US DESTINY Hits India as Mumbai is Attacked Once again. War against Terrorism and Strategic Re alliance Opens the Doors of US Intervention as well as DISINTEGRATION Soviet Style. The ENCOUNTER Wipes out Malegaon Investigation ATS Team.
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PalashKL
Nov 27, 2008, 2:39:54 PM11/27/08
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US DESTINY Hits India as Mumbai is Attacked Once again. War against
Terrorism and Strategic Re alliance Opens the Doors of US Intervention
as well as DISINTEGRATION Soviet Style. The ENCOUNTER Wipes out
Malegaon Investigation ATS Team.
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 112
Palash Biswas
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Militants who attacked Mumbai came from Pakistan: army official
AFP - 28 minutes ago
MUMBAI (AFP) - Militants who staged multiple attacks in the Indian
city of Mumbai, killing at least 125 people and injuring hundreds
more, came from Pakistan, a senior military official said Thursday.
Yossi Melman / Is al-Qaida behind the Mumbai terror attacks? Ha'aretz
Former UN Ambassador Bolton on Terror Attacks in India FOXNews
International Herald Tribune - Bloomberg - Channel News Asia - Wall
Street Journal
all 334 news articles »
BBC News
Terrorist gunmen holed up in Mumbai hotels
guardian.co.uk - 24 minutes ago
About 10 to 12 gunmen remain holed up inside two Mumbai hotels and a
Jewish centre, a top Indian general said today. Major General RK Huda
told New Delhi Television that the rest of the gunmen appeared to have
been killed or captured.
Terrified Americans, Europeans describe Mumbai chaos CNN
Indian troops raid hotels to free hostages The Associated Press
AFP - BBC News - Voice of America - Times Online
all 5,190 news articles »
Sydney Morning Herald
Britain: India attack had some al-Qaida hallmarks
The Associated Press - 1 hour ago
LONDON (AP) - Spy agencies around the world had little warning of the
terrorist attack in Mumbai, which bore some al-Qaida hallmarks but
appears unlikely to be linked to the group's core leadership, global
intelligence officials said Thursday.
World recoils in horror at Mumbai attacks AFP
Bombay flights continue despite travel ban Times Online
Telegraph.co.uk - TIME - Ynetnews - Wall Street Journal
all 379 news articles »
Calgary Herald
Mumbai Attacks Draw Worldwide Condemnation
Voice of America - 1 hour ago
By Tom Rivers People around the world are expressing shock and
revulsion at the deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai. With world
reaction, Tom Rivers in London has this report for VOA.
Reaction to Mumbai attacks BBC News
Bush offers condolences, assistance in call to Indian PM AFP
Xinhua - Bloomberg - Reuters India - Hindu
all 384 news articles »
Mumbai attacks: Who are the terrorists?
Telegraph.co.uk - all 341 news articles »
Telegraph.co.uk - 2 hours ago
The identity of the terrorists behind the Mumbai (formerly Bombay)
atrocities in India remain unconfirmed officially. But experts have
agreed that they appeared to combine local grievances and
international inspiration.
Sophisticated attacks, but Qaeda link disputed International Herald
Tribune
Yossi Melman / Is al-Qaida behind the Mumbai terror attacks? Ha'aretz
Channel News Asia - Reuters UK - Bloomberg - Radio Netherlands
all 341 news articles »
TVNZ
India's security forces lack ability to stop terror attacks, say ...
Channel News Asia - 53 minutes ago
By Channel NewsAsia's Smita Prakash | Posted: 28 November 2008 0054
hrs NEW DELHI: The latest attack in Mumbai is the worst to hit India
since 2006 when several bombs ripped through rush hour trains in the
city.
Experts, western media blame Indian Mujahideen Sify
India Attacks Indicate Al-Qaeda Link, Experts Say (Update1) Bloomberg
Hindu Business Line - Economist - Atlantic Online - Times of India
all 341 news articles »
Terrorist gunmen holed up in Mumbai hotels
guardian.co.uk - 22 minutes ago
About 10 to 12 gunmen remain holed up inside two Mumbai hotels and a
Jewish centre, a top Indian general said today. Major General RK Huda
told New Delhi Television that the rest of the gunmen appeared to have
been killed or captured.
Commandos battle Islamist gunmen in Mumbai, over 125 dead AFP
Indian special forces battle terrorists in bid to rescue Bombay ...
Times Online
Economist - BBC News - Telegraph.co.uk - The Associated Press
all 5,763 news articles »
Is coastline the new route for terrorist?
Economic Times - 2 hours ago - NEW DELHI: The Mumbai mayhem is
arguably the nation's first brush with ma-rine jihadis. With the
Centre confirming ...
Press Trust of India - Sify - Times of India
all 105 news articles » ?????? ??? »
Family in Israel prays for relatives held hostage at Nariman House
Times of India - 6 hours ago - 27 Nov 2008, 1622 hrs IST, PTI
JERUSALEM: Anxiously waiting to hear about the well-being of their
dear ones taken ...
Jerusalem Post - BBC News - International Herald Tribune
all 343 news articles »
Mumbai Under Seige: How the events unfolded
CNN-IBN
The attacks begin at about 9.30 pm with firing at Cafe Leopold, a
popular restaurant in the Colaba area of South Mumbai. This is a place
frequented by foreigners.
Shortly after, at least two men armed with AK-47s open fire in the
passenger hall of CST railway station. They also lob grenades. At
least 30 people are injured. Commandos are rushed to the station.
Meanwhile, at least four to five people are killed at Cama hospital,
situated close to CST. Some patients are taken hostage.
A major gun battle also breaks out near the Metro cinema, just down
the road. Terrorists hijack a police van and fire indiscriminately,
injuring several people.
Several hotels also come under attack. Armed men enter the Taj Mahal
Hotel and take hostages. A series of loud explosions is heard. Three
Members of Parliament and at least 100 tourists are stranded inside.
The Anti Terrorism Squad enters the hotel to flush out terrorists.
Eventually, the hotel goes up in flames.
Blasts at the Oberoi hotel (now called the Trident) at Nariman point.
Several people are taken hostage, and some parts of the hotel catch
fire. The army is called in to flush out the militants.
Maharasthra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare is shot dead during the encounter
outside the Taj Hotel. IPS officer Ashok Kamte is killed in the
gunbattle at Metro Cinema. Encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar is also
gunned down.
Reports also of an attack at the Marriott hotel in Juhu.
A blast is also reported in a taxi under a flyover in suburban Vile
Parle. Another bomb goes off in a taxi in Mazegaon dockyard road.
Two terrorists are gunned down by police in Girgaum while they were on
the run in a Skoda vehicle.
A little known outfit the 'Deccan Mujahideen' has claimed
responsibility for the attacks.
All schools and colleges in the city are to be shut on Thursday.
Published on Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 18:14 in Nation section
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/mumbai-under-seige-how-the-events-unfolded/79196-3.html
Globalization ( barry.mov ) The War On Terror
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=4qVNpbT24hc
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The Globalization
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Hidden Face of Globalization
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Globalization: What Does It Really Mean?
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What Is Globalization? - Noam Chomsky
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYwAXZh0ME
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Noam Chomsky - America is not a Democracy
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Noam Chomsky On Corporate Propaganda
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=a4K2uBI61z4
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The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic
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9/11: BUSH STUMBLES OVER HIS 9/11 LIES AT A PRESS CONFERENCE
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=b_SDGb-TJcU
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Bush Accidentally Admits Real Iraq War Plan
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Inside the Oberoi
(01:44) From the Scene
Nov 26 - British lawyer Mark Abell, who is locked in his room at the
Oberoi hotel in Mumbai, speaks to Reuters.
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Mumbai hotels under siege
(01:27) Report
Nov 27 - Gunfire rang out Thursday as Indian commandos and police laid
siege to gunmen holding foreigners in two luxury hotels, after attacks
in Mumbai left scores dead.
Dan Sloan reports.
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Huge flames at Mumbai hotel
(00:50) Rough Cut
Nov 27 - Huge flames are seen from an upper floor of Mumbai's Trident-
Oberoi Hotel as commandos battle militants.
These pictures were broadcast live on Indian tv on Thursday evening
local time (Nov 27, 2008) as there appeared to be a fresh bout of
fighting between Indian commandos and Islamist militants at the
Trident-Oberoi Hotel, where scores of people have been trapped and
some taken hostage.
Commandos earlier freed hostages from the Taj Hotel and have also
gathered outside a Jewish centre where militants are thought to be
holding a rabbi.
More than 100 people have been killed in a series of assaults in
India's financial capital which began on Wednesday.
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On-scene report from Mumbai
(01:36) Report
Nov 26 - Reuters' Greg Beitchman reports from the scene in Mumbai
after at least 80 people were killed and hundreds of others wounded in
near-simultaneous attacks that apparently targeted tourists.
Shootings and explosions occurred at around eight places in southern
Mumbai, including two hotels where television
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Shivraj Patil reacts on attacks
(02:09) Report
Nov. 27 - Home Minister Shivraj Patil reacts to news of multiple
attacks in Mumbai that killed scores of people.
An ANI Report.
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Mumbai attacked, tourists targeted
(01:11) Report
Nov 26 - Shootings and explosions that apparently targeted tourists
occurred in at least eight spots in southern Mumbai, killing at least
80 people and wounding hundreds.
In an email to news organizations, a little-known group called the
Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Katharine Jackson reports.
Commandos battle militants in Mumbai
(01:00) Report
Nov.27 - Commandos exchanged fresh fire with suspected Islamist
militants inside Mumbai's Taj Hotel and at the nearby Trident-Oberoi,
where scores of people were trapped and some taken hostage.
Paul Chapman, Reuters
Militant complains of army abuses in Kashmir 6:04pm IST
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A militant holed up in a Jewish centre in Mumbai
phoned an television channel on Thursday to offer talks with the
government for the release of hostages, but also to complain about
abuses in Kashmir
Mumbai attacks "will not deter British business" 8:42pm IST
LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The wave of attacks on India's financial
capital Mumbai has knocked confidence among British investors but
businesses will not be deterred long-term, the head of the body
promoting bilateral trade said on Thursday.
Home Minister should bear full responsibility: Left
27 Nov 2008, 1654 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Left, which has been quite vocal against "Hindu
terror", on Thursday pulled its punches over the Mumbai attack and
restricted
it-self into demanding an "assurance from the government" that it was
making efforts to tackle terror. The Left's muted response is not
unexpected as its friends in the liberal side have already started
humming the "resilient Mumbai theme" af-ter the jehadis outraged
Mumbai.
The Batla House regulars and cop bashers in the Left have also came
upfront to play homage to valiant officers who laid down their lives.
"Given the recurring and widespread pattern of terrorist attacks oc-
curring in the country, the Central Government has to assure the
people that concerted efforts are being made to tackle the problem,"
the CPM politbureau said in a statement here.
It said the killing of ATS chief Hemant Karkare was particularly
grievous. The CPM, which had been critical of the government and
intelligence agencies during earlier terror attacks, said the attacks
targeting a rail-way station, hotels and other places by groups of
heavily armed men accompanied by explosions bore the "hallmark" of a
carefully planned terrorist strike.
"The immediate need is for the people to face this grim situation with
fortitude and foil any sectarian attempts to exploit the situation.
The entire country expresses its solidarity with the people of Mumbai
in this difficult situation," it said. The CPM has been facing "soft
on terror" charges in its own back-yards.
The Congress-led UDF has been saying that the government led by the
CPM did not do anything to prevent the "export" of terrorists from
Kerala. Two towns in Kerala -- Vagamon and Beenanipuram -- hosted two
training camps of local jehadi outfit Simi. The investiga-tions by
central and state agencies have found that the Simi cadre trained in
these camps were behind the attacks in Delhi and Gujarat.
The CPM has been enthusiastically participating in "victimhood"
meetings in Kerala. Its education minister MA Baby has recently par-
ticipated in a meeting to facilitate People's Democratic Party (PDP)
leader Abdul Naseer Madani. The LDF has been denying reports of
widespread extremist activities in the state.
State police intelligence had recently made a breakthrough into
alleged links of Keralites with Kashmiri militants. Meanwhile, the CPI
said it was intriguing that such a well-planned attack in Mumbai
escaped our intelligence agencies. "The home minis-ter should bear
full responsibility for it," CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta said
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Home_Minister_should_bear_full_responsibility_Left/articleshow/3765672.cms
Political will required to fight terror: Modi writes to PM
27 Nov 2008, 1631 hrs IST, PTI
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today wrote a letter
to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying political will and national
resolve
were required to root out terrorism, a day after Mumbai was rocked by
terror attacks that have left around 100 dead.
"There is a need to exhibit political will and national resolve to
fight against terrorists who have put the internal security of the
country in jeopardy," he said in the letter.
"The time is ripe to chalk out a coordinated strategy to maintain
internal security by cooperation between all Central and state
agencies," he said.
"I request the Prime Minister to call a meeting of all the Chief
Ministers to firm up a coordinated strategy to root out terrorism from
the country," he further said. Referring to the Mumbai strikes, Modi
said this is for the first time that sea route has been used by
terrorists.
"The terrorists are targeting our economic establishments which is a
proxy war unleashed by our enemies." Modi requested the Prime Minister
to also call a separate meeting of western coastal states, especially
those near Pakistan, with Indian Navy and Coast Guard to devise a
strategy to counter terror coming from the sea.
The Gujarat CM, in the letter, has described the Mumbai strikes as "an
attack on the faith of people of India".
PTI
India's Manmohan Singh vows to track down those behind the Mumbai
attacks that have left at least 101 dead, as operations continue to
free remaining hostages! Blaming elements outside the country for the
terror strikes in Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday
warned that India will not tolerate the use of territories of its
neighbours for attacks !Mumbai terror attacks have cast a shadow over
the composite INDO PAK dialogue process. And in spite of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's tough message, the UPA government is
expected to face criticism for its Pakistan policy and failure to push
Islamabad on the issue of terrorism. The joint anti-terror mechanism
is yet to show any results and there has been no followup on any of
the evidence that was shared with Pakistan on a series of serial
blasts. In the last meeting of the joint anti terror mechanism, the
two sides had discussed the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul
where India suspects the role of the ISI. But Islamabad has continued
to deny a Pakistan link and, sources said, the only concession so far
is a promise to follow up on any evidence that India cares to share
with Pakistan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address to the nation had said
that India would take ``We will take up strongly with our neighbours
that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not
be tolerated, and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are
not taken by them.,'' he said.
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Foreign tourists in Mumbai head home
(01:57) Report
Nov.27 - Foreign tourists return home after militant attacks in Mumbai
killed at least 101 people.
The international community on Thursdayexpressed outrage over the
terror strikes in Mumbai, with world leaders, joined by US President-
elect Barack Obama, rallying behind India and offering support to
fight the scourge and "root out" the terrorist networks.
The U.S., U.K., Russia, Pakistan, France and Japan described terrorism
as a "grave and urgent threat" and underlined the need for a
collective action to "root out and destroy terrorist networks."
U.S. President George W Bush called up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
to offer condolences and "support and assistance" to India as it works
to investigate "these despicable acts" and provide relief to the
victims.
Condemning the deadly attacks, Bush said the US will continue to stand
with the people of India.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice also telephoned External Affairs
Minister Pranab Mukherjee to offer America's help in the
investigations and other aspects.
Obama, who will assume the charge of U.S. President in January, said
the attacks in Mumbai demonstrated "the grave and urgent threat" of
terrorism and emphasised that the U.S. "must continue to strengthen
our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out
and destroy terrorist networks."
I had been watching Live Telecast and Updates on Mumbai
Attacks.India's worst terror attack in Mumbai began Wednesday night
when militants attacked high profile landmarks, including the Taj
Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Metro Theatre and
the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway
station. At least 101 people, including a foreign tourist and four top
police officers, were killed and over 250 injured. The crisis
continued Thursday with terrorists holding people hostage in the two
five-star hotels.
Nine foreigners have been killed and eleven others injured in multiple
terror attacks here, hospital sources said on Thursday.
The dead included one Australian, one British and one Japanese who
have been identified for their nationality while four persons' names
have been identified without nationality, they said.
However, three others were yet to be identified, sources said.
I was seeing every update from BBC which contacted with the Foreign
citizens stranded into Taz and Oberoy Hotels. Meanwile,In the wake of
terror attacks in Mumbai, the US, Britain and Australia have advised
its citizens to defer travel to India's commercial capital till
further notice.
I also watched the Bangla news channels where an army Expert commented
how the Entire ATS Team involved in Malegaon blast Investigation is
dragged into the encounter and almost Wiped out including the head
Hemant Karkare!The ATS believed it had cracked the September 29
Malegaon bomb blast case, and about a month ago arrested Hindu
extremists in a breakthrough that shocked the nation and added a new
twist to the entire discourse on terror and religion. But as the probe
unravelled the alleged plot and the role of some Hindu leaders, the
case got caught in the politics of terror and the ATS was at the
centre of charges that it was being used as a tool to target the Sangh
Parivar amid allegations of illegal detention and torture by some of
the 11 arrested for the blast. The BJP, RSS and VHP leaders, among
others from the Hindu nationalist brigade, accused the ATS of being on
a witch-hunt, with some even demanding that ATS officers be subjected
to a narco-analysis to establish their motives.
Thanks to INDIA TV, we could hear from two Terrorists involved in the
Attack as they claimed to be! I and my Countrymen with bleeding Heart
heard from Imran Babar, who identified himself as one of the
terrorists involved in the terror strikes in Mumbai, called up India
TV news channel Thursday and said they wanted to have talks with the
government for exchange of the hostages. He spoke on drectly the
Ideology of ZIHAD and was mentioning the Strategic Zionist alliance.
The CLUE of the attack could be traced in his passionate exposure.
"We want to negotiate with the government. Only then will we let go
the hostages," said Babar, who claimed to be from the Deccan
Mujaheedin, a previously unknown group that has claimed
responsibility.
Claiming to have worked as a medical representative in a multinational
company, Babar said these attacks were to avenge the "torture and
injustice" faced by Muslims in India.
"Do you know how many Muslims are killed in Kashmir by your armed
forces? Give them their freedom, why are you creating such a mess
there?" Babar, who said he was 25 years of age, told the news channel
India TV.
"How much of injustice can we tolerate? How much can we sacrifice?" he
said.
He, however, skirted the query as to which place he hails from.
Earlier in the day, another man calling himself a terrorist and
identifying himself as Shahadullah, telephoned the news channel from
Oberoi-Trident Hotel claiming that he was from the Indian city of
Hyderabad. He spoke in Hindustani with what appeared to be a Pakistani
accent. He told the channel that the attack had been carried out to
avenge the 1992 razing of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and the
"persecution" of Muslims in India. He demanded the release of jailed
Indian Mujahideen militants in exchange for tourists taken hostage at
the Taj and Oberoi Trident hotels as well as Nariman House in the
heart of the city. The man ended the telephonic conversation saying
"Allah Hafiz".
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accused India's neighbours for the
terror attack, Pakistan warned against jumping to conclusions and
``making insinuations against each other''. Pakistani foreign minister
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is in the middle of a four-day visit to
India, condemned the Mumbai shootings but warned against jumping to
quick conclusions. ``Today you are victims. We are victims of
terrorism on a daily basis. We must cooperate at this time instead of
making insinuations against each other," Mr Qureshi was quoted as
saying. "It's a very sad incident but lets not jump to conclusions and
cut a sorry figure. Let's show maturity. We will cooperate, I can
assure you," he added. The Zardari government has continued to say
that it is also a victim of terrorism. Mr Qureishi, who offered to
establish a hotline between the intelligence chiefs of the two
countries for information sharing, referred to the Samjhauta blast.
"The Samjhauta incident very clearly indicates that we have to be
cautious. Our expressions and our insinuations have to be measured.
Pakistan wants to cooperate. We have to face the common enemy in
terrorism and it is a global challenge," he was quoted as saying.
Former prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh is No More. Raja of
Manda is best known for playing the OBC Reservation Card.
Coincidentally Fascist Hindutva Forces used the Age Old KAMANDAL
against MANDAL. Which eventually demolished Babri Mosque. The Hindus
left in Bangladesh faced the most violent reaection in this
subcontinent as Taslima Nasreen described in her controversial novel
LAJJA. Hindutva wave established a NDA Rule led and commanded by RSS
just after Congress Government led by Narsimha Rao introduced Neo
Liberalism and the Pandora`s Box of Liberation, Privatisation and
globalisation was opened. Narsimha Rao was elected as PM as Congress
could not do well in North India even after the sad demise of Rajiv
Gandhi in a LITTE Bomb Blast.Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who cobbled a
coalition of the Left and BJP to dethrone Rajiv Gandhi in the 1989
elections, played the reservation card a year later that irreversibly
changed the course of Indian politics, bringing to the fore the power
of backwards and Dalits in electoral politics. BJP withdrew support as
Lalkrishna adwani, the much Hyped NDA Prime Minister in waiting was
stopped and arrested by Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar. Charan Singh
formed a minority government supported by rajiv Gandhi and his party.
ultimately the support was withdrawn with a lame excuse of alleged
spying of rajiv himself. The Myawati Phenomenon is solidly based on VP
tenure as Prime Minister of India. he was the man who established the
OBC people in Indian Polity and Society. In reaction, RSS played all
out the Hindutva card. The Indigenous rising and emerging equation of
ST, SC, OBC and Minrities pushed Indian Ruling Class to be part and
parcel of the Post Modern galaxy MANUSMRITI APARTHEID Order led by
United States of America.
Fall of VP Singh coincided with not only the introduction of
Neoleberalism but it placed India firmly into the lap of Global
Zionist White Hegemony led by USA. It was the Departure point when
India dissassociated itself from the legacy of Nehru Gandhi pro Soviet
Anti American Policy. Washington was proactive enough to plant Dr
Manmohan singh as the Finance Minister of India who has eventually
proved himself as the supreme slave of US War and weapon Economy.The
initial investor reaction to the Mumbai attacks suggests they expect
India's traditionally resilient markets to take a bigger hit from this
turmoil than from previous episodes in the city's violent history.
With financial and commodity markets shut after gunmen killed 101
people, the only inkling of damage to sentiment came from a rise in
India's risk premium on international credit markets and a drop in
offshore Indian stock and rupee futures.
The central bank said it would continue auctions to keep cash flowing
through interbank lending markets, which seized up after the global
financial crisis destroyed Wall Street banks in September.
Al Quaeda already declared India a party in its Zihad as India allied
with United states Of america in its War against Terrorism! Since then
India is bleeding! Mumabi attack is only a solid EVIDENCE how well
planned and coordinated may be the Terror strikes! United States of
America is too eager to help India dealing Insurgency and terror. We
must be aware of the Result. History teaches us the lesson very well
wherever the West has interfered , Disintegration and Partition become
quite MANDATORY. We have already suffered a HOLOCAUST sixty years back
while India was divided. Then in 1971, Pakistan also disintegrated and
at the time it was the strongest ally of united States of America. USA
sent Seventh fleet to save Pakistan but bangladesh was liberated.
Thus, there is no garrantee that alliance with USA may save a
country.
The Ruling Hegemony in India did everything to plant the War Zone
right into our Heart. It helps the US Weapon Industry and its Kickback
agents with Swiss Bank Accounts. The Ruling Class made us an ally of
United states of Ameriac and that is why we msut share the Destiny of
USA. It has been proved in Global Meltdown. Now, it is the ULTIMATE
TRUTH about our internal Security. That is why we are predestined to
BLEED!
