Friday, 28 November 2008
The terrorist attacks in India caused worldwide shock and immediate condemnation by the leaders of countries and institutions. The attacks took place in Mumbai, the Indian financial capital, tourist destination and trade center. According to reports, more than 195 people were killed and 295 injured in the attacks including 22 casualties and 24 injured foreigners. The incident began as the terrorists bombed several places, attacked and battled Indian security forces with their automatic weapons, and grenades, and then took hostages in hotels. The terrorists released some of the hostages after the Indian security forces intervened; some were saved by the Indian commandos. Nevertheless, in the second day of the incident there are still hostages and combat between Indian security forces and terrorists has not ended. The terrorists are still holding some people hostage. The incident has hallmark characteristics including method of the attacks, the choice of Mumbai, India for attack, the general context of global terrorism, and the byproducts of misguided combat with terrorism policies.
Who are they?
It is hard to determine the terrorist group’s roots due to the limited information. The group may be members of a local terrorist organization, or an international terrorist organization that calls themselves the “Deccan Mujahedeen”. The attackers may not belong to any organization but a group solely formed for this specific terrorist activity. However, the way that they conducted the operation gives us clues about the particular characteristics of the group and group members.
First, the terrorists group consists of members that are associated with each other, highly organized and in concert. Second, they have depressive and narcissist characteristics. There is great resentment behind the terrorist activity resentment triggered with an accumulated hatred. Third, the group has a singular value system. They reject diversity, diverse values, and see the world in black-white terms. These are well-known characteristics of certain terrorist groups. These types of groups rely on resentment, denial and their biased black-white value system to conduct ruthless and bloody attacks.
New strategy?
The strategy of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai is quite different from the conventional bombings and attacks on security forces. This attack is not just an attack aiming to get attention through maximization of the number of casualties. It brought together a diverse combination of terrorist activities in order to maximize the effect of their operation. The attacks began with simultaneous bombings in different places then attacks with machine weaponry and grenades, and ended with taking hostages. The first terrorist activities took the attention of the media because taking hostages, including tourists from all over the world captivated media attention.
The intense media coverage about the attacks multiplied their effects. Obviously, this attack is planned in detail in order to reach the utmost effect. It was applied by highly organized and trained groups of militants with a high risk factor. This is not a suicide attack of course, and the terrorists cannot be categorized as suicide bombers, but as Sumantra Bose calls them, they could be categorized as crazy attackers. This is a gruesome new way of getting massive worldwide attention and triggers the risk of a new trend in terrorist attacks.
Why India?
India was targeted in the attack because of its economic and democratic development as a prospective major global power in the world, and its crowded, diverse population. After the economic liberalization of the 90s, India’s economy developed enormously. In the 90s, Indian GDP increased yearly around 4-5% per year and after 2000 it increased to 8-9 % and it is estimated to increase to greater than 10% for the upcoming years. The Indian economy is expected to be one of the major economies along with the US and China. Moreover, India is ethnically diverse in nature, there are more than 200 languages spoken in the country. This development and rich culture attracts the resentment of Deccan Mujahedeen type groups and makes India a target to channel their hatred. Mumbai is the financial center of India and the attacks took place in hotels nearby touristic places. Thus, Mumbai being targeted is not a coincidence. These characteristics naturally make India more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. As a fast developing country, there is always the problem of income disparity in which development does not affect some of the regions and portions of the society. India is highly diverse ethnically, increasing the risk of ethnic tension as economic inequalities increase. Besides these factors, as a democracy, India is vulnerable to such attacks.
No justifications but to understand some causes of terrorism
This terrorist attack is a byproduct of the misguided policies on combating terrorism. The misguided tactics foster new terrorist groups and terrorist activities. Combating terrorism is different from the conventional battles that take place between countries. Terrorist groups use guerilla tactics, vanishing after the attacks into society making them less vulnerable. They do not have certain infrastructure to be marked as strategic targets.
Thus, combating terrorism can not be conducted with the regular army and heavy weapons. The units used in combat with terrorism are supposed to be small, close teams of professionals that are trained for specific operations in different places. These units are supposed to operate fast and efficiently to make the target inoperable. The operations are supposed to be based on intelligence and target specific small groups and cells.
These are not only preconditions of a successful operation but also the only way to prevent dispersal of terrorism. Use of the regular army and heavy weapons generally aggrandizes the target and makes it harder to hit specific and strategic groups. Instead, it causes problems such as civilian casualties that foster hatred and resentment. This resentment bounces back as new terrorist organizations and new terrorist activities. Thus, the wrong methods used to combat terrorism after 9/11 caused resentment against the major powers and the Mumbai incident might be and partly problematic byproducts of these misguided policies.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ihsan Bal
Head of ISRO Center for International Security, Terrorism and Ethnic Conflict Studies
For your comments:
ihsanbal@hotmail.com
* Special thanks to Mehmet Yegin and Jonathan Crince.
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