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Updated Sunday, November 30, 2008 10:35 am TWN, By Dileep Padgaonkar, Special to The Washington Post

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Secular India to judge terrorists

These fears cannot be calmed unless the Indian state cracks down vigorously on terrorism, regardless of the suspects’ religion. That some Muslim youths are engaged in a war against infidels can no longer be denied. That the secular parties’ approach to terrorism has been pusillanimous is also patent. But the refrain of the Hindu nationalists — “all Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims” — is no less wrong and dangerous.

The pan-Islamist character of the attacks in Mumbai must be stressed. At the Taj hotel, the terrorists asked for the numbers of the rooms occupied by foreign, especially American and British, guests. Another building they attacked housed Israeli guests. Overnight, Mumbai has been turned into a stage for “civilizations” to clash without hindrance.

Wednesday’s brutal assault raises many questions: Who are these terrorists? Who are their mentors and their local accomplices? Where did they acquire their arms and their organizational skills? Why did the intelligence agencies fail to keep track of them?

The answers to those questions will be determined in the coming weeks, but some developments already offer comfort. At present, the attacks have not led to an outbreak of Hindu-Muslim violence in other parts of India. Politicians, who are often quick to react to such incidents, have been remarkably discreet. Muslims and Hindus have condemned the attacks without indulging in a blame game.

Even more remarkable, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the leader of the opposition, L.K Advani of the BJP, have agreed to set aside their differences to visit Mumbai together to comfort those who lost relatives in the carnage. The victims include senior officers of the Mumbai police. This single gesture by Singh and Advani will go a long way toward reassuring a dazed and nervous India that the political establishment can still be trusted to rise above partisan passion.

Padgaonkar, a former editor of the Times of India, now edits the bimonthly magazine India & Global Affairs.

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