[sacw] SACW #2 (25 Sept. 01)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | Dispatch #2
25 September 2001
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

------------------------------------------

#1.

________________________

#1.

'Terror, counter-terror, war and our lives'
Peace meet at the Ramjas College, Delhi University in Delhi
24 September 2001

[Here's how the meeting began with a few words from Mukul Mangalik=20
(historian, film maker and a heart of gold)]

" On behalf of the History Society, Ramjas College, I thank you all=20
for being present here today.

There are moments in time when the earth seems to cry out in anguish=20
with each step we take, when every breath we take seems to carry=20
within itself a sense of desperation, when there's a feeling in our=20
bones that we, our lives, our very humanity, are no longer in our=20
control. It is such a moment that we are living today, being pushed=20
rapidly to the edge of a precipice from which there may be no return.

There is a shocking ease with which war is being talked about and=20
violence glorified, as if these were games to be played in which life=20
didn't matter. There is a shocking ease with which terrorism is being=20
identified with Islam. Reason appears to have taken flight, and=20
language taken over by words of retribution, revenge, hate and=20
communal elimination no matter what the costs.

This is happening at a time when irrespective of race, creed and=20
ethnicity, millions of people are haunted and ravaged by daily=20
terrors such as hunger, disease, displacement, and police, caste,=20
gender and majoritarian atrocities, which precisely because of their=20
everydayness, go virtually unacknowledged. It is happening at a time=20
when the world is afloat on a sea of weapons of mass destruction, and=20
it is happening at a time when authoritarian mentalities are becoming=20
the commonsense upon which states the world over are rationalising=20
the steady encroachment on hard won democratic rights and civil=20
liberties.

We have gathered here today to begin to try and make sense of all=20
that has brought us to the brink of this massive human tragedy=20
unfolding before our eyes, to try perhaps to reaffirm that there is=20
more to life than a fight unto death over oil and falling rates of=20
profit in the names of religion and nation, and to think of what=20
little we can do to pull ourselves back from the brink.

Let's look for hope wherever we can, with the conviction that life is=20
beautiful and we can cleanse it of all forms of oppression and=20
intolerance so that every one may enjoy it to the full.

This meeting will begin with students from Ramjas History sharing=20
their experiences and thoughts on 'Terror, counter-terror, war and=20
our lives', followed by comments by, and a discussion with, Achin=20
Vanaik and Praful Bidwai. Before inviting Harry second year History=20
Hons to come and speak, I wish I could have said "there's music in=20
the cafes tonight and revolution in the air". This is not possible=20
but I hope at least everyone will join in singing together with=20
Shubendu, Manjeet and John in the course of the meeting."

_______

#2.

From: Beena Sarwar

A thought provoking letter from Nuzhat Kidvai in Karachi to Elise=20
Young in the USA, that Elise has passed on to share...

----- Original Message -----
From: Nuzhat <<mailto:nuzhat@k...>>
To: Elise <<mailto:elise@j...>>
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2001 5:29 PM

Dear Elise,

I have just returned from one of our smaller cities right next door to
Afghanistan after conducting Teacher Training workshops.
I downloaded my mail today on returning to find your letter among it.
...

It has meant a great deal to me to hear some sane voices, but President
Bush's choice of words ("smoking them out of their holes" & so on) & his
aggressive cowboy stance does not appeal to me. The hype related to
justifying a long, unconventional war is very disturbing. The theory hit
now and ask later smacks of mindless masochism which is abhorrent to me as =
a
woman.

I only wish that peace makers, and women in particular, had a platform in
the media which could counter the stance of the hawks of this world.
The impression that is being created is that all the world is united on
taking revenge. That the American nation has risen in unison because
humanity has been attacked.

There is no doubt that humanity is attacked each time that a people are
killed, crushed and oppressed. But it is time that the hawks were made to
see that they have been responsible for more attacks on humanity than the
rest of humanity has attacked them in return. The violence we see is a
result of and in answer to their violence. And just see the consequences
of this vile attack. My God so many lives destroyed through no fault of
theirs. They were only nationals of the country and were not responsible
for what their governments have done. If madness had not won the day such
pain would not have been the lot of the people. But if in retaliation
more people are killed there will always be a justification for more violen=
ce
in the minds of some other unthinking individuals.

