India responsible for its own mess

This week the world was horrified by the scenes of terrorism striking the Bombay rail system. A link was quickly made with Islamic extremists backed by Osama Bin Laden. India has dealt with Bin Laden backed terrorism for much longer than the United States or even Israel has, but India has proven through the years completely incapable of properly handling the situation.

While India is emerging as an economic superpower based on service oriented industries, the nation remains backward in policing itself and in containing communal violence. India's reaction to Islamic backed terror has been embrace Hindu fundamentalism and US President George W. Bush's USA with a nuclear deal that hurt both states, rather than working to eliminate the root causes of terror. Mumbai where the bombings took place this week was not long ago one of the most secular and enlightened places on earth. To be a Bombay resident who worked downtown somehow meant you were cosmopolitan and urbane. Now in 2005 Mumbai has become a constant terrorist magnet with suspicions between religions and ethnic groups and paranoia spreading throughout the city on a daily basis.

No question exists that the behavior of Pakistan and Osama Bin Laden's minions running around India has been despicable. But unfortunately India has done more to encourage their behavior than to stop them in recent years. Terrorism will continue to be a reality of life in Mumbai and Delhi, India's two major cities until official policy and the public attitudes change.