Before we launched off to South Kerela for the next leg of the journey, Shabarimala, we had a whirlwind tour of Delhi. We did the usual, Qutr Minar, India Gate, etc, all of which you can find in a copy of the Lonely Planet. The minar was the most impressive - a massive column of stone, finely carved with passages of the Koran encircling it all the way to the top. Even more impressive as it was completed 250 years prior to the industrial revolution, and that its construction has weathered everything that life has had to throw at it, with the exception of the recent acidic rains.
However, today is a little different.
One year ago today, a large group of young pakistani men sailed into Mumbai port, hidden on a fishing boat. When they landed, the set about committing a terrorist attack, even more brutal than anything the Baader Meinhoff group could have pulled off. When they were finished, Mumbai looked like the empty co-op battlefield of COD - Modern Warfare 2. Over 160 people killed, over 400 maimed for life, and the lone surviving insurgent badly wounded.
It's about power and money. It's a simple forumla - Conflict = $$$. Destablisation of a country, the sowing of ethnic unrest and sectarian violence, all contributes greatly to economic growth - defence contractors, defence finance, defence logistics, defence research and development. And if someone gets killed off? Move onto the next region.
Islam and muslims are easy targets to get riled, especially with the rise of Wahabism. Wahabi doctrine originates from Saudi Arabia, and is a direct challenge to the corrupt and bloated Oil Sheiks who profit from exploiting the workers. Unfortunately, the rest of us have gotten caught up in the Wahabi crossfire, as the doctrine is very much, "You're either with us or against us."
This is a scaled-up equivalent of the fundamentalist christian 'God-Hates-Fags' movement. Except this is a popular movement, as it grabs the hearts of the downtrodden and poor. And in India, there are a lot of them. A lot of people who are dissatisfied with their lives and the state, and want to get something done now.
It pretty easy for a rich dude from Pakistan's intel services to turn up to a village, single out some angry kids, offer them and their families a whole load of dollar if they go on training and a possible deployment. Heck, its what the US Army recruitment service does.
"Will I earn my family some money?"
"Hell yeah, son!"
"Will I come back alive?"
"You'll come back carried on the shoulders of the people!!"
How right they are.
India Gate is awash with activity - NDTV is doing a live broadcast with leaders of the community, including a turbaned muslim cleric, holding hands with heads of the christian alliance and the Hindu Ved movement.
"Before anything else," says the newscaster, "we are Indians."
India is fighting wars on about ten fronts - with Pakistan-sponsored groups in Kashmir and the north, with Chinese-sponsored Maoists on the Nepalise border and North Eastern India, with Tribals in Orissa and Bihar, Naxalites all over the country...Only recently, the book on one of the most prolific groups, the Tamil Tigers was closed - the Tigers were fighting for an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka, free from the oppression of the lighter-skinned ceylonese - sound familiar?
While the candles and prayers are touching, I get the feeling this isn't going to be the last brutal attack on a civilian populace in this country. Until something serious is done to address the serious inequity between classes and castes and even people of different skin colour, India's periferies are going to continue being the exploited killing field, unsung, unknown and unheard of.
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