Yet our responses don't ever change- they don't even begin to take a new tack. So day one after the blasts- officials commend Mumbaikars for their bravery, on day two they talk about stepped up security measures, day three you hear about some suspects - some inkling of the terror network involved and by day five and six - we are told its all been planned "across the border" and the ISI helped those responsible for the attacks.
Forget what security agencies say- that all the suspects so far are from here, certainly have lived and trained here in India for most part.
Militant strongholds in India, from where they wage war against us - whether they belong to Islamic jehadis, north-eastern guerrilla groups, the Naxalite red corridor, or the LTTE, are somehow never discussed when we express our "zero tolerance for terror."
Compare Mumbai's 7/11, the attack on Parliament in 2001, Akshardham 2002, the Kandahar hijacking, the Bangalore IISc killing, Delhi's pre-Diwali blasts. The Indian government responses to each of those has been the same in the first week.
We celebrated brave security officials who died saving the Parliament building, Rupin Katyal, IIT professor Puri, DTC bus driver Kuldeep Singh and many others, and then wrapped it all up with a finger pointing excercise at the ISI and Pakistan's failed promises on shutting down terror's infrastructure.
It just seems too easy. India talks tough on terror, we say today, but in fact, is India actually doing anything it hasn't done in the past 15 years?
The answer is a cold and dreadful no. And yet the government of the day, merely recycles its old notes from South Block's archival filing cabinets, with mentions of "elements from across the border", and President Musharraf's "failing to fulfill commitments."
So India Pakistan talks are off for now - so what else is new? We've done it before, we've gone from talks to no talks, we've shut down missions, we've recalled high commissioners, we've gone to international conferences and given Pakistani diplomats the cold shoulder there.
The only people really hurt by the end of CBMs and the cancellation of talks are ordinary Indians and Pakistanis, people who want to visit relatives, or their ancestral villages. A terrorist doesn't need a visa to come into India with his or her explosives - CNN-IBN's special investigation series, Operation Water Rat certainly demonstrates the vulnerability of our ports to that end.
At the end of it all, we are still expecting the Pakistani President to fulfill an assurance, that he couldn't possibly keep even if he had made its equivalent to the United States of America. However much Musharraf tries (and that is if he tries) - the situation in Pakistan is precarious, and Afghanistan on the point of explosion - and Jehadis in both places are targeting not just India, but so many other countries, and the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan themselves are on their hit-lists.
Let's not talk about expecting Pakistan to help us with terror- lets find ways of helping Pakistan with shutting down its "terrorist infrastructure". Simply suspending the peace-process isn't productive or imaginative.
Keep the composite dialogue process and the Kashmir roundtable I say - but find new ways of hitting terror right where it is being manufactured - both inside and outside India's borders. About the AuthorSuhasini Haidar Suhasini Haidar is Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu. Earlier, she was a senior editor and prime time anchor for India's leading 24-hour English news chann...Read Morefirst published:July 16, 2006, 14:59 ISTlast updated:July 16, 2006, 14:59 IST
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Mumbai's terror Tuesday, serves to convince us - if that was needed, that terror is not going away, that those that targeted commuters on the western local line, will also have Delhi's metro, Kolkata's Dum Dum airport, Bangalore's tech city, Pune's campuses, etc etc. on their scanner too. Everyday, terror groups are finding new ways to hit innocent civilians.
Yet our responses don't ever change- they don't even begin to take a new tack. So day one after the blasts- officials commend Mumbaikars for their bravery, on day two they talk about stepped up security measures, day three you hear about some suspects - some inkling of the terror network involved and by day five and six - we are told its all been planned "across the border" and the ISI helped those responsible for the attacks.
Forget what security agencies say- that all the suspects so far are from here, certainly have lived and trained here in India for most part.
Militant strongholds in India, from where they wage war against us - whether they belong to Islamic jehadis, north-eastern guerrilla groups, the Naxalite red corridor, or the LTTE, are somehow never discussed when we express our "zero tolerance for terror."
Compare Mumbai's 7/11, the attack on Parliament in 2001, Akshardham 2002, the Kandahar hijacking, the Bangalore IISc killing, Delhi's pre-Diwali blasts. The Indian government responses to each of those has been the same in the first week.
We celebrated brave security officials who died saving the Parliament building, Rupin Katyal, IIT professor Puri, DTC bus driver Kuldeep Singh and many others, and then wrapped it all up with a finger pointing excercise at the ISI and Pakistan's failed promises on shutting down terror's infrastructure.
It just seems too easy. India talks tough on terror, we say today, but in fact, is India actually doing anything it hasn't done in the past 15 years?
The answer is a cold and dreadful no. And yet the government of the day, merely recycles its old notes from South Block's archival filing cabinets, with mentions of "elements from across the border", and President Musharraf's "failing to fulfill commitments."
So India Pakistan talks are off for now - so what else is new? We've done it before, we've gone from talks to no talks, we've shut down missions, we've recalled high commissioners, we've gone to international conferences and given Pakistani diplomats the cold shoulder there.
The only people really hurt by the end of CBMs and the cancellation of talks are ordinary Indians and Pakistanis, people who want to visit relatives, or their ancestral villages. A terrorist doesn't need a visa to come into India with his or her explosives - CNN-IBN's special investigation series, Operation Water Rat certainly demonstrates the vulnerability of our ports to that end.
At the end of it all, we are still expecting the Pakistani President to fulfill an assurance, that he couldn't possibly keep even if he had made its equivalent to the United States of America. However much Musharraf tries (and that is if he tries) - the situation in Pakistan is precarious, and Afghanistan on the point of explosion - and Jehadis in both places are targeting not just India, but so many other countries, and the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan themselves are on their hit-lists.
Let's not talk about expecting Pakistan to help us with terror- lets find ways of helping Pakistan with shutting down its "terrorist infrastructure". Simply suspending the peace-process isn't productive or imaginative.
Keep the composite dialogue process and the Kashmir roundtable I say - but find new ways of hitting terror right where it is being manufactured - both inside and outside India's borders.
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