I am so glad to see some of the articles which have been written and
published. If we wish to build a coalition we have to start by=20
understanding the
violence in our world in the historical context. Human beings are good and
capable of great sacrifices and acts of bravery, as has been demonstrated
by the New Yorkers in their hour of tragedy. It is a lesson in the power
of goodness & love. Heroes arise from it. But unjust violent acts to
humiliate and show power, destroys the inherent goodness of man. Everyone
loses their humanity in the wake of such unthinking acts as war.
I believe that all that is needed is to look for the root cause. Then
learn to apologize. All that most people who have been wronged desire is a
recognition of the pain they have suffered. Even if no apology were made,
atleast recognize the injustice done with a promise to rectify it. And
allow time to heal the wounds caused earlier.

I'll tell you a story.
A Japanese taxi driver once told my husband that he would like to attack
the US for its criminal act of dropping the nuclear bomb. He said he would
like to do the same to America. When told that it would be madness to
repeat such an act, his answer was that perhaps he could have forgiven the
US had their president not said when asked on the 25th anniversary of the
Hiroshima bombing whether with hindsight & having seen the consequences he
now wishes he had not done so. The President's answer was shocking. He
said that he would still have done the same!

Forgiveness and charity goes out the window with aggression!

Whether man or animal, when pushed to the limits and with their backs
against the wall, the result is the same. They attack back mindlessly.
We must not allow that to happen. You asked me if you could share=20
what I had written with others. You are most welcome to do so. I=20
would like to share some of the stuff that I have been receiving.

With loads of good wishes, love & Peace,

Nuzhat

_______

#3.

Znet Column

American Innocence

Vijay Prashad
24 September 2001.

News from Tashkent, Uzbekistan comes to us that US military aircraft=20
landed at a military airport yesterday. The first installment of=20
bombers is poised to blast Afghanistan from the map, to render the=20
region into the parking lot of Lyndon Johnson's fantasy. Iraq will=20
perhaps bear some of the brunt of the attack, since, as Stratfor (the=20
intelligence forecaster) puts it "Iraq is very convenient for an air=20
attack" and "extending the list of nations that supported the=20
attackers [even without evidence] from one to two would solve a=20
number of problems for the United States."

Three aircraft carriers are in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf, and=20
supply ships have entered the final stages of their journey into the=20
Indian Ocean.

The Saudi's say that they will not permit the US to use the retooled=20
Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh for retaliation against=20
Afghanistan. During the Gulf War, in public the Saudis and the US=20
said that these bases would not be used, but during the war, US=20
planes took off from Arabia to conduct missions in Iraq. Similar=20
things might happen when the bombs begin to rain. Four and a half=20
thousand US military personnel sit at Prince Sultan, including a host=20
of aircraft. The 5th Fleet is in Bahrain, Yemen says that the US can=20
refuel, and Kuwait's airports are always open for their liberators.

B-52s and B-1s are in the air, ready to drop an enormous payload, as=20
RC 135 fuel tankers fly along for air-support along with a set of=20
surveillance crafts. Some estimates tell us that over two hundred=20
planes are on hand for the assault.

Diego Garcia and the bases in the Gulf are on alert, as, perhaps, is=20
Quetta, Pakistan.

The Pakistani government, afraid of the outcome of the assault, has=20
moved two brigades of its 16th Division from the Umarkot-Panaoqil=20
sectors, along the border that divides it from Gujarat and Rajasthan=20
in India. Eager to do its bit for the alliance, the Hindu-Right led=20
Indian government's foreign minister Jaswant Singh announced, "India=20
had no intention to add to the complexities that the Government and=20
people of Pakistan were faced with." The convoluted grammar perhaps=20
reveals the ambiguous sensibility of the government, otherwise eager=20
to use any opportunity to put Pakistan on the margins of US policy.

The drums of war could not be any clearer.

And yet, many of us in the US remain shrouded in that classic=20
American posture: innocence.

The demand for revenge comes without any consideration of the=20
long-term costs of our actions. If profits can be posted each quarter=20
without any sense of the long-term human consequences of our economic=20
actions, why can't our armies and state department act on the=20
short-term as well? Why do we have to wait, when we can just act? Why=20
does the long-term hinder our short attention span? Why doesn't the=20
military, like our children, suffer from ADD?