Close to 24 hours after the audacious terror attacks, security forces
were on Thursday engaged in a grim battle to flush out terrorists
holed up in two luxury hotels and a Jewish residential complex in
Mumbai where more than 200 people including foreigners were trapped as
hostages or used as human shields. The operations against terrorists
is in its final stage and will be over soon, said Maharashtra DGP A N
Roy.
Mumbai is no stranger to political violence and markets have usually
regarded previous bombings and other attacks with a degree of
nonchalance. Wednesday's attacks though will put an additional strain
on nerves frayed by global financial turmoil and a tide of cash
pouring out of Indian assets.
Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath said on Thursday the attacks on high
profile targets in the country's commercial capital would not slow
investment into an ecomomy already under strain!
"This does not have an economic component. It's an unfortunate event.
These type of things have happened in New York and other major
cities," Nath said.
The global downturn has already rattled Indian financial markets and a
credit squeeze has prompted the government and central bank to take a
series of measures to lift sagging growth.
The Reserve Bank expects the economy to expand by 7.5-8 per cent in
the 2008-09 fiscal year, slowing from 9 per cent posted in the last
three years.
India's capital market regulator said the country's two major stock
exchanges would remain closed on Thursday.
Elite commandoes of the topline security forces from army, navy, NSG
and Rapid Action Force were involved in the raging encounter with
unspecified number of heavily-armed terrorists in Taj and Trident
(Oberoi) hotels where throughout the day grenade explosions have set
various floors on fire.
As dusk fell, there was expectation that the forces would intensify
their assault to overwhelm the terrorists.
About 20 to 25 of them were believed to have come in three small
inflatable boats, whose mother ship has been traced by Indian naval
ships patrolling the Arabian Sea.
Defence Minister to hold talks with military top brass
With terrorists striking in Mumbai, Defence Minister A K Antony has
convened a high-level meeting of the armed forces today to review the
situation.
The meeting is likely to be attended by Chiefs of Staff Committee
chairman Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Air Force chief Fali Homi Major,
apart from top intelligence officers of the services, Defence Ministry
sources told PTI here.
The top honchos of the Defence Ministry are likely to chalk out an
anti-terror plan during the meeting, which would also review the
operations being carried out by Army and Marine commandos in Mumbai.
Contingents of armed forces' strike troops have joined the National
Security Guards (NSG) in the operations at the Oberoi and Taj hotels
to flush the militants holed up there since last night.
Antony would also review the coastal security and intelligence
gathering mechanism in the wake of reports that the attackers had
sneaked in to Mumbai through the sea route, the sources said.
Taj Hotels GM's wife, children killed in terrorist attack
The wife and the two children of General Manager of Taj Hotels
Karambir Kang were killed in the terrorist attack on the hotel.
Confirming the news, a company spokesperson said while Kang is safe
his wife and children were killed at the Taj Hotel, where the security
forces were trying to release hostages held by terrorists since late
Wednesday. It is learnt that they were killed in the fire that broke
out in the hotel after the attack and their bodies were charred beyond
recognition, according to hotel sources.
Mumbai attacks had some al-Qaeda hallmarks: Britain
Britain's spy agencies had little warning of the terrorist attack in
Mumbai, which bore some al-Qaeda hallmarks but appears unlikely to be
linked to the group's core leadership, officials said on Thursday.
Westerners in India's financial centre were targeted in the
spectacular attack comprised of multiple, simultaneous assaults — a
signature of past al-Qaeda actions including the Sept. 11 attacks. But
the Indian attack was carried out by gunmen and not the suicide
bombers frequently employed by al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
The group who claimed responsibility — Deccan Mujahideen — was unknown
to security officials, a British security official told The Associated
Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding
the work. He said terror threats in India had been increasing but the
scale of the attack on Wednesday was a surprise and there were no
indications attacks would target Westerners.
"We have been actively monitoring plots in Britain and abroad and
there was nothing to indicate something like this was about to
happen," the official told the AP.
Britain is the former colonial power in India and Pakistan and closely
monitors terrorist suspects in those countries. The majority of the
nearly 2 million British Muslims are of Indian, Pakistani and
Bangladeshi origin. More than 2,000 terror suspects are being
monitored in the U.K. alone, with dozens more being watched in other
countries, Britain's security services have said.
"It's too early to say definitively at this stage, but based on what
we've seen so far this doesn't look like a core al-Qaeda attack,"
another British security official told the AP on condition of
anonymity. "It certainly looks to have been inspired by Islamic
extremist ideology."
Western security officials believe attacks organized, directed and
funded specifically by al-Qaeda's core leadership along the Afghan/
Pakistan border are not frequent. More common are incidents in which
terrorists have either some limited contact with al-Qaeda leaders, or
are inspired to carry out attacks by the ideology of Islamic
extremism.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "external forces" and the Indian
navy said its forces were boarding a cargo vessel suspected of ties to
the attacks.
Navy spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar said Thursday that the ship, the
MV Alpha, had recently come to Mumbai from Karachi, Pakistan.
Pakistani officials in Britain said they were unaware of the plot. In
September, a massive suicide truck bomb devastated the Marriott Hotel
in the capital, Islamabad, killing at least 54 people, including three
Americans and the Czech ambassador.
"This type of terrorism is spreading, through Pakistan and now India,
but we were all surprised by such a large-scale attack like this,"
said Wajid Hassan, Pakistan's High Commissioner in London. "This is no
coincidence that this type of attack happened so soon after the
bombing of the Marriott Hotel. People from all countries are being
paid to fight this al-Qaeda war. This is a war that goes beyond any
nationality."
Few terrorism experts have heard of the Deccan Mujahadeen.
"Initially we saw violence in India imported from outside — with
allegations of Pakistani government support — but now we are seeing
new, homegrown groups," said Nigel Inkster, director of Transnational
Threats at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in
London.
"There is a possible link to al-Qaeda," he said. "Logically it would
be easier for al-Qaeda to get things done in India than in the U.S.
and Europe. Everyone's been expecting some type of pre-U.S. election
or post-U.S. election spectacular, and there is some speculation that
this is it."
Bush calls Singh to offer support
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush called Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh Thursday to express condolences and offer support after
attacks in
Mumbai left more than 100 people dead, a White House spokeswoman
said.
"President Bush spoke this morning by telephone with Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to express condolences to the victims of the
terror attacks in Mumbai, India, and solidarity with the people of
India," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement.
"The president offered support and assistance to the government of
India as it works to restore order, provide safety to its people and
comfort to the victims and their families, and investigate these
despicable acts," she said.
Mumbai:Nine foreign nationals killed in terror attacks in Mumbai!
Kashmir solution must for peace in Afghanistan, says France! Militants
armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked luxury hotels,
hospitals and a famous tourist cafe in India's commercial capital
Mumbai late on Wednesday, killing at least 101 people.Witnesses say
the attackers were young South Asian men speaking Hindi or Urdu,
suggesting they are probably members of an Indian militant group
rather than foreigners.
One German national has been confirmed killed and several injured in
the coordinated attacks against luxury hotels and other targets in
Mumbai, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
No timeframe for Mumbai operation: Indian Army
MUMBAI: As terrorists continued to hold civilians hostage in Mumbai
for the second day Thursday, the Indian Army said it had put its best
men on the job to flush out the militants but refused to give a
timeframe on when the operation would be over.
The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself
the Deccan Mujahideen in an e-mail to news organisations. Deccan is an
area of southern India. Analysts say that while it is not clear
whether the claim is genuine, the attacks were most likely carried out
by a group called the Indian Mujahideen. The name used in the claim of
responsibility suggests the attackers could be members of a south
Indian offshoot or cell of the Indian Mujahideen.
Nearly 16 hours after the first gunbattle broke out between security
forces and terrorists in south Mumbai, Maharashtra Director General
of Police A.N. Roy on Thursday said there were no hostages in the Taj
Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, and there were no talks with militants.
Till now five terrorists have been killed and nine suspected people
have been arrested. The situation at the Taj hotel is under control.
There is no hostage-like situation there," Roy told reporters.
"As of now there is no demand from militants. There are no talks with
them. Either they will be arrested or killed," he added.
French nuclear physicist M George Vendryes and his wife, who were
staying in Taj hotel in Mumbai, have been brought out safely from the
terror-hit building, official sources said on Thursday. The 88-year-
old scientist was in Mumbai to receive the Indian Nuclear Society's
(INS) Eminent Scientist Award and was staying at the five-star hotel
in south Mumbai, Department of Atomic Energy sources said.
The remainder of England's one-day cricket series against India was
scrapped on Thursday following the terror attacks in Mumbai which also
prompted the organisers of the USD six-million Champions League to
postpone the high-profile Twenty20 event!
In all, 101 people including nine foreigners and about policemen have
lost their lives while about 300 people were injured in the worst
terror attacks seen in the country in which desperate men fired
indiscriminately at people.
Targeting foreigners, particularly Americans and Britishers, the
terrorists said to be five to seven in both the hotels held residents
hostages.
While all the hostages in Taj hotel have been rescued, there are some
people trapped in the rooms who are being used as human shields.
In Trident alone, about 200 people have been trapped -- 100 on the
Trident side and 100 on the Oberoi side. While there were no official
figures available about the number of people trapped or rescued, DGP A
N Roy said all the hostages in Taj have been rescued but there could
be people in their rooms.
Roy talked tough saying they would either kill or capture the
terrorists alive.
There was also another scene of action in the Jewish complex Nariman
House where four-five Israelis have been believed to have been held
hostage by an equal number of terrorists.
Terrorists who have caused mayhem in the metropolis are not run-of-the-
mill militants as believed earlier, but are "highly-trained and highly-
motivated professionals".
This was the observation of the elite Marcos Naval Commandos which had
the first confrontation with the terrorists at the city's landmark Taj
Hotel.
"The terrorists are highly trained, motivated with where with all to
mount a prolonged campaign," Vice-Admiral J S Bedi, Flag Officer
Commanding, Western Naval Command said in Mumbai.
He said these observations were conveyed to him by his Marcos
commandos.
In the operations, Marcos seized stun grenades, hand grenades and
other sophisticated ammunitions and ATM cards, plus US dollars from
the terrorists.
The terrorists were also found to be carrying huge loads of almonds,
which can be used as food in long siege.
I belong to UTTARAKHAND. I have seen New delhi and Entire North India
sleeping in peace in seventies while Bengal was troubled with Naxal
Movement. I used to return home late in dark nights without any
company, alone. The People in North India were habitual to sleep out
side or on the roofs, in the fields in Summer. In the Indian capital,
New delhi, Common People used to sleep under open sky on their Desi
COT with Women and Children enmasses. Opration Blue Star changed the
scenerio. We were never that safe. Indiscriminate firing was the
ultimate terror. We came to know RDX. Whatever may be the political
reason, the source of arms and ammunition had been the TALIBANS
digging in Afganistan and fighting against USSR. The Talibans led by
OSAM BIN LADEN was supported and funded by UNITED States of America.
At that time every Indian Politician would quote CIA role behind every
incident. CIA Agent was the most popular term used to abuse a
politician at that time. Since neo Liberalism introduced, since Dr
Manmohan Singh entered the Politics, no one ever names CIA. Indira
gandhi had been more than adament to maintain Peace in indian Ocean.
She alwaqys warned against Disintegration and Destablising forces.
But, ironically, post modern Indian Rulers no matter what color
orideology they boast of, embrace all those forces full heartedly.
Thus, any Terror Strike is not going to be a single Tragedy. It is a
reality Serial full of terror and Blood of our own countrymen,
sceduled to continue and feed the Money machine!
Mumbai attacks: A test for Indian markets
Reuters reports:
Mumbai The initial investor reaction to the Mumbai attacks suggests
they expect India's traditionally resilient markets to take a bigger
hit from this turmoil than from previous episodes in the city's
violent history.
With financial and commodity markets shut after gunmen killed 101
people, the only inkling of damage to sentiment came from a rise in
India's risk premium on international credit markets and a drop in
offshore Indian stock and rupee futures.
The central bank said it would continue auctions to keep cash flowing
through interbank lending markets, which seized up after the global
financial crisis destroyed Wall Street banks in September.
Mumbai is no stranger to political violence and markets have usually
regarded previous bombings and other attacks with a degree of
nonchalance. Wednesday's attacks though will put an additional strain
on nerves frayed by global financial turmoil and a tide of cash
pouring out of Indian assets.
"Everyone is just hoping that it will be one of the short-lived
episodes," said ING chief Asian economist Tim Condon.
"People have seen this before although this is on an order of
magnitude worse than what we have seen. That makes the usual
comfortable assumption less comfortable, this Pakistanisation of
Indian financial markets," he said.
The capital markets regulator said the Bombay Stock Exchange and
National Stock Exchange will be closed on Thursday as security forces
battled militants who held hostages in two luxury Mumbai hotels.
Coming at a time when foreigners have been heavy sellers of Indian
assets, the attacks raised fears of a steeper fall in the rupee and a
further blow to market confidence.
"Clearly, it will be negative for the sentiment towards India at this
point of time, the time when the world is already looking to be highly
uncertain in term of its growth prospects," said Joseph Tan, chief
Asian economist at Credit Suisse in Singapore.
"When the equity market actually opens, it could probably be opening
down as opposed to the rest of Asia."
As traffic ground to a halt in south Mumbai, where the central bank
and several financial institutions are located, it appeared the
earliest indications of how deep those concerns run would be known
only on Friday.
Trading in offshore rupee forwards was thin but suggested the rupee
could drop 1.6 per cent within a month, more bearish than Wednesday's
pricing of a 0.7 per cent depreciation.
The risk premium for top Indian lender State Bank of India rose. The
state-owned bank is a proxy in the debt market for the government,
which has no sovereign bonds outstanding.
Credit default swaps, which are insurance-like contracts, on the
bank's five year bonds widened 20 basis points to 440 basis points
after the attacks.
Indian stock index futures fell 4 per cent in Singapore trade at their
weakest, pointing to a likely steep fall in domestic shares. On
Wednesday, the 50-share NSE index gained 3.7 per cent. India's main 30-
share BSE index ended up 3.8 per cent. The rupee ended trading at
49.48 per dollar.
"As the situation calms down, these attacks might be viewed as an
isolated event," said Mumbai-based Amit Khurana, head of equities at
the Indian unit of British broker Collins Stewart.
UNFORTUNATE TIMING
When suburban train bombings killed 180 people in Mumbai in 2006, the
rupee barely blipped while the Bombay stock index fell 1.8 per cent
but then rallied.
There have been four bombings prior to Wednesday's attack this year.
The stock index is already down 55 per cent this year -- Asia's fourth
worst performer -- after having seen $13.5 billion of portfolio
outflows from a market with a capitalisation of $266 billion.
The rupee figures among the weakest currencies in Asia this year
alongside the Indonesian rupiah and Korean won, having dropped 20 per
cent against the dollar owing to capital outflows and a withdrawal of
foreign credit lines from riskier markets.
"This means that capital outflows will have a greater impact than they
did in the past, though history suggests that any reaction to
terrorist attacks in Mumbai will only be temporary," Nikhilesh
Bhattacharya, an economist with Moody's Economy, said in a note.
Mark Matthews, chief Asian strategist at Merrill Lynch, said this was
also the time analysts were downgrading their forecasts for Indian
corporate earnings rather dramatically.
"That will continue to be a drag on the market because Indian analysts
are behind the curve on earnings relative to the rest of Asia,"
Matthews said.
Slowing growth and uncertainty about upcoming general elections in
2009 would also weigh down the market, at least until March, he
reckons. Merrill predicts the index price-earnings ratio will drop to
9.1 in 2009 from 10.1 now.
Currency analysts expect the rupee will weaken sharply when it opens
for trading on Friday, but they also suspect any weakness will be knee-
jerk and fleeting and that the central bank will jump to its defence
as it always has in volatile spells.
"Such terrorist attacks do not have a lasting impact on the market --
I don't think it will have a lasting impact on India," said Credit
Suisse's Tan.
Gunmen killed at least 101 people in a series of attacks in India's
financial capital Mumbai and troops began moving into two five-star
hotels on Thursday where Western hostages were being held, local
television said. Gunfire and explosions were heard at the landmark Taj
Mahal hotel and thick plumes of smoke rose from the building,
witnesses said. There were also explosions at the Oberoi hotel and
firing at a hospital where gunmen were surrounded.
"The terrorists are throwing grenades at us from the rooftop of the
Taj and trying to stop us from moving in," Ashok Patil, a police
inspector said.
Police said more than 250 people were wounded in the attacks which
also targeted a railway station and the Cafe Leopold, perhaps the most
famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in the city.
An organisation calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen said it was
behind attacks, television channels said. The previously little known
group sent an email to news organisations claiming responsibility.
"I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for
British or American passports," said Rakesh Patel, a British witness
who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj Mahal hotel on
business. "They had bombs."
"They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs," he told a
TV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. "Young boys, maybe 20
years old, 25 years old. They had two guns."
India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years.
The latest attack, apparently aimed at least partly at prosperous
Western tourists, is bound to spook investors in one of Asia's largest
and fastest-growing economies.
Hemant Karkare, the chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in
Mumbai, was killed during the attacks, police said.
"We have shot dead four terrorists and managed to arrest nine
suspected terrorists," PD Ghadge, a police officer at Mumbai's central
control room, said.
Japan's Foreign Ministry said one of its nationals was killed in the
Mumbai attacks and one injured.
TRAPPED HOTEL GUESTS
Mark Abell, a British lawyer, said he had locked himself inside his
Oberoi hotel room after hearing two explosions.
Several hundred people had been evacuated from the Taj hotel, one
witness said, but many more remained inside, some calling for help
from the fifth floor. Firefighters broke windows to reach trapped
guests.
"We came down the fire exit, but I think they took some more people,
they are trying to get to the roof," one foreigner told local
television. "I think about 15 people (have been taken hostage), about
half of them are foreigners."
In Washington, the White House and US President-elect Barack Obama
condemned the attacks, as did France, current President of the
European Union, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
A European official was among the wounded.
"My hotel is surrounded by police and there are gunmen inside,"
European lawmaker Ignasi Guardans told Spanish radio from the Taj. "We
are in contact with some deputies inside the hotel, with one in a room
and another hidden in the kitchen. There's another official hurt and
in hospital."
Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said there were around four or five
attackers in each of the two hotels.
"They have attacked hotels, they have attacked the hospitals, they
have attacked the railway station," he said.
KOREANS, EUROPEANS CAUGHT UP IN ATTACKS
A driver told Reuters at least 50 Koreans were stuck inside the Taj
with their drivers waiting outside.
"We were just getting ready to pick them up, when we heard the first
blast, police did not let us get past and they (the Koreans) are not
answering the phones," Deepak Aswar, the driver said. Europeans were
also caught up in the attacks.
"I was in the restaurant inside Oberoi and I saw this series of
gunshots and death which I don't want to see again," a Spaniard who
declined to give his name told Reuters.
"I crawled out into the kitchen and waited there, until I sensed it
was all quiet and seemed over."
Maharashtra state police chief A.N. Roy said attackers had fired
automatic weapons indiscriminately, and used grenades, adding that
they were still holed up in some buildings.
Sourav Mishra, a Reuters reporter, was with friends at the Cafe
Leopold when gunmen opened fire around 9:30 p.m. He was injured and is
in St George's Hospital.
"I heard some gunshots around 9:30. I was with my friends. Something
hit me. I ran away and fell on the road. Then somebody picked me up. I
have injuries below my shoulder," Mishra said from a hospital bed he
was sharing with three other people.
Another Reuters reporter saw a hospital ward full of injured people
with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Many people were crying as the
injured were brought in on trolleys.
Former PM V P Singh passes away
Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who cobbled a coalition of the Left and BJP
to dethrone Rajiv Gandhi in the 1989 elections, played the reservation
card a year later that irreversibly changed the course of Indian
politics, bringing to the fore the power of backwards and Dalits in
electoral politics.
The 77-year-old 'Raja of Manda', a sobriquet he earned because of his
origins in the principality of Manda in Uttar Pradesh's Fathepur,
entered politics in Allahabad during the Nehru era and soon made a
name for his rectitude.
He earned the title of 'Mr Clean' despite occupying positions of
power, including the Chief Ministership of Uttar Pradesh which he had
resigned in the early 80s when his brother was killed by dacoits, and
as Minister at the Centre.
Singh resigned as Defence Minister after he was shifted from Finance
in 1987 at the height of his campaign against leading industrialists
on the issue of tax evasion and later took on the then Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi by quitting Congress on the issue of Bofors scandal.
Forming Jan Morcha, an amalgam of disgruntled Congressmen, he later
became the pivot around which the opposition came together to dethrone
Congress to give the first non-Congress coalition at the Centre,
supported by the Left parties and the BJP from outside.
Singh, once considered very close to Rajiv Gandhi, quit his government
in 1987 on the issue of corruption in public life.
After being expelled from Congress, he launched 'Jan Morcha', was
elected to Lok Sabha from Allahabad and then became a rallying point
for the National Front comprising Janata Dal, Telugu Desam, Asom Gana
Parishad, DMK and Congress(S). The Jan Morcha was merged with the
Janata Dal before the 1989 general elections.
In May 1996, after the defeat of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections,
Singh was the guiding spirit behind the formation of the United Front
and was the first choice for Prime Ministership.
But he declined the offer. After the government of H D Deve Gowda fell
in April 1997, he again played an important role from his hospital bed
along with the late Left veteran Harkishan Singh Surjeet in
maintaining the UF unity and making Inder Kumar Gujral the Prime
Minister.
Away from politics, Singh had always taken a keen interest in poetry
and painting and had also held exhibitions of his artwork.
He has penned a number of poems and his first anthology of poems 'Ek
Tukda Dharti, Ek Tukda Asman' was published some time back. Perhaps
the greatest rallying point for 'anti- Congressism' in the country
after Jaiprakash Narayan, Singh, however, took positions nearer to
that of Congress in late years, particularly after BJP came to power
at the Centre in 1998.
Born in Allahabad on June 25, 1931, Singh studied science with
aspirations of becoming a nuclear scientist and came out with flying
colours in the B.Sc. examinations in Ferguson College, Pune.
But he finally gave pursuing M.Sc. from Allahabad University and was
lured into politics. He made his debut as a Congress legislator in
1969 winning the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and remained a
member of the House till 1971, before being elected for the first time
to Lok Sabha.
Singh was inducted into Indira Gandhi's Council of Ministers as a
Deputy Minister of Commerce. After that, there was no looking back for
him.
In 1980 when Indira Gandhi returned to power, Singh was made Chief
Minister of Uttar Pradesh. His two-year stint at the helm of India's
largest state ended dramatically when he quit in the wake of the anti-
dacoit operations launched by his government.
But soon he was made Commerce Minister in Gandhi's cabinet. As Finance
Minister in Rajiv Gandhi's government, Singh gained popularity for
ordering searches and raids against industrial houses, hiring an
American detective agency Fairfax for investigating accounts of Non
Resident Indians and for taking up the Bofors pay-offs case.
Chandrababu condoles V P Singh's death
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu condoled the death of former prime
minister V P Singh and described him as a pioneer in ensuring due
share to people from backward communities in political and
administration fields.
