This map shows India at the center, Pakistan and Afghanistan to the west and Bangladesh (dark green) to the east. Mumbai is on the west coast of India about halfway down. Click on the map to get a bigger picture.
Pakistan and Bangladesh are almost 100% Muslim; their non-Muslim populations have shrunk ever sent the Great Partition when the British left in 1948. Those who weren't killed have fled; only a handful remain and they are persecuted.
India has the third largest number of Muslims (130-150m)in the world after Indonesia (200m) and Pakistan (173M). Bangladesh has the fourth largest Muslim population (124m).
Amir Taheri is an exiled Iranian who writes frequently about Iran, Islam and Islamic supremacism. He is immensely well-informed and his insights on the situation in India are very much worth reading.
Mumbai attacks: the terrorists' tacticsAs India burns, Amir Taheri examines how radical Islamists may be changing their tactics to inspire home-grown jihadists
Amir Taheri
28 Nov 2008
Telegraph, London
The Army of Muhammad is back. This was the message buzzing in radical Islamist circles yesterday as the world tried to absorb the shock of the terrorist attacks in Bombay, India's economic capital.While it is not yet clear which group was behind the attacks, it looks as if the perpetrators were trying to imitate the tactic of ghazwa, used by the Prophet against Meccan caravans in his decade-long campaign to seize control of the city.
The tactic consists of surprise no-holds-barred attacks simultaneously launched against a caravan or settlement with the aim of demoralising the enemy and hastening his capitulation.
The Bombay attacks differed from previous terror operations in India in a number of ways. In the past, one approach had been to place explosive-packed devices in crowded places with the aim of killing large numbers at random. Another was suicide attacks on specific targets by lone "volunteers for martyrdom".
This time, however, the approach was "symphonic", in the sense that it involved different types of operations blended together.
Involved in the operations were men who had placed explosives at selected points. But there were also gunmen operating in classic military style by seizing control of territory at symbolically significant locations along with hostages. Then there were militants prepared to kill, and be killed, in grenade attacks against security forces.
Whoever designed the operations had another important Islamic tactic in mind: tabarra or exoneration.
This consists of separating the "outsider", in this case the British and American "infidel", from the community with the intent of blaming them for the ills of the world before sacrificing them. It was no accident that one of the places attacked was a Jewish centre, where gunmen seized a rabbi and several members of the congregation as hostages.
The loud message was that a small group of individuals could turn a megalopolis of almost 15 million inhabitants into a battlefield for at least a day.
Terrorism is a beast with an extraordinary ability to mutate. As soon as its victims have learnt to cope with its methods, it develops new ones. Groups of anarchists throwing bombs follow the lone assassin who would target a king or a political leader. The hijacking of passenger jets is replaced by the transformation of aircraft into missiles against fixed targets.
All the time, the intention is to terrorise the largest number of people, eroding the ordinary man's confidence in the ability of the authorities to protect him, and, in the long run, persuading a majority of the people, who just want to live their lives, to trade their freedom for the security that the terrorist promises in his utopia.
Although new to India, the tactic of "symphonic" attacks has been tried in a number of other countries in the past decade, notably Algeria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, at times with devastating effects.
Most recently, it was tried, on a smaller scale, by the Taliban in the Afghan city of Qala-Mussa. Theoretically, the tactic could be used in any city, from Bombay to New York, passing through London and Paris.
On Wednesday, it was obvious that India's various anti-terror units were surprised, unable to cope with methods of operations not mentioned in their manuals.
So far the only claim of responsibility has came from a hitherto unknown group using the name the "Deccan Mujahedin".
This may be a cover for other groups, perhaps the Lashkar Tayyiba (the Army of the Pure) and the Jaish Muhammad (the Army of Muhammad), two terrorist organisations created by the Pakistani military intelligence services.
Earlier this year, in one of his last acts as president, Pervez Musharraf announced the dissolution of both, but it is possible that the two groups and their backers in the Pakistani military and intelligence elite have returned to the market under a new brand, with new tactics.
The attacks came 48 hours after Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, practically threw away 50 years of Pakistani policy by announcing his readiness to end the dispute with India over Kashmir.
Zardari is an ethnic Baluch who, unlike previous Pakistani leaders who had Indian backgrounds, has no direct family history in pre-partition India. As a result, he is not as sensitive on Kashmir as his predecessors.
The Bombay attacks could be a message to Zardari that, though he may be uninterested in Kashmir, the issue is still central to many in Pakistan.
The new label used may also be significant. Deccan, a region in south-central India, was the intellectual and cultural capital of Indian Islam for centuries.
By using the term "Deccan Mujahedin", the terrorists may be trying to pass two messages. First, that the Islamist movement is no longer interested only in Kashmir but intends to strive for the reconquest of the whole of India for Islam.
This runs in line with the new pan-Islamist thinking that propagates the will to recover all lands once ruled by Muslims – from India to Spain and southern France, passing by Siberia, parts of Russia and the Balkans. "Deccan" designates a movement that has universal aspirations precisely because it claims local roots.
The designation is also intended to show that India now has a home-grown Islamist terror movement.
This started to form more than a decade ago after Hindu nationalists won power in New Delhi through the BJP and its radical anti-Muslim allies. The Islamist terror movement has adopted what is known as the Matryoshka method, after the Russian dolls nested one into another. The outer and bigger doll in this case is the Students' Islamic Movement of India (Simi), which claims millions of members.
Indian authorities call Simi an antechamber of terrorism. Within it are nested other dolls in the form of cultural associations, charities and political lobby groups. The smallest and deadliest doll represents the kind of groups that may have been behind these attacks.
The need for a home-grown terror movement in India may have been further emphasised by the success of the US-led coalition in destroying virtually all Islamist training bases and safe havens in Afghanistan.
With Pakistan also becoming inhospitable, partly thanks to Zardari's apparent determination to move his country close to both India and the United States, Indian Islamists are forced to look for training centres and safe havens at home.
While many have mentioned al-Qaeda as the perpetrator of the latest attacks, the connection is not easy to establish.
Many experts believe al-Qaeda has ceased to exist as an organisation, although it survives as a model and inspiration. Al-Qaeda's number two, the Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been calling on militants to refocus their efforts on winning power in Muslim countries such as India, which is home to 150 million Muslims, and thus the [third] largest "Muslim" country in the world, [after Indonesia and Pakistan].
This is in contrast with Osama bin Laden's theory that the US and its Western allies must be prime targets because, if they fall, the world system they dominate will disintegrate, opening the way for Islam's final triumph.
It is possible that al-Zawahiri's writings influenced the Bombay attackers. But it is unlikely that he and al-Qaeda had any direct role in planning or executing them.
There are other reasons why India is targeted. Over the past five years, it has emerged as the largest aid donor to Afghanistan and the second most important backer of President Hamid Karzai's regime after the US.
The buzz in jihadist circles is that once the US and its allies have left, India will emerge as the principal foreign power behind the new democracy in Afghanistan. India is already playing a leading role in training and equipping the new Afghan army and police.
India has also moved from its traditional anti-Americanism to a new policy of close friendship with the US. Earlier this year, India signed a landmark nuclear co-operation agreement, paving the way for massive purchases of American military hardware in the future.
In jihadist circles, the new Indian economic boom is often described as the "House of the Spider", a reference to a sura of the same name in the Koran, Islam's holy book. On Wednesday, the attackers may have wished to show the flimsy nature of the "House of the Spider" by attacking Bombay, the engine of India's economic transformation.
However, if that was the intention, the terrorists are likely to be disappointed. Bombay and India in general have been victims of terror before, although not in so spectacular a fashion. And yet they have managed to absorb the shock and move ahead.
As always, the terrorists may end up like the man who, having won a great many tokens at the roulette table, is surprised when the casino tells him his winnings cannot be cashed.
Amir Taheri is author of 'Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism'. His new book, 'The Persian Night', will be published next month.
A great many comments were posted by readers in response to this article. What follows is a representative sampling. Most were from Britain, though a few were from the U.S. The sentiments were similar.
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The attack as it unfolds tells us it is multipurpose. It attacks Indian financial center, takes foreigners as hostages and also Jewish center is taken. so it is not easy to pinpoint, what exactly is its purpose. It may be just that by this attack, it tells us that Islamists want to tell the world, that be forewarned and Islamists is on the rise again everyone else.
Posted by Satish K Batta on November 27, 2008 12:27 PM
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“Add to this chaotic background the fact that sections of India's disgruntled 130m-strong Muslim minority have proved highly receptive to the extremists message and you are left with near perfect-storm conditions for an outbreak of terrorist activity."
India has already had three wars with Muslim Pakistan, (the 1947–48 War, 1965 War and 1971 War) and regular border skirmishes with Islamic Kashmir. I would imagine that many are already uneasy about such a large Muslim minority of around 13.5 %. Conversely Hindus only make up 2.5 % of Pakistans population and are a victimised minority with forced conversions and intimidation being a regular occurrence.
link Pakistan.htm.
This is not lost on Indian Hindus and lacking the excruciating finessing of political correctness and human rights we exersise in the West will eventually tire of this ridiculous situation and react. Meanwhile the US is nipping at Pakistan's lawless north-west borders leaving Pakistan in a situation of painting themselves into a very dangerous corner. What then?
This is not going away, it is all part of the global jihad which is patently manifesting itself in a multitude of guises. From the UN's OIC inspired censorship of so called defamation of Islam which, quite frighteningly will place Islam in a position of unassailability from any critisism to the violence we see on a daily basis committed by Islamists it is clear that Islam is once again on the march to global power. We must join the dots and remove our masks. The days of 'teaching the world to sing' are well and truly over. The use of Kumbaya against Kalashnikovs is simply not working as Churchill foretold. Here
is his view in 1899 and how true it still is?
'How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident
habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of
commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the
followers of the Prophet rule or live.A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and
refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that
in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man
as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a
concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the
faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the
influence of the religion paralyses the social development of
those who follow it.No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from
being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and
proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central
Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not
that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science,
the science against which it had vainly struggled, the
civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization
of ancient Rome.'
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He talks of our defence in the 'arms of science' but Pakistan
already has that nuclear science, stolen by AQ Khan fom his
Netherlands workplace and Iran is gearing up to join the club
so, quoting another 20th cetury titan, what is to be done?
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Listening to the BBC news on five this morning. No mention of who was responsible for this attack. All we were told that it was "gunmen". No mention that it was Islamic-inspired gunmen! Now,did the BBC not genuinely know who might have been responsible, or did this reticence stem from a desire not to rock any boats, upset any applecarts etc!
Posted by ray douglas on November 27, 2008 4:12 PM
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Dar al Islam = House of Islam (submission)
Dar al Harb = House of War
These are the only 2 realities according to their 'prophet'. Go read it in his 'holy' book.
With a leading UK barrister calling for the incorporation of Sharia Law - appeasement & capitulation no less- I wonder how long before Britain becomes Balkanised or submits totally to Dar al Islam.
Socialism = Failure
Reject Christ at your own peril.
Return to Him for He is the only True Hope.
Posted by Ming Ye on November 27, 2008 4:32 PM
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Between January 2004 and March 2007 the death toll from terrorist attacks in India was 3,674, second only to Iraq during the same period, according to the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington. At last the world has woken and taken notice as few westerners have died. Every year hundreds are killed by the islamic militants and india has been trying to bring it to the international attention. We had our 9/11 ten years before america in bombay. If you look at the history of the mugal invasion of india, 60-80 million hindus were slaughtered as they refused to convert to islam. Persecution is a lame excuse, but main aim of the jihadists is to convert the world to Dar ul Islam.
Posted by pranit on November 27, 2008 5:25 PM
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There appear to be few places in this world, that followers of that peace loving religion of Islam are not butchering their fellow human beings.
Posted by Agnostic. on November 27, 2008 6:03 PM
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What are 120M of them doing in India? When they insisted upon Partition, to the great distress of Ghandi, they got it after a few fracas where 1M people died.
They've got their Muslim country now, it's called Pakistan; why don't they go there if they are so 'oppressed'?
Wherever there is Islam, there is trouble and bloodshed. When are the rest of us going to stop pussy-footing around these manic butchers.
Posted by Graham King on November 27, 2008 12:02 PM
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A clever Brit whipped up the following visual right after the attacks attributing the violence to the spirit of Bin Laden. Bin Laden almost certainly had nothing to do with the attacks.
