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India urged to avoid Bush-Cheney road

DUBAI: Sections of the Arab-supported media and academics are urging India to avoid the approach adopted by the Americans after 9/11 in the wake of the carnage in Mumbai.

An editorial in the Middle East Times also exhorted the “silent majority” of Muslims the world over to speak out against the attacks. “The Muslim community around the world needs to wake up to the fact that there is no longer room for the silence of the silent majority. It is time for the leaders of the Muslim world — and the people of the Muslim world — to become vociferous. It is time for all Muslims who feel strongly about what happened in Mumbai to speak out against the violence.”

However, slamming the U.S. war on terror, the editorial appealed to India to “avoid falling into the same trap that led to the world’s remaining superpower to adopt measures that were not in line with the democratic principles they wished to spread around the world.”

It added: “India should not enact laws similar to the USA Patriot Act, establish Guantanamo-like camps and turn Pakistan into another ‘Iraq’; even if the attacks on Mumbai do represent another 9/11.”

In his blog, Informed Comment, leading West Asia expert Juan Cole has stressed that New Delhi must not go down the “Bush-Cheney road”. He points out that it might be erroneous on New Delhi’s part to assume that the terrorists were sponsored by the Pakistani state. “Many Indian officials and much of the Indian public is falling into the Cheney fallacy. It is being argued that the terrorists fought as trained guerillas, and implied that only a state [i.e. Pakistan] could have given them that sort of training.” He adds: “But to the extent that the terrorists were professional fighters, they could have come by their training in many ways… They needn’t be state-backed.”

Dr. Cole says that in its response, India has to ensure that, “Muslims in general must not be punished for the actions of a handful of unbalanced fanatics. Down that road lies the end of civilization.” He also advocates that India should address the flaws in its security system, while keeping its civil liberties strong. A war or a right-wing shift in domestic politics would further deepen the malaise of terrorism.

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