Terror backlash for the execution of the “Bali bombers”, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Terror backlash for the execution of the “Bali bombers”

By P.S. SURYANARAYANA

Aug 01, 2009

In Singapore

The margin of his victory this time was said to have been so huge as to obviate a run-off, unlike in 2004 when he secured his first mandate for the post. In such a setting, Yudhoyono’s challengers disputed the results of the latest “quick counts”. The electoral authority’s official result was still unavailable by July 20.

Despite this, the general view among political pundits and other politically savvy sections was that Indonesia’s post-Suharto democracy had come of age on July 8. It was this sense of a political “awakening” that the July 17 terrorist attacks, which claimed nine lives and injured 50 persons, served to undermine, at least for a while. So much so, questions were raised even in official circles about the possibility of links between these attacks and the country’s newly evolving political process. In televised comments, Yudhoyono said those behind the attack should be punished, regardless of their political links, if any.

The main focus of the investigations was on the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a suspected South-East Asian affiliate of Al Qaeda. Gaining currency as a key line of probe was the possibility that a “breakaway JI leader”, Noordin Mohammed Top of Malaysia, could have masterminded the attack. Indonesian police officials reported that the explosives used on that day were similar to those that the faction had depended on for some earlier strikes.

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Indian Muslims’ maturity, deft govt. handling staves off a crisis: Time for the West to watch in awe India’s ‘unified response to terror’

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Indian Muslims’ maturity, deft govt. handling staves off a crisis: Time for the West to watch in awe India’s ‘unified response to terror’

By Sultan Shahin

As the news spread of another deadly Pakistan-sponsored terror attack on India, the West started harbouring fears of India-Pakistan going to blows and this is something that doesn’t suit the West at all at this moment – it wants to continue to use Pakistani soldiers in its losing war against the Taliban and does not want Pakistan to divert its forces to its eastern borders with India following tensions generated by this terror attack. Hence the attempt to put the blame on India’s internal problems with what was sought to be projected as a Muslim community in crisis. While we are not sure at his point in time at what level the attack was Pakistan-sponsored but it has already become clear, and a fact practically accepted by Pakistan that Pakistanis supported by elements within the military establishment were involved. However, the Muslim response was so spontaneously in sync with the national mood, and the government handling of the likely fallout so deft that fellow countrymen realised this was nothing more than the latest Pakistani attempt to destabilise India and the answer to this lay in nothing except national unity and greater display of Indian secularism.

While the Indian Muslims were not in crisis as claimed by an article in the Time magazine, the terror attack was designed to and could have led to a crisis for Muslims. The timing was significant - just before the Eid al-Azha celebrations which are known to have acted as flashpoints in the past for communal violence. Had the government allowed the terror attack to arouse communal passions as the Pakistani enemies of Indian Muslims wanted, this Eid could have turned into a Moharram, which is clearly what the attackers wanted.

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