Expressing grief over Singh's death, the former Andhra Pradesh chief
minister said his demise was a "great loss for the nation and an
extreme personal loss for him".
Recalling his association with the former Prime Minister, Naidu said
on several occasions Singh gave meaningful and constructive advice
during the formation of non-Congress governments at the Centre.
"I express my heart felt condolences to Singh's family members and he
was a pioneer in ensuring due share to backward classes in the fields
of politics and administration," Naidu.
Terrorists left before I reached terror sites: Patil
New delhi: "Before I could reach there, the terrorists who had
attacked one of the hospitals, the Cama Hospital, had left and those
who attacked the railway station had also left," Union Home Minister
Shivraj Patil said.
Patil, who briefed the Cabinet on the situation in Mumbai, was giving
details to media about his visit to the city after terrorists struck
there.
He said after the terrorists, who attacked Cama Hospital, ‘left’ the
police chased them and killed one of them and injured another.
Patil, who condemned the attack as an act of cowardice, said the
country would remain strong even as the terrorists attempt to weaken
and create difficulty for the citizens.
The Home Minister had condoled the loss of lives, including top
ranking police officers, in the attack and said their sacrifice would
inspire the rest of the force to do their duty more resolutely.
Ind-Eng ODI series scrapped, Tests hang in balance
The remainder of England's one-day cricket series against India was
scrapped on Thursday following the terror attacks in Mumbai which also
prompted the organisers of the USD six-million Champions League to
postpone the high-profile Twenty20 event.
While England will return home without playing the last two matches of
the seven-ODI series, a final decision on the fate of the Test series
will be taken later with the ECB making it clear that it would abide
by the security advice by various sources.
After a prolonged meeting with top ECB officials and the England team
management, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan told a press conference in
Bhubaneswar that the Guwahati and New Delhi one-dayers have been
called off in view of the security apprehensions expressed by the
visiting team.
"BCCI has accepted ECB's request to postpone the Guwahati and Delhi
one-dayers, said Srinivasan who held a lengthy discussion with ECB
Managing Director Hugh Morris, visiting skipper Kevin Pietersen, coach
Peter Moores and team manager Reg Dickason.
Regarding the fate of the two-match Test series scheduled to start in
Ahmedabad from December 11, the BCCI secretary said, "We hope they
will come to play the Test matches."
The ghastly terror strikes in Mumbai led to a spate of postponements
with the Champions League, scheduled to be held in Mumbai, Bangalore
and Chennai from December 3 to 10, being deferred while the rebel
Indian cricket League also called off the World Series event in
Ahmedabad. A few other domestic tournaments and scheduled press
conferences were also put off.
Morris said they would be holding discussions with Indian Cricket
Board officials on the Test series which is still hanging fire.
Apart from Ahmedabad, Mumbai, where terrorist attacks left over 100
people dead since last night, is one of the venues for the two-match
Test series.
"This morning I held initial discussions with the BCCI Secretary N
Srinivasan, as well as representatives from the Indian team management
at the team hotel in Bhubaneswar. I have also briefed the England
players and management on the situation as well as liaising closely
with the ECB Chairman and chief executive and the players'
representatives," said Morris in a statement.
He later addressed a press conference and said the Test series would
depend on the nature of security advice the team gets from various
sources.
"We are looking at several options and we will go by the security
advisors. If they advise us to play in India, we will play the Test
series. However, the players are desperate and disturbed over the
incidents in Mumbai," he said.
"The events of last night were deeply distressing and the situation is
still unfolding. We are urgently seeking information from expert
sources regarding last night's attacks and will continue to hold
further discussions with our colleagues from the BCCI over the next 24
hours," Morris said.
Morris said the safety and security of the team could not be
compromised at any stage. "The safety and security of the England team
is of the utmost importance to ECB. We have reviewed all our security
arrangements in the light of these attacks and will be taking all
necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of the team.
"On behalf of the Board and the England team, we would like to express
our condolences to the families and friends of those people who were
killed or injured in last night's attacks," Morris said.
England will stay put in Bhubaneswar for a day before returning home
after losing all the five matches they played against India in the
seven-match series.
A top BCCI source said that India agreed to call off the one-day tour
but wanted England to visit the country a few weeks later for the two-
match Test series.
The England team management has conveyed the BCCI proposal to the
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) top brass who will discuss the
proposal and get back to the Indian Board.
On a day of hectic developments, the organisers of the Champions
League postponed the event after many participating teams expressed
reservations of travelling to India.
The decision was taken by the Governing Council of the Champions
League 2020 after consultations among the three founding Board members
of the tournament - BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa
-- in the best interests of all the parties concerned, a media
statement said.
"We held consultations among all the stakeholders, including the
founding members, the participating teams and members of the Governing
Council after the unfortunate terrorist attacks in Mumbai," said Lalit
Modi, Chairman of the Champions League 2020.
"It was agreed that in the best interests of all concerned, the
inaugural edition of the Champions League 2020 should be postponed,"
he said.
Terrorists came from Karachi via sea to Mumbai
The terrorists who attacked Mumbai came via sea routes from Karachi in
Pakistan, according to an intelligence report.
The reports had warned that there could be a possible entry of
terrorists into Mumbai through the sea route, a top police official
claimed.
"This intelligence was available six months ago and subsequently a
barge was found by the locals on Shrivardhan coast in Raigad district
four months back," the official, who did not wish to be identified,
said.
Locals feared that the barge might have contained explosives but
nothing was found when customs and naval personnel inspected it.
The terrorists, who created havoc in Mumbai overnight, came by boats,
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has said.
Militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked Taj and
Oberoi hotels, hospitals and a famous tourist cafe in Mumbai late on
Wednesday, killing more than 100 people.
* WHO IS BEHIND THE ATTACKS?
Witnesses say the attackers were young South Asian men speaking Hindi
or Urdu, suggesting that they are probably members of an Indian
militant group rather than foreigners.
The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself
the Deccan Mujahideen in an e-mail to news organisations. Deccan is an
area of southern India.
Analysts say that while it is not clear whether the claim is genuine,
the attacks were most likely carried out by a group called the Indian
Mujahideen. The name used in the claim of responsibility suggests the
attackers could be members of a south Indian offshoot or cell of the
Indian Mujahideen.
* WHO ARE THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN?
Indian police say the Indian Mujahideen is an offshoot of the banned
Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), but that local Muslims
appear to have been given training and backing from militant groups in
neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.
SIMI has been blamed by police for almost every major bomb attack in
India, including explosions on commuter trains in Mumbai two years ago
that killed 187 people.
Police said the Indian Mujahideen may also include former members of
the Bangladeshi militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami.
* WHY ARE THEY SUSPECTED OF BEING BEHIND THE MUMBAI ATTACKS?
The Indian Mujahideen have made credible claims of responsibility for
most of the recent major attacks on civilian targets in India over the
past two years.
The Mumbai attacks appear to have been carefully co-ordinated, well-
planned and involved a large number of attackers. A high level of
sophistication has also been a hallmark of previous attacks by the
Indian Mujahideen.
The Mumbai attacks also focused clearly on tourist targets, including
two luxury hotels and a famous cafe.
In May, the Indian Mujahideen made a specific threat to attack tourist
sites in India unless the government stopped supporting the United
States in the international arena.
The threat was made in an e-mail claiming responsibility for bomb
attacks that killed 63 people in the tourist city of Jaipur. The e-
mail, signed by "Guru Al-Hindi", declared "open war against India" and
included the serial number of one of the bicycles on which the bombs
were left.
Witnesses in Mumbai say the attackers in Mumbai singled out Americans
and Britons in their attacks.
* WHAT OTHER ATTACKS HAVE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN CARRIED OUT?
The group first emerged during a wave of bombings in the northern
state of Uttar Pradesh in November 2007, sending an e-mail to media
outlets just before some of the bombs exploded.
Their next attacks were the Jaipur blasts.
On July 25, eight small bomb attacks in the IT city of Bangalore on
July 25 that killed at least one person and wounded 15. There was no
known claim of responsibility.
But a day later, at least 16 bombs exploded in Ahmedabad in the state
of Gujarat, killing 45 and wounding 161. Shortly before the blasts, an
e-mail in the name of the Indian Mujahideen was sent to local media
warning that people would soon "feel the terror of death" in the name
of Allah.
It said the attacks were revenge for the Gujarat riots of 2002, when
around 2,500 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by Hindu mobs.
A later e-mail accused several state governments of harassing,
imprisoning and torturing Muslims and threatened consequences if they
did not stop.
In September, at least five bombs exploded in crowded markets and
streets in New Delhi, killing at least 18 people.
The Indian Mujahideen sent out an e-mail moments after the first blast
in New Delhi, saying the explosions were to prove its capability to
strike in the most secure of Indian cities.
* WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE MUMBAI ATTACKS?
All previous incidents in which the Indian Mujahideen are suspected of
involvement involved co-ordinated serial bombs.
The Mumbai attacks also show clear signs of coordination but were
carried out by gunmen, some carrying grenades.
The tactics -- a military-style assault on soft targets, singling out
foreigners, and taking hostages -- is rare and does not fit the usual
methods of militant attacks on civilian areas.
However, similar attacks have been carried out before, notably the May
2004 attacks in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar.
Gunmen attacked two oil industry installations and a foreign workers'
housing complex in the city, taking more than 50 hostages and killing
22 of them. The attackers asked hostages whether they were Christian
or Muslim before deciding whom to kill.
Terrible situation in Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan
The Indian film industry today expressed a deep shock over the
nightmare that unfolded on Wednesday night as terrorists targeted
various important locations in the Bollywood capital of Mumbai.
The industry people also appealed for sanity and called for unity
after one of the biggest terrorist strikes rattled the country's
financial and dream city.
"Terrible! terrible situation!," a shaken Amitabh Bachchan wrote in
his blog.
"Mumbai under terrorist attack!! Several locations bombed and
terrorist firing all over the city. Major hotels under siege. Taj
hotel battle going on inside the hotel," says Bachachan, whose post
reads like a doomsday account.
In one of the most audacious terror attacks in Indian history, at
least 100 people have been killed and nearly 300 injured.
Two five star hotels, hospitals and the city's CST Railway station
were among the key targets of the terrorists, who entered the city
through boats at Gateway of India, just opposite the heritage Taj
hotel.
"I am scared! shocked! I don't have words to describe my feelings. It
seems unreal to me almost like a film. I don't know who are they and
why they have resorted to such ruthlessness," film director Anurag
Kashyap, who is in Goa to attend the IFFI told reporters over phone.
"They just enter the city like that and hold it hostage. It is
unbelievable. Obviously Mumbai will bounce back but it has been hurt
badly and it will take time to heal,"
says Kashyap, who has directed films like 'Black Friday' based on the
1993 terror strike and the ensuing riots.
Mumbai terror attacks hit film, television shootings
The terror attacks in the metropolis have cast shadow on the film and
television industry where several shootings have been cancelled.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was shooting for 'Teen Patti' till
November 24 in Ballard Estate, Capital cinema, Horniman Circle and
Kitab Mahal areas, which are in the vicinity of Mumbai CST station,
one of the key sites of the attack, described the situation as
"terrible".
"Mumbai under terrorist attack!! Several locations bombed and
terrorists firing all over the city. Major hotels under siege.
Multiple action on. Army called on. It's a terrible situation," he
wrote on his blog echoing the sentiments of Mumbaikars.
Ajay Devgan and wife Kajol were to shoot for their animation film
'Toonpur Ka Superhero' in suburban Chembur today but the programme has
been called off, Devgan's spokesman said.
Shooting of several television serials have also been put on hold in
view of the grim situation prevailing in the megapolis in view of the
attacks that have left at least 100 dead till now, industry sources
said.
However, producer Mukesh Bhatt said the shooting for his film was in
progress in the city.
Abhay Deol, whose 'Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye' is releasing tomorrow, said
he was finding it difficult to concentrate on promotion of his film.
With a holiday declared in Mumbai today, heads of television channels
have asked employees to stay indoors.
"Television shootings are going slow. Many of them are not happening
today," they added.
Hotels world over a soft target for terrorists
Attacks on two luxury hotels -The Taj and Trident- in the country's
financial capital Mumbai have drawn attention again to the fact that
hotels are a soft target for terrorists who want to capture world
attention to their causes.
The Mumbai incident follows previous attempts on hotels elsewhere in
the world, one such incident in the recent past in Islamabad where a
deadly blast targeted the Marriott hotel near Pakistan's Parliament,
killing at least 40 people and wounded another 200.
In 2005 in Jordan, Al Qaeda conducted a series of coordinated bombing
on three hotels in the capital city Amman on November 9. The blasts at
at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Radisson SAS Hotel, and the Days Inn
killed 60 people and injured 115 others. Oen of the hotels was hosting
a wedding with hundreds of guests.
In October 2004, bombings at three sites on the east coast of the
Sinai peninsula killed 34 people. The Egyptian government said the
mastermind was Palestinian and the targets appeared to be Israeli
tourists.
On August 5, 2003, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the
lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel in Indonesian capital Jakarta killing
12 people, including one Danish, one Dutch and two Chinese and
injuring 150. The hotel was viewed as a symbol of Western power and
thus been the prime focus of terrorists.
Another reason why hotels are being targeted is because of the kind of
clientele, experts say.
Mumbai being the financial capital of the country at the centre of
economic decision making there are numerous important delegates
checking into one of the seven or five star hotels in the city.
Australian actress hid inside cupboard to escape gunfire
An Australian TV actress, who was trapped inside Mumbai's Taj Hotel
when terrorists went on a shooting spree, hid herself in a two-by-
three metre cupboard for an hour to escape death.
Brooke Satchwell, former star of soap opera 'Neighbours', told a radio
portal that she was inside the ground-floor toilets when the attack
happened and "everyone just froze".
"As I stepped into the bathroom you could hear machine-gun fire start
up in the lobby," she told the radio portal. "People started locking
themselves into the toilet cubicles, which clearly wasn't a very good
idea. But we were trying to find somewhere to hide," she said.
Satchwell, along with her boyfriend and about eight other foreigners,
has now been moved to another hotel in south Mumbai, whose location
was not disclosed for security reasons.
"I can't even get my leg dressed, we can't go to the airport, that's
been bombed, we can't go to the police centres, they've been bombed,"
Satchwell's boyfriend told a newspaper from the hotel.
Recalling her ordeal at the Taj Hotel, the actress told the portal
that hotel staff directed the group into the service cupboard, where
she waited for up to an hour, hearing bursts of gunfire.
"Some of the hotel security came and ushered us very quickly down the
corridor and across the lobby, clearly no one had a very good idea of
what happened ... or where we were meant to be heading at that stage,"
she said.
At least 20 Australians were in the nearby Oberoi hotel, which also
came under attack, all of them members of a New South Wales delegation
organised by the Department of State and Regional Development.
Industry demands tougher laws against terrorists
Expressing shock over the terrorist attack in Mumbai claiming about
100 lives, Indian industry on Thursday demanded tougher laws along
with "stronger and firmer" leadership to tackle terrorism.
The industry leaders, including heads of the apex chambers, said the
country needs to be on a high alert since its institutions are
becoming vulnerable to the terrorists' attacks.
Condemning the killer attacks in India's financial capital, HDFC
Chairman Deepak Parekh said, "Blasts are bad for investor
confidence."
Demanding stringent laws to deal with terrorists, FICCI President
Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "It is time we all join this debate on
terrorism and demand stronger and firmer leadership and approach to
this threat of terrorism, including better laws."
He said the Indian business has so far been "mute and very detached
from this debate on terrorism and tougher approach to terrorism and
terrorists, including anti-terror laws".
CII President and ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director K V Kamath said
the attacks "clearly show that our institutions could be vulnerable
whether institutions of commerce like hotels or any institutions doing
any sort of business".
He said, "Everyone needs to be on high alert at this point of time."
However, while the city has a track record of bouncing back, "this is
new type of attack and I am sure the city has to adjust to this
attack," Kamath said.
Mumbai terror attack: Live timeline
Terrorists launched a massive attack on India's financial capital on
Wednesday, and put major hotels under seige. A timeline of events
since then:
8.00 pm: 4 more terrorists killed at the Taj. Another mammoth
explosion in the Oberoi, starts huge fire.
7.30 pm: Major fire breaks out in Trident hotel.
6.45 pm: Large contingent of the RAF comes out of the New Taj
building, two explosions heard in the Oberoi.
6.00 pm: Fourteen more people evacuated from the Oberoi, 50 more
commandoes enter the Taj.
5:45: pm: Four injured foreign nationals have been moved out of the
Trident hotel.
5.40: pm:An special NSG team specialised in managing hostage crisis,
moves to Nariman house armed with rocket launchers and bazookas. Their
aim is to flush out terrorists still holed inside and to free trapped
Israeli hostages.
5.20 pm: The NSG arrests one militant at the Trident. The arrested
terrorist has been identified as Abu Ismail from Faridkot in
Pakistan.
4.56 pm: According to recent reports, five persons are being held as
hostages at Nariman House.
4.55 pm: The Indian Navy spokesman Capt Manohar Nambiar says the Navy
has "located the ship (MV Alpha) and now we are in the process of
boarding it and searching it."
4.55 pm: Firing intensifies at Taj hotel and Trident hotel.
4.40 pm: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirms that the attacks are
being carried out by a group based out of the country. He further
promises to set up a Federal Investigation Authority to fight terror
in a co-ordinated manner.
4.40 pm: 30 hostages have been freed from Trident hotel. However,
reports claim that 35 people are still trapped inside the hotel.
4.40 pm: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoles the deaths, describes
the attacks as pre-planned. He further vows to take the strongest
possible action in an address to the nation.
4.37 pm: Firing rages on at Trident Hotel.
4.37 pm: Grenade blast heard from Nariman House in south Mumbai.
4.25 pm: A terrorist has been reportedly killed in Taj hotel. Reports
say that commandos have started barging into the rooms of the hotel.
4.24 pm: Terrorists holed up in Room No 473 of Taj Hotel.
4.23 pm: A major explosion heard from Taj Hotel.
4.18 pm: Major R K Hooda, General Officer Commanding of Maharashtra,
Goa and Gujarat, confirms that 4-5 militants holed up at Nariman
House.
4.18 pm: Three Turks were holed up in their rooms in one of the luxury
hotels in Mumbai attacked by Islamist militants, the Anatolia news
agency reported quoting the Turkish Ambassador to India.
4.13 pm: Jewish priest Gabriel among hostages held at Nariman House,
police say.
3.48 pm : Trawler or merchant vessel may have dropped speed boats
allegedly used by terrorists, say Navy sources.
3.41 pm : Navy's INS Kunjali and Vindhyagiri are chasing the suspected
terrorist vessel off Mumbai.
3.40 pm : Navy and Coast Guard on hot pursuit of a merchant vessel
suspected to have dropped the terrorists off the Mumbai coast.
3.35 pm : President Pratibha Patil phones the PM.
3.30 pm: Another loud explosion at the Trident Oberoi. In total six
blasts have been heard from the hotel in the last 30 minutes.
3.27 pm : "Before I could reach there, the terrorists who had attacked
one of the hospitals, the Cama Hospital, had left and those who
attacked the railway station had also left," Union Home Minister
Shivraj Patil said.
3.20 pm: Army along with NSG commandos prepares for final assault at
Nariman House
3.12 pm : An Italian national was among nine foreigners killed in the
attacks on hotels and other targets in Mumbai, the Italian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs said.
3.11 pm : A section of Taj hotel catches fire again.
3.11 pm : Maharashtra DGP A N Roy reaches Trident hotel.
3.10 pm : The Coast Guard launched a major search for a ship 'M V
Alpha' by which the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks are
suspected to have reached the shores of the metropolis.
3.03 pm : Investigators have picked up certain clues in connection
with the terror attacks in Mumbai, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said,
refusing to share details.
3.00 pm : Explosions heard inside Taj hotel.
2.50 pm: Terrorists holed up in Trident hotel throw five grenades
outside the building. Meanwhile, two heavy explosions were heard from
the hotel.
2.50 pm: European nations plan to send a plane to India to fly their
citizens out of Mumbai, Spain's consul in the city said.
2.43 pm: Grenade blast heard from Nariman House in south Mumbai, where
six terrorists are holed up.
2.43 pm: Another blast rocks Taj hotel.
2.40 pm: Firing resumes in Taj hotel, marking the beginning of
another round of operation. Earlier, the Maharshtra DGP A N Roy had
claimed that all the hostages have been rescued from Taj. But the
firing has again resumed in the hotel, indicating the presence of
threat in the luxurious establishment. Another report had claimed that
four storeys of the six-storeyed Taj Hotel have been reportedly
sanitised.
2.40 pm: More NSG commandos have reached the Taj hotel.
2.27 pm: British counter-terrorism experts say the terror attacks at
prominent landmarks in Mumbai have "all the hallmarks" of being an al
Qaeda operation.
2.08 pm: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said that the people
involved in the deadly overnight terrorist attack came from outside
with hand grenades and weapons.
1.50 pm: 200 more NSG commandos are being rushed to Mumbai, an
National Security Guard spokesman said.
1.48 pm: Maharashtra Director General of Police A N Roy said nine
suspected terrorists, who were held this morning, are being
questioned.
1.48 pm: Maharashtra DGP A N Roy confirmed that all the hostages
inside Taj have been rescued. However, hostage-like situation at
Trident hotel continues, he added.
1.27 pm: Intelligence reports had warned that there could be a
possible entry of terrorists into Mumbai through the sea route, a top
police official claimed.
1.27 pm: The Gujarat Police said the Mumbai terror strike was similar
to the Akshardham Temple attack of 2002, and they are carrying out
checks and searches as a precautionary measure.
1.27 pm: Handgrenades lobbed from Oberoi Hotel in south Mumbai where
terrorists are holed up.
1.27 pm: Expressing serious concern over the Mumbai terror attack, the
AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said it was an attack on the
country and not only on the commercial capital, Mumbai.
1.22 pm: President Pratibha Patil speaks to Maharashtra Chief Minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh to enquire about the situation in the metropolis.
1.19 pm: One more body was brought out of the Taj Mahal hotel, taking
the total number of bodies removed from there to three.
1.15 pm: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi
termed the attacks as “barbaric” and extended support to the Indian
government. Notably, today’s meeting of Qureshi and Union Minister for
External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee at Chandigarh has been cancelled in
the wake of the attacks.
1.10 pm: US Ambassador to India David Mulford offers condolences to
the families of the victims of Mumbai terror attacks and said
Washington was ready to provide all possible assistance to the Indian
government.
1.04 pm: Another explosion at Trident.
1.02 pm: Loud explosion heard from Trident hotel.
1.01 pm: "We have total clue about the attacks," says Maharashtra
Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil. However, he has refused to give
details.
12.55 pm: A day after the terror attack on the historic Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus which left over hundred killed, services on the
Central Railways were restored to normal today, officials said.
12.42 pm: Security forces and holed up terrorists exchange fire in
Nariman House in south Mumbai.
12.39 pm: One terrorist holed up inside Nariman House in south Mumbai
killed, says police. Six more ultras suspected to be inside the
building.
12.39 pm: Dubbing the terrorists as enemies of the country, Congress
president Sonia Gandhi said that terror attacks in Mumbai posed a
challenge to the entire nation and would be met resolutely.
12.34 pm: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi convened an emergency
meeting to review the "internal security" in the state in wake of
yesterday's terror attacks in neighbouring Mumbai.
