M A I N   N E W S

Bill Clinton’s fears come true
Satish Misra and Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 11
Eight years after the then US President Bill Clinton declared, “There is no place to hide, nobody can hide in any place in this country, nobody can hide in any place in this world from the terrible consequences,” suspected Islamic fundamentalists have struck a lethal blow in the heart of the world’s sole superpower.

These words of Mr Bill Clinton came after the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. Security analysts here are of the view that the attacks in the USA are an indicator of the increasing strength of Islamic fundamentalists operating all over and wanting to cleanse the world of those against their religion.

From the then bombing of the World Trade Center, Islamic fundamentalism has completed a full circle. And this time with an impact which the USA would never forget.

The attacks would also hold an importance for India especially with Islamic fundamentalists and mercenaries fighting for the independence of Kashmir from India. Osama bin Laden, the man promoting Islamic terrorism all around the world, has reportedly sworn to free Kashmir from the clutches of India.

Security analysts are now questioning the stand of the USA against terrorism, especially since India has also been stressing that certain countries harbouring Islamic terrorists should be declared “terrorist states”. They fear of grave consequences of these attacks all around the world and have not ruled out retaliation from the USA against all those countries harbouring terrorists.

Incidentally, Pakistan is home to about 6,000 religious seminaries that churn out 500,000 students, among them Pakistani, Arabs, Central Asians and even those from North Caucasus and the Far East.

Ananlysts point out that there had been signals for long of such possible attacks, but Islamic fundamentalists were not taken seriously. They also say that this was the signal for the entire world to come out united for stamping out Islamic fundamentalism which was threatening the very existence of mankind.

They said it was time that the world took a closer look at the concerns of India and its contention that it was Islamic fundamentalism which was threatening its existence. Any action from the armed forces against Islamic fundamentalists operating in Jammu and Kashmir would definitely now be viewed in a different context and Indian forces are likely to be under less pressure.

The question of human rights goes almost into oblivion after these attacks, say analysts. There are no human rights when you are operating against terrorists, it is just plain and simple war, they say.