, the Lashkar, Hezbollah, Hamas, none of them are of localized character. They have become part of a larger terrorist ideology and they feed off each other. Of course, there's lesson there for India as well: There can't be any "good" terrorists, like those in Palestine. If we pretend that's so, it could come back to bite us in the future, just as the West is discovering, very very slowly.
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