Indian state is using tactics similar to US imperialist tactics against Iraq and Iran

The rulers of India are claiming to have achieved a major diplomatic victory over Pakistan on the question of the investigation into the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008.  Before accepting this claim, one needs to examine the facts carefully.

Chidambaram, soon after being appointed Home Minister of India, made three important statements.  First, that Indian intelligence had gathered evidence to show that several of the operatives of the Mumbai terror attack came from Pakistan, and that these operatives received instructions through telephone calls that were made from the soil of Pakistan.  Second, that an operation of this scale and sophistication could not have been carried out without the involvement of military and intelligence agencies of some state.  Third, as if it follows from the first two, that the Pakistan state is guilty of having masterminded the Mumbai terror attacks.

The first statement is allegedly based on the evidence that has been gathered.  In fact, it is the only one of the statements that at least appears to be based on factual evidence.  The second statement is in the nature of a general conclusion, a correct general conclusion – that some state power is likely to have masterminded the act.  The third statement is merely an assertion, because it does not follow from the first two.

The facts that some of the visible operatives had come from Pakistan, and that they had received instructions over the phone from persons located in Pakistan, do not in themselves establish the identity of the guilty party.  It is possible that the state agencies of Pakistan masterminded the attack; but so is it possible that some other state masterminded the attack using operatives and instructors from Pakistan.

The intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan, RAW and ISI, regularly interfere within each other’s territory, including sponsoring various armed groups.  RAW certainly has the capacity to organize a plot from the soil of Pakistan. Anglo-American imperialism sponsors numerous agencies in all the countries of South Asia, and the US is especially heavily entrenched within the state of Pakistan.  The CIA has a long history of operating terror networks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  It certainly has the capacity to organize the most sophisticated operations from the soil of Pakistan.

Home Minister Chidambaram’s third statement, that the state of Pakistan must be involved, is therefore a leap of faith.  It is not backed by hard evidence.  It can only convince those who are predisposed to blame Pakistan.  It will not stand scrutiny in an international court of law.

Government of India took several weeks to prepare and send a dossier to Pakistan, containing the findings of its first phase of investigation.  Government of Pakistan took several weeks to study this Dossier before conveying its official response.  In the time gap between these two events, there was a barrage of propaganda in the Indian media that Pakistan is refusing to admit guilt in spite of clear evidence, Pakistan is in denial mode, “they are lying as usual”, and so on. 

The official response of Pakistan to India’s dossier on the Mumbai terror attack, while admitting that some of the operatives were from Pakistan, also points to evidence of wider international links behind the planning and execution of the attack.  This has been interpreted by the Indian ruling class as a great diplomatic triumph, declaring that “Pakistan has admitted guilt!”

The propaganda offensive of the Manmohan Singh regime against Pakistan at this time is not qualitatively different from the way in which the Bush administration of the United States conducted its propaganda offensive against Iraq headed by Saddam Hussein.  The US asserted that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, that its intelligence agencies had enough evidence to prove this, and kept repeating this lie to make the world’s people accept it as an established truth.  This was also the method of the US offensive against Iran over the question of an alleged clandestine nuclear weapons program. 

To make an assertion, to repeat it thousands of times on a daily basis, to declare that anything the accused party says is suspect and cannot be believed – all this smacks of imperialist blackmail and a campaign of disinformation.

The overriding motive of the Indian ruling bourgeoisie’s response to the Mumbai terror attack is to push Pakistan on the defensive and justify India going on the offensive in the name of wiping out cross-border terrorism. Getting at the truth in order to render justice is not the overriding motive. As far as the bourgeoisie is concerned, truth can be twisted around to achieve one’s own agenda; and lies can be converted into truth by repeated assertion in the mass media.