Reactions to Mumbai

As the Mumbai attacks terrorist attacks unfolded on the local CNN news, I was amazed by the lack of information that reporters were able to get from Indian officials. Unlike the West, I found out about the attacks on Wednesday evening, although it was only a "shooting" at that time. On Thursday the news crews had assembled from around the world to capture the horror and confusion of South Mumbai. Standing 100 yards from the Taj Mahal Hotel, one CNN reported remarked that in the States or UK, the whole block would have been marked off and reporters may have been unable to even see the building. Instead, she claimed that she almost "walked in the front door" of the hotel the previous evening. As a couple of unexpected explosions went off in the hotel behind her, prompting the gathered mass of people to hit the ground, she complained that Indian officials had not provided any accurate information as to what was going on, who was in the building still, and who was responsible.

This startling lack of ability to handle crisis on the part of the Indian government highlights the youth of the democracy. As India gains worldwide fame for the "economic miracle" that has thrust the country into the geopolitical forefront, the latest attack has illustrated just how far India has to come as a nation. While bullet holes perforated the walls and windows of Mumbai's poshest hang-outs, riots over the election in Delhi shut down the local airport. India is no stranger to rioting and civil violence, though this latest attack seems to be coordinated internationally.

India is a collection of states that have not fully congealed in the country's half century of independence. Most have heard of the violence in predominantly Muslim Kashmir (also a holy site for Hindus) and Asaam, but India has, at least in my generation, a far more peaceful image. Perhaps this is due to the natural contrast between India and Pakistan, or even India and China, in which India comes off as the more "peaceful" and less threatening nation. The ever present spirituality of India has been well (and rightfully) celebrated, and the country benefits from the looming legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. However, the country has not escaped the vast inequalities of the caste system, and its government has been cited for egregious and systematic civil rights violations by Human Rights Watch and the United Nations.

The United States has supported India as a trading partner and military ally, recently giving civil nuclear technology to India, at the risk of angering Pakistan and other neighboring states. The globalization of economic interests and systems has given India a fast track to relevancy, but not solved the hunger and poverty the plagues the slums of the cities and the forgotten villages of the sub-continent. India's challenge is almost incomprehensible. Thousands of years of culture and history must be productively harnessed under the world's largest democracy. The teeming multitudes inside India and the adversaries that surround her must all be managed through an dishearteningly inferior infrastructure.

India has a enormous task ahead of her, one that will not be solved by simply affixing blame to whoever perpetrated these attacks. Unfortunately, even the accurate completion of that task must be called into question with India's notoriously corrupt government.

If nothing else, this tragedy has sharpened my vision of India. Safe and sound in Bangladesh, I have been wondering about the long term effects of this attack. India recovered quickly from 2006 train bombings in Mumbai, but the reaction to this attack seems far different. The precision and apparent intent of this attack has frightened many, and the Indian stock market, already in trouble as the world's economy downshifts, has plummeted.

A thousand miles away, concerns over the superstar of South Asia focus more on the question of how India will respond. The local papers seem to hope that the attacks will not be laid at the feet of Islamic extremism and forgotten. In Bangladesh, there is sympathy and outrage, but also a sense that India has made itself into a bit of a bully. India has repeatedly ignored Bangladeshi interests (as when a giant dam was built on the Ganges that has severely affected the vital jute crops), as well as the interests of those who have not been able to latch on to the meteoric rise of the Indian economy.

What was really strange was how little the ex-patriot community seemed to be discussing the attack. Hopefully this is because so little has been released other than details of the actual events.