In 1822-23, G. W. F. Hegel ignored the Napoleonic wars that tore=20
Europe up around him to hold forth for four hours a week on the=20
philosophy of history. He concentrated his discussions on the=20
"oriental world" (too much of either civil society or of state, an=20
excess of things), on the Greek and Roman worlds (the correct, if=20
primitive, balance between the people and their state) and the=20
"German or Modern world" (perfection incarnate in the Prussian=20
state). In a few pages he brushed off Africa, for whom "history is in=20
fact out of the question," and America. The Americas, by whom he=20
meant the Native Americans, are "like unenlightened children, living=20
from one day to the next, and untouched by higher thoughts or=20
aspirations." These enlightened thoughts are the privilege of Europe,=20
but not necessarily the European immigrants to the Americas. America,=20
he said, is "a land of desire for those who are weary of the=20
historical arsenal of the old Europe." For this reason he hoped that=20
"America will abandon the ground on which world history has hitherto=20
been enacted." In other words, that America would recreate social=20
relations, untrammeled by the weight of history, and offer a new=20
sense of reality for the world.

But Hegel fears that this will not be so. Not because America will=20
become Europe, but because in "North America, the most unbridled=20
license prevails in all matters of the imagination." Reality will=20
give way to fable. The land itself, the "geographical basis" haunts=20
the minds of the migrant Europeans and others who follow them, and=20
makes them fly, like the Amerindians before them, into the=20
imagination. If Hegel dismisses Africa for its lack of Consciousness=20
(Spirit or the Geist), he dismisses America because Consciousness=20
only enters as Imagination.

Or as Innocence. Hegel's generally unreliable text (for it is filled=20
with gross and untutored generalizations) points us to a prevalent=20
mythology that comes to us at the origins of the European=20
colonization of the Americas - the myth of innocence. The persecuted=20
Europeans flee the guiles of Old Europe to make a place that does not=20
replicate its complexity, deviousness and intrigue. They arrive in=20
the Americas, wide-eyed and curious, desperate for a new life. These=20
settlers do not care for the artificiality of feudal manners so they=20
inaugurate a world of forthrightness, frankness and independence.=20
Hardy, courageous, tough - this is the self-image of the colonial=20
settlers.

A century after Hegel, Edith Wharton will both represent and skewer=20
this conceit in her novel, the Age of Innocence (1920), a book on the=20
dream-time of a people who resist the pangs of adolescence by=20
enacting maturity and blinding themselves from the world's evils.

The genocide of the Amerindians, the slavery of peoples from Africa,=20
the widespread disruption of anti-colonialism in the name of=20
anti-communism - this is the legacy that is lost by America's=20
innocent amnesia. In March 1968, the National Advisory Commission on=20
Civil Disorders tendered its report on the uprisings of the decade,=20
and it offered an indictment that covers this general sense of=20
amnesia: "What white Americans have never fully understood -- but=20
what the Negro can never forget -- is that white society is deeply=20
implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white=20
institutions maintain it, and white society condones it." Our=20
inability to deal with racism is certainly a consequence of the=20
innocent amnesia of whiteness, the grave desire to represent racism=20
as the touchiness of the oppressed or as the province of an isolated=20
group of Aryanists. Our history of white privilege is actively=20
forgotten, that history of white suburbanization through federal=20
assistance, of the creation of white equity, and of the immense=20
amount of values appropriated without wages from a determinate set of=20
peoples whose descendents for the most part are capital poor.

