Parallels were drawn between America’s 9/11 and Mumbai’s terror attack by many during the media coverage of the recent terror attack on Mumbai. Probably it was more than just natural knee-jerk reaction to compare the two. Both were audacious act of terror never seen before. They were equally unbelievable and beyond anyone’s imagination. But parallels just end there. Author/ Activist Arundhati Roy’s article (linked below) in Guardian gives a rare analytical insight about the two nations, their tryst with terror and flawed comparisons.

India and America cannot be compared even on the troubled grounds of terror. Both have distinct history and role in geopolitics. America is a super power and India is just aspiring to be one. A terror attack cannot place the two in same league. Even adversaries here are different. America’s proclaimed enemy was Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. They declared a war on terror and they are still fighting that war but on distant land of Iraq and Afghanistan. Terrorists who landed on Indian shores came from neighboring Karachi, Pakistan. Here the war will be closer home, if not within India’s shore itself. It will be like shooting one’s own feet.

India-Pakistan troubles date back to their very birth – India’s partition after Independence led to very creation of Pakistan as a separate Muslim state. And this partition has roots in the religious Hindu-Muslim divide existing probably for centuries. The geographic lines of divide were drawn by British rulers and Indian political leaders during Independence from British rule. That cut has not yet healed and Indo-Pak border in Kashmir still bleeds. These cuts should be healed and peace must be restored for long term stability in the region. Moreover Pakistan is unable to control its own militant groups and take a global stand against terrorism in spite of being an ally of America in its war on terror!

Most importantly America’s war on terror has not yielded many results. Bin Laden is still at large and terror networks are spreading faster all around the globe. Cure from terrorism seems impossible now but prevention of further attacks should be the first important step.

Via Guardian