12.34 pm: Seven bodies brought out of Taj Hotel.
12.32 pm: Intelligence Bureau chief and Defence Secretary to attend
the meeting called by Home Secretary.
12.18 pm: Rs 5 lakh compensation to be given to the kin of those
killed in the terror attacks, says Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R
R Patil. Rs 50,000 will be paid to the seriously injured.
12:16 pm: Two IL-76 aircrafts and four AN-32 aircrafts are ready to
take off from Palam Airport in Delhi to assist operations going on in
Mumbai.
12.14 pm: Defence Minister A K Antony calls a high-level meeting of
the armed forces in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.
12.14 pm : Airforce Brigade arrives in Mumbai.
12.13 pm : Commandos from Pune also rushing to Mumbai.
12.10 pm: Two bodies brought out of terror-struck Taj Hotel in Mumbai
and taken away in an ambulance.
12.05 pm: Ten terrorists involved in the attacks are Pakistanis,
sources tell Zee News.
12.04 pm: Seven British citizens have been injured in the terror
attacks in Mumbai, British High Commissioner in India, Sir Richard
Stag, said.
12.01 pm: At least four terrorists were holed up in the Taj Hotel
where 40 to 50 guests were still trapped, says Major R K Hooda,
General Officer Commanding of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat.
11.52 am: Nine suspects have been arrested and interrogated, R R Patil
said.
11.51 am: Five terrorists killed and one captured in Mumbai, says
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil outside Oberoi Hotel.
11.40 am: R R Patil refutes reports of any ransom demands being made
by the terrorists holed up in the hotel. He is unsure of the exact
number of hostages in the hotel. Earlier, a terrorist, identified as
Sahadullah, holed up inside Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel told a news channel
that he seeks release of all “Mujahideens held in India” in exchange
of the freedom of hostages inside the hotel.
11.23 am: The number of injured policemen rises to 25.
11.21 am: Two top US intelligence officials are believed to be among
dead in the firing at Taj hotel.
11.20 am: Army’s General Officer Commanding reaches the Oberoi on
instructions from Prime Minister.
11.20 am: Commandos begin firing at Nariman House. Four terrorists
thought to be holed up inside.
11.17 am: L K Advani to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during
visit to terror-hit Mumbai.
11.16 am : Shots heard from the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-
orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch that was seized by the
gunmen overnight.
11.15 am: A child of foreign nationality and an Indian maid seen
coming out of Nariman House in South Mumbai.
11.10 am: Bush, Obama condemn Mumbai attacks; offer assistance
11.05 am: LK Advani terms the Mumbai attacks as the biggest in India.
Calls for unity at the hour of crisis.
11.01 am: Shivraj Patil holds emergency meeting
10.45 am: Indian Navy’s Vice Admiral Bedi said that around 4-5
terrorists are still holed up inside the hotel, along with 40
hostages.
At around 7.30 am, NSG commandoes entered Taj to evacuate people.
Commandoes had also raided Trident Oberoi Hotel in South Mumbai to
flush out terrorists holed up there. Terrorists have, reportedly,
positioned themselves on the 19th floor of the Oberoi hotel.
Earlier, a bomb was also diffused this morning near Taj.
http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2008-11-27/486894news.html
Karkare’s response to a death threat: A 'smiley'
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Y P Rajesh
Posted: Nov 27, 2008 at 1637 hrs IST
Mumbai The last days of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief
Hemant Karkare were probably some of the busiest in his 26-year career
in the Indian Police Service (IPS), and apparently tormented as well.
The ATS believed it had cracked the September 29 Malegaon bomb blast
case, and about a month ago arrested Hindu extremists in a
breakthrough that shocked the nation and added a new twist to the
entire discourse on terror and religion.
But as the probe unravelled the alleged plot and the role of some
Hindu leaders, the case got caught in the politics of terror and the
ATS was at the centre of charges that it was being used as a tool to
target the Sangh Parivar amid allegations of illegal detention and
torture by some of the 11 arrested for the blast.
The BJP, RSS and VHP leaders, among others from the Hindu nationalist
brigade, accused the ATS of being on a witch-hunt, with some even
demanding that ATS officers be subjected to a narco-analysis to
establish their motives.
No less a leader than the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, L K
Advani, had demanded a change in the ATS team and a judicial inquiry
into the torture allegations made by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key
suspect in the Malegaon case.
The Shiv Sena too had come out in support of the suspects and on
Wednesday had threatened in its mouthpiece Saamna that it would
publish the names of some ATS officers and shame them as it said they
had tortured the Malegaon suspects.
That Karkare was affected by this was apparent when we met at his
office on Tuesday to get an update on the probe, less than 36 hours
before he was killed. The Indian Express has decided to break the
confidence of what was an off-the-record conversation in an attempt to
highlight the anguish of the investigators over the currents in which
the Malegaon probe was getting caught as well as the larger debate
over the politics of terror.
"I don't know why this case has become so political," was one of
Karkare's first comments. "The pressure is tremendous and I am
wondering how to extricate it from all the politics."
Was the pressure telling on the investigation, what with someone who
could be the next prime minister of the country questioning the
credibility of the ATS?
"Of course," was the answer. "We are being very very careful. In fact,
when we want to question a suspect and if he or she has any
Hindutvawadi connections, we make sure once, twice, thrice, that we
have enough reason and evidence to even question. Normally it is not
like that. We are able to freely question anyone we suspect."
"In fact, immediately after the blast I had visited Malegaon along
with the Deputy Chief Minister and other officials and witnessed the
anger of the locals who shouted some slogans," Karkare said. "After
that I told my men that we have to pursue this case very objectively
and not start with assumptions that people of this community or that
community could be responsible."
Originally from Madhya Pradesh, Karkare studied mechanical engineering
in Nagpur and worked at the National Productivity Council and
Hindustan Lever before making it to the IPS in 1982. Known to be an
upright officer who served in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) as
well as the Indian mission in Vienna, Austria, as a counselor, Karkare
did not hide his love for Mumbai or his discomfort with the
predominantly political-bureaucratic culture of Delhi where he was
posted.
During a stint in the Chandrapur forests near Nagpur in 1991 to fight
Naxalites, he took an interest in driftwood, discovered artistic
shapes in them and converted them into wooden sculptures, making about
150 of them over a two-year period. Talking to the media about
sensitive cases such as Malegaon could prove to be a double-edged
sword, he had said as we parted, adding that he would like us to meet
informally once a month so that he could learn the ways of the media.
His last visuals as seen on TV showed him working with his men near
the VT station, the target of one of the attacks, although it is
perplexing at this point in time why such a senior officer ended up
getting exposed to a brazen terrorist attack. Initially, he was shown
wearing a shoddy helmet normally seen used by constables during riots.
A little later, a policeman lowers a flimsy bulletproof vest over his
shoulders, one that was obviously of little protection when those
fatal shots were fired at him.
The previous evening, hours after our meeting, TV channels had
‘breaking news’ that he had received a fresh death threat from some
unidentified caller, apparently in connection with the Malegaon probe.
An Indian Express reporter SMSed him asking him if this was true or if
he had anything to say. His reply: just a smiley.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Karkares-response-to-a-death-threat-A-smiley/391325/
'We could hear desperate shouts, bachao, bachao'
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Kavitha Iyer
Posted: Nov 27, 2008 at 1619 hrs IST
Mumbai Ten pm is a reasonable pack-up time, even for the city that
doesn't sleep. It is the time to check what late night shows one can
catch at the mall-multiplex next door, consider splurging on a gourmet
meal to stave off midweek blues.
"A guy shooting madly at diners at Leo's," said the first caller. I
hollered for the night reporter, Aditya, our youngest in office, and
rushed him off. Some loose cannon with a gun, I told myself minutes
later, despatching what I thought was the last report of the day.
At 10.10 pm, senior correspondent Prashant Rangnekar and I heard a
long rat-tat-tat outside — it could have been dismissed as a long
firecracker, but this is The Express Towers, located in the heart of
the financial capital's business district, Nariman Point.
Wondering what sort of wedding party would burst firecrackers outside
here, I walked towards the window from where I could see The Hilton,
right opposite.
Prashant came with the next inputs: people running helter skelter
outside, the taxi-drivers waiting for their regular long-distance
drops had fled, there was firing inside The Hilton. "Some fled without
their taxis," he said of the city's most dependable cabbies.
With dozens of others still in the building, many management
professionals and bankers working late, security guards, journalists,
labourers on the night-shift, I walked down the stairs. There was
chaos outside the plush hotel, groups of people huddled around on the
pavement opposite, our security guards trying to seal the building
entrance, followed by the wail of police vans and ambulances.
"Soon after I saw one body being taken out in a car. Three more bodies
were then taken away in a police van," Prashant reported. We saw
frightened hotel staffers crying as they described the scene inside to
lathi-wielding policemen — among the dead were the security staffers
of the hotel.
The street was almost deserted for the next few minutes. But even as
Prashant walked on the pavement trying to find eye-witnesses, anybody
who could make sense of what television had already put out as a gang
war, the Goenka Marg filled with onlookers once again. While policemen
and guards tried to warn people off, I climbed three floors to the
Express lawn, a vantage point to see what was happening at The
Hilton.
Glass windows in the upper floors of the Trident were being shattered.
"Bachao Bachao," we could hear desperate shouts, nearly 400 metres
away.
That's when the calls of other attacks — at VT, at Cama Hospital, at
Metro cinema junction, began to come in. Even as phones were ringing
off the hook as informants, well-wishers, parents, friends, readers
called in, colleagues warned us off the lawn.
As I turned, an explosion rocked the building, followed minutes later
by another. We could see smoke going up in the distance, hear more
panicked wails. More firemen were running in, an ambulance was backing
up to the farther gate, more sirens as, finally, the last few
onlookers moved out of the way.
It was quiet for a few minutes. Till news from other parts of the city
began to come in.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/We-could-hear-desperate-shouts-bachao-bachao/391422/
Hotel residents talk of chaos, panic and blood all over
27 Nov 2008, 1823 hrs IST, IANS
NEW YORK: Manuela Testonili, ex-wife of American pop singer Prince,
was among those who along with 200 others were stuck in the dark
ballroom of
the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel for several hours, when terror
struck Mumbai late Wednesday night.
"We left everything behind, including purses and phones. There was a
lot of panic," she said.
New York-based filmmaker Smriti Mundhra and her parents, who were
staying in an apartment near Oberoi hotel, when the attack happened,
told CNN that they were all safe. They were given instructions by the
police to stay at home with the doors locked and away from windows.
"Just as we were getting ready for bed last night, I heard a little
bit of commotion on the street and some police sirens and didn't
really think much of it, then my parents came in and told me something
was going on in the neighbourhood. So we watched the news and realized
essentially there's a terrorist attack happening just outside our
door," Mundhra said.
Held up in his room at the Taj Mahal hotel, British lawmaker Mark
Abell told media that when he came back from dinner Wednesday night
the security fences weren't operating. "The hotel shook with an
immense blast. Three or four minutes later, there was another large
blast, the whole building shaking."
As he looked outside, Abell saw the crowd running. "It was chaos,
gunshots, it looked all very, very nasty," Abell said.
Yasmin Wong, a CNN employee who was staying in the Taj, told the news
network that she hid under her bed for several hours after she was
awoken by gunfire. Wong said she received a phone call from the hotel
telling her to turn her light off, put a wet towel by the door and
stay in her room until she was told otherwise, CNN reported.
Peter Keep, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur told Wall Street Journal as he
saw fire engulfing the Taj hotel. "It's familiar, it's iconic and even
if it represents nothing more than a beautiful old building to see it
ablaze like that is just shocking," he said.
Farhang Jehani, owner of the Café Leopold was lucky to have survived
the shootout inside his restaurant Wednesday night as terrorists
killed people.
Between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. Wednesday night, two gunmen who appeared to
be in their mid 20s pull out machine guns and opened fire on the
restaurant full of evening dinners. The crowd scattered but more than
10 people were shot, he said.
"There is blood all over and not one table is standing. They are all
upside down," he told The Wall Street Journal.
Noriyuki Kanda, sushi chef at the Wasabi restaurant in the Taj Mahal
Palace and Tower Hotel, was holed up in the hotel for more than 12
hours. He told the Journal over phone from Mumbai he was working when
he heard a lot of noise.
"I had only heard gunfire on television before so we weren't sure what
it was. Then we heard rapid fire like a machine gun and people rushed
in from the bar downstairs and said that four men were shooting people
in the lobby," he said.
Kanda and his staff led the customers through the kitchen and the back
hallways for employees, some of which were filled with smoke.
MPs recall night of horror in Mumbai's Taj hotel
New Delhi (PTI/IANS): It was a night without end for Communist Party
of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP N.N. Krishnadas who was having dinner at
the Taj hotel in Mumbai when masked militants barged in.
The Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, who was rescued by commandoes on
Thursday morning, lived to tell his tale of horror following Mumbai's
worst terror attack.
Bhupendrasinh Solanki, BJP MP from Godhra in Gujarat, N N Krishnadas
of CPI(M) from Palghat in Kerala, Mani Tripathi, a BSP parliamentarian
from Uttar Pradesh and one more MP from Maharashtra were visiting the
metropolis as members of the Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate
Legislation.
"I was having dinner with some of my colleagues when two masked
militants barged into the restaurant. They fired indiscriminately, I
saw three people being shot. The terrorists left the room soon after
that," Krishnadas told IANS over the phone from Mumbai.
Recalling the nightmare at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, one
of Mumbai's most identifiable landmarks and one of the seven places
attacked by terrorists Wednesday night, he said: "The hotel staff
rushed us into another room after the terroists moved out of the
restaurant."
"We stayed there through the night. In the morning, commandos rescued
us," he said.
Solanki, who also witnessed the 2001 Parliament attack, said he had
checked into the hotel at around 6 pm along with 15 officials and the
MPs and came down to the ground floor from the room three hours later
to have dinner.
"We were in the dining hall at Taj hotel. All of a sudden some
terrorists came in and started firing. I heard the loud sound of
blasts and bullets," Solanki told PTI.
He said the firing was rapid and they mistook it for crackers.
"The waiters told us that it seemed to be a terrorist attack. The
senior staff then took all of us to the back of the hotel. We were in
the swimming pool area and were asked to lie on the ground".
Solanki said all the MPs and Parliamentary officials were holed up on
the floor for some 60 to 80 minutes before being taken to safety
through a rear door of the hotel.
"I left the hotel at around 11 pm. Then I was taken to nearby police
station and spent the whole night there. I was present when the
terrorists attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001 but I think it is
the biggest terror attack in the country," he said.
US convenes counter-terrorism meeting after Mumbai attacks
Washington (PTI): Top US intelligence and counter-terrorism officials
held a meeting at the White House as Washington conveyed to New Delhi
that it stood ready to help in the wake of "horrific" terror attacks
in Mumbai.
"A meeting was held at the White House of National Security Council
and officials from counter-terrorism and intelligence agencies as well
as the State and Defence departments," the White House said in a
statement.
"The US government continues to monitor the situation closely," a
White House spokesman said.
"This includes the safety and security of our citizens, and we stand
ready to assist and support the Indian government," the statement
said.
Gunmen were like young 'boys', say eyewitnesses
Mumbai (PTI): With Indian intelligence and security agencies still
groping to identify the terrorists who have struck at the country's
financial capital, three Australian victims have now come out
describing them as "young boys."
The description came from two young Australian tourists, David Coker
(23) and his partner Katie Anstee (24), who were among the first to
come face-to-face with the terrorists in metropolis' famous bar 'afe
Leopold' in Colaba.
"They looked just like boys and they were on a rampage -- It's a full-
on."
David and Katie have arrived in the city to celebrate their graduation
and they went to eat at Leopold, when terrorists struck.
"We have just sat down for dinner ordering food when it seemed fire
crackers were blowing up all around us and people were screaming," the
duo told the Sydney's Courier-Mail newspaper telephonically.
Katie was shot in the leg with the bullet breaking her femur while
David was grazed by bullet and both had to flee.
David said, he had to virtually carry her girlfriend as she couldn't
move.
"We got into a taxi which took us to Bombay hospital. We were, I
think, the first people at hospital, which is where we are now," they
said.
Another Australian TV actress Brooke Satchwell also had a harrowing
ordeal to tell of her confrontation with another group of terrorist
boys in the city's landmark Taj hotel.
Satchwell hid herself in a two-by-three metre cupboard for an hour to
escape death.
Industrialist Gautam Adani in Taj during terror attack
Ahmedabad (PTI): Adani group Chairman Gautam Adani, who was in a
restaurant at Taj Hotel in south Mumbai when the armed terrorists
attacked the hotel, described it as the "most horrible experience of
his life."
"We were having dinner at the Chambers' Wednesday evening which is a
restaurant on the first floor of Taj," Adani told PTI.
There were around 150 people in the restaurant at the time of attack
and all were holed up for more than two hours, he said.
"After two hours, we were rescued and taken out by the army
commandos," he said, adding that all the people who were at the
Chambers' were taken out safely by the army.
Australian killed in Mumbai terror attacks
Mumbai (PTI): An Australian is among those killed in the Mumbai terror
attacks, hospital sources said on Thursday.
Forty-nine-year-old Braid Gilbert Taylor was brought to St George's
Hospital in South Mumbai late Wednesday night. He was declared brought
dead on arrival, they said.
They, however, did not have information as to from where the foreigner
was brought to the hospital. Taylor's body has been sent for a post-
mortem.
Key developments in the Mumbai terror attack
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits JJ Hospital to enquire about the
condition of those injured in the terror attacks (At 9.30 pm)
Another explosion in the first floor of the old building of Taj hotel
and several rounds of gunshot heard. Military personnel taking
position around the hotel.
Another grenade blast in Trident (Oberoi) hotel (At 9 pm)
Taj Hotels GM's wife, children killed in terrorist attack
Terrorist attacks happened due to intelligence failure, says Leader of
Opposition L K Advani.
UK sending anti-terrorism experts to Mumbai: Brown
Home Minister Shivraj Patil must go: Bardhan
Fire at Trident (Oberoi) hotel (At 8 pm)
Mumbai attacks had some al-Qaeda hallmarks: Britain
Indian naval official will not rule out Somali pirates' role
At least 7 hostages rescued from Oberoi hotel. (At 7 pm)
Seven terrorists killed in Mumbai, says Chief Minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh.
Railway ADGP K. P. Raghuvanshi given temporary charge of ATS. (At 6
pm)
The groups behind attacks in Mumbai are based outside the country,
says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Multiple explosions heard at old building of Taj Hotel.
Thirty five people held as hostages inside Oberoi Hotel. (At 5.30 pm)
Indian Navy locates the ship M V Alpha used by the terrorists
Third grenade blast heard from Trident Hotel
Jewish priest Gabriel among hostages held at Nariman House, police
say. (At 5 pm)
Explosions heard inside Taj hotel also.
Grenade blast heard from Nariman House, where 6 terrorists are holed
up.
9 foreigners among 101 killed in Mumbai terror attacks
All people trapped in Taj Hotel rescued, says DGP A.N.Roy.
200 more NSG commandos being sent to Mumbai: NSG spokesperson.
Hand-grenades lobbed from Oberoi Hotel.
Security forces and holed up terrorists exchange fire in Nariman
House. One terrorist killed, 6 more ultras suspected to be inside the
building, says police.
Maharashtra government annonces Rs 5 lakh compensation to the kin of
those killed in the terror attacks. Rs 50,000 will be paid to the
seriously injured.
Defence Minister A K Antony calls a high-level meeting of the armed
forces in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.
Two bodies brought out of terror-struck Taj Hotel in Mumbai and taken
away in an ambulance.
Five terrorists killed and one captured in Mumbai, says Maharashtra Dy
CM R.R. Patil.
Four to five terrorists are suspected to be holed up inside Nariman
House, says Police.
Advani to accompany Manmohan Singh during visit to terror-hit Mumbai.
Mumbai police did not have prior inputs about terror attacks, says
R.R. Patil.
NSG commandos reach Trident Hotel to flush out terrorists.
Maharashtra Cabinet to meet at 2 pm in backdrop of terror attacks on
Mumbai; all-party meet at 3 pm.
NSG commandos launch operation at Nariman House.
Major General R K Hooda, General Officer Commanding of Maharashtra,
Goa and Gujarat, reaches Trident Hotel.
Death toll in Mumbai terror attacks reaches around 100.
Firing at Nariman House in South Mumbai intensifies; window panes on
third and fifth floor shattered.
Two terrorists shot dead at Taj Mahal Hotel. Two continue to be holed
up, police says.
Schools and colleges in Mumbai to remain closed today.
Firing heard near Nariman House in Colaba; police cordon off area amid
reports that terrorists are holed up in the building.
Fresh rounds of gunfire heard from in
BJP decides not to name Karkare in official statement
New Delhi (PTI): Having attacked Mumbai ATS' probe into Malegaon
blast, the BJP on Thursday decided not to mention the name of
investigating agency chief Hemant Karkare or any other police
personnel who were killed in terror attacks in Mumbai late Wednesday.
At an hour-long meeting in Mumbai on Thursday, the party top brass is
understood to have deliberated on the issue of whether to name Karkare
in the party's official statement containing its stand on the terror
attacks and decided in favour of not naming any of policemen killed in
the attacks.
The meeting came after a statement issued by L K Advani from his
residence early in the morning had mentioned all three senior officers
of Mumbai police Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, who were
killed, along with Delhi Police inspector M C Sharma who died in an
encounter with suspected terrorists in Delhi.
The BJP has accused Mumbai ATS of being unprofessional, politically
motivated and acting on government orders to frame sadhvi Pragnya
Singh Thakur and Lt Col Purohit in Malegaon blast case.
As per sources, the top brass meeting had "several views against the
mention of specific names and was finally decided to drop the names
from the official release."
Ratan Tata calls for national unity
New Delhi (PTI): Strongly condemning the terrorist attacks in Mumbai,
business conglomerate Tata Group's head Ratan Tata on Thursday urged
the nation to remain united to beat the divisive forces.
"We must show that we cannot be disabled or destroyed, but that such
henious acts will only make us stronger. It is important that we do
not allow divisive forces to weaken us. We need to overcome these
forces as one strong unified nation," Tata said in a statement.
Condoling the loss of life in separate terror attacks, including on
the Taj Hotel, owned by the Tata Group, he said, "We cannot replace
the lives that have been lost and we will never forget the terrifying
events of last night. But we must stand together shoulder-to-shoulder
as citizens of India and rebuild what has been destroyed."
He also said the "terrible wanton" attacks on innocent people and
destruction of prominent landmarks in India deserve to be condemned.
"My sympathy and condolences go out to all those who have suffered,
being injured and those who have lost their loved ones in this
terrible act of hatred and destruction," Tata said.
The Taj Hotel in Mumbai was one of the targets of terror attacks in
which over 100 people were killed and as many were taken as hostages.
Terror in Mumbai
India under attack
Nov 27th 2008 | MUMBAI
From The Economist print edition
A terrorist onslaught of stunning scope and horror
Reuters
THE sheer scale and audacity of the assault were staggering. Gangs of
well-armed youths attacked two luxury hotels, a restaurant, a railway
station and at least one hospital. Gunfire and explosions rang through
Mumbai overnight on November 26th-27th and through the next morning.
