September 24, 2002

10:07 AM

23 dead, numerous injuredin a temple in Gujarat, India. About 3 - 5 terrorists carrying AK-47s entered the temple complex and started shooting indiscriminately, a couple of grenades were detonated too. Indian special forces are currently engaged in a shoot-out, as Gujarat is placed on red alert. Some claim this act was done to disrupt the elections in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
posted by riffola (20 comments total)

that's a rounding error on this year's total carnage there.
posted by donkeyschlong at 10:10 AM on September 24, 2002

The people of India are obviously to blame for this massacre. Their chickens are finally coming home to roost. They must immediately cease all hostile activities against the repressed peoples carrying out these valiant struggles for freedom from Indian oppression.
posted by jammer at 10:26 AM on September 24, 2002

Firstly I wish this would stop. This is just too much. Dont these people get that enough is enough. It seems to me another pogrom is on the way.

Secondly, I am waiting for an higher end Indian government official to blame Pakistan, yet again.
posted by adnanbwp at 10:32 AM on September 24, 2002

This is exactly the type of thing that makes one wonder who is really behind this. India is growing to be the largest economy in the world (unless they keep having issues like this, causing instability and scaring away foreign investors).

And since this has been going on for generations, what are the chances of it ever being solved? Both sides are highly invested in keeping the Kashmir region.

peace!
Jackspace
www.mindspace.org
posted by jackspace at 10:42 AM on September 24, 2002

I'm not saying there's a connection, but I'd just like to point out that the entire state of Gujarat is alcohol-free. That whole place needs a beer.
posted by Samsonov14 at 11:26 AM on September 24, 2002

"I wish this would stop. This is just too much. Dont these people get that enough is enough?" exclaimed ogg to his hunting partner gork.
---
"I wish this would stop. This is just too much. Dont these people get that enough is enough?" exclaimed the mayor to the president.
---
"I wish this would stop. This is just too much. Dont these people get that enough is enough?" exclaimed the minister of quadrant 6 to the red galaxy administrator.
posted by quonsar at 11:29 AM on September 24, 2002

nicely put, quonsar.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:33 AM on September 24, 2002

whot ??
posted by adnanbwp at 1:30 PM on September 24, 2002

Actually when I saw this this morning my eyes almost popped out of my head, since last night before I went off to bed, the last thing I watched was an episode of PBS's Wide Angle on, you guessed it, Hindu-Muslim cycles of violence in Gujarat. Some truly truly gruesome things going on on both sides there.

One thing that struck me about the coverage here though was how quickly the authorities swung into action. At least from the interviewees in the program's perspective, police reaction to halt anti-muslim violence in gujarat at least is slow or nonexistent.

Either way, without even involving kashmir, it seems Gujarat has plenty of problems of its own...
posted by bascule at 3:41 PM on September 24, 2002

The people of India are obviously to blame for this massacre.

You mean all of about one billion people. Really?

Secondly, I am waiting for an higher end Indian government official to blame Pakistan, yet again.

I assume you know that Gujarat is region of India separate from Kashmir. In fact, there's about 1,000 miles in between. Not all of the Hindu-Muslim strife is Kashmir related.
posted by joebob at 4:25 PM on September 24, 2002

Do you think this event had anything to do with it?
posted by titboy at 4:36 PM on September 24, 2002

well said joebob, some of the comments on this page are totally irrelevant and without any background information....

They must immediately cease all hostile activities against the repressed peoples carrying out these valiant struggles for freedom from Indian oppression.


who are the repressed people? what struggles? Jammer you post makes no sense
posted by nish01 at 7:36 PM on September 24, 2002

Neither do the posts I was parodying, nish01.

You get a kewpie doll.
posted by jammer at 7:41 PM on September 24, 2002

"The siege at a Hindu temple in Gujarat state has ended with Indian troops having shot dead two gunmen."
posted by homunculus at 11:36 PM on September 24, 2002

Some perspective on the communal violence. {pats self on back, gives self charley horse}
posted by dhartung at 2:07 AM on September 25, 2002

mea culpa............

sorry for misreading your comments jammer
posted by nish01 at 6:42 AM on September 25, 2002

Not all of the Hindu-Muslim strife is Kashmir related.


Actually, the first headline I saw this morning on the story read

India Blames Pakistan for Temple Attack.

Which was inevitable - and probably not 100% wrong. The ISI - the intelligence arm of Pakistan's military - definitely does what it can to help anyone willing to blow something up in India.

On the other hand, the Indian govt frequently uses Pakistan (via the ISI) as a catch-all excuse for sabre-rattling and a means of deflecting critics away from pressing domestic issues. (Gosh, that just doesn't sound familiar at all . . .) As a friend of mine, who was a university student in Delhi, once put it, "A dog dies on campus, they blame the ISI."

Not that anyone's still reading this thread . . . are you?
posted by gompa at 8:24 AM on September 25, 2002

gomba, what do you think are the motivations behind India's PR machine? do you think the exaggerations are the result of Hindu extremist officials or a calculation designed to increase sympathy from the rest of the world or both or something else?
posted by joebob at 7:40 PM on September 25, 2002

Wow. So cool to check an old thread in futility and find the last little embers still glowing in the hearth . . .

So, joebob -

The primary (but not the only) motivation for blaming everything on Pakistan is, I think, a desire to keep the issue simple. The official line is this: Kashmir is a struggle between insurgent Pakistani terrorists and the righteous forces of the (secular) Indian military, who are defending the oppressed would-be Indians of Kashmir. India does not suffer from endemic "communal" violence. ("Communal," incidