When the news first hit on Wednesday night of violent attacks in Bombay/Mumbai every rumor and conspiracy theory began to swirl. These crazy spins are the air people breathe here in India. Everyone has their own wild version, ranging from Osama bin Laden picking a night-time attack schedule to maximize on the Thanksgiving holiday news lull in America, to the government of India rigging the whole thing to bring Pakistan’s state sponsorship of Islamic terrorism to a head.
The stories will go on coming out, but at the core of this is the hard truth that South Asian Islamic militant groups are now as effective as any guerrilla movement ever has been in history. The big boys based in Pakistan, particularly Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (the army of the good or righteous) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (the army of Muhammad), have rediscovered the effectiveness of the ancient attack plan used by the first Islamic militants, a method dating back to the time of Mohammed, and indeed one that he espoused. These were sharp, brutal hits at caravanserai, the places and communities where trading camel trains stopped to water and rest. The incisive viciousness of the attack by small numbers of men at the heart of tight communities created the highest level of fear. This is the method now being practiced again, and this is what has to be countered with something equally effective and decisive. Fear cripples communities and economies. Those perpetrating these attacks seem to have no fear, but that is a relative concept. The human condition imbibes fear in the same way as it inhales oxygen. Only the most highly advanced and evolved step beyond fear, and by definition they would not take life in the name of their belief. Now we will watch as the psychological war steps up.
— Justine Hardy is the author of several books on Kashmir. The latest one will be published by Free Press in June 2009, In the Valley of Mist, Kashmir’s Long War: A Family Story.