The black book of US violence does not by itself produce "fascism=20
with an Islamic face" (as Christopher Hitchens puts it in the recent=20
Nation), for the Islamicists have their own dynamic and their own=20
historical agency. The US is not alone culpable for 9/11, indeed no=20
one of the "Chomsky-Zinn-Finkelstein quarter," in my estimation, is=20
arguing that "the chickens are coming home to roost." The stakes of=20
the argument, on the other hand, are that the claim of the innocence=20
of the US state is a blanket denial of history, that the US colluded=20
with these right-wing forces, indeed gave them strength to demolish=20
the left in their societies, funded them, trained them. Of course=20
these groups had their own agendas, their own schemes, and they too=20
used the US for their own ends. Now the ends collide: the US is=20
addicted to oil, indeed it curtails its famous desire for democracy=20
when it comes to its friendship with the most authoritarian allies,=20
the Saudis and the other oilogarchies (UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, etc). The=20
Taliban's brand of Wahabbism is horrendous, but the Saudis' monarchy=20
is no better, although our oil addiction will prevent any indictment=20
of the latter. The addiction to oil means that the US props up these=20
withered monarchies and acts in cahoots with them when they suppress=20
their own people. Such a policy creates distress, anger and=20
frustration. Groups such as the Egyptian Islamic Jihad emerge from=20
anger at a regime that is beholden to Europe-US, which squelches the=20
dreams of freedom of its own people, even as this nationalism rejects=20
anti-colonialism for a form of Islamicist fascism. The Taliban, for=20
instance, is not against the oil-pipeline concession, but it is eager=20
to get the best return for its land rather than bow down to Unocal=20
("The Spirit of 76") and turns to Bridas from Argentina for the deal.=20
Fascism is comfortable with business, even Islamicist fascism.

[Aside: as Bridas and Unocal tried to lobby the Taliban, both turned=20
to sources that show us how integrated the Taliban are to=20
international sleaze and underworld terror - Bridas went with the=20
head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki Faysal, while Unocal worked=20
with the Saudi Delta Oil Company (whose head, Badr al Aiban, has the=20
ear of King Faud of Saudi Arabia, a man with some measure of=20
influence in the world of the social decay of orthodoxy) as well as=20
with former US Ambassador to Pakistan and pipeline to the Taliban,=20
Robert Oakley. The Taliban is not so isolated and madcap as the media=20
sometimes claims.]

Of course no amount of anger justifies the terror of 9/11. But why do=20
people, like Hitchens, get incensed when we recapitulate the main=20
points of the oil-blood soaked history of the US in west Asia? Why=20
does he suggest that when the "Chomsky-Zinn-Finkelstein quarter"=20
outlines US barbarity that this is a justification for 9/11? The=20
history of US-Taliban-bin Laden itself does not excuse the madness of=20
9/11; although it gives a measure of proportion to such asinine=20
statements that the US lost its virginity on that day, or that the US=20
state is as innocent as the cultural conceit of its population.

At Durban, during the World Conference Against Racism, the US=20
abandoned ship when talk of reparations took center stage. The=20
Europeans, being less keen on innocence, but no more forthright about=20
its history, said clearly that any real apology for racism or any=20
categorization as slavery-colonialism as "crimes against humanity"=20
would bring forth expensive lawsuits. The US, being innocent, left as=20
a defender of Israel, without too much comment on its own state=20
racism. Within the press stateside there was that recurrent saw about=20
why the descendents of the slavers, who are themselves innocent,=20
should pay for the crimes of their forefathers. Or, indeed, can't we=20
all feel proud of our own separate and multicultural histories: the=20
right-wing racist t-shirt with the confederate flag says its best,=20
"you have your X, and we have ours." Innocent of oppression, the US=20
can be shocked that in this time of grief anyone would want to make=20
us remember the past.

The guns are on their way to wreak havoc in southern Asia. An=20
acquaintance says to me that he doubts that the US will actually fire=20
on Afghanistan, or if the bombs fall they will be strategic and only=20
directed at Bin Laden's camps. There is that automatic faith in the=20
goodness of the system, the desire to see evil in a few people (Bin=20
Laden, Kissinger, Mother Teresa), but to feel assured that in the end=20
the goodness and innocence of America will shine through. Such an=20
attitude is na=EFve only in that it is in denial of history, of the=20
recent past of violence unleashed without care for human life - the=20
100,000 dead in Dresden, the 100,000 dead within minutes in=20
Hiroshima, the hundreds of thousands dead in Cambodia and Vietnam,=20
the half a million dead in Iraq=8A.. numbers make death clinical and=20
distance our capacity to empathize with those bodies.

