Our Own War

No words of condemnation and dismay are enough to convey the gruesomeness ofrecent terror unleashed in Mumbai. Sadly, we live in times when gun-trottinglunatics, with perverted notions of ‘retribution’ and ‘struggle’, holdour society to ransom and instill terror in our lives, our imagination. Thefailure of the Pakistani state in effectively governing several parts of thecounty, in addition to sections within its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)going rogue, has destabilized South Asia as a region. Recurring bomb blasts inpublic spaces and assassination of politicians (a la Benazir Bhutto) areconsequences of a failed Pakistani state. Pakistan too has become a victim ofits own failure -- innocent people in Pakistan, just as in India, have losttheir lives on account of violence and bomb blasts. So where do we go from here?What options do we have as a nation, as a global society? How do we prevent lossof innocent lives, make India and the world a better place for one and all?

Even as we assess the challenges ahead of us, cries of  "carpetbombing", "jihadis in slums of Mumbai flying Pakistani flags" and "wagewar on Pakistan" grows louder -- jingoists in our society, sometimes withreligion-based prejudices and sometimes without, have found the opportune momentto come out of their closets.  Increasingly, a numerical minority, eventhough privileged in terms of class position, have been pleading for an‘upgrade’ in India’s stature from an anti-imperialist, post-colonial,non-aligned nation to one that mimics the strategies of imperialist powers, onethat becomes a sub-hegemon -- we want out own "preemptive strikes," our ownwar, even as we desire our own Halliburtons and Enrons. 

But imperialist strategies are fraught with contradictions as it creates newproblems and fuels resentments, further endangering the people it claims tofight for.

I am intrigued by the shortsightedness of the proponents of war. After all,what do they have in mind? Do they expect the Indian army to enter Pakistan andoccupy it to ‘cleanse’ it of terrorists, a la United States in Iraq? Buthave imperialist aggressions ever solved problems, resolved conflicts? Haveimperialist interventions, extending from Guatemala to Chechnya, Congo toZimbabwe, and Iraq to Palestine made the world a safer place? Or are theproponents of war suggesting that India should infringe on Pakistan’ssovereignty and bomb certain regions suspected of harboring terrorists and theirtraining camps? Will our newfound sense of imperialist morality justify possibleloss of innocent lives in Pakistan, on account of our ‘strategic’ militarystrike, simply as collateral damage? Is Gandhi’s India ready to justifybombing of civilian areas? We need to remind ourselves that during the VietnamWar, the United States dropped nearly two million tons of bombs in Laos (Laoswas not directly involved in this hostility), 30 percent of which failed to gooff.  In addition to those who were killed during the war, hundreds ofinnocent people in Laos die every year on account of the undetonated bombs thatwere dropped several decades ago.  War is an imperialist extravaganza, withtremendous moral ramification for any nation. So what is India’s moralposition in the face of terrorism, violence, and extraordinary challenge?

Military strikes on civilian areas in Pakistan will only fuel support for thegroups that use terrorism. Innocent victims of possible aggression on India’spart would simply conclude that India is a threat to their life and security.This would make recruitment of individuals, by international terror networks,easier. An alternative scenario is that a war would lead to the collapse of thealready failed Pakistani state. Who would take control of Pakistan’s army andweapons under such a scenario? Will India be able to deal with such a scenario?Will this make India safer?

But then, the question arises: How do we save innocent lives in India and howdo we keep our country safe? In my view, first, we need to understand that actsof terror are not the same as acts of wars and wars cannot be the solution toacts of terror, despite our suspicion that sections within the ISI (a statebased, rather than a stateless institution in Pakistan) may have gone rogue.Second, we need to engage in multilateral diplomacy, and invoke internationallaws to mount pressure (if Pakistan is unwilling to tackle the menace of fanaticand violent groups) or support possible Pakistani efforts (if the Pakistanigovernment is found willing to tackle the menace). Terrorists must be brought tojustice. But the fact that India has been the victim of terrorism does not giveit the license to ignore moral dilemmas of war. Equally important is the factthat justice is about ensuring safety of innocent lives, whether in India,Pakistan, USA or any part of the world. War categorizes entire nations asenemies. Wars, cluster bombings do not separate the grains from the husk, theinnocent and the victims from the villains. Can we set a wrong, right, bycarrying out a wrong, a war? 

Waquar Ahmed, a citizen of India, is a professor at Mount Holyoke College,South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA.