Mumbai's Disheartening Lessons

By: Daniel Brumberg

December 4, 2008

Whose heart was not broken by the image of two-year-old Moshe Holtzberg crying for his parents, both of whom were murdered last week in Mumbai's Jewish Center? The world weeps with this innocent child, and for all of those whose lives were lost or torn apart in last week's carnage.

The Mumbai tragedy brings with it two sad lessons, not merely for South Asia, but for the entire world.

Lesson One: The problem of weak or failed states—which in many ways was at the heart of 9/11—is far more serious than it was eight years ago. One key problem is the failure of Pakistan's leaders to confront a radical Islamist organization that transformed under their very feet. For a movement that had once focused on the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir has embraced al-Qaeda's global hate ideology. Thus it matters not whether al-Qaeda is organizationally a spent force. What counts is that a terrorist organization that operates openly (and with the connivance of elements within Pakistan's security services), has appropriated the doctrinal mantle and action plan of al-Qaeda.

Lesson Two: al-Qaeda's putrid brew of anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, anti-Christianism, anti-Hinduism (a worldview that is equally if not more opposed to all Muslims who see in Islam a cause for peace) is still potent. While this "anti-ist ideology" has been somewhat countered by the proliferation—on a global level—of interfaith dialogues and meetings, it continues to thrive in ways big and small.

Consider the recent decision by Malaysia's Council of Ulema to ban yoga because its "ultimate aim is to be one with a god of a different religion." This council's act cannot be construed as a call to violence. But peel away its outer layers, and you find an intolerant logic that could be the first—among many--steps (or bends!) towards a worldview that see all non-Muslims as essential enemies of Islam itself.

What is to be done? The problem of weak states belies any simple formula. Calls for mounting an international military effort to fight the Pakistan based Laskhar-e-Tabi ("Army of the Poor")—if carried out—will only further erode Pakistan's weak sovereignty, undermining its shaky civilian government. One would hope that the US has learned -however belatedly—that the enduring challenge for Pakistan's divided and divisive leaders is to unite around a common agenda of democracy, economic development and effective governance. Absent this, Pakistan's military-security apparatus will once again find itself in the enviable position of addressing a dangerous problem that it helped to foster in the first place!

As for the spread of ideological intolerance and "anti-ism," I hardly know where to begin. As in Pakistan, it is ultimately up to Muslim political leaders and thinkers to take a stand and to warn the contagion of intolerance. Ruling regimes should not think that their survival will be enhanced by indulging the desire of conservative clerics to ban this or that book, this form of exercise or that type of music. Such tactics have a way of boomeranging, even in strong states such as Malaysia.

Finally, the U.S. and its Western allies must do everything it can do help India and Pakistan avoid conflict. To do otherwise would be to hand the perpetrators of the Mumbai outrage the very victory that they—or their commanders—were seeking.

Opens in a new window