by Joe Shea
Ever since I lived and worked in India for about six months in 1972, when I had the chance to meet heads of state throughout the region and many of the diplomats posted there, I have had a strong interest in its affairs. That interest was particularly well-served by two of the distinguished American Reporter Correspondents who covered the South Asia region for us.
It has been their work of Amar Singh and Ahmar Mustikhan, in fact, that has informed those who read this publication that the events of the past week in Mumbai, the former Bombay, were not unique, and not even that rare in India.
As Correspondent Aman Singh reported here on several occasions, many deaths resulted from terrorist attacks mounted with the same AK-47s and grenades that armed the cold-blooded terrorists who attacked nine sites in Mumbai last Wednesday night and kept their grip on the nation's commercial heart for an ensuing 60 hours of horror.
Take this example of her work from 2002:
NEW DELHI, Sept. 24, 2002 -- Terrorists struck the main Hindu temple in Gujarat's western capital city of Gandhinagar in the late hours of evening today as hundreds of devotees said their prayers, blasting their way into the the pink sandstone Akshardham Temple in a white Indian-made Ambassador sedan while hurling grenades and firing indiscriminately at helpless people who had been praying there.When the seven-hour siege ended, 29 of the estimated 600 worshiper were dead and another 70 were injured, officials say. The terrorist strike came on a day when U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christina Rocca was in New Delhi on an official visit and as the second phase of voting took place peacefully in violence-plagued Kashmir.
Political and religious leaders came together in condemnation of the attack and appealed for peace in a state ravaged by riots earlier this year. Security forces eventually killed the two terrorists, who held about 25 worshippers trapped in the temple with them.
Many incidents, some larger and some smaller, almost all associated with Kashmiri separatism and the shadowy organizations fostered by al-Qaeda, have splashed their bloody jihad across the front pages of India's vibrant free press. And just as luridly, some Indian militants - especially those who lead Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital - have blamed Pakistan's hapless, inchoate government for their crimes. But India has many home-grown terrorists, and if not home-grown, many who have become folded into pan-regional umbrella organizations that bolster their ability to commit heartless acts of terror.
Here is another example, also provided by Aman Singh's splendid reporting:
NEW DELHI, Nov. 24, 2002 (7:55 am EST) -- Repeating a recent assault, militants attacked the famous Raghunath shrine in Jammu a second time Sunday and left 11 dead and many wounded in their wake.Striking at 6:30PM (IST), a two-man squad believed to belong to the militant Islamic Fedayeen movement began throwing grenades at the temple from behind bushes nearby and then entered the crowded complex, taking advantage of the crowds of innocent worshippers there to conceal themselves even as they attacked. They were locked in a gun battle with police for hours, and the drama only ended late Monday morning when police shot dead the last of the pair in a house near the temple where he had been hiding.
Among the dead were two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers.
The terrorists and the army exchanged gunfire from 7:00PM Sunday far into the night, suggesting the militants came prepared with ample ammunition. They usually answered police and army fire with quick blasts of their own.
This was the second attack on the Raqghunath temple this year; militants also struck the temple in March. It was the third attack on a religious shrine this year.
Terrorists attacked the Akshardham temple in Gujarat only two months ago, leaving 75 dead and many more injured. Riots have followed those attacks, in which many Muslims were killed and injured, and many more left homeless.
We mean no offense when we say you don't need to reach six years into the past to find such incidents, or to find a note of posturing in India's current imprecations against the government of Pakistan, charging complicity in these crimes. What is needed now more than outrage is the inspiring example of the soul of India's great War of Independence, Mahatma Ghandi. While non-violence is not an option here, a unified search for peace between two great nations certainly is, and that can lead to peace he yearned for.
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