Our remembrance of things past is not geared toward a justification=20
of the madness of 9/11. Like all progressive historians, I am=20
concerned that our innocent amnesia will not allow us to see why such=20
a thing happened, indeed to render those who did those acts outside=20
understanding. Such an attitude means we can do little to combat such=20
vast acts of terror, since we can then only take recourse in some=20
manner of prayers that the irrational madness does not strike again.

Our reaction too should be guided by the reasons for 9/11 and not=20
just our grief for those dead. To go after bin Laden and his cohorts=20
is to deal with the symptom of an international problem whose name is=20
oil, and whose energy is able to satisfy the voracious appetite of=20
the moneymakers. As the engines of the bombers warm up, as we get=20
ready to take to the streets in protest against the inevitable war=20
against the planet, let us refuse the conceit of American innocence.=20
Anything is better than bad faith.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vijay Prashad
Associate Professor and Director, International Studies Program
214 McCook, Trinity College, Hartford, CT. 06106.

_________

#4.

Asia Times
25 September 2001

Musharraf walks in fear of his own army
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Deep fears over radical Islamic forces within the army are=20
forcing Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to walk a=20
cautious path both domestically and internationally.
Concern over a violent backlash - and in particular against Musharraf=20
himself, who is also head of the army - have forced Islamabad to=20
retain its diplomatic links with the Taliban government in=20
Afghanistan. Following the decision by the United Arab Emirates over=20
the weekend to cut links, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are the only two=20
countries to recognize the Taliban.
And domestically, the Pakistani federal government has reversed its=20
policy on anti-American demonstrations after widespread protests,=20
including one in Karachi that claimed at least three lives in clashes=20
with police. The military government has now directed provincial=20
governments to allow anti-American and pro-Osama bin Laden=20
demonstrations.
According to well-placed sources, several unsigned messages were sent=20
to Musharraf warning that if he did not backtrack from his stance to=20
support United States attacks on Afghanistan, the fidain-i-Islam=20
(ones who sacrifice their lives for Islam) will eliminate him.=20
Security around Musharraf has been increased and placed on high alert.
Indeed, sources say that leaders across the world face a similar=20
campaign of violence from extremist Muslims should US attacks begin.=20
A religious ruling issued in Afghanistan on Friday and being=20
distributed through pamphlets in Pakistan says that anyone supporting=20
US attacks on Afghanistan would be a criminal in the eyes of Islamic=20
law - a crime carrying the death penalty.
Well-placed sources close to a world-wide cartel of underground=20
Islamic organizations have revealed that at a time when=20
religious-political organizations in the Muslim world are reluctant=20
to take to the streets against their governments and the US, these=20
underground organizations will do so. Last week in the Indonesian=20
capital of Jakarta, for example, militant Islamic groups made a joint=20
statement threatening to attack US interests and citizens if there=20
were an attack on Afghanistan. Indian Muslims, who generally maintain=20
a low profile, took to the streets of New Delhi after Friday prayers=20
demanding that their government not support US attacks.
Within the Pakistan army, sources say that one lieutenant-general,=20
and a number of major-generals and brigadiers tendered resignations=20
recently. Musharraf personally intervened and convinced them that=20
Pakistan would not do anything that would go against its own national=20
interests or against the greater interests of the Muslim world.
Musharraf's televised speech to the nation last week reflected the=20
pressure he is under. During the course of his speech he carefully=20
did not place on blame on bin Laden for terrorist activities. Indeed,=20
he stressed that he was one of the biggest supporters of the Taliban=20
and Afghanistan. He termed Pakistan's decision a "compromise" and=20
said that the weak economy of the country and the geopolitical=20
situation did not allow it to take any other decision.
Even though he came to power in a military coup in October 1999,=20
Musharraf is, by comparison to many in the army, considered a very=20
liberal person, both in his ideas and practices. Some years ago,=20
military intelligence traced a group of officers, including a=20
lieutenant-general, a brigadier, some colonels and majors, who were=20
plotting to topple the democratic government of then premier Benazir=20
Bhutto to establish an Islamic government. The officers were arrested=20
and put behind bars. After this incident, the then head of military=20
intelligence, lieutenant-general (now retired) Ali Quli Khan,=20
initiated an inquiry into the links of officers to different=20
religious groups.
Investigations found that most of the jailed officers came from the=20
Chakwal district in Punjab and most were inspired by the teachings of=20
an organization known as Al-Iqwan, which believes in Islamic=20
revolution through armed struggle. The Al-Iqwan comprises mostly=20
retired army officers. Last year, the organization threatened=20
Musharraf that they would besiege Islamabad if Islamic laws were not=20
enforced by the following year. Musharraf was allegedly furious,=20
saying that he would immediately crack down on the group.
However, several top officials advised Musharraf not to take any=20
hasty action, reminding him of the extent of the group within the=20
army. He backed off, and some officers from Chakwal used their=20
connections with Al-Iqwan to get it to agree not to create trouble=20
for the army regime, and to press for Islamic law to be implemented=20
in phases. It was under this kind of pressure that Pakistan ruled out=20
severing diplomatic ties with the Taliban.
At present, the situation with regard to militant Muslims is very=20
serious in the cities of Peshawar in the North-West Frontier province=20
and Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. Foreign media teams=20
have been instructed not to travel beyond these cities, both of which=20
are situated near the Afghan border, without guards or without=20
notifying provincial officials.
(c)2001 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd.

