The Monster in the Mirror
Arundhati Roy
How should those of us whose hearts have been sickened by the knowledge of all of this view the Mumbai attacks, and what are we to do about them?
There are those who point out that U.S. strategy has been successful inasmuch as the United States has not suffered a major attack on its home ground since 9/11. However, some would say that what America is suffering now is far worse.
If the idea behind the 9/11 terror attacks was to goad America into showing its true …

A Shadowy History of Suspicious Terror Attacks
Arundhati Roy
Though one chapter of horror in Mumbai has ended, another might have just begun. Day after day, a powerful, vociferous section of the Indian elite, goaded by marauding TV anchors who make Fox News look almost radical and left-wing, have taken to mindlessly attacking politicians, all politicians, glorifying the police and the army, and virtually asking for a police state.
It isn’t surprising that those who have grown plump on the pickings of democracy (such as it is) should now be calling for a …

Releasing Frankensteins
Arundhati Roy
Thanks largely to the part it was forced to play as America’s ally, first in its war in support of the Afghan Islamists and then in its war against them, Pakistan, whose territory is reeling under these contradictions, is careening toward civil war.
As recruiting agents for America’s jihad against the Soviet Union, it was the job of the Pakistani Army and the ISI to nurture and channel funds to Islamic fundamentalist organizations. Having wired up these Frankensteins and released them into the world, the U.S. expected it could …

It is the third part of article by Arundhati Roy titled Monster in the Mirror. The second part is entitled Terrorism and the Need for Context.
 A Close Embrace of Hatred, Terrifying Familiarity, and Love
by Arundhati Roy
On this nuclear subcontinent, that context is Partition. The Radcliffe Line, which separated India and Pakistan and tore through states, districts, villages, fields, communities, water systems, homes, and families, was drawn virtually overnight. It was Britain’s final, parting kick to us.
Partition triggered the massacre of more than a million people and the largest migration …

It is the Part 2 of the article “Monster in the Mirror” written by Arundahti Roy.
Terrorism and the Need for Context
Arundhati Roy
There is a fierce, unforgiving fault line that runs through the contemporary discourse on terrorism. On one side (let’s call it Side A) are those who see terrorism, especially “Islamist” terrorism, as a hateful, insane scourge that spins on its own axis, in its own orbit, and has nothing to do with the world around it, nothing to do with history, geography, or economics. Therefore, Side A says, to …

9 Is Not 11
(And November Isn’t September)
By Arundhati Roy
 
We’ve forfeited the rights to our own tragedies. As the carnage in Mumbai raged on, day after horrible day, our 24-hour news channels informed us that we were watching “India’s 9/11.” And like actors in a Bollywood rip-off of an old Hollywood film, we’re expected to play our parts and say our lines, even though we know it’s all been said and done before.
As tension in the region builds, U.S. Senator John McCain has warned Pakistan that, if it didn’t act fast …

Pakistan being used to provoke, to aid and abet terrorism. Nobody wants war.” Indian prime minister Manmohan Sigh told news reporters outside Indian Parliment.
India accused the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-i-Taiba for attacks in Mumbai and demanded that Islamabad snuff out groups that fuel terror in India. Lashkar-e-Taiba has denied any involvement from day one. Furthermore, Pakistan, while denying any government role in the attack, has offered to help in a joint probe and has detained some suspects. But India has rejected the steps as merely cosmetic and demanded more effective …

Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister while reopening Taj hotel in Mumbai said “Terrorism remains a scourge for our region. If a country [Pakistan] cannot keep the assurances that it has given, then it obliges us to consider the entire range of options that exist to protect our interests and people from this menace,”.
Mr Mukherjee and the defence minister A K Antony met India’s three service chiefs and senior security officials on Saturday to consider all possible scenarios against their nuclear rival and neighbour, which they believe has given shelter …

Indian Minority Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Antulay resgined after giving in to pressures within the Indian government and demands by the Barathia Janatha Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena. The step was taken following statements he made after Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare was killed during the 26 November terrorist attacks in Mumbai suggesting that the latter was the victim of a plot. According to Antulay, Karkare could have been killed because of the involvement of Hindu extremists in recent attacks in Maharashtra and Gujarat blasts that he and his …

ERIC MARGOLIS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. strategic think tank, RAND Corp, estimated a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan initially would kill two million, wound 100 million and send clouds of radioactive dust around the globe. That was a decade ago. Since then India and Pakistan have quadrupled their nuclear forces, which are now on a hair-trigger alert.
Fears an enraged India would attack Pakistan in revenge for the Mumbai massacre provoked great alarm here in Washington. So, too, the threat Islamabad would withdraw two Pakistani army corps supporting the U.S. …