As The Economist went to press, more than 100 people were reported to
have been killed, and the toll seemed likely to rise. Several
foreigners, including some from America, Japan and Britain, were among
the dead. So were over a dozen policemen, including Mumbai’s chief
counter-terrorism officer. Up to 100 hostages, including selected
American and British guests, were alleged to be held hostage inside a
hotel.
Even in a city—and country—with a grim record of terrorist violence,
these were extraordinary scenes. The attacks started at around 10.30pm
on November 27th, when gunmen started shooting and throwing grenades
at Mumbai’s main Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station.
Television footage showed two men shooting at random as they drove
through nearby streets in a stolen police jeep.
Around the same time, a bomb was reported to have exploded in a taxi
parked near the city’s main airport. More or less simultaneously,
gunmen speaking Hindi and Urdu, the language of many north-Indian
Muslims and of neighbouring Pakistan, stormed two hotels—the Taj Mahal
and the Trident Oberoi—and Café Leopold, a restaurant popular with
tourists. Police outside the Taj Mahal, India’s most famous hotel,
lapped by the Arabian Sea, said gunmen arrived there by inflatable
dinghy. In the early hours, a gunfight erupted on Marine Drive, the
scenic coastal road seen in so many Bollywood films, in which another
Mumbai police chief was killed.
As dawn broke, flames were rising from the domed roof of the Taj
Mahal. Navy and army commandos, who had retaken the hotel’s lower
floors and killed two terrorists, reported bodies in many rooms and
perhaps half a dozen terrorists still living. A trickle of terrified
employees and guests, some with gunshot wounds, continued to flee the
building. One fugitive, Amit, a hotel-restaurant manager, said his
chef had been hit by three bullets and many colleagues remained
inside. A few badly injured survivors were wheeled from the hotel on
brass luggage-trolleys. By midday on November 28th most of the
hostages were reported to have been released from the hotel, although
there were reports of further shooting.
Meanwhile at the nearby Trident Oberoi, as many as 100 hostages were
reported still to be held. Gunfire and explosions were reported from
the upper storeys of the building.
There seemed little doubt that the attackers were Muslim militants of
some description, but their exact provenance was unclear.
Responsibility was claimed by a previously little-known group called
the Deccan Mujahideen. Speaking to Indian television by telephone, a
gunman holding hostages in the Trident Oberoi demanded that Muslim
prisoners, including those captured in Kashmir, should be released
from Indian jails. “Release all the mujahideens, and Muslims living in
India should not be troubled,” he said.
In the past five months India has suffered from a spate of Islamist
militancy, with bomb-blasts in half a dozen cities, including Delhi,
Bangalore and Jaipur. A home-grown Muslim terrorist group, the Indian
Mujahideen, has been blamed for the spree, in which over 150 people
were killed. In a chilling, 14-page admission of responsibility for
the Delhi bombings in September, the Indian Mujahideen castigated the
counter-terrorism efforts of Mumbai’s police, and promised Mumbaikars
future “deadly attacks”.
As India’s first indigenous Muslim terrorist group—so they have often
been described—the Indian Mujahideen are a worrying sign. They seem to
have evolved from a decade-long campaign by Pakistan-based militants,
including many fighting an insurgency in Kashmir, to incite India’s
150m Muslims to revolt. These groups have been held primarily
responsible for half a dozen major terrorist attacks in Mumbai in
recent years. In 1993 local Muslim gangsters backed by Pakistan-based
militants set off 13 near-simultaneous bomb-blasts in the city,
killing more than 250 people. In 2006 another co-ordinated bombing
spree on Mumbai’s railway killed over 180 commuters. A Pakistan-based
group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, was blamed at the time.
This week’s attacks in Mumbai seemed different, however. Attacks by
bands of gunmen on numerous targets, instead of the mere laying of
bombs, and the seizure of so many hostages, led to speculation,
unsupported by evidence, that local militants in India could not have
mounted the attacks without considerable foreign help. And the targets
chosen—world-famous hotels and Western tourists—were a new phenomenon
for India, despite being a pattern familiar from attacks directed or
inspired by al-Qaeda elsewhere in the world.
Al-Qaeda has often threatened to launch strikes in India. In 2006 Arab
terrorists belonging to the organisation were foiled in an attempt to
set off bombs in Goa, India’s main destination for foreign tourists.
Among the targets of the latest attacks was a Jewish religious centre
in southern Mumbai which was reported to have been fired on by the
gunmen. Police said that an Israeli rabbi and his family were among a
group being held as hostages in a nearby apartment block.
Despite these worrying signs, Indian officials have so far resisted
suggestions that Indian Muslims are being radicalised and joining a
global jihad. Many refer approvingly to the observation of George Bush
that Muslims from India have not in general turned up to fight the
infidels on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. But security
analysts have meanwhile despaired at the unpreparedness of India’s
security agencies to counter a domestic Islamist threat. Whether or
not al-Qaeda was behind the latest attack, that happy complacency must
now have ended.
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12708194
Terrorism expert says India must revise counter-terrorism policy
By Augustine Anthuvan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 27 November 2008
2342 hrs
SINGAPORE: International terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said the
multiple assaults on Mumbai late Wednesday are "watershed attacks".
Professor Gunaratna, who heads the Singapore-based International
Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S
Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said that unless the
Indian government takes this threat seriously and takes decisive
action, the threat of terrorism will definitely grow in India.
Gunmen from the little-known Deccan Mujahedeen group had claimed
responsibility for the attacks, which have killed at least 100
people.
Professor Gunaratna said 'Deccan Mujahideen' is simply a front name
that the Indian Mujahideen uses. Indian Mujahideen originates from a
group called SIMI – Student Islamic Movement of India – and its
members are Indian nationals who have been inspired and influenced by
the Al-Qaeda.
He said: "The quality of this attack showed that the Indian Mujahideen
is a very capable organisation. Certainly, it has planned this attack
very carefully and attacks of this scale will mount in the future.
"The only way to prevent that, the only way to reduce the threat is to
develop high-quality, high-grade intelligence on these groups, on the
individuals, and to detect and disrupt those organisations – either to
incarcerate or kill those individual leaders.
"Unless that is done, the threat of terrorism will grow in India. So
India must rethink, must totally revise its counter terrorism policy
and strategy as a result of this attack."
On the group's mode of operation, Professor Gunaratna said: "The
terrorist attack was exceptionally well planned. They would have
studied their targets very carefully. And in fact, what we are seeing
is that the terrorists have invested very significant amount of time
planning and preparing the attack.
"It is an Al-Qaeda style attack... the timing was perfect. And in many
ways, the group is being inspired by Al-Qaeda, in terms of methodology
and also in terms of target selection because they selected high-
profile, symbolic and strategic targets."
The professor said the terrorists are out to instil fear within the
Indian government and the Indian society. By selecting a range of
targets from hospital to luxury hotels, they showed that they could
attack multiple targets at any given time.
Reports have said that the Deccan or Indian Mujahideen wanted to end
the persecution of Indian Muslims whom they think are being ill
treated, and in extreme cases killed by the Indian government and by
the Hindus.
The professor said there is no truth in that as the Indian people have
treated their minorities reasonably well. He added that the Indian
Mujahideen members have been driven by a misperception – a deviant and
heretical doctrine.
Professor Gunaratna also believes that the Indian forces are capable
enough to handle the situation and the international community should
allow the country to resolve the crisis on its own.
- CNA/so
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/392731/1/.html
Obama says India's democracy will win over terrorism
27 Nov 2008, 2041 hrs IST, Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN
WASHINGTON: India’s democracy "will prove far more resilient than the
hateful ideology that led to these attacks" in Mumbai, U.S President-
elect
Barack Obama said on Wednesday as the world reached out to India in
sympathy and support over what American analysts described as "India’s
9/11."
Both the incumbent Bush administration and Obama and his transition
team sent out strong messages of condemnation of the attacks and their
backing for India even as they coordinated their response in the
transition phase in the United States.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefed Obama -- working out of
Chicago -- over the phone as the White House assembled its national
security and intelligence chiefs for discussion and analysis and
offered India any help it required.
From Chicago, Obama also spoke to India’s ambassador Ronen Sen, to
convey that his thoughts and prayers with those affected by "this
tragic situation" and brief him about his conversations with Rice.
"These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave
and urgent threat of terrorism. The U.S must continue to strengthen
our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out
and destroy terrorist networks," Obama said in a statement issued
through his national security spokesperson, Brooke Anderson.
In comments that extolled India’s institutional strength and was
directed against the fundamentalist mindset in the neighborhood, Obama
also predicted the triumph of democracy over the sickening ideology of
extremism even as terrorists/mujaheddin earned universal disgust over
the attack of Indian civilians and foreign nationals.
Audiences in the U.S remained glued to coverage of the Mumbai massacre
more than 24 hours after the carnage began as it got wall-to-wall TV
time on a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
For administration and security officials, that long weekend had
already been disrupted by a mid-week security alert that spoke of
possible terrorist attacks on New York’s Penn Station and other mass
transit systems in the region; but the bloodbath occurred 10,000 miles
away in Mumbai’s most famous landmarks.
The involvement of westerners, including Americans, Britons and
Israelis as victims and hostages in the ordeal also ensured greater
and more sustained coverage than usual, with U.S experts trying to
connect the dots and link the attack to Kashmir and Al Qaeda, and its
possible repercussions on United States.
In fact, there was little or no surprise over the attacks given both
the alert in New York and the prediction by foreign policy experts,
including vice-president elect Joe Biden, that Obama could be tested
by terrorist attacks early in his presidency or during the transition
phase.
U.S analysts mulled over the larger implications of the attack that
seemed to also target westerners while suggesting that this was not a
localized attack arising from home-grown militancy in India.
"The apparent focus on killing or capturing foreign businesspeople,
specifically US and UK nationals, has never occurred before,
suggesting a wider global anti-Western agenda. This stands in contrast
to the national issues that appeared to motivate Indian Mujahideen,"
Jane’s Intelligence, said in a brief update on the crisis.
In Washington, the US State Department put out a hotline number
(1-888-407-4747) to enable U.S. citizens concerned about the well-
being of friends and family in India to get information and updates. A
travel advisory cautioning against travel to India was expected later
in the day.
However, the Indian government did itself little credit with long
periods of silence during a chaotic situation. There were no Indian
spokespersons available out of New Delhi or Mumbai for the world media
is get a coherent account of what was happening even 24 hours after
the crisis erupted.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/USA/Obama_says_Indias_democracy_will_win_over_terrorism/articleshow/3762125.cms
Attacks to Set Back Mumbai's Financial Ambitions
Wall Street Journal - 52 minutes ago
By GEETA ANAND and JACKIE RANGE Mumbai boasted some of the most
expensive real estate in the world last year and the giant Indian city
had ambitions to become an international financial capital to rival
Hong Kong and Singapore.
Analysis - Mumbai attacks may hasten India rate cuts Reuters India
‘Attacks not to impact banking operations’ Hindu Business Line
IFFI: Terror attack in Mumbai mars proceedings on Day 5
Zee News - 3 hours ago
Panaji, Nov 27: The unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai today cast
its shadow on the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI)
2008 in Panaji as security was enhanced in theatres and hotels and the
incidents replaced films as the topic in ...
K Manju represents Kannada film at IFFI-2008 Oneindia
39th International Film Festival of India begins Screen Weekly
Indian Express - Times of India - IBNLive.com - Hindu
all 234 news articles »
Zardari speaks to Sonia, wants joint fight against terror
Hindu - 1 hour ago
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today told
Congress President Sonia Gandhi that countries needed to work together
to eliminate militancy and extremism in all forms and manifestations.
Pakistan offers support to India in probing Mumbai terror attacks
Newspost Online
Pakistan Foreign minister condemns Mumbai terror attack
PunjabNewsline.com
Economic Times - Times of India - Deccan Herald - The Associated Press
all 212 news articles » ?????? ??? »
Ottawa, November 16, 2001
2001-105
Globalization, Terrorism and the World Economy
Speech by the Honourable Paul Martin, Minister of Finance for Canada,
at a luncheon organized by the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee and
The Conference Board of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
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Allow me to begin these remarks by saying how pleased I am to join you
here today, and how grateful I am to The Conference Board of Canada
and the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee for co-sponsoring today’s
luncheon. The work of Reinventing Bretton Woods – the search for
strengthened international mechanisms to foster growth and prosperity
– has become even more critical in the wake of the tragic events of
September 11th.
Indeed, it is in the long shadow of those terrible acts that Canada
will, later today and through the weekend, play host to the G-20 as
well as the meetings of the International Monetary and Financial
Committee (IMFC) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
Development Committee of the IMF and the World Bank. These are tables
which bridge the divide between east and west, north and south, rich
and poor.
Let me say, therefore, how proud I am that Canada was able, in such
difficult circumstances and at such short notice, to ensure that all
of these meetings could take place. I am indebted to the city of
Ottawa and its mayor for ensuring that they can proceed safely and
effectively. Mayor Chiarelli is here with us today, and I would ask
you to join me in recognizing him.
The finance ministers and central bankers at this weekend’s meetings
come together at a difficult and challenging time. What do we hope to
accomplish in the next two days of meetings? We have three
objectives.
First, to deal with the economic impact of September 11th, especially
in light of the global nature of the slowdown that preceded the
terrible attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
Second, to agree upon a global action plan to combat terrorist
financing.
And third, to ignite the process of making globalization work for all
– and for the poorest of the poor in particular.
Clearly, September 11th was an act of brutality that left the world
first in shock, then in anger – an act of sudden violence that without
warning stole a parent from 10,000 children and that shattered the
illusion that we in North America are somehow insulated from external
attack.
In response, we have borne witness to an uncompromising resolve that
more than matches the initial shock. The world has come together in an
uncommon and irrevocable commitment to eliminate the threat of
terrorism. The physical assault levelled against us is being met by an
international coalition of nations, faiths and force that will not
fail.
For each of us September 11th was, above all, a tragedy in human
terms. For the terrorists, however, the aim of their criminal act was
not only the destruction of life – they were seeking to destroy our
way of life. The terrorists did not choose their targets randomly. New
York’s World Trade Center stood at the heart of the international
financial district. It was a symbol of accomplishment and confidence.
It was targeted for that reason. The terrorists sought to cripple
economic activity, to paralyze financial relations, to create new
barriers between economies, countries and people.
Our goal in response must be even more direct and even more
purposeful. It must be to deny those who traffic in terrorism and hate
advantage in any measure and in any theatre, be it military or
economic.
For the major industrial nations, the slowdown we are experiencing is
a matter of real concern. For developing and emerging economies,
however, the consequences could well be devastating. Jobs might not
just be lost temporarily, they could disappear forever. Incomes might
not just fall, they could vanish for good.
Let us be clear, it is the poor primarily who bear the long-term
consequences of terrorism. For this reason, all of us must dedicate
ourselves to the cause of economic security, just as surely as we have
dedicated ourselves to the cause of physical security. In that
context, there are considerable grounds for optimism.
First, strong fiscal and economic policies have left most industrial
nations better positioned to withstand economic turbulence than they
have been in many years, even many decades.
Second, central banks have moved rapidly to maintain liquidity in
markets and to bring interest rates down.
And third, the IMF, the World Bank and other international
institutions stand ready to provide resources to help those most in
need.
That being said, however, if we are to translate all of this into
widespread economic recovery, a greater effort than that generated so
far will be required, one that gathers countries in common cause and
coordinated approach. Now is not the time for defeatism, but neither
is it a time for rose-coloured glasses. The campaign for economic
security must involve a swift and steady response to new realities.
Part of the terrorist agenda is to see governments turn borders into
barriers – to erect walls behind which people live in fear and
economies stagnate. To retreat from today’s integrated world economy
would be a terrible mistake. It would be to concede victory to
criminals. And we cannot allow this to happen. For decades nations –
large and small, rich and poor – have laboured to promote a freer and
more orderly flow of goods and services throughout the world. Why?
Because doing so is crucial to the development of their economies and
the well-being of their people. The fact is, we are all sovereign
nations, but our relations are intertwined, our fortunes are linked,
and our economies are interdependent.
The Canada-U.S. border is a perfect case in point. Every single day
roughly $2 billion worth of trade takes place between us. And millions
of families in both countries depend on that trade for their
livelihood. The notion, therefore, that by slowing our borders to
commerce we might somehow close our countries to risk is mistaken – it
is a non-choice.
For this reason, the governments of Canada and the United States,
through the use of new technologies and as importantly, innovative
approaches, must work to make our border both more secure and more
open. It is not simply a question of getting back to normal. It is
recognizing that in the era of "just in time" inventory, what was
normal between our two countries is no longer good enough. And for the
world as a whole, the solution begins with the warning that while
security of people must be our priority, we must not allow security of
borders to become the new non-tariff barrier.
The second objective of this weekend’s meetings is the very specific
task of shutting down terrorist financing. There exists today an
overwhelming consensus on the need to wrest from the grip of
terrorists the funding they rely upon to finance their violence.
Without money they cannot buy weapons. Without cash they cannot fuel
their cause.
It stands, therefore, that part of the coordinated war against
terrorism is an equally comprehensive assault on its finances. This
must include the formal networks terrorists rely upon directly, and
just as importantly, the informal networks they rely upon less
visibly. By definition, this implies a high degree of coordination
between sovereign governments. There must be a commonality to our
approach and a symmetry to our means. Governments must act on a
national level, as Canada has with the introduction of its
comprehensive anti-terrorism legislation. But so too, governments must
tailor their measures to international practices. Otherwise, blood
money will simply shop jurisdictions until it finds an accommodating
home.
Therefore, at the heart of the G-20’s agenda this weekend will be an
action plan to present a common front and a coordinated effort against
terrorist financing.
First, we will be asking member countries to implement all relevant UN
resolutions and conventions quickly so that they can freeze terrorist
assets immediately and track attempts to move them internationally.
Second, we will ask all G-20 nations to ensure rapid compliance with
international standards to combat terrorist financing and step up
efforts to share information.
Third, we will ask that all G-20 members reach out to others in their
regions to ensure that the fight against those who would finance
terror is extended to every country, without exception.
And fourth, we will ask those G-20 members in a position to do so to
provide financial assistance and training to countries lacking the
resources or expertise necessary to implement effective measures
against terrorist financing.
At the heart of this last point is the recognition that tracking
networks of terrorist funding is a challenge for the most powerful
countries on earth. Imagine, therefore, how overwhelmed small or
impoverished states will find the task without financial and technical
assistance. Canada has helped in this respect in the past. Just last
week CARTAC – the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre – was
inaugurated with the help of $8 million that Canada committed earlier
this year. As further needs emerge, we will do more.
This, then, brings me to the third objective of our meetings: making
globalization work – that is to say, coming to grips with the manner
in which we organize ourselves as a world economy and bringing a sense
of urgency to the task of reforming the world’s economic
architecture.
Globalization is not the source of the world’s inequities. Nor,
however, does globalization without development represent a panacea,
automatically enriching the lives of those who fling their borders
open to international trade and capital.
Economic growth is an essential precondition to the alleviation of
poverty, and globalization can be a tremendous force for good. But in
the end Canada’s argument has been that globalization is what we make
of it. The choice is all of ours. Fundamentally, the answer lies in
how we choose to govern ourselves as an international community. While
there has been no disagreement on the ultimate goal – making
globalization work and finding global solutions to both global and
national challenges – there has been an ongoing debate about the best
way of getting there.
Some have argued that we should continue to operate on a case-by-case
basis, taking on each challenge only as it emerges. We have argued
that such an approach is just not good enough for the 21st century. In
this respect, Canada has advocated the development of new structures
and sinews that would permit the world’s economy to better serve the
interests of the world’s people – all the world’s people. We have
argued that what is needed is a better-coordinated framework of laws
and approaches – equally effective in bilateral, regional and
multilateral fora.
And the fact is, progress is being made. For instance, at the centre
of the 1997 Asian crisis was the failure of regulatory and oversight
mechanisms in some countries to keep pace with the modern reality of
international capital flows. In the absence of transparent reporting
and regulation, uncertainty became volatility and volatility quickly
became panic, transforming massive inflows into massive outflows –
leaving the economic livelihood of millions devastated in its wake.
In the face of that crisis, Canada and others became even more
passionate advocates for a new set of rules to make markets work. This
has led to coordinated financial measures, nationally and
internationally, focused on increased transparency, stronger
oversight, shared standards and common practices. It has forced the
establishment of new rules and new architecture such as the Financial
Stability Forum, the reformed IMFC and the G-20.
Clearly, progress has been made. However, much more needs to be
realized. For example, the current slowdown has underscored the need
for a better framework to address challenges such as the rescheduling
of sovereign debt. We need new rules of the game that would allow the
international community to find solutions for debt problems in a
timely way and with a minimum of social disruption. Three years ago
Canada suggested that internationally sanctioned suspensions of debt
payments – or standstills – could be a key part of a better framework.
After some initial resistance the balance of opinion is shifting our
way.
But now the time has come to move beyond theoretical agreement. Let us
accept that mandated standstills can play the same role
internationally that Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act or
the U.S.’s Chapter 11 plays domestically; and let us now work on the
mechanisms needed to make them real. The obstacle that we have to
overcome in all of this is that the current set of rules and the
existing structures we have built to manage the international economy
quite simply have failed to keep pace with evolving reality.
Well, muddling through might have worked before September 11th, but
not after. The battle against terrorism is unlike any other we have
previously seen. It will be fought on many fronts. It will be waged
not just with military means, but with banking controls, police
actions and intelligence operations. Above all else, it will be waged
in partnership, requiring a degree of global cooperation that exceeds
anything that we have witnessed so far.
The fact is that on September 12th we woke up to a world more
vulnerable than we had ever contemplated – one in which the voices of
the few became the chorus of the many, saying now more than ever we,
as a community of nations, must act in concert because no country
acting alone can ensure the safety of its families to the extent that
it can acting collectively.
The point is, if this is true in fighting terrorism, it is also true
in setting up the structures to make international markets work
effectively so that crises do not destroy livelihoods. And to take
that logic one crucial step further, if September 11th leads to a
rules-based approach to making international markets work better, such
as we have domestically, it should also lead to an understanding of
the need to round off the international markets’ hard edges, such as
we have domestically.
Making globalization work requires more than the management of
financial crises. Just ask the finance ministers from the developing
economies. They recognize the importance of strengthening the
international financial system. They know it will provide them with
long-term economic opportunity. But at the same time, they are
fighting every day to overcome challenges that are even more immediate
and even more basic – such as disease, lack of housing, hospitals and
schools, proper drinking water and sewage systems. Their point to the
industrialized countries is: help us to meet these challenges so that
we can help you manage those associated with making markets work.
The fact is, no country can develop its economic potential without
meeting the basic needs of its people. This perspective has been
embraced in the Montreal Consensus – the product of last year’s
meeting of the G-20. The question now is whether September 11th will
act as catalyst or counterweight to this cause. For Canada’s part, the
answer is clear: now more than ever the challenge of globalization
must be met. For billions of people, the greatest danger has not been
that globalization will succeed – but rather that it will fail. Now
more than ever we must redouble our commitment to strengthening the
world economy, but also to strengthening the ties that bind us
together as a community of nations.
Our task will not be a simple one. There will be a natural instinct on
the part of many to retreat unto themselves – to achieve greater
security through isolation; to reach out less vigorously and less
widely than they otherwise might.
