In what some are calling the first major terror attack in the nation since November 2008’s Mumbai attacks, at least nine people were killed and 57 wounded in the Indian city of Pune, when a bomb tore through a bakery.
Officials say the bakery was popular among foreign tourists, and two of a slain, an Iranian and an Italian, were foreign nationals. The bomb was in an unattended bag, according to Home Minister Chidambaram.
Indian officials said the bakery had been known as a potential target for quite some time, and had been scouted by American David Headley, currently a US detainee. Headley also reportedly scouted a nearby ashram as well as a Jewish center.
Members of India’s nationalist opposition were quick to blame Pakistan for the attack, with key opposition figure Arun Jaitley demanding that the government abandon plans to restart peace talks with Pakistan in retaliation. Indian officials say they intend to wait until the investigation is completed before considering any such actions.
A friend described the cafe to me, a place she used to frequent. She said that it had once had an outdoor orientation, but that beggars and buskers were turning off trade, so she thought they put up lattice-work and mostly kept things under control that way. She also said that the ashram nearby had evening meditation so its members probably would not have been there in the evening. The fact that an unexploded bomb was left in a rickshaw gives a lot of evidence.
But who believes anything anymore? It has features in common with Mumbai. Chabad House was near that hotel. Kosher and halal eating practices are similar. Who knows who is presenting themselves to whom.
Last year, in a hospital setting where both he and my husband shared a room, I spoke to a very gracious Pakistani Muslim man who told me that he had been born in what is now India, in a part of it frequented by tourists which had been gloriously created by Moghul Empire – Taj Mahal, Red Fort, etc. The very administrative structure of India which had been taken over by the British was instituted under the Moghul emperors. Then, when the partition came, the man I spoke with (a child then) had to been taken to a new place – Pakistan. The partition had a lot of bloodshed. And then sense of banishment.
Now do you see how people attacked with drones from America and Britain might view tourists in their former land of glory? Even if you do not agree with them, this does not come from nothing.
The only problem is, we are mostly ignorant of the roots of things and we think we can win by military force against the human mind and memory. Do you think we can defeat Pakistan "extremism" and make sure they never menace India? I doubt it. Whenever things are tough, people like this organization will regroup to take back what they consider to be theirs. Not a caliphate but an empire, symbolized by the tourist attractions of India.
And no, I do not think my Pakistani American friend is mixed up in this. Old and ill and dying far from home, he only sought to remind me of what he once felt was his home.