Thursday, April 08, 2010

Islamist terror and selective justice in India

"Lashkar-i-Taiba: The Fallacy of Subservient Proxies and the Future of Islamist Terrorism in India", by Ryan Clarke, US Army War College

is available here (PDF file).

The story is of a Pakistani sponsored terrorist organization that has globalized and partly slipped beyond the control of its Pakistani sponsors. In particular, the Lashkar is expanding into India, with a child group, the Indian Mujahideen. The report has this warning:

So why are Indian Muslims now willing to be involved in attacks that kill their fellow citizens on a massive scale and try to damage their own economy by hitting hotels and other commercial sites like bazaars?
...
A major contributing factor for Islamist terrorism in India is the selective nature of Indian justice when it comes to prosecuting acts of communal violence. For example, India relentlessly pushes for the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan for his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai attacks while many of those who perpetrated or instigated the 2002 Gujarat riots, in which scores of Muslim innocents were killed, have not been brought to justice. Contradictions such as these serve as powerful motivators, while evidence is also starting to emerge that some Indian Muslims are beginning to identify with the Kashmir dispute. This is something that could prove disastrous if not addressed.