Well, nothing could be more self-defeating. Our interests are simply
too shared to suddenly sever. Any sense of security that was grounded
in a world less open and less interdependent would be illusory. It
would not be a triumph over terrorism. It would mean surrendering to
the forces that would divide us. Yes, we must protect our interests.
But we must do so by raising standards, not by raising walls.
What might this mean?
Well, it certainly means putting an end to terrorism and bringing
those who practise it to justice.
As well, however, it should mean lifting the crushing burden of debt
from the shoulders of the poorest of the poor.
It should mean helping the next generation of African children to gain
access to proper health care and a decent education.
It should mean that massive agricultural subsidies by those with the
deepest pockets, that distort markets, that shut the door on imports,
are incompatible with a world of rules and fairness.
It should mean ensuring that the new round of multilateral trade
negotiations just launched lives up to its billing as the "Doha
Development Agenda."
In terms of this weekend’s meetings, our message must be unequivocal:
economies cannot withdraw their links; we must make them stronger
still. International and multilateral tools cannot be laid aside; we
must take them up as never before.
By going ahead with our meetings this weekend we are sending a clear
and unambiguous message to the terrorists – a message that is as
simple as it is straightforward: we will neither be silenced nor
sidelined. As a world, we will continue to work together, large
countries and small, to make the global community a more secure and
more prosperous place for all.
In the aftermath of September 11th there exists a developing consensus
and I believe a newly formed political will. Our objective now should
be to put that will to work without pause. The time has come to take
great strides in the place of small steps.
Such ambition is bold, but not without precedent. We saw it in the
aftermath of the trauma that was the Second World War, when an entire
generation decided it was time to change the world. They did so with a
decisive victory, with post-war reconstruction and with the creation
of the Bretton Woods Institutions.
Well, the time has come once again to follow their example – to let
the greatest generation inspire us once more, to challenge
conventional wisdom and inertia, to vanquish despair and to replace it
with real and lasting hope.
http://www.fin.gc.ca/news01/01-105e.html
CNN correspondent relates globalization to terrorism
Robert Hanson
Issue date: 9/17/03 Section: News
PrintEmail DoubleClick Any Word Page 1 of 1
Media Credit: Amanda Selvidio
CNN terrorism correspondent Peter Bergen shares his experiences of
interviewing Osama bin Laden back in 1997 Tuesday night in the Barry
Marks Auditorium in Chafee.
09/17/03 - CNN terrorism correspondent Peter Bergen said that
globalization is one of the key factors in shaping terrorist
organization today. Bergen spoke to a standing-room only audience at
the University of Rhode Island Tuesday night.
Bergen was the second speaker in the university's sixteen-part 2003
Honors Colloquium on globalization. While Bergen did not focus on
globalization, he did say that without it, terrorism as it exists
today would not be possible.
"The globalized world enables terrorist groups," Bergen said, noting
that while they are all good advances, products of globalization like
the Internet, cheaper airfares, 24-hour news networks and open borders
all aide terrorist groups.
"The kinds of people who are in these jihadist groups tend to be quite
sophisticated. In the globalized world, terrorist groups kind of take
advantage of globalized tech."
Bergen, who interviewed Osama bin Laden in 1997, said terrorism had
evolved over the past 10 years. He said that after the attack on a
Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo religious sect, which killed 12 and
sent thousands to the hospital, terrorists had gone from trying to
minimize causalities and maximizing coverage to trying to maximize
both for "prestige." Because of this, Bergen said he believed that
there would probably be an attack by terrorist groups with weapons of
mass destruction.
"The previous reigns on using these weapons have seemed to disappear,"
he said.
The correspondent also said that he believed that both the Clinton and
Bush Administrations deserved criticism for their handling of
terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Neither administration gets glowing marks," he said. "We can
generously spread the blame around."
He did offer praise, however, for the Bush administration's handling
of the war in Afghanistan, which destroyed many al-Qaida training
camps and removed the Taliban regime which to that point had helped to
hide bin Laden from the U.S.
Bergen pointed out that since the Sept. 11 attacks there had been no
attacks in the U.S. and attacks on a much smaller scale abroad.
While he did not criticize the war on Iraq, Bergen said that the war
had offered a new front for al-Qaida.
"Iraq is the future of al-Qaida, the future of jihadist groups," he
said. "Unfortunately, I think Iraq will become the battlefield for al-
Qaida in the future."
With regards to capturing leaders such as bin Laden and Mullah Omar of
Afghanistan, Bergen said he believes that while it will help to
disrupt terrorist networks, it will not bring them down.
"Al-Qaida has morphed from being an organization to an ideology," he
said.
Bergen said he believes it is important for the American public to
educate themselves about terrorism.
"This [recent terrorist attacks] is the beginning of a very
professional terrorist campaign," he said. "It's in our principle
national security issue right now. We should try to understand the
enemies."
http://media.www.ramcigar.com/media/storage/paper366/news/2003/09/17/News/Cnn-Correspondent.Relates.Globalization.To.Terrorism-467443.shtml
Globalization and Terrorism
Arundhati Roy
Available Formats
CD: ROYA003aC $16.00
MP3: ROYA003aM $5.00
Tape: ROYA003aT $17.00
Transcript: ROYA003aD $7.00
Where recorded: Santa Fe, NM
Date recorded: 18 Sep 2002
Since 9/11 most of the media have studiously avoided talking about the
origins of terrorism. It just happens like the well-known four-letter
word. The corporate networks and their overpaid talking heads mimic
the Bush line: "They, the evildoers hate us." Why? "Because of our
values and freedom." This simple formula is repeated ad nauseam even
while most of the world's media point to ample evidence that terrorism
has deep roots. Since U.S.-led corporate Globalization accelerated in
the 1990s the poor have gotten poorer and the rich richer. Disparities
among and inside of countries have grown sharply. The train of the New
World Order has left many passengers behind at the station. From
Argentina and Brazil to Nigeria and India, the servant's are stirring.
They are unhappy with the master's rules. Perhaps the definition of
terrorism should include the economic variety.
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an author, lecturer and activist. Her book, "The God
of Small Things" won the prestigious Booker Prize. The New York Times
calls her, "India's most impassioned critic of globalization and
American influence." She is the winner of the Lannan Award for
Cultural Freedom. Her latest books are "An Ordinary Person's Guide to
Empire" and "The Checkbook & the Cruise Missile," with David
Barsamian.
http://www.alternativeradio.org/programs/ROYA003.shtml
How Globalization Spurs Terrorism
The Lopsided Benefits of "One World" and Why That Fuels Violence
Fathali M. Moghaddam
Book Code: C34480
ISBN: 0-313-34480-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-34480-0
DOI: 10.1336/0313344809
208 pages, figure
Praeger Security International General Interest-Cloth
Publication Date: 8/30/2008
List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £25.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Subjects:
Psychology » Psychology (General)
Military Studies » Military Psychology
Endorsement From Paul R. Ehrlich,
Bing Professor of Population Studies and professor of biological
sciences at Stanford University,
member of the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the
Crafoord Prize, an explicit substitute for the Nobel Prize in fields
of science in which the latter is not given.:
Moghaddam has given us the Big Picture for better understanding
radicalization and terrorism in the 21st century. His psychological
analysis shows the deep wounds being inflicted by 'lop-sided'
globalization, and the irrational reactions that can arise from people
experiencing threatened identities and what they see as possible
extinction for their way of life. This book also points to the vital
role of women in developing a better future in the Islamic world, and
to the importance of resolving the New Global American Dilemma-a
dilemma associated with the rhetorical American support for freedom
and democracy around the world, while at the same time propping up
'friendly' dictatorships.
Endorsement From Richard Wagner, Editor
Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology:
Fathali Moghaddam provides us with a welcome long-term, global view
of the processes underlying terrorism. Readers will find this a novel
approach to promoting the peaceful resolution of conflict in the
context of "fractured globalization", where an emerging global
community is countered by a retreat to ethnocentrism and
fundamentalism as socio-cultural and religious groups struggle to
protect their social identities.
Description:
This book explores modern Islamic terrorism in the context of
globalization and cultural evolution. 21st century terrorism is
different and new, first because it relies heavily on electronic
communication systems and other aspects of modern technologies, and
second, because it is in large part a product of fractured
globalization, with its associated threats to the collective identity
of Muslims. Part one of this work contrasts globalization as an ideal
with globalization as it is actually taking place, with its enormous
contradictions and threats. Moghaddam, a longtime and highly respected
terrorism and conflict researcher, argues that globalization is
resulting in serious threats to the basic psychological needs of some,
particularly in connection with collective identity. Part two explores
how globalization has brought sudden contact between different groups
with no previous history of large-scale contact, resulting in a rapid
decline in diversity. Terrorism is one of the dysfunctional defense
mechanisms of people in such conditions, facing external threats. Part
three describes long-term solutions, focusing particularly on the role
of women and the nature of the family in traditional Islamic
societies.
Moghaddam shows us why globalization is resulting in what he calls
"catastrophic evolution," the rapid decline and disappearance of
minority cultures and languages, and why that brings a clash of
ideologies and the rise of extremism. There are also other dangerous
trends, and those call for inspired solutions, springing from an
understanding that traditional conflict-resolution, evolved in the
shadow of the Cold War, is no longer effective and needs to change.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Chapter 1. A dangerous new world
Chapter 2. The psychological citizen and globalization
Chapter 3. Universal needs and the psychological roots of
radicalization and terrorism
Chapter 4. One world: Globalization as ideal
Chapter 5. Fractured globalization: Globalization in practice
Chapter 6. Intergroup contact and catastrophic evolution
Chapter 7. Threatened identities, change and globalization
Chapter 8. Universal rights and duties as explosive threats
Chapter 9. The American Dilemma becomes global
Afterward. The veiled solitude: Women as the solution
References
Notes
LC Card Number: 2008016466
LCC Class: BP190
Dewey Class: 363
http://www.greenwood.com/psi/book_detail.aspx?sku=C34480
General Theory of Globalization & Modern Terrorism (2001)
April 8, 2007 — drsubrotoroy
A General Theory of Globalization & Modern Terrorism (2001)
Subroto Roy
This was a keynote address to the Council of Asian Liberals &
Democrats meeting on November 16 2001, Manila, Philippines, and was
published in Singapore in 2002, Alan Smith, James Gomez & Uwe Johannen
(Eds.) September 11 & Political Freedom: Asian Perspectives. It was
republished in the West on January 26 2004 on the University of
Buckingham website, when the author was Wincott Visiting Professor of
Economics there. It came to be followed a few months later by a public
lecture at the University, titled “Science, Religion, Art and the
Necessity of Freedom: Reason’s Response to Islamism” which has also
been published here.
1. Globalization Through a Wide-Angle Lens
2. Suicide, Terrorism & Political Protest
3. Science, Religion, Art, and the Necessity of Freedom
4. Asia’s Modern Dilemmas: Named Social Life or Anonymous Markets
5. September 11: the Collapse of the Global Conversation
6. Envoi
Synopsis: The world after September 11 2001 has seemed a very
bewildering place – as if all liberal notions of universal reason,
freedom, tolerance and the rule of law since the Enlightenment have
been proven a lie overnight, deserving only to be flushed away in the
face of a resurgence of ancient savageries. One aim of this essay is
to show this would be too hasty an assessment; another is to provide a
general theory of “globalization”, a notion which often has seemed
lost for meaning.
1. Globalization Through a Wide-Angle Lens
The perpetrators of September 11 subjectively acted in the name of
Islam. It would have surprised them to know of the great respect with
which the religious experience of Prophet Muhammad (572-632 AD) had
been treated in the English language by Carlyle in 1842: “The great
Mystery of Existence… glared in upon (Muhammad), with its terrors,
with its splendours; no hearsays could hide that unspeakable fact,
‘Here am I!’. Such sincerity… has in very truth something of divine.
The word of such a man is a Voice direct from Nature’s own Heart. Men
do and must listen to that as nothing else; all else is wind in
comparison.” 1
Carlyle told the story of Muhammad once not abiding by his own severe
faith when he wept for an early disciple saying “You see a friend
weeping over his friend”; and of how, when the young beautiful Ayesha
tried to make him compare her favourably to his deceased wife and
first disciple the widow Khadija, Muhammad had denied her: “She
believed in me when none else would believe. In the whole world I had
but one friend and she was that!”
Carlyle suggested the simple humanity and humility of Muhammad’s life
and example, and even an intersection between Islamic belief and
modern science (”a Voice direct from Nature’s own Heart”). He quoted
Goethe: “If this be Islam, do we not all live in Islam?”, suggesting
there might be something of universal import in Muhammad’s message
well beyond specifically Muslim ontological beliefs.
In general, the life or words of a spiritual leader of mankind like
Muhammad, Christ, or Buddha, as indeed of discoverers of the physical
world like Darwin or Einstein, or explorers of secular human nature
like Aristotle, Adam Smith or Karl Marx, may be laid claim to by all
of us whether we are explicit adherents, disciples or admirers or not.
No private property rights may be attached upon their legacies, but
rather these remain open to be discussed freely and reasonably by
everyone.
A second example is more proximate. It is of MK Gandhi the Indian
sitting in South Africa reflecting on the Christian ideas of Thoreau
the American and Tolstoy the Russian, synthesizing these with Hindu-
Jain notions of “ahimsa” or “non-hatred” into a technique of political
action to be applied eventually to end British rule in India; then
transferred a decade after Gandhi’s assassination to the US Civil
Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King Jr, and later, after King’s
assassination, back to Nelson Mandela languishing in prison, who ends
apartheid and brings in its place a “Truth and Reconciliation
Commission” in South Africa.2
Construing globalization to mean merely Westernization of the East has
been a commonplace error, leading to a narrow cramped perspective and
reflecting ignorance of both East and West. There are countless
examples of the Easternization of the West including the exportation
of Judaism and Christianity, and of Indian and Arab mathematics and
astronomy in the Middle Ages.
There have been and will be countless cross-fertilizations between
East and West, let aside the subtle influences of Africa and other
cultures and continents on art, music, dance, sports and beliefs
around the world.
In general, whenever an idea, practice, institution or artifact
transmits itself from its origin elsewhere, we have a little piece of
globalization taking place. The speed and volume of such transmissions
may have vastly increased in recent decades thanks to the growth of
modern transport and communications but that is not to say some of the
most important transmissions have not already taken place or may not
yet take place. Ours like every generation may be biased in favour of
its own importance.
2. Suicide, Terrorism & Political Protest
Global transmissions can be as soft and salubrious as Americans
learning to enjoy football which is not American football. But they
can be grim and desperate too – like the transfer of “suicide bombing”
techniques from Sri Lanka’s civil war to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict; or the idea of schoolboys firing automatic weapons
germinating from A Clockwork Orange to actuality thirty years later in
an American or a German school.
In fact the Thoreau-Tolstoy-Gandhi techniques of civil disobedience or
a hunger-strike inflicting pain or sacrifice on oneself to show an
adversary his folly, slide naturally to a limit of suicide as
political protest — as when the Buddhist Superior Thich Quang Duc,
protesting religious persecution by Diem’s regime in South Vietnam,
immolated himself on June 2 1963, soon to be followed by other
Buddhist monks and nuns, leading to the end of the Diem regime and
start of the American war in Vietnam. Six years and half a world away,
Jan Palach, on January 19 1969, immolated himself in Wenceslas Square
protesting the apathy of his countrymen to the Soviet invasion that
had ended the Prague Spring.
Suicide as political protest still abides by the Socratic injunction
that it would be better to suffer wrong than to wrong others.3
Terrorism by suicide killing crosses that line — over into a world of
utilitarian calculation on the part of the perpetrator that his or her
suicide as political protest would be inadequate, and must be
accompanied by causing death among the perceived adversary as well.
Gandhi, King and Mandela each had conservative, accommodative currents
on one side, as well as radical dissident or parallel terrorist
offshoots on the other, and we will return to ask why no non-violent
political movement seems identifiable of which September 11 was the
violent terrorist offshoot.
Where political protest is absent from the motivation, and killing the
adversary becomes the aim with suicide merely the means, as with
Japan’s kamikaze pilots, we have passed into a realm of international
war between organized authorities in contrast with mere terrorism
against some organized authority. A suicide-killer may of course
subjectively believe himself/herself to be making a political protest
though his/her principals may see him/her as an instrument of war.
Also, if it is correct to distinguish between kamikaze pilots and the
perpetrators of September 11 by absence and presence of political
protest in their motivation, terrorism typically arises as rebellion
against some organized authority, and is to be contrasted precisely
with war between organized authorities.
“State terrorism” can then only refer to an organized authority being
repressive to the point of using its power to cause terror, physical
or mental, upon a people or individuals under its control. “State-
sponsored” terrorism would be something else again, where an organized
authority assists a terroristic rebellion against some other organized
authority, amounting effectively to an undeclared international war.4
3. Science, Religion, Art, and the Necessity of Freedom
The question arises whether anything in human nature or society may be
identified to help analyse, explain or predict the myriad
transmissions of globalization taking place, whether salubrious or
not. If such a theory claims to be “general”, it will need to be wide
enough to try to explain the motivation for modern terrorism and
September 11 2001 in particular.
We could start with the observable fact there is and has been only one
human species, no matter how infinitely variegated its specimens
across space and time. All have a capacity to reason as well as a
capacity to feel a range of emotions in their experience of the world,
something we share to an extent with other forms of life as well. And
every human society, in trying to ascertain what is good for itself,
finds need to reason together about how its members may be best able
to survive, grow, reproduce and flourish. This process of common
reasoning and reflection vitally requires freedom of inquiry and
expression of different points of view. The lone voice in dissent
needs to be heard or at least not suppressed just in case it is the
right voice counselling against a course which might lead to
catastrophe for all. To reason together implies a true or right answer
exists to be found, and the enterprise of truth-seeking thus requires
freedom as a logical necessity. It takes guts to be a lone dissenter,
and all societies have typically praised and encouraged the virtues of
courage and integrity, and poured shame on cowardice, treachery or
sycophancy. Similarly, since society is a going concern, justice and
fairplay in the working of its institutions is praised and sought
after while corruption, fraud or other venality is condemned and
punished.
A flourishing society may be viewed as one advancing in its scientific
knowledge, its artistic achievements, and its religious or
philosophical consciousness. Each of these dimensions needs to be in
appropriate balance in relation to the others during the process of
social and economic growth, and each has a necessity for its own
aspect of freedom.
Science is our public knowledge regardless of culture or nationality
gained of ourselves as members of the world and the Universe, and has
been the most important common adversary of all religions. Who or what
is homo sapiens relative to other living species? What is the
difference between plants and animals? What constitutes a living
organism? What is the structure of a benzene ring or a carbon atom or
any atom or subatomic particle? What is light, sound, gravity? What
can we say about black holes or white dwarfs? When did life begin on
Earth and when is it likely to end? Are we alone in the Universe in
being the only form of self-conscious life? Such questions have been
asked and attempted to be answered in their own way by all peoples of
the world, whether they are primitive tribes in hidden forests or
sophisticated rocket scientists in hidden laboratories. Our best
common understanding of them constitutes the state of scientific
knowledge at a given time.
At the bar of reason, all religions lose to science wherever they try
to compete on science’s home grounds, namely, the natural or physical
world. If a religious belief happens to imply a material object can be
in two places at the same time, that something can be made out of
nothing, that the Sun and planets go around the Earth, that if you
offer a sacrifice the rains will be on time, then it is destined to be
falsified by experience. Science has done a lot of its work in the
last few centuries, while the religions pre-date this expansion so
their physical premises may have remained those of the science
understood in their time. In all questions where religions try to take
on the laws of scientific understanding head on, they do and must
lose, and numerous factual claims made by all religions will disappear
in the fierce and unforgiving heat of the crucible of scientific
reasoning and evidence.
With the enormous growth of science, some scientists have gone to the
limit of declaring no religious belief can possibly survive — that we
are after all made up of dust and atoms alone, that there is no real
difference between a mechanical talking doll and a gurgling baby who
has just discovered her hands and feet. Yet reasonable religious
belief, action and experience does exist and may need to make its
presence felt. Religion may not battle science and expect to win on
science’s home ground but can and does win where science has nothing
and can have nothing to say. It has been reasonable everywhere for men
or women faced with death or personal tragedy to turn to religion for
strength, courage or comfort. Such would be a point where religion
offers something to life on which science has nothing of interest to
say. These include the ultimate questions of life or death or the
“Mystery of Existence” itself, in Carlyle’s term.
In fact the ultra-scientific prejudice fails ultimately to be
reasonable enough, and is open to a joint and decisive counter-attack
by both the religious believer and the artist. Modern science has well
established that our small planet orbits an unexceptional member of an
unexceptional galaxy. Copernicus by this started the era of modern
science and began the end of the grip on Western culture of astrology,
which was based on a geocentric Ptolomaic worldview (many Asian
cultures like India and perhaps China still remain in that grip).
Yet the pre-modern geocentrism contained a subtle truth which has
formed the foundation of both art and religion: to the best of
scientific knowledge to this day, Earth is the centre of the Universe
inasmuch as it is only here that reason and intelligence and
consciousness have come to exist, that there is such a thing as the
power to think and the power to love.5
We are, as far as anyone knows, quite alone in having the ability to
understand ourselves and to be conscious of our own existence. The
great galaxies, black holes and white dwarfs are all very impressive,
but none of them is aware of its own existence or capable of the
thought or love of any human baby or for that matter the commonest
street dog.
What responsibility arises for human beings because of the existence
of this consciousness? That is the common and reasonable question
addressed by both religion and art, on which science is and must
remain silent. We may come to know through science that life has
existed for x million years and is likely to be extinguished in y
million more years, but we do not know why it arose at all, or what
responsibility devolves on those beings, namely ourselves, who have
consciousness and reason to comprehend their own existence in the
Universe.
DH Lawrence meant to raise this when he said the novel was a greater
invention than Galileo’s telescope. Great painters, composers, or
other artists can be imagined saying something similar. Art is the
expression of life, and human cultures, like plants, may be fresh and
vigourous with life or decadent and doomed to death. The society which
both recognizes and comprehends its own artistic traditions through
reasonable evaluation while encouraging new shoots of artistic
creativity, will be one with a vibrant cultural life; the society
incapable of evaluating its own art self- critically enough will be
likely also to kill new creativity from within itself, and become
vulnerable to a merger or takeover.
Science, religion and art each vitally requires freedom in order to
thrive. In art, the function of reason arises in critical evaluation
of literature, paintings, cinema, drama, music, dance, architecture
and other aspects of aesthetics. Swimming against a full tide of
majority opinion here often may be the right thing to do. The critic
FR Leavis spoke of the importance of there being an educated public to
maintain serious cultural standards; he meant that the freedom to be
vigorously critical, often against shallow entrenched coterie
opinions, may be the only safeguard preventing artistic or cultural
standards from collapse.
In science, the activity of reasoning whether in public with one
another or privately within oneself, dispels scientific illusions
(like astrology) and so enlarges the area occupied by a common
empirical understanding. Freedom is logically necessary here to keep
potential avenues towards the truth open; it extends also to
protecting through tolerance those factual beliefs which may be
manifestly false –it may be a crime to steal or commit murder but it
is not a crime to hold erroneous factual beliefs about the world as
such (e.g. astrology is wrong because Copernicus is right, but it
would be illiberal to jail people for believing in astrology.) Such a
need for freedom of belief and experience, as well as the tolerance of
dissent, becomes most obvious in religion, where the stupendous task
facing all human beings is of attempting to unravel the “Mystery of
Existence”. The scope of these ontological questions, unanswered and
unanswerable by science, is so vast it would be only wise to allow the
widest search for answers to take place, across all possible sources
and religious faiths, wherever the possibility of an insight into any
of these subtle truths may arise. Perhaps that is why some solitary
thinkers have sought to experience all the great religions in their
own lifetimes, sometimes by deliberate conversion from one faith to
the next.
