New York plot

Thursday, 06 May, 2010


Worryingly yet another abortive attack in the West has been linked to Pakistan. The arrest of Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistani-born American, has already led to news that he was calling Pakistan in the days leading up to his attempted bombing of Times Square in New York.

Reports that the crudely assembled bomb had little chance of exploding will come as a relief, indicating as they do a certain level of amateurishness involved. Nevertheless, the attempt was serious enough to warrant some intense questions. First, what is it that is driving people such as Faisal Shahzad and the five young men who recently travelled to Pakistan from the US in search of jihad? Media reports suggest that Mr Shahzad was the quintessential middle-class Pakistani travelling to the West in search of education and employment opportunities and settling down there with a wife and two young children.

What made Mr Shahzad attempt mass murder, presumably in the name of religion? Asking this question isn’t the same as the nonsense about the need to understand the ‘legitimate’ grievances of disaffected young Muslims. It seems very clear that whether it is Al Qaeda or the Taliban or some other brand of international terrorism, the militants have honed in on a vulnerability in the West: young Muslims with the established legal right to live in the countries they appear to hate so much. Without understanding this vulnerability — Americans though must be careful to not turn against the Muslim population, as Mayor Bloomberg warned — an already serious threat may keep growing in severity.

Second, why is it that all terrorist routes seem to lead to Pakistan generally and Fata specifically? While perhaps the absence of a modern state in Fata can partially explain the problems there, there is really no such excuse for Pakistan proper. It’s been nearly 10 years since 9/11 and still the infrastructure of jihad in urban Pakistan, which is likely the first port of call for those travelling from foreign lands in search of jihad, has not been uprooted. The spread of literature and audio and video paraphernalia glorifying jihad and calling for violence against the West, India, Israel, etc continues unchecked. It’s not like the centres for such violent propaganda are not known or cannot be located easily.

Third, should more not be done with the greatest of urgency to increase Pakistan’s counter-terrorism capabilities? While it is true that the state has enhanced its response and beefed up intelligence, it is clear that lapses persist. Perhaps Pakistani authorities need to realise that another 9/11 would be a game-changer of devastating proportions.