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  Terror in India: Struggling for Control in the Mumbai War Zone

Terror in India Struggling for Control in the Mumbai War Zone

By Sascha Zastiral in Mumbai

Part 2: Boats Full of Terrorists

At about the same time, two dozen accomplices docked a speedboat in a fishing port near the Trident and Oberoi hotels and entered the city bearing heavy baggage. Later the police secured the boat and found within it a dead body that has yet to be identified. Together with the other incidents, it had now become clear: these weren't incidents emerging from the city's underworld of organized crime; India was experiencing perhaps the most consequential terror attack of its history.

In the world famous Taj Mahal Hotel, the worst is not yet over. Many gawkers have gathered here to stare, not comprehending the blaze that has overtaken the historical building with its towers and domes. Smoke is still escaping from the luxury hotel. Fires have broken out as a result of the fighting between the attackers and the security services. Some of the rooms have been entirely blackened by soot. Dozens of fire fighters, standing directly next to the building, can't put out the blaze. The risk of getting shot by the terrorists is too high.

Within the hotel, the army has already secured 30 dead bodies, says the military spokesman. That the firefights continue is due to the fact that the terrorists had a very good understanding of the building's layout. The wallet of one of the attacker's has been recovered. Within it is a passport belonging to a citizen of Mauritius, $1,200 in American currency and 6,000 Indian rupees.

Media and government officials are very involved in deciding where to place blame for the attacks. One Indian daily newspaper claims to have determined that the terrorists must have originally departed on a bigger boat from the Pakistani city of Karachi with the intention of invading Indian territory. The "mother ship" would have then released into the water the speedboat that went on to fatally attack India's financial capital. The newspaper claims that the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba ("Army of the Pure") was behind the attacks.

The Indian government has been very clear about who it blames. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi that "elements with links to Pakistan" were responsible for the attacks. Pakistan's Dawn News television station reports that Islamabad has been asked to send the head of its ISI intelligence agency to New Dehli to exchange information and evidence. On Thursday Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already warned the neighboring country not to tolerate attacks launched from is territory against India, saying "there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them." Pakistan's government has already sharply criticized the attacks.

Attackers from India?

The first reflex among politicians and the media in India is always to blame Pakistan. And up until a few years ago India's archrival had indeed supported terrorist groups that carried out attacks in India. Up until 2001 former military dictator Pervez Musharraf had protected these groups as "freedom fighters." However after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Washington forced Pakistan into an alliance with the United States. An attack carried out by members of Lashkar-e-Toiba on India's parliament in December 2001 brought the two nuclear-armed states to the brink of war. Musharraf then banned the groups and made a show, at least for the media, of having its leaders arrested.

Following intense peace talks that began between the two countries in 2003, there was a sharp fall in the number of attacks by Pakistani terror groups. Even the trouble spot of Kashmir has been much quieter.

However, it is also possible that the attackers come from India. Arrests after a series of attacks in New Delhi this September showed that members of the banned Islamic Student Movement of India (SIMI) had been forming terror cells. Many young Indian Muslims have become radicalized in the past 15 years. Fanatical Hindus carried out anti-Muslim pogroms in 1993 and again in 2002 in Mumbai and the state of Gujarat, in which thousands of people died. The police did little to stop the violence and only a few of those responsible ever faced trial. Hindu nationalist politicians who are thought to have at the very least condoned the mass killings, today play leading roles in Indian politics.

In the meantime there are scenes of panic in front of the Taj Mahal hotel. A man in a blue shirt lies on the ground. He is screaming it seems he has been hit by a bullet or part of a grenade that came from the hotel. Shots and explosions continue to ring out in the huge building. Mumbai's nightmare, which has gripped the entire nation of India for two days, is not quite over yet.

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