A flourishing society, then, would be one which grows along the three
planes of science, religion and art under conditions of freedom. And
such a notion may be measured at different scales of social life. It
starts with the family as the author of Anna Karenina knew in its
famous opening sentence: “All happy families resemble one another, but
each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. It could then move to
flourishing tribes, neighborhoods or local communities, to flourishing
towns, provinces, or whole nations. At any of these levels, the
flourishing society is one which inhales deeply the fresh air of
natural science, and so sees its knowledge of the material world grow
by leaps and bounds; it encourages religious and philosophical
discussions and tolerance so does not fail to comprehend its own
purpose of being; and it lives creatively and self-critically in
trying to improve the expressiveness of its artistic achievements.
Such a society would be self-confident enough to thrive in a world of
global transmissions of ideas, practices, institutions and artifacts.
Even if it was small in economic size or power relative to others, it
would not be fearful of its own capacity to absorb what is valuable or
to reject what is worthless from the rest of the world. To absorb what
is valuable from outside is to supercede what may be less valuable at
home; to reject what is worthless from outside is to appreciate what
may be worthwhile at home. Both require faculties of critical and self-
critical judgement, and the flourishing society will be one which
possesses these qualities and exercises them with confidence.
4. Asia’s Modern Dilemmas: Named Social Life or Anonymous Markets
Actual societies, whether small like families or large like nations,
in East or West, now or in the past, typically display these qualities
in relative balance, excess, or shortage.6 Broadly speaking,
throughout the vast span of Asia, there has been unstinting admiration
over the last two hundred years for the contribution of the modern
West to art, architecture and the growth of scientific knowledge.
Where it has come to be known and applied, there has been admiration
for liberal Western political thought; while ancient Asian nations
which hastily imported ideologies like fascism and communism have
lived to regret it. Western political morality at its finest derives
from the philosophy of Immanuel Kant that rational beings recognise
one another’s autonomy and treat one another as ends in themselves,
not as means towards each other’s ends. 7
We see this in action today in for example the cordial relations
between the USA and Canada, or between North America and Europe, or in
recent attempts at European integration.
Asian nationalists in the 20th Century struggled to try to establish
individual autonomous national identities, as the West had done in the
18th and 19th centuries. Asian nationalism represented an
unwillingness to be treated as mere means towards the ends of Western
nations, something we still see today when country B is used to
counter A, then C used to counter B, then D used to counter C, etc in
the old imperial manner of divide and rule This remains a serious
problem of international relations but is something Asia can resolve
independently by seeking to create for herself free societies which
flourish in science, religion and the arts which would then be robust,
self-confident and autonomous enough to decline to be used as means
towards others’ ends.
Furthermore, Asian societies in some respects all resemble one another
and pre-modern Western societies more than they do the contemporary
West. These pre-modern societies were ones in which a person was
identified by rights and obligations flowing from the place he or she
came to occupy through inheritance or brave achievement, and centred
around the loyalty of friendship and kinship, as well as fidelity of
the household. The relationships between the sexes, between
generations, between friends, all these across Asia today may still
perhaps resemble one another and the pre-modern West more than they do
some trends in the contemporary West. History and identity continue to
predominate our cultures in Asia: everyone is someone’s son or
daughter, someone’s brother or sister or friend or relative, everyone
is from some place and is of some age; and every deed has a history to
it which everyone knows about or wants to talk about.
In contrast, the modern Western financial economics which the present
author teaches his students, describes a world of anonymous “efficient
markets” with no memory; where anyone can thrive as long as he or she
brings something of value to trade; where all information needed to
determine prices tomorrow is contained in today’s prices and events;
where nothing from yesterday is necessary to determine anything in the
future; where the actual direction of price-change is random and
cannot be consistently foretold, so we cannot in general make any
prediction which will lead to profit without risk. We are to imagine a
large number of players in such a market, each with only a tiny bit of
market-power itself, and none able to move the terms of trade on its
own. Each of these players then, according to the textbooks, seizes
every chance to improve his or her own position regardless of all
else, he or she will “buy low” and “sell high” whatever and whenever
possible, until price differences between identical assets vanish and
no extra profit remains to be squeezed out from anything. Such briefly
is the pure theory of the efficient market economy which one teaches
as an economist. One tells one’s students it is a good thing, and it
is to be found, if anywhere in the best international financial
markets, and that what globalization refers to is the whole world
becoming like one big efficient marketplace.8
Yet, privately, Asia may have watched with dismay the near-collapse of
family and social life which has sometimes accompanied the modern
prosperity and technological advancement. The war in Vietnam brought
obvious physical destruction to parts of Asia but may also have had
more subtle corrosive long-term effects on the social fabric of the
West.
If there has been something liberal and humane about Western politics
while Asian politics have been cruel and oppressive, there may also be
something stable and chaste about traditional Asian family life while
modern Western societies have sometimes seemed vapid and dissolute.
Specifically, if it is fair to say there has been too little autonomy
experienced by women and children in many Asian societies, it may be
fair as well to observe a surfeit of choices may have arisen in some
Western societies, greater than many women and children there may
privately wish for. How does a society find its right balance on the
question of the autonomy, modesty and protection of family life and
other social relationships? The divorce courts of the ultra-modern
world are places of deep misery for everyone except the lawyers
involved in the trade, and as some Asian leaders have observed,
something the globalization of Asia could well seek to avoid.
Thus the dilemma faced by many Asians today may be how to absorb the
efficiency of markets and sound governance of liberal political
institutions, without the kind of private social collapse that seems
to have occurred in many ultramodern societies, nor the kind of loss
of political sovereignty against which Asian nationalists had
struggled during the age of imperialism. We may now see how far this
brief but general theory of globalization may be applied in explaining
the bewildering events of September 11 2001.
5. September 11 : the Collapse of the Global Conversation
Words are also deeds while deeds may also convey meaning.9 The words
and deeds of the perpetrators of September 11 2001, and of the nation-
states organized against them since that date, are both components of
a complex and subtle global conversation taking place as to the
direction of our common future.
In earlier times, Gandhi, King and Mandela each led successful non-
violent political protests of “non-white” peoples against “white”
organized authorities. Their protests assumed a level of tolerance
arising out of mutual respect between rebel and authority. None was a
totalitarian revolutionary out to destroy his adversary in toto but
rather each intended to preserve and nurture many aspects of the
existing order. Each had first become the master of the (Christian?)
political idiom of his adversary and was willing and able to employ
this idiom to demonstrate the selfcontradiction of his opponent, who
was typically faced with a charge of hypocrisy, of maintaining both x
and its contrary ~x and so becoming devoid of meaning. Such political
conversations of words and deeds required time and patience, and the
movements of Gandhi, King and Mandela each took decades to fructify
during the 20th Century. They had more conservative accommodative
currents on one side, and more impatient radical terroristic offshoots
on the other.
All such aspects seem absent from September 11 and its aftermath,
which seems at first sight sui generis. No patient non-violent
political protest movement can be identified of which September 11 was
a violent terroristic offshoot or parallel. Tolerance has not merely
vanished but been replaced by panic, mutual fear and hatred. Violence
appears as the first and not last recourse of political discussion.
The high speed of the modern world almost demands a winner to be
declared instantly in conflicts with subtle and unobvious roots, and
the only way to seem to win at speed is by perpetrating the largest or
most dramatic amount of violence or cruelty. The world after September
11 2001 has seemed a very bewildering place — as if all liberal
notions of universal reason, freedom, tolerance and the rule of law
since the Enlightenment have been proven a lie overnight, deserving
only to be flushed away in face of a resurgence of ancient
savageries.
But this would be too hasty an assessment. The global conversation
clearly collapsed very badly from the time of e.g. Carlyle’s effort in
1842 to understand Islam’s legacy to the point of September 11 2001
being carried out against the United States or Western civilisation in
general in Islam’s name. Even so, the universal liberal virtues of
patience, tolerance and common reasoning can still find use here — in
identifying possible deep, long-term historical factors which may have
accumulated or congregated together to cause such a crime to take
place.
One such historical factor has been technological and economic: the
invention and immense use of the internal combustion engine throughout
the 20th Century, coupled with discovery of petroleum beneath the
sands of Arabia — all of which has made the material prosperity of the
modern West depend, in the current state of technology, on this link
not becoming ruptured. A second and independent factor has been the
history of Christian Europe’s alternating persecution and emancipation
of the Jewish people, which leads in due course to the Balfour
declaration of 1919 and, following the Nazi Holocaust, to the creation
of modern Israel among the Arabic- speaking peoples. The history
between Christianity and Judaism is one in which the Arabic-speaking
peoples were largely passive bystanders. Indeed, they may have been
almost passive bystanders in creation of their own nation-states as
well — for a third historical factor must be the lack of robust
development of modern political and economic institutions among them,
with mechanisms of political expression and accountability often
having remained backward perhaps more so than in many other parts of
Asia.
The end of World War I saw not only Balfour’s declaration but also
Kitchener, Allenby and TE Lawrence literally designing or inventing
new nationstates from areas on a desert-map: “Our aim was an Arab
Government, with foundations large and native enough to employ the
enthusiasm and self-sacrifice of the rebellion, translated into terms
of peace. We had to … carry that ninety percent of the population who
had been too solid to rebel, and on whose solidity the new State must
rest…. In ten words, (Allenby) gave his approval to my having
impertinently imposed Arab Governments… upon the chaos of victory…”
“(The secret Arab societies) were pro-Arab only, willing to fight for
nothing but Arab independence; and they could see no advantage in
supporting the Allies rather than the Turks, since they did not
believe our assurances that we would leave them free. Indeed, many of
them preferred an Arabia united by Turkey in miserable subjection, to
an Arabia divided up and slothful under the easier control of several
European powers in spheres of influence.” 10
Beginning with the Allied-induced Arab revolt against the Turks, the
classic imperial doctrine of “balance of powers” or “divide and rule”
has seemed to continue to be applied in rather more subtle diplomatic
form up until the present: with post-Mossadeq Iran against any
incipient Arab nationalism, then with Iraq against post-Revolutionary
Iran, then against Iraq in the Gulf War of 1991. It is only during and
after the Gulf War that Osama Bin Laden, as a totalitarian
revolutionary, arose as an adversary of the West.
Throughout these decades, little or no spontaneous cosmopolitan
political conversation seems to have occurred from which a mature,
sustained indigenous Arab or other Muslim nationalism may have arisen
as the basis for nation-states, as had done e.g. with Indian, Chinese,
Japanese, Indonesian or Vietnamese nationalism.11
From 1919 to 1945, the global conversation became preoccupied with
other matters, and from 1945 to the end of the Cold War, with yet
other matters again. While the three long-term factors unfolded
themselves through these turbulent decades, the natural vibrant free
conversation vitally necessary for the political life of any people
continued for the Arabic-speaking peoples to remain mostly stifled,
dormant, inchoate or abortive. Expectedly enough, whatever little
current it had turned inward to the insular austere roots of a faith
of the desert:
“The Beduin of the desert…found himself indubitably free…. In his life
he had air and winds, sun and light, open spaces and a great
emptiness. There was no human effort, no fecundity in Nature: just the
heaven above and the unspotted earth beneath. There unconsciously he
became near God…. The Beduin could not look for God within him: he was
too sure that he was within God. He could not conceive anything which
was or was not God, Who alone was great…. This creed of the desert
seemed inexpressible in words, and indeed in thought. It was easily
felt as an influence, and those who went into the desert long enough
to forget its open spaces and its emptiness were inevitably thrust
upon God as the only refuge and rhythm of being…. This faith of the
desert was impossible in the towns…” 12
But this attempt to return inevitably became something reactionary in
the late 20th Century. Finding the Beduin and the original deserts of
Arabia transformed over the intervening decades, it could only try to
recreate itself among the Pashtoon in the barrenness of Afghanistan,
and led to the bizarre scenes of the Taliban attempting to destroy
televisions and cassette-tapes in the name of Islam.
6. Envoi
The crimes of September 11 2001 were ones of perverse terroristic
political protest, akin on a global scale to the adolescent youth in
angry frustration who kills his schoolmates and his teachers with an
automatic weapon. But they were not something inexplicable or sui
generis. They represented a final collapse of the centuries-old
cosmopolitan conversation with Islam, while at the same time it was an
incoherent cry of a stifled people trying to return to the austere
faith of the desert. Words are also deeds, and deeds may also be
language. What September 11 has demonstrated is that even while the
information we have about one another and ourselves has increased
exponentially in recent years, our mutual comprehension of one another
and ourselves may well have grossly deteriorated in quality.
Reversing such atrophy in our self-knowledge and mutual comprehension
requires, in the opinion of the present author, the encouragement of
all societies of all sizes to flourish in their scientific knowledge,
their religious and philosophical consciousness and self-discovery,
and their artistic expressiveness under conditions of freedom. Ultra-
modern societies like some in North America or Europe may then perhaps
become more reflective during their pursuit of material advancement
and prosperity, while ancient societies like those in Asia or
elsewhere may perhaps become less fearful of their capacity to engage
in the transition between tradition and modernity, indeed, may even
affect the direction or speed of change in a positive manner.
To use a metaphor of Otto Neurath, we are as if sailors on a ship,
who, even while sailing on the water, have to change the old planks of
the ship with new planks one by one. In due course of time, all the
planks get changed one at a time, but at no time has there not been a
ship existing in the process — at no time need we have lost our
history or our identity.
© Subroto Roy, November 16 2001; January 26 2004
1 Thomas Carlyle, Heroes and Hero Worship, London 1842.
2 In fact, “Gandhi’s correspondence with Tolstoy… only started after
passive resistance had begun, and he only read Thoreau’s essay on
civil disobedience when he was in prison for that very offence”.
Judith M. Brown, Gandhi’s Rise to Power,Indian Politics 1915-1922,
Cambridge University Press 1972.
3 Cf. The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Princeton, 1961, Gorgias 474b,
483a, b.Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind, Thinking, pp. 181-182,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971
4 Applying this to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the precise
question would be how far the present Palestinian authority may be
objectively considered the organized authority of a nation-state: if
it is, then Palestinian suicide-killings are acts of war; if it is
not, they are acts of terrorism. The rhetoric on each side
5 Finding water or even primitive life elsewhere will not change
this.
6 For example, the relatively new nation-states created upon the
ancient societies of the Indian subcontinent to which the present
author belongs, apparently display a surfeit of religiosity combined
with a shortage of rational scientific growth, including the sciences
of governance and economics. Despite the examples of solitary thinkers
from Kabir and Nanak to Gandhi, the political and economic benefits of
social tolerance still seem badly understood in the subcontinent.
Equally, the mechanism of holding those in power accountable for their
actions or omissions in the public domain has often remained extremely
backward. A mature grasp of the division between the private and
public spheres may also have been absent in Asia; the distinction
between private and public property is often fuzzy or opaque; the
phenomena of corruption and pollution are then easily explained as
mirror-images of one another: corruption is the transmutation of
something valuable from the public domain into private property;
pollution is the expulsion of private waste into the public domain.
Each is likely to be found with the other.
7 Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, ed. H. J. Paton, Oxford
8 The contrast between “named” and “anonymous” societies occurred to
the
author on the basis of the theoretical work of Professor Frank Hahn of
Cambridge University, Cf. Equilibrium and Macroeconomics, MIT 1984.
9 This was emphasized by the late Cambridge philosopher Renford
Bambrough, “Thought, word and deed”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian
Society, Supp. Vol. LIV, 1980, pp. 105-117.
10 T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph, 1926, Doubleday
1935, pp. 649, 659; pp. 46-47
11 The most may have been Attaturk’s Turkey, M. A. Jinnah’s creation
of a
Pakistan separate from India, and Algeria’s independence from France —
all distant from the fulcrum of Arabia. In case of Pakistan, it was
Hitler’s invasion of Poland that led the British, in something of a
panic, to begin on September 3 1939 to treat Jinnah’s Muslim League on
par with Gandhi ’s Indian National Congress. The 1937 provincial
election results had shown little support for Pakistan in the areas
which today constitute that country. Cf. F. Robinson, “Origins” in
Foundations of Pakistan’s Political Economy: Towards an Agenda for the
1990s, edited by William E. James & Subroto Roy, Hawaii MS 1989, Sage
1992, Karachi OUP 1993.
12 Seven Pillars of Wisdom, pp. 40-41
A General Theory of Globalization & Modern Terrorism with Special
Reference to September 11
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http://independentindian.com/science-religion-art-the-necessity-of-freedom-2004/a-general-theory-of-globalization-modern-terrorism-2001/
Terrorism and Globalization: Is Terrorism a Part of Globaliz
Terrorism and Globalization: Is Terrorism a Part of Globalization?
In the world today, there is a growing trend in violence, both
domestically and internationally, in the form of terrorism. It is
present in our everyday lives and in every part of the world—some more
than others. Terrorism takes on many forms and has had an impact on
all our lives in one way or another. Whether it affected us directly
with the loss of a loved one or an incident we were a part of, or
indirectly by heightened security at the airports causing delays,
sudden drop in a stock values we own, or emotionally by the countless
reports and images displayed by the media, terrorism has affected us
all and shows no signs of going away anytime soon.
The underlying question then, is what has caused the sudden trend in
terrorism? Has it always been around but just not focused on by the
media, or has something taken place on a global scale causing the
sudden trend? There are many groups and a magnitude of theories on the
sudden trend of terrorism. Political scientists worldwide are at the
forefront of this investigation. Amongst this group are many differing
opinions and theories. One popular theory used to explain the sudden
trend in terrorism is g
Some topics in this essay:
Aart Scholte, DC Excerpts, World Bank, Terrorism Globalization,
Organizations UN, United Nations, Empirical Research, Framework
Globalization, Home Affairs, Argentina Critics, terrorism
globalization, paper terrorism, seven aspects, globalization theory,
globalization terrorism, terrorist attacks, paper terrorism
globalization, globalization cause, globalization breed, section iii,
political science, globalization breed terrorism, seven aspects
globalization, means survival terrorism, jan aart scholte,
Are Terrorism and Globalization Linked?
Matthew Trotter
Dr. Ozminkowski, COM 108
February 24, 2006
Are Terrorism and Globalization LinAlthough a peripheral link between
globalization and terrorism has been established, it does not answer a
simpler question. Does globalization cause international terrorism?
Haydar Bas is quoted by Kuru (2005) as saying, "'Globalization is a
concept originating from the West which has became [sic] a façade to
adamantly impose particular ideas on underdeveloped countries, such as
the claim that the borders are removed and nations are cooperating by
ignoring their economic, cultural, and civilizational differences.'"
There are a few hypotheses in support of the idea. These hypotheses
fall into four main categories: cultural differences, economic
disparity, political frustration, and clashing market systems. There
are also claims that globalization and international terrorism are not
linked at all. Foreign Policy (2005) found "little correlation between
a country's level of global integration and the number of significant
international terrorist attacks on its soil." It even claims
globalization may help countries combat terrorism. However, this study
solely looks at numbers; the question to be answered here cannot rely
solely on quantitative data.
Cultural differences introduced by globalization are thought of as the
main cause of international terrorism. If the hypothesis is true that
cultural differences cause international terrorism, then it can
certainly be said that globalization indirectly causes terrorism.
Cronin (2002) states, "Foreign intrusions and growing awareness of
shrinking global space have created incentives to use the ideal
asymmetrical weapon, terrorism, for more ambitious purposes." She also
says indigenous peoples blame the perceived corruption of their
customs, religions, and languages on an international system American
behavior unconsciously molds. The CQ Researcher (2001) mentions
cultural differences as a source of conflict many times. Conservative
societies are offended by the media image of the United States.
There may not be enough solid evidence of cultural differences
inciting terrorism though. Campbell (2001) writes, "Debates within
[the Middle East] center only in the most trivial way on Western
'contamination,' such as by pop music and video games, of their
cultures." Rojecki (2005) even says the Huntington hypothesis (culture
as the major source of anti-globalization) "receives comparatively
little support in [the media], perhaps because of the Bush
administration's strenuous efforts to divide… al-Qaeda from Islam in
general." It seems that cultural hypotheses for international
terrorism lack solid support and are only popular because they take
into account the most obvious differences between the West and Middle
East.
Economic disparity is another source of hypotheses concerning
globalization and international terrorism. The recent invasion of Iraq
portrays an "image of the West as an enlightened but militarized and
muscular liberator," and "recoups the reality of the global North as…
a site of mass consumption in a world of horrifying need" (Barkawi,
2004). The CQ Researcher (2001) also explores economic disparity as a
source of terrorism. "'With globalization, people tend to compare
themselves with bigger and bigger groups, and if you're in a poor
village in Egypt what you see in U.S. television sitcoms are people
with a lot of money,'" David Byman is quoted.
However, economic disparity alone does not seem like it would inspire
international terrorism, no matter how well-off Western nations are
compared to the rest of the world. There are plenty of nations that
are as bad as or worse-off than the Middle East that do not engage in
international terrorist activity. That point alone discredits the
economic disparity hypothesis.
The category of political frustration has two different theories
concerning globalization and terrorism. The first theory, presented by
Kuru (2005), claims, "Globalization challenges a specific type of
state, one that aims to homogenize its citizens through sociocultural
policies." This is true of the Middle East and untrue of Western
nations. Western nations, being mainly democratic, do not attempt to
lump their citizens together as one; rather, a great deal of diversity
is present in them. In the Middle East, internal strife is intense, as
one group of leaders tries to claim power and keep all people under
its law. It does not seem that this challenge should concern leaders
very much, considering they constantly struggle against internal
opponents. It seems the leader could simply ban access to any
international influence.
The other type of theory in this category is blaming the West for
internal strife. Most of the time, this involves Western nations
interfering and installing unfit leaders. As far as politics are
concerned, Rojecki (2005), states, "Globalization is a cover for
reinforcing American dominance with the UN as a fig leaf… the United
States is said to support corrupt regimes that routinely violate human
rights." Carmody (2005) agrees with this idea, saying, "Support for
repressive governments… are likely to prove unstable as [it generates]
'blowback,' unintended negative consequences." History has seen
Western installation of repressive regimes throughout the world, so
this point has more bearing than the former.
Despite any Western nations' actions to install ineffective
governments, it seems the affected nations are no better at helping
themselves. The CQ Researcher (2001) points out, "The Muslim world
never underwent a movement like the 18th-century Enlightenment in the
West, which hastened the demise of religious influence in government."
Considering the tendency of the region to reject secular government,
it seems the best government to be installed, if secular, would be
rejected. Western nations, wary of Islamic terror, cannot be blamed
for avoiding the installation of Islamic governments.
