The insightful article by Professor Bernard Haykel of Princeton University (editorial page, Sept. 11), on what to expect from al-Qaeda in the South Asian subcontinent (AQSA) and its recently released video, show that the outfit is pursuing a failed strategy. Indian Muslims share a different ideology — which is pro-diversity with fewer fundamentalisms. These threats can be reduced to irrelevance by alleviating poverty and illiteracy. As Jawaharlal Nehru always iterated, economic development is the way to fight terror and communalism. Modern India shouldn’t be increasing its defence expenditure — at the cost of its economic programmes and policies — as a measure to counter al-Qaeda’s latest strategy.
Deepan M.N.,Bangalore
The article makes it clear that there is no place for al-Qaeda in India. The spread of ISIS has obviously made al-Qaeda insecure. India is a unified country and the AQSA strategy will not work.
Kuldeep Goar,New Delhi
All peace-loving citizens find it alarming that there is a significant rise in fundamentalist tendencies aided by the social media and in the name of religious terrorism. What are the jihadi organisations trying to prove? That the entire world will surrender before them once they unleash their brute force? The assertion in the article that India is largely a peace-loving country and that the Muslim community will reject moves by extremist outfits was indeed comforting.
N. Visveswaran,Chennai
The international community should exploit the existing divide between various jihadi groups and eliminate them. However, India should not take the threat posed by AQSA lightly. We must not forget what happened on 26/11.
B.Vishnu Theja Reddy,Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh
It was astonishing to read the article, which did not even mention once the fact that U.S. foreign policy is the root cause of the rise of all such blood-thirsty outfits. Al-Qaeda is essentially the creation of unnecessary U.S. meddling in West Asia and Afghanistan, while ISIS is the creation of the U.S. again, which “infused the spirit of jihad” in its campaign to topple the Syrian President while generously supplying sophisticated weapons to the most heinous of bigots and fanatics.
The basic problem, as Howard Zinn wrote in A People’s History of the United States, is that “these issues could not be addressed without fundamental changes in American foreign policy. Such changes could not be accepted by the military-industrial complex that dominated both major parties, because they would require withdrawing military forces from around the world, giving up political and economic domination of other countries — in short, relinquishing the cherished role of the United States as a superpower.”
Sukumaran C.V.,Palakkad
It is easy to dismiss AQSA as mere propaganda, but India cannot afford to take this lightly. Though the writer has said that “Al-Qaeda’s central leadership desires nothing more than for India to react seriously to its statements,” India cannot afford to take things lightly given its increasingly important role in foreign affairs. Growing bonhomie with the U.S. has also probably put us in the sights of jihadist terrorist factions, which now need new playgrounds.
While India must take firm steps to curb the radicalisation of youth, our political leaders must realise that divisions and social injustices will cause extremism to take root.
Trishanu Borah,Pilani
