Attack in Mumbai

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<b>India’s Islamic Militants Shift Target to Foreigners, Economy </b>
By James Rupert

Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The terrorist attacks in Mumbai show India’s home-grown Islamic militant movement is aligning its campaign with those in the broader Muslim world, while seeking to hit economic interests, intelligence analysts said.

Gunmen who stormed hotels and other tourist sites in India’s financial capital -- leaving at least 101 dead and 290 injured -- displayed a greater degree of organization, sophistication and determination than in strikes of recent years, said B. Raman, the former counter-terrorism director of India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.

The violence “seems to be part of a chain of attacks dating back to last year” by a domestic militant group called the Indian Mujahideen, which in recent statements has “made references to the ‘war of civilizations,’” signaling a mindset close to international groups such as al-Qaeda, Raman said.

<b>After years in which Indian Muslim extremists have focused on the country’s Hindu majority, the militants’ targeting of Americans and Britons gives them common cause with global Islamist groups like al-Qaeda and at the same time strikes the international links that have helped India’s economy grow at 9 percent or more for each of the past three years</b>.

Previously, their aim was “to incite communal strife between Hindus and Muslims,” said Reva Bhalla, director of geopolitical analysts at Stratfor, a private intelligence company in Austin, Texas. The latest attacks were aimed at “spreading fear to Western tourists and businesspeople, hitting at India’s economic lifelines,” Bhalla said.

Riskiest Country

On the night of Nov. 26, militants armed with grenades and rifles stormed into the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel and the Oberoi Trident complex, singling out foreign nationals and taking hostages. The attack has added a new dimension to a wave of bombings that rocked Indian cities this year, killing more than 300 people in markets, theaters and at religious sites.

Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd.<b> rates India the riskiest of 14 Asian countries, not including Pakistan and Afghanistan, it analyzed for the coming year</b>.

“One of the reasons was the threat of terrorism,” said the firm’s managing director, Robert Broadfoot, in a telephone interview. “<b>Between January 2004 and September 2008, deaths from terrorist attacks were second only to those in Iraq</b>.”

While “no immediate, definite evidence” showed which group attacked in Mumbai, “this seems driven by the same mind” as the past year’s bombings claimed by the Indian Mujahideen, Raman said.

Spreading Fear

The Indian Mujahideen came to public attention after militants used that name in a video sent to news organizations claiming responsibility for bombings on May 13 in the tourist city of Jaipur. Since then, “the Indian Mujahideen have authenticated claims by including photographs of their explosive devices” and other evidence in their messages, Raman said.

A group called the “Deccan Mujahideen” claimed responsibility for the attacks, an official of India’s Home Ministry said.

The Deccan region of India includes Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital. The group’s message appeared to include no authenticating evidence, Raman said.

While the scale and ferocity of the Mumbai attack shocked Indians, Broadfoot predicted a limited long-term effect on its economy, which “doesn’t depend on tourism for its livelihood,” he said. “I don’t think it will be more than a temporary disadvantage. They’re already security conscious. Terrorists tried to blow up Parliament already.”

Pakistan Accused

In terms of political stability, it may be “much better that they targeted foreigners in hotels rather than Hindu temples -- the backlash from that would have been horrendous,” Broadfoot said.

Religious riots that killed 2,000 people in Gujarat in 2002 were sparked by the burning of a railcar carrying Hindu activists, allegedly by Muslims.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a televised speech yesterday that the Mumbai attackers were “based outside the country,” without saying where or offering any evidence. India has accused Pakistan’s intelligence services of abetting some of India’s deadliest terrorist attacks, including bombs on Mumbai trains that killed at least 200 people on July 11, 2006.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned the Mumbai attacks yesterday.

While Pakistan has backed extremist groups fighting India’s rule in the disputed territory of Kashmir, the Indian Mujahiddin are drive<b>n “mainly by local reasons, local anger</b>,” said Raman.

More Attacks

Islamic militant groups operating in India “may assume different pseudo names but are driven by the <b>same set of grievances</b> and external abetment,” said N. Manoharan, a senior fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies in New Delhi.

Now, “India’s close relationships with the U.S. and European countries seem to have made them target foreigners for the first time,” he said.

India may not have seen the last of such terror, warned Suba Chandran, the deputy director at the <b>Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies in New Delh</b>i.

“These men are not poor and illiterate,” he said in a phone interview. “They are highly motivated <b>youngsters with grievances real and imagined</b>. There may be more such attacks <b>until we address their grievances</b> and improve intelligence gathering.”

<i>To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in New Delhi at jrupert3@bloomberg.net.</i>

Last Updated: November 27, 2008 14:02 EST
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What about Hindu grievances? As long as these elite, analysts, thinkers, commies are justifying it, will they support and advise to resolve hindu grievances too?