The final type of hypothesis considers clashing markets, a concept
that has not been considered enough. Mousseau (2002) pins the problem
of international terrorism solely on this aspect of globalization,
stating, "In this mixed economy, the clash of clientalist and market
cultures can lead to illiberal and unstable democracy, military
dictatorship, state failure, sectarian violence, or some combination
thereof." It seems that this scenario could lead to the conditions
Carmody (2005) claims are responsible for providing opportunity for
transnational terrorism, "Islamic fundamentalism… 'failed states,' and
the lack of effective territorial control." Clientalist societies and
market societies are naturally clashing entities. To summarize,
clientalist societies see cooperation as the exchange of gifts, base
trust on life-long friendships within small, approved groups, and are
very hierarchical. Middle Eastern nations are clientalist societies.
Market societies place less emphasis on small, approved group loyalty
and encourage cooperation with new groups and base loyalty on an
agreed-upon sanctity of contracts. Western nations are market
societies.
"From the clientalist perspective, however, those with market values
are from out-groups and thus are untrustworthy. Moreover, by
expressing self-interest, individuals with market values… appear to
have no culture and are seemingly interested in little beyond the
crude pursuit of material gain" (Mousseau, 2002). When this concept is
paired with the fact that when people in developing countries see the
breakdown of traditional relationships and the surfacing of zero-sum
anarchy, they relate them to growing Westernization of their
societies, it is not difficult to see that there is potential in this
hypothesis. There are two more factors within clientalist societies
that contribute to international terrorism. First, privileged persons
often emerge as terrorist leaders because they have the most to lose
from globalization. They exploit the hierarchical structure and gather
many patrons from the economically lowest parts of society. To keep
their patrons' loyalty, leaders must demonstrate strength. Second, in
this society's perspective, individuals are responsible for the
actions of the entire group. Therefore, terrorist attacks that kill
innocent people are justified because leaders are showing strength by
killing guilty people (Mousseau, 2002).
The hypothesis of clashing market systems is the best explanation for
international terrorism. It does need to be further researched and
tested to confirm its plausibility, but it definitely seems to be the
most rational explanation for international terrorism. Mousseau (2002)
sums up his hypothesis by saying, "The underlying cause of terror: the
deeply embedded anti-market rage brought on by the forces of
globalization."
Conclusion
Globalization is an economically-driven process of business which also
makes ideas, cultural behaviors, technologies, and politics global
concepts and lead to greater interaction among previously separated
groups and/or nations. Recent terrorist attacks and attempted attacks
have raised the question: Are globalization and international
terrorism connected? There are aspects to globalization that have
inadvertently facilitated the rise of international terrorism.
International media, communications technologies, conveniences, and
international finances have facilitated terrorism on a global scale.
The more important question is: Does globalization cause terrorism?
The answer to that is unclear. There are many hypotheses, considering
cultural differences, economic disparity, political frustration, and
clashing market systems. The concept of clashing market systems seems
to best answer the question. The theory definitely finds globalization
greatly contributes to international terrorism but is not itself the
only cause. However, the theory should be further tested and
researched to verify its worth.
References
Barkawi, T. (2004). Globalization, culture, and war: on the popular
mediation of "small
Wars." Cultural Critique, 58, 115-147.
Campbell, K.M. (2001). Globalization's first war? The Washington
Quarterly, 25:1,
7-14.
Carmody, P. (2005). Transforming globalization and security: Africa
and America post-
9/11. Africa Today, 52:1, 97-120.
Center for Strategic and International Studies (2002). What is
globalization? Retrieved
February 20, 2006 from http://www.globalization101.org/globalization/.
CQ Researcher (2002). Hating America. The CQ Researcher, 11:41,
969-992.
Cronin, A.K. (2002). Behind the curve: globalization and international
terrorism.
International Security, 27:3, 30-58.
Foreign Policy (2005). The global top 20. Foreign Policy, 148, 52-60.
Gray, J. (2005). A violent episode in the virtual world. New
Statesman, 134, 16-17.
Government of Canada (2005). Economic concepts: globalization.
Retrieved February
20, 2006 from http://www.canadianeconomy.gc.ca/english/economy/
globalization.html.
International Labour Organization (1996). Globalization. Retrieved
February 20, 2006
From http://www.itcilo.it/english/actrav/telearn/global/ilo/globe/new_page.htm.
International Monetary Fund (2000). Globalization: threat or
opportunity? Retrieved
February 20, 2006 from http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/041200.htm.
Kuru, A.T. (2005). Globalization and diversification of Islamic
movements: three
Turkish cases. Political Science Quarterly, 120:2, 253-274.
Mousseau, M. (2002). Market civilization and its clash with terror.
International Security,
27:3, 5-29.
Naím, M. (2002). Post-terror surprises. Foreign Policy, 132, 95-96.
O'Sullivan, J. (2004). The role of the media at a time of global
crisis. International
Journal on World Peace, 21:4, 69-79.
Progressive Living (2001). Globalization defined. Retrieved February
20, 2006 from
http://www.progressiveliving.org/definition_of_globalization_defined.htm.
Rojecki, A. (2005). Media discourse on globalization and terror.
Political
Communications, 22, 63-81.
Tetzlaff, R. (1998). World cultures under the pressure of
globalization. Retrieved
February 20, 2006 from http://www.hamburger-bildungsserver.de/
Welcome.phtml?unten=global/allgemein/tetzlaff-121.html.
University of Colorado at Boulder (2002). Globalization and democracy:
an NSF
Graduate training program. Retrieved February 20, 2006 from http://www.
colorado.edu/IBS/GAD/gad.html.
World Bank Group. (2000). What is globalization. Retrieved February
20, 2006 from
http://www1.worldbank.org/economicpolicy/globalization/ag01.html.
Summary
The main lessons I learned about the search process are how to find
more relevant sources and how to narrow a search. Before doing the
research for this assignment, I did not fully understand how to obtain
more related sources after finding a few of them. While doing the
research, I was able to apply techniques I learned from the library's
research workshop. I looked at source summaries and searched again
using terms in the available source's or sources' subject lines to
find more on the same topic. I also was not sure of how to
significantly narrow a search before doing this assignment. I knew hot
to use the Boolean operators, but I did not know that I could use
certain parameters within databases to narrow the search as well. By
using those techniques, I was able to narrow my search down to mostly
full-text sources.
http://www.ozminkowski.com/globalizationpaper-sample2.doc
Globalization and the Future of Terrorism: Patterns and Predictions
Title: Globalization and the Future of Terrorism: Patterns and
Predictions
Author: Lia Brynjar
ked?
Globalization Defined
While a precise definition of the term has yet to be established, many
of the currently employed definitions use similar concepts. The
University of Colorado at Boulder (2002) describes the global economy
as one in which the main international players are corporations and
lacking a structure tied to national boundaries. Refusing to assign a
specific definition to the term, the World Bank (2000) describes it
primarily as "the observation that in recent years a quickly rising
share of economic activity in the world seems to be taking place
between people who live in different countries," or, more simply, an
increase in international economic activities. The Center for
Strategic & International Studies (2002) attempts to precisely define
globalization, calling it "a process of interaction and integration
among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a
process driven by international trade and investment and aided by
information technology." The International Monetary Fund (2000) offers
the broadest summary of globalization, referring to it as "the
increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly
through trade and financial flows," adding, "The term sometimes also
refers to the movement of people (labor) and knowledge (technology)
across international borders. There are also broader cultural,
political and environmental dimensions of globalization."
Globalization is "the increased mobility of goods, services, labour,
technology and capital throughout the world," according to the
Government of Canada (2005). Rainer Tetzlaff (1998) writes that
globalization encompasses many aspects, including increasing
international transactions, new communications technologies, an
increasing complex division of labor and goods distribution, quick
turnover of concepts and consumer patterns, and a significant increase
in transnational institutions and political movements. Globalization
is "a process of growing interdependence between all people of this
planet," according to the International Labour Organization (1996) and
mentions economical interdependence. Even the cynical Progressive
Living organization (2001) talks about globalization from an economic
standpoint, calling it "a process, well underway, which trends toward
the undermining of national sovereignty, and therefore citizen's [sic]
rights, in favor of the economic interests of gigantic transnational
corporations."
All of these definitions of the term agree on the economic aspect of
globalization. The process began as one of increasingly international
business dealings. However, it is ignorant to not consider other
aspects of globalization. A good definition for it is an economically-
driven process of business which also makes ideas, cultural behaviors,
technologies, and politics global concepts and lead to greater
interaction among previously separated groups and/or nations. It seems
that this is the most succinct and precise the definition of
globalization can be without ignoring many important aspects of it as
some of the previously mentioned definitions do.
Globalization and Terrorism
In recent years, the world has seen many terrorist attacks or
attempted attacks in locations other than where the terrorist(s)
originated from. Notably, the majority of these attacks involved
Muslim extremist groups. A Madrid train was bombed, as was a London
subway. United States embassies in African nations were attacked.
Airplanes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in New
York. Australia narrowly avoided a terrorist attack. In each of these
cases, the terrorists did not come from the country that was targeted.
When the media covers the fight against terrorists, people often hear
that a government is doing something to stop them without sending any
military personnel somewhere in response. Instead, financial assets
are frozen to slow terrorists. Terrorist websites may be taken
offline. Group cells may be discovered within a targeted country and
be shut down by local, state, and/or federal law enforcement officers.
Considering what is known about globalization and the current
situation of international terrorist activity, one could draw a
correlation between globalization and terrorism. It certainly seems
that the two are connected. In a speech at the World Media Conference,
John O'Sullivan (2004) identified four components of what he called
the "world crisis:" globalization itself, the mass migration of people
over frontiers and the consequent spread of ethnic diasporas, the
increased power of religion over secular philosophies, and the
extension of the powers and influence of transnational organizations.
Are globalization and terrorism linked in any way(s)? If so, how are
they linked? By answering these questions, it may be possible to see
if globalization causes international terrorism, if international
terrorism is simply an unfortunate side effect of globalization or
some of its aspects, or if no link exists between the two.
Globalization Facilitating Terrorism
Some aspects of globalization facilitate terrorism. At its basest
meaning, globalization means internationalization. Something is taken
from a national setting and projected across the world. Certain
nations adopt this, others reject it. When most nations do accept it
and adopt it, globalization is taking place.
Cronin (2002) suggests that terrorism cemented itself as an
international phenomenon in the 1970s and 1980s, "evolving in part… in
reaction to the dramatic explosion of international media influence."
At this point in time, news media was truly becoming international in
scope. Many broadcasting companies maintained correspondents or sister
stations in other nations, sharing information back and forth. This
would lead to the first visions of terrorism for many peoples who had
never seen it. Presently, the media can be responsible for
perpetuating the climate of international terror. "For example, there
may no longer be… a globally organised terror network, but… the media
have globalised our perception of terror" (Gray, 2005). Another aspect
to this concept is that the media can be used by terrorists for their
purposes. Campbell (2001) reminds his readers Osama bin Laden released
his now-infamous recorded statements using instruments of
globalization. Many have seen video of bin Laden on American media
outlets even though it was originally released to regional network Al-
Jazeera.
International media certainly is not the main byproduct that
facilitates terror. Perhaps the main facilitator stemming from
globalization is communications technologies. There are many devices
taken for granted in Western society that changed the way terrorists
operate, especially digital communications device. Clansmen fighting
Americans in Somalia in the early 1990s used digital phones that could
not be tapped (Carmody, 2005). The internet, mobile phones, and
instant messaging have given many terrorist groups a truly global
reach. Leading up to the September 11 attacks, al-Qaeda operatives
used Yahoo e-mail, while the presumed leader made reservations online
and other members researched topics such as using crop dusters to
release chemical agents (Cronin, 2002). Perhaps even more troubling is
that these technologies can be used to disperse terrorists to
different locations yet stay connected. Cells can stay in touch
through internet communications while websites spread ideologies
(Cronin, 2002). It is estimated that al-Qaeda operates in over sixty
countries now as a result of using technologies inspired by
globalization (Campbell, 2001).
According to Campbell (2001), many things sophisticated Western
societies have adopted to become more efficient are leaving them more
vulnerable to attacks. This includes policies of free trade, relaxed
immigration policies, and streamlined border crossing policies.
Rojecki (2005) claims the "transportation infrastructures that had
been credited by some… had been used by terrorists." This includes
both national and international travel systems.
Even financial systems created to make international business simpler
can be used for terror instead. Cronin (2002) points out that the
fluid movement of financial resources can help terrorists, citing the
United States' invasion as an example. While the allied forces closed
in on the Taliban, money collected by small businessmen was moved
across the border by operatives and transferred through an informal
banking system to the United Arab Emirates. From there, it became gold
bullion and was sent around the world before it could be seized. More
concerning is the way organizations are beginning to gather funds to
operate. There are many groups with global financing networks, most of
them recognized as foreign terrorist organizations. Their sources
include nonprofit organizations and charities (whose donors may or may
not be aware of their monies' use), companies which send revenue to
illegal activities, illegal enterprises, and websites set up for
donations.
"The terrorist attacks showed that political globalization is as
powerful a phenomenon as the globalization of the economy" (Naím,
2002). To deal with ever-increasing international relations, many
organizations were set up, including the United Nations, the North
American Treaty Organizations, the Organization of American States,
and so on. In these forums, many people can come together to share
ideas. At the same time, similar forums provide a hub for ideas and
processes of coordination and cooperation used by terrorists.
It is apparent that many things inspired to grow or be created by
globalization have unexpectedly been used to facilitate terrorist
operations. The international media has made the world much more aware
of their aims and activities. Communications technologies have been
used to frustrate opposition forces ore ease operations within
terrorist groups. Modern conveniences and economic policies have even
been known to facilitate terror in some way. International financial
systems can help terrorists hide their assets or gather funds.
Political globalization can help terrorists meet and share ideas and
procedures. It is not a stretch to claim that there are many aspects
of globalization that have unfortunately been used to help terrorists.
Does Globalization Cause Terrorism?
Date: 2005
Institution: Contemporary Security Studies, Norwegian Defense
Research Establishment
Bibliography: Lia Brynjar 2005. Globalization and the Future of
Terrorism: Patterns and Predictions. Great Britain:Routledge
Key Words:
Globalization, social science and terrorism, armed conflicts,
organized crime, money laundering.
Summary of Key Issues, Points, Conclusions:
Book written for serious researchers interested in the relationship
between globalization and terrorism. Through the book the author
discusses salient issues surrounding terrorism and he posits possible
implications for the future of terrorism. The work contains in depth
research and analysis on globalization and armed conflicts,
international relations and politics, the global market economy,
demographic factors in terrorism, ideological shifts, and
technological effects of globalization and terrorism. Of special
interest is the chapter on the globalization of organized crime. The
author postulates, transnational crime organizations (TCOs) will
continue to grow in diversity and sophistication in many regions of
the world, and their global reach will be more pronounced. New and
profitable areas of organized crime will emerge. Developed countries
will be more affected by TCOs than in the past.
Implications for terrorist include but are not limited to the
following:
• Increased access to fabricated identification cards and certificates
• Increased access to military grade weapons and equipment
• Decreased state capacities and increase in ungoverned territories
• Increase in transnational organized crime
o Drug trade
o Human-trafficking-sex trade and slavery
o Alien smuggling
• Increase in productivity of drug producers, refiners, and
traffickers worldwide
Name of Researcher: Tyson Voelkel
Institution: Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M
University
Terrorism's Threat to Globalization
YellowTimes.org, November 12, 2002
Following the attacks of September 11, the United States recognized
the threat terrorism posed to the global economy. Whether or not it
was their specific intent, the architects of the attacks caused
immense damage to the global economic structure. By striking at the
economic and military core of this system, the inevitable spread of
free trade capitalism throughout the world was temporarily postponed.
Since September 11, the United States has been pursuing a policy of
coercion in order to destroy any threats to the current global
economic order. The attacks of that day have been used as a
justification to eliminate globalization opposition groups; this
justification has also been used to mask increased U.S. expansion in
parts of the world that were previously beyond Washington's sphere of
influence.
Such newly acquired regional control can be seen in the Caucasus and
Central Asia. This has given the United States greater influence in
the Middle East by encroaching upon Iran's eastern and northwestern
border. Military bases have been built in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The U.S. has also been furthering economic ties with Georgia in the
middle of fresh invasion threats from Moscow.
By increasing its presence, the United States has worried other
regional powers, namely Russia and Iran. Moscow fears that the United
States will gain more control over the oil and gas deposits in the
southern Caucasus, in countries such as Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Tehran fears that increased U.S. involvement around Iran may limit
their country's economic growth and possibly even threaten its
existence. Iran recently built a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan and is
currently planning a new pipeline with India; Tehran also fears that
increased U.S. influence in oil-rich Azerbaijan could limit Iran's
access to oil drilling sites in the Caspian Sea. How the resources of
the Caspian will be divided is still under contest with the five
bordering countries -- Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and
Turkmenistan -- vying for rights. Further, U.S. corporations are
planning on building oil and gas pipelines out of the oil and gas rich
Caucasus and Turkmenistan bypassing Iran.
Along with encroaching U.S. troops on its eastern border with
Afghanistan, many in Tehran worry about possible U.S. troops along its
western border with Iraq. Iran and Iraq have strengthened economic
cooperation recently with the Iraqi-Iranian joint committee for trade
and economic cooperation. Both sides stressed the development of
bilateral cooperation in all fields. All of this may be squandered any
day with a U.S. invasion of Iraq. While many in Iran would not mind
seeing Hussein go, the prospects of having the U.S. military next door
is not a desirable alternative.
But Iran has remained cautiously silent over the encroaching United
States. If they do not comply with U.S. demands, Tehran fears that the
U.S. may induce "regime change" sooner than later considering that
they are already part of the "axis of evil." U.S. President Bush
recently stated, "Iran must be a contributor in the war against
terror. Our nation and our fight against terror will uphold the
doctrine: either you're with us or against us. And any nation that
thwarts our ability to rout terror where it exists will be held to
account, one way or another." Such statements have put Iran on the
defensive.
With the American people supporting the Bush administration against
perceived and real threats, the Bush administration has unique
leverage to build more military bases and thus increase U.S. influence
and intrusion around the world.
Washington is gambling that increased influence will decrease the
chance of attacks against the global economic system and its own
territory. With U.S. bases now littering previously hostile areas, and
authoritarian central governments being propped up by funding from the
U.S., the administration is hoping to suppress any militant sections
of foreign societies.
However, such a policy is truly risky. The overt use of force by
Washington is exposing U.S. policy, making it harder to disguise its
strategy in moral and humanist terms. Because voting blocs primarily
respond to moral justifications, the Bush administration could lose
support at home as such justifications erode under continued scrutiny.
In addition, the administration could further inflame segments of the
world already discontented with the global economic system. This could
result in more attempts to attack the system. With the spread of U.S.
forces as part of this strategy, there will certainly not be a lack of
targets.
Further attacks on U.S. and Western interests will severely disrupt
opportunity for economic growth. The October bomb attack in Bali,
Indonesia was a perfect example of what further attacks will do to the
world economy. Indonesia's tourist industry has been damaged, which
threatens the entire country's economy since tourism accounts for 3.4
percent of its GDP; it also decreases foreign investment in what looks
to be an unstable market. The Bali attack has already sharply reduced
the flow of tourists to points of interest throughout Southeast Asia.
Therefore, Washington believes that the best way to increase world
stability and thus restart economic growth is to expand U.S. influence
across the globe. Instead of relying on foreign governments to control
segments of their own populations who resist globalization, the United
States is taking matters into its own hands. As for foreign
governments who directly threaten global economic growth, either by
not taking action against militants or simply hampering the release of
economic resources into the world market, they risk certain demise.
Erich Marquardt drafted this report; Matthew Riemer contributed.
[The Power and Interest News Report (PINR) is an analysis-based
publication that seeks to, as objectively as possible, provide insight
into various conflicts, regions and points of interest around the
globe. PINR approaches a subject based upon the powers and interests
involved, leaving the moral judgments to the reader. PINR seeks to
inform rather than persuade; it is currently a project of
YellowTimes.org. This report may be reproduced, reprinted or broadcast
provided that any such reproduction identifies the original source,
http://www.YellowTimes.org.
All comments should be directed to PI...@YellowTimes.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Terrorism, Oil, Globalization, and the Impact of Computing
Three things have happened in the last few years, which are now
converging with a fourth inexorable trend to make major changes in
consumer behaviour, mostly for the better.
1) September 11, 2001 showed the world the destruction that a small
number of terrorists could cause by hijacking unsuspecting passenger
planes. The subsequent increase in security almost did not stop 10
other UK to US flights from being exploded above the Atlantic by
British-born terrorists disguising liquid bomb ingredients in soft-
drink containers. The terrorists will continue to get more and more
creative, and will eventually destroy an airliner in an act of
terror. This fear now hangs over all passengers. At the same time,
security at airports is increasing pre-flight periods to up to 3 hours
in duration. Multiply this by the millions of business passengers per
year, and the loss of billions of dollars of productivity is
apparent.
2) Oil at $70/barrel is making air travel more expensive for cost-
conscious businesses. I happen to believe that $70/barrel is the
optimal price for oil for the US, where the economic drag is not
enough to cause a recession, but the price is high enough for
innovation in alternative energy technologies to accelerate.
Nonetheless, economic creative destruction always has casualties that
have to make way for new businesses, and airlines might bear a large
share of that burden.
3) At the same time, globalization has increased the volume and
variety of business conducted between the US and Asia, as well as
between other nations. More jobs involve international interaction,
and frequent overseas travel. This demand directly clashes with the
forced realities of items 1) and 2), creating a market demand for
something to ease this conflicting pressure, which leads us to...
4) The Impact of Computing, which estimates that the increasing power
and number of computing devices effectively leads to a combined gross
impact that increases by approximately 78% a year. One manifestation
of the Impact is the development of technologies like Webex, high-
definition video conferencing over flat-panel displays, Skype, Google
Earth, Wikimapia, etc. These are not only tools to empower
individuals with capabilities that did not even exist a few years ago,
but these capabilities are almost free. Furthermore, they exhibit
noticeable improvements every year, rapidly increasing their
popularity.
While the life blood of business is the firm handshake, face-to-face
meeting, and slick presentation, the quadruple inflection point above
might just permanently elevate the bar that determines which meetings
warrant the risks, costs, and hassle of business travel when there are
technologies that can enable many of the same interactions. While
these technologies are only poor substitutes now, improved display
quality, bandwidth, and software capabilities will greatly increase
their utility.
The same can even apply to tourism. Google Earth and WikiMapia are
very limited substitutes for traveling in person to a vacation
locale. However, as these technologies continue to layer more detail
onto the simulated Earth, combined with millions of attached photos,
movies, and blogs inserted by readers into associated locations, a
whole new dimension of tourism emerges.
Imagine if you have a desire to scale Mount Everest, or travel across
the Sahara on a camel. You probably don't have the time, money, or
risk tolerance to go and do something this exciting, but you can go to
Google Earth or WikiMapia, and click on the numerous videos and blogs
by people who actually have done these things. Choose whichever
content suits you, from whichever blogger does the best job.
See through the eyes of someone kayaking along the coast of British
Columbia, walking the length of the Great Wall of China, or spending a
summer in Paris as an artist. The possibilities are endless once
blogs, video, and Google Earth/WikiMapia merge. Will it be the same
as being there yourself? No. Will it open up possibilities to people
who could never manage to be there themselves, or behave in certain
capacities if there? Absolutely.
http://futurist.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/08/terrorism_oil_b.html
Palash Biswas
Pl Read my blogs:
http://nandigramunited.blogspot.com/
http://www.bangaindigenous.blogspot.com/
http://www.troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/
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