Hyderabad: 2 bombs explode, 2 more diffused, 44+ dead, 70+ injured
- Thread starter Carol
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HUZI are an Islamic theofacist group linked to the Taliban, as I understand it; I'm wondering what the basis is for that specific linkage in the article, as opposed say to the Tamil Tiger guerrillas (I read some time ago that the TTs had begun to export terrorist cells to the mainland), or even something to do with Pakististani operations involving Kasmir.... so much is omitted from that story. You have to wonder what we haven't been told about what the police and intelligence services know concerning this attack...
OP
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Most of the action over the Kashmir has been in northern India.
The Tamil Tigers are in the south, they have indeed been sliding on to the subcontinent from Sri Lanka but have primarily stayed in Tamili regions as they have historically harboured strong anti-Hindu sentiments.
Andra Pradesh on the other hand is a Telugu state that is of historical and cultural significance to many Indian peoples, including being home to houses of worship that are common places of pilgrimage for Hindus and Muslims.
The article hints that government officials are taking the position that a "softer" target such as Hyderabad has been chosen by the as the people are easier to scare (and thus have more "terror" impact). Is that all there is the story?
Judge for yourself.
The HuJI connection -
The May attacks were at Macca Masjid (Mosque of Mecca), a historic Mosque of importance to the Sunni sect. A Sunni extremest group from Bangladesh (HuJI) is believed to be behind the bombings in order to exacerbate local Islamic politicizing. Hyderabad is a city growing in overall literacy as well as economic might. A Hyderabadi expat living in Canada wrote on his blog that the Masjid was bombed because "we dare speak out for human rights." Another Canadian blogger wrote that people died "for having an open mind."
Are the bloggers right?
Earlier this year a lady writer from Bangladesh fled to India, escaping a Death Fatwa that was put on her for her writings. Her name is Taslima Nasreen, and she writes about Hindu-Muslim violence in a way that does not always glorify the Muslim side of the strife. She has also been quite outspoken about women's rights. Some say that sympathy towards Ms. Nasreen was the specific impetus behind the Macca Masjid attacks.
Fast forward to August 7th. Taslima Nasreen releases her latest book in the Telegu language, gives a press conference in Hyderabad, and is physically attacked by an Indian extremist group, MIM.
Taslima Nasreen refuses to go in to hiding.
In the two weeks that follow, MIM receives international criticism for their actions...including many complaints by local Hyderabadi Sunnis. Ms. Nasreen is praised for her courage.
August 25, Hyderabad: 2 bombs explode, 2 more diffused, 44+ dead, 70+ injured.
I believe that if you connect the dots, the resulting picture looks suspiciously like the one not being told in the press.
... collective punishment for support of progressive, antitheocratic thinking... why is this not at all surprising? It also makes you wonder about the Indian government's motives herethere are plenty of powerful factions within the majority Hindu society that do not want a liberalization of social policy towards women; identifying that as a component of the attacks might well upset these factions. So we get silence instead...
OP
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Although I'm not expecting much for official statements, there does need to be some time allowed. The bombings just happened yesterday, the Hydrabadi people need a chance to grieve. As I don't speak Telugu or Hindi...I don't really have a feel for the local color to the story unless I read an English account from an Asian or better yet an expat blogger that will share not just the news but what s/he thinks of the news.
A very sobering take on freedom, isn't it?
A very sobering take on freedom, isn't it?
We keep coming back to this point: how incredibly fortunate we in the West are, compared with people who have to live in societies all over the world where public discourse is constrained, often to the point of nonexistence, by ferocious sectarian hostilities. It's hard for us to fully conceive of the courage required for someone like the woman you mentioned in your previous posts; things we can talk about openly, or even boisterously loudly, in a pub over a few pints with our pals are enough in some of these places to get you (and maybe your family) killed, if you're overheard by the wrong people.
Mr. E
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I think so.
There is a war within Islam today. There is a small number of fanatics that are trying to hijack the religion for their twisted end. Some of thier biggest targets are those in their own religion that won't go with them. If disagreeing Islamic voices are shut up, then the people will have to follow their lead by default. And there is nothing worse in the eyes of a fanatic than someone who seems to be close to the true religion, but taints and perverts it. A person totally outside of the religion is considered clueless. But the guy inside and does not do what you think God demands is perverting something.
Take a look at a lot of the places where Islam has somehow gotten involved in armed conflict. You can look at Bosnia or Chechnya. The moderate forces of Islam may be facing some troubles. The fanatics move in to "help". Somewhere along the line the moderates all end up dead and the guys who want to turn the entire world into one Islamic state are the only ones left calling the shots. The typical muslim in a war zone only wants a limited aim, such as to be left alone. The fanatics have a bigger vision and tend to be more motivated to take over than anyone else. And since they have such a great end in mind, the deaths of a few innocents, even muslim ones, can be forgiven in their eyes.
This is not the last you will hear of this type of thing.
Yet Exile in India's case they are an open democracy and have elected women to the top position. India is changing daily with the upswing in their economy and women certainly have a very strong voice there and it appears to be getting stronger all the time. There are however radical groups there and unfortunately some linked to terrorist activities.
The picture is complex. It's true that India has a democratic form of government and a lot better record of women in prominent political positions than many other Asian countries. The problem, as I understand it, is that just as in religion, the political/social sphere in India has two different faces: what's called (in studies of Indian religion) the Great Tradition on the one hand and the Little Tradition on the other, and things work very differently at the two levels. The Great Tradition in religion is the standard Hindu pantheon and the corpus of sacred literature inherited from the Vedic era; in politics, it's the legacy of parlimentary democracy taken over as a result of the Indian experience with British colonial occupation. But just as in religion, where the Little Tradition, operating at the village level, involves tremendous syncretism of more or less orthodox beliefs with local traditions of enormous antiquity, in many cases unique to individual villages, the political and social reality at the local level is often far less transparent and much more susceptible to intense factionalization and sectarianism, often of a religious nature, with considerable hostility between groups and little support or protection for dissenters. The legacy of the severe conflicts with Pakistan, and the power of Hindu fundamentalism in particular districts, make it (as I understand it) very dicey to be too outspoken about your religious/social opinions if you don't know just who's listening to you.
I agree, though, Brian, that India is far, far better than a lot of other places in Asia, Africa and the Middle East (or in many parts of Central and South America), where there really is no public sphere of discussion and debate that's unconstrained by religious dogma and family-lineage loyalty issues. Let's hope that things continue to evolve along the lines you described, in spite of the destructive fanaticism that seems to targeting Indian citizens. The fear is that religious violence will provoke counterviolence, something that the terrorists here very like wish to bring about, since in that situation their recruiting efforts are likely to become ever more successful, as has happened repeatedly elsewhere...
I would definately agree with the above and yet it does vary from State to State in India. Take my wife's State of Kerela where religions is very split evenly with my estimate and what I have been told of about 33% Hindu, 33% Islamic and 33% Christian. As a matter of fact I could not count the number of Christian Church's that I either saw or visited when I was last there nor the equal number of temples. So in a State like Kerela things are very open and the people are also very, very well educated. Still old ways do die hard and that is to be found everywhere.
I would definately agree with the above and yet it does vary from State to State in India. Take my wife's State of Kerela where religions is very split evenly with my estimate and what I have been told of about 33% Hindu, 33% Islamic and 33% Christian. As a matter of fact I could not count the number of Christian Church's that I either saw or visited when I was last there nor the equal number of temples. So in a State like Kerela things are very open and the people are also very, very well educated. Still old ways do die hard and that is to be found everywhere.
Kerala is GREAT!!! Everything I've heard about the place suggests that it's one of the most open, egalitarian, socially progressive places not just in India but on the the whole planet! Your wife is from Kerela? That's terrific—boy, how great for her to have been born there.
From what I've heard, Novgorod in mediaeval Russia was another such place—an island of chaotic democracy in the otherwise repressive iron-fisted rule of the Czars. Such places are specially to be celebrated and protected in times of sectarian antagonism. One thinks with grief about the fate of Sarajevo, yet another such place before the Bosnian conflict, where Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Muslim and Jewish populations lived in incredible harmony together—to the disgust of the extremists on all sides of the conflict, who hated more than anything—as they always do—having an living example to prove that differences in religion/ethnicity do not have to translate into violent conflict. And from what Carol has said, it sounds like Hyerabad is similar to Sarajevo in the crucial respects... hence a kind of natural target for merchants of hatred. I fervently hope that Kerala is able to keep its unique social arrangement among its diverse population going forever...
