Adi Damania saw both the heroic and horrific sides of humanity in the Mumbai terrorist attacks last month.

“There was exceptional bravery under fire,” said Damania, a UC Davis crop plant scientist in Mumbai visiting friends and family while the bloody rampage took place. “There were policemen, for example, who charged the terrorists with only wooden sticks and who were killed.”

More than 170 people lost their lives in the attacks that began Nov. 25 when at least 10 heavily armed Islamic militants attacked several tourist-friendly sites in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, a city of 13 million people and India’s financial capital. It took India’s security forces three days to quash the terrorists.

India faces political pressure

While Damania was not under fire at the attack sites, he was “soon close enough and witnessed the carnage.” The dome of the Taj Mahal hotel going up in flames was a sight that shook the Mumbai native the most.

“It did not move me to tears,” said Damania, who was in Mumbai for three weeks. “It moved me to indescribable anger.”

Damania, who returned to Davis on Dec. 7, also witnessed the political earthquake that has roiled India in the wake of the mass killings.

“The failure of the political leadership has been exposed. People are angry and they want action, not compensation.”

He added, “This was India’s 9/11.”

‘Rooting out terrorists’

India’s fear and frustration is directed toward Pakistan, where the terrorists apparently trained and lived. For Indians, the issue is whether Pakistan’s government or its intelligence services were at all involved in the attack planning.

Anupam Chander, a professor at the UC Davis School of Law and currently a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, believes the burden of action is on Pakistan.

“Pakistan has to cooperate fully in rooting out terrorists and crushing their networks,” he said.

The terrorists hoped to force India and Pakistan into war, Chander believes. “We should be careful not to fall into a trap set by the terrorists. They sought to provoke a military response.”

War is the last thing that India and Pakistan can afford, he added. “Military hostilities between the two poor, nuclear-armed nations would only increase the suffering of ordinary people.”

Global concerns

History professor Sudipta Sen said Pakistan must “demonstrate meaningfully some degree of decisive action” against the Jihadi groups in Pakistan responsible for the Mumbai atrocities. He noted that much attention has focused on Lashkar-e-Taiba, which he said has connections to the Pakistani military.

“Both India and Pakistan should find a way to recognize and articulate the fact they face a common enemy in terrorism,” said Sen, who specializes in Indian history. “The best way to curb terrorist attacks is through the joint cooperation of national military and intelligence agencies.

India must not overreact, he cautioned.

“India should not let wanton acts of terror derail the encouraging progress between these two countries that share a common language, culture and history,” he said. “These steps include not only diplomatic and military cooperation, but also the reinstatement of rail and bus travel, cultural exchange and cooperation in the world of sport and entertainment.”

Peace between India and Pakistan, Sen maintains, is vital for global harmony. “It is of great importance to the overall strategic goals of the U.S. in the Middle East and South Asia,” he said.

Amid the chaos and finger-pointing between the two nations, history professor David Biale suggests that a window of opportunity is now open for them to settle long-simmering differences.

“In the longer term, this attack ought to catalyze a solution to the Kashmir conflict, which is one of the primary causes of terrorism between Pakistan and India,” said Biale, who has a strong interest in the history of religions and is the Emanuel Ringelblum Professor of Jewish History at UC Davis.

‘Blowback for Kashmir’

Sunaina Maira, an associate professor of Asian American studies, said the episode has left an indelible effect on India.

“This attack affected Indian elites for the first time, as well as foreigners,” she said.

Yet it is “absurd and dangerous” that India and Pakistan would engage in conflict over a terrorist incident that was not carried out by the Pakistani government.

If India struck militarily at Pakistan, Maira said, it would only end up killing a lot of innocent civilians and further inflame Islamic anger.

While many in the West think that religious conflict is at the heart of the India-Pakistan tension, it is more accurately defined as a geopolitical grievance, she said. Heavily Hindu India and strongly Islamic Pakistan have been waging a low-grade war since 1947 over the bordering region of Kashmir.

“This attack is blowback for Kashmir,” said Maira, adding that she does not believe the Kashmir situation justifies terrorist attacks of any sort.

Kashmir is a former princely state once under British control that is now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan and China. India has control of about half the area of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir; Pakistan controls a third of the region, and China, the rest.

Maira said Hindu fundamentalist groups in India have exacerbated the Kashmir issue and heightened tensions with India’s own Muslims. In the Gujarat massacre of 2002, Hindu militants killed more than 2,000 Indian Muslims, she noted.

Law professor Chander agreed. “India, even with its proudly secular tradition, also must put an end to its own terror problem, which has often involved targeting religious minorities,” he said.

Maira said the problem is made worse by the fact India in recent years has joined with the U.S. and Israel in its counterterrorism efforts, thereby potentially provoking Muslims in the region.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan the question is whether that country can rein in its Islamic radicals before a shooting war erupts with India.

“War is simply not the answer,” Maira said.

Adi Damania, the crop plant scientist, said something has to be done about Pakistan.

“Those who think that this problem can be solved in any other way except the dismantling of Pakistan are living in a fool’s paradise,” he said.