________

#5.

The New York Times
September 24, 2001

Victims of '93 Bombay Terror Wary of U.S. Motives
By CELIA W. DUGGER

Photo:Santosh Verma for The New York Times
BUSINESS AS USUAL IN 2001 Ramesh Damani, right, with colleagues in=20
his office at the Bombay Stock Exchange. Mr. Damani studied and=20
worked in California before returning to Bombay to run a small=20
brokerage house.

OMBAY, Sept. 21 =97 This city, the financial capital of the world's=20
most populous democracy, knows the sudden horror of a terrorist=20
attack that seems to come from nowhere.

Eight years ago, as hundreds of brokers hustled to the manic rhythms=20
of the trading ring in the 28- story Bombay Stock Exchange, someone=20
drove a car into the basement and detonated a powerful bomb.

The blast sent a hailstorm of glass flying into the lanes around the=20
building. Shards sliced through the bodies of pushcart vendors. Then,=20
before anyone had time to assimilate the carnage, more bombs exploded=20
in swift succession across the city, killing more than 260 people and=20
wounding more than 700.

If any place should rejoice in America's declaration of war on=20
terrorism, it would seem to be Bombay, a city that has suffered its=20
effects firsthand and where many people have deep ties to the United=20
States.

Yet there is also a wariness here of America's motives in announcing=20
that every country must either stand with or against the United=20
States as it goes after terrorists and the states that harbor them.

India has accused Pakistani intelligence agents of sponsoring the=20
bombings in Bombay in 1993, a contention Pakistan has always denied.=20
But to get at America's No. 1 suspect, Osama bin Laden, the United=20
States is working with Pakistan, which many Indians regard as the=20
principal incubator of terrorism directed against them.

Some Indians think that despite its righteous call to arms, the=20
world's sole superpower is mainly interested in fighting the=20
terrorists who struck it, not the ones who hit them.

"What happened to the United States is deadly and sad," said Gaurav=20
Sanghvi, who was a 22-year- old broker in the stock exchange building=20
on the day of the blasts in 1993. "They keep talking about a war on=20
terrorism, but they keep asking Pakistan to help, and Pakistan=20
supports terrorism."

The Bush administration's seemingly straightforward goal of defeating=20
global terrorism has inevitably enmeshed it in the tricky,=20
complicated realities of South Asia. "This is the world's fight,"=20
President Bush declared. "This is civilization's fight."

But for India and Pakistan, the terms of the struggle are not that=20
simple. For years each of them has accused the other of sponsoring=20
terrorism in their battle for Kashmir, the Himalayan territory that=20
both claim.

Now, when relations between India and America have been improving,=20
the United States faces a delicate diplomatic challenge to sustain=20
Pakistan's support for American military strikes into neighboring=20
Afghanistan while not alienating India.

The Indian government says it supports America in its hour of need,=20
but the strains of America's cooperation with Pakistan are showing.=20
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said in an interview with The=20
Times of India on Thursday that Washington had not yet shown that "it=20
was in a mood to focus on India's bitter experience of terrorism on=20
its own soil."

India would eventually like the United States to put pressure on=20
Pakistan to return those accused of carrying out the Bombay blasts =97=20
Muslim gangsters from Bombay's underworld who India says now live in=20
Karachi =97 and to crack down on the Islamic religious schools and=20
training camps in Pakistan that India believes breed terrorists. But=20
none of that is happening, at least not now. Indian officials say no=20
such request has been made to the United States at this point.

India wakes with numbing regularity to headlines that announce the=20
latest slaughter of innocents in the Indian-controlled part of=20
Kashmir, most recently of beheaded Hindu priests and murdered=20
shepherds. India blames the killings on Islamic fundamentalist groups=20
in the territory that it says are supported by Pakistan. Pakistan=20
denies it.

The Indian authorities have built a detailed circumstantial case laid=20
out in yellowing confidential documents that they say prove that=20
Pakistan was behind the Bombay attacks.

When Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, visited India=20
in July, India's home minister, L. K. Advani, raised the issue and=20
the need for an extradition treaty so that the accused, Dawood=20
Ibrahim, could be returned to India to face justice.

The general denied that Mr. Ibrahim was in Pakistan, but earlier this=20
month Newsline, a reputable Pakistani magazine, reported that the=20
main suspects charged in the Bombay blasts were living in Karachi=20
"under fake names and ID's, and provided protection by government=20
agencies."

This city and the stock traders who were at the Bombay Stock Exchange=20
when the bomb exploded eight years ago seem to savor the ironies of=20
the current situation.

A banner draped on Marine Drive, a broad thoroughfare that sweeps=20
along the Arabian Sea, says, "Terrorist Attack Expensive Wake-Up Call=20
for U.S.," capturing the sense here that the United States is finally=20
enduring in one ghastly, overwhelming incident what India has=20
suffered in countless cruel cuts for more than a decade.

"It's only when the police commissioner's house is robbed that strict=20
action is taken," said Rakesh Jhun jhunwala, an investor who was on=20
the trading floor when the bomb exploded on March 12, 1993.

American State Department reports annually chastise India for human=20
rights abuses in Kashmir, but leading American politicians are now=20
demanding that the C.I.A. again be empowered to hire shady operatives=20
with violent pasts and to assassinate evildoers.

"Generally the feeling here is that whenever there's a bomb blast,=20
India is asked, `Where is the proof Pakistan is involved?' " said=20
Deena Mehta, a stockbroker. "Now that it's happened in America's own=20
backyard, they're not asking for proof. They're just announcing that=20
the finger points at Afghanistan and planning to attack."

Still, there is a strong conviction among the peddlers and the=20
brokers who work in and around the stock exchange that India should=20
help America. Partly, it grows out of self- interest. The Afghan=20
training camps that America is likely to strike produce holy warriors=20
battling India in Kashmir, they say.

But there is another more personal undercurrent in the desire to help=20
that goes beyond politics. Many of the brokers interviewed had=20
studied in the United States or had friends or family there.

The number of people of Indian descent living in the United States=20
has doubled in the last decade to 1.7 million. They are linked to=20
their Indian friends and relatives by e-mail, Internet chat rooms and=20
telephone. Scores of those missing in the collapse of the World Trade=20
Center are of Indian origin, officials here say.

"On the street level there are deep roots with America," said Ramesh=20
Damani, who studied and worked in California for a dozen years before=20
moving back to Bombay to run his own small brokerage firm. "The=20
country of aspiration is America. Everyone wants to go to America."

Sanat Dalal, dapper in a brilliant white safari suit, epitomizes the=20
contradictory tugs of feeling toward the United States. An=20
autographed portrait of Bill Clinton hangs on the wall of his sleek=20
12th-floor trading office at the stock exchange.

He unabashedly admires America's capitalist, individualistic ethos.=20
His son, who got his master's in business administration at the=20
University of Hartford, lives and works in Connecticut.

But like many Indians, Mr. Dalal seems baffled that the United=20
States, the second-largest democracy in the world, has turned to=20
Pakistan, run by a military government since a coup in 1999, rather=20
than democratic, pluralistic India. "Americans talk of democracy," he=20
said, "but side with dictators."

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

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#6.

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#7.

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--=20