The infinite loop ....

Condemnation, Strong Condemnation. Condolences, Deep Condolences, Praising the resilience of Delhi citizens (this time Delhi!), Blaming Pakistan or ISI, Sending dossier to Pakistan, HM ensuring the nation that the perpetuators will be dealt with severely, PM assuring that such incidents will not take place in future (btw he has assured so on 15th July), Politics over a strong anti Terror law, Adjournment of the Parliament sessions (It was anyways happening ….now they got a new reason), Again a “Katti” with Pakistan,

Possibly setting up another agency to investigate such incidents (can somebody measure such agencies please…I bet they are more than the people employed by them ) , Debate whether it was an Intelligence failure -
And the saga continues ....
While the nation bleeds....

Read this one  ..posted a while back . Now Delhi Blasts and nothing has changed..

The larger picture

“Koi Insaan ya Desh Chota nahin hota”. .

Well I am not publicizing KBC here !. These lines inadvertently came to my mind the other day when I saw the front page of news paper carrying a photograph of Mr. Krishna shaking hands with Miss. Heena Rabbani Khar. While most news papers talked about the beaming new era of friendship between the two countries (apart from the style statement of the esteemed Foreign Minister of Pakistan), I had different thoughts in mind. The photo to me actually was a reflection of the age difference/freshness in mindset and approach of the two nations, to the changing world of international politics and foreign policies. This is one area where, no matter how much you disagree, Pakistan has been beating us in the game, while we are still trying to understand the rules of the game!. With all our political systems, strategists, think tanks etc in place, we have been out maneuvered by Pakistan (with all its political issues, allegations, international pressures etc) time and again.

Coming to the point, we are still struggling to get a cue about the Mumbai blasts (remember? There were blasts in Mumbai few days back?) . While the investigating agencies are doing their job, the question needs to be asked – What will be the end point of such investigation? We would identify the perpetuators- Well we have already done that for the Pune blasts ( if the police statements are to be believed), the Delhi blasts, and so on( I cant even recount the number of such cases since last 5 years).What next ? We MIGHT establish and highlight role of Pakistan. Highlight to whom? Besides, the role in 26/11 was as obvious as a new born learning to pee! What has been the outcome?

What do you mean -some may ask? We have sent them dossiers (Cost of raddi in Pakistan went down in those times due to excessive supply!) ! After all, we are a responsible nation and follow a rule of law! Yes, most definitely, the Kasabs and Gurus are most grateful to India for establishing the rule of law! (On a side note, just wondering where was the rule of law when Warren Anderson –of Bhopal fame was taken out of the country with due respect and protection!).

While we are still ‘investigating ‘these blasts, there are plans being finalized to meet the next ‘targets’!. This has been happening in the past and will continue in future. The problem lies in we not seeing things in the right frame. Our responses have always been to localized events at respective times, while failing to understand, gauge and fully draft a comprehensive response to the larger agenda ( which for many is as simple – Pakistan wants to do XYW with India !).

Let us try and understand these things in a larger context. Are these incidents (blasts etc) a war against India? Well emm yes and NO!. Wars by definition are supposed to have an objective. With my limited understanding, I fail to understand what objective is achieved by killing some innocent people or striking fear in minds of few more or than causing loss to business or a small dent to the national pride-which most Indians are used to by now. Obviously we are not going to give away Kashmir because of it !! Hell NOT! .

So what is it ? And what for ? To answer this,, let us understand the geo-political and historical scenario. For one, Islam as a religion constitutes almost 25 % of the world population. While wars in Europe (and as they spread to other continents) during historic times were more about territorial and materialistic ambitions, there was not much of a religious motive behind them. Of course, they did help in spread of Christianity across the globe.On the contrary, wars from middle east had as much to do with spread of Islam as for other reasons. Wars were an instrument of spreading Islam and as such extension of the state policy. Also , since its inception till almost the middle of nineteenth century, Islam as a society had a significant political presence .

Come today, we do have a significant presence of Islam globally and it has shaped the history and demography of many a nations. .However, the amount of political, economic clout that Islamic nations enjoy is significantly less-certainly less compared to the resources at hand. To say , we do have middle east with huge cash reserves. But that doesn’t buy them anything more than riches. There is an identity void that affects the intellectuals and the upper strata of the society.They yearn for more say ,but cannot do it.

The question might be asked here is – Why just Islam? This might be true about the Hindus, Buddhists etc .Also the Christians may be ruling significant portions of the world, they are disintegrated into as many sects as the castes in India!. The reason is , Islam ( or rather a hardliner faction of it globally) has always treated itself as a single entity. For them (and I am talking of the few with hardcore views), the world is still divided into 2 sections – Islam and non Islam. So, they have the money, they have the people, they also have managed the weapons (Pakistan!),but not the political space they are looking for. One reason is that the populace is spread across multiple nations, ethnicity and continents. The other reason is most of such nations are helpless in front of the western (read American) hegemony.

A significant number of intellectuals who believe in this monolithic structure of Islam also believe in the concept (or prophecy) of an eventual Islamic dominance of the world. However, the problems before them are manifold. The disintegrated nature of populace, the western hegemony, conflicts within the nations –to name a few. Besides the idea had (has) not found roots in majority of the Islamic populace. The solution (or the first part) lies in bringing the people together. But this is easier said than done! Well you cannot do so by mere preaching ,delivering sermons and asking people to sacrifice their peaceful life! .You need better means. What better way than to -

a. Publicize injustice against the religion by giving examples of various atrocities ( real or manufactured ) across the globe ( including India).

b. Selling the dream of Islamic unity and superiority and awakening the desire amongst people to be part of the same.

c. To demonstrate the viability of such a concept being successful by carrying attacks across different places in the world and creating heroes out of the perpetrators .

d. Create pockets of dissidence within individual nation states and use them for furthering the agenda.

d. Eventually, to capitalize on the social isolation and loss of identity of the Islamic populace in different nations ,due to such terror attacks , and to draw them towards the final objective.

e. Conceal the real motive by calling terror attacks as a revenge for some ‘XY’ incident in the past.

This cycle has been followed systematically for few decades now. In recent decade or so, it has started yielding results and that is the reason the proponents are more enthusiastic and upbeat about it. 9/11, 26/11 and various other such incidents across the globe are part of the same strategy and agenda. While a dominant number of Muslims may still be not part of the same, such incidents and the aftermath definitely make their situation worse. They are caught in crossfire and eventually have to jump this way or the other. Quite a few cross the fence and submit themselves to the idea. Obviously, the best way to expedite the process is to increase the frequency of ‘Terrorist Strikes”.

Who all are involved? Well this is a logical consortium consisting of business men, politicians, intellectuals, power brokers, elements (or entirety) of military, Religious leaders  from all over the globe and also some nation states. They exist in every nook and corner of the world with visible presence in some portions while largely unnoticed in most other parts. There is a subtle line of common understanding that runs between the visibly separated events across the world. A measurable number of nation-states are party to the game, though covertly.

Now, let come back to the Indian context and try to dissect the situation. Pakistan ( a significant number of entities within it ) are torch bearers of the philosophy and the eventual triumph. India being perceived as anti Islamic (although it has more Islamic population than Pakistan) is logical target. However, it doesn’t stop here!. The Pakistani state(as a whole) may or may not believe in the pan-Islamic philosophy and possibly may not be interested either. But it sees a good opportunity in causing dissidence in India and help settle political scores .So they are all game for any such plans and provide military ,logistical and all the required support to meet the ends. Simultaneously, the pan-Islamic state stands to gain out of political animosity between India and Pakistan due to the support infrastructure available. Hence the attempts to scuttle peace process now and then. As such, the differences between India and Pakistan (as nation-states) are largely political and would otherwise be settled in due course of time. However, the Islamic angle will make things difficult and ensure that the same does not happen. An ulterior motive is also to maximize the participation of Indian Muslims to the global agenda.

To summarize, what we have is a -

State – Logical consortium for today and a prophesized pan-Islamic state for tomorrow.

Policy – Integration of Islamic resources –human, financial, military and intellectual to achieve and eventual supremacy..

War – All actions ( terror strikes being just one instrument) resulting in creation of fundamentalists pockets across the globe who are physically separated, but logically united.

War is an extension of state policy.

Does it make sense now?

In the Indian context, Pakistan is fighting a small battle with India , in conjunction with the larger war. And incidents like Mumbai are actually WEAPONS in the battle (or war). They achieve no purpose in isolation, but help win wars when grouped together. The saddening part is that our state machinery is so engrossed in “investigating” the weapons or trying to prevent the use of them, that we do not have time even to think of the larger war and counter it.

The solution? Well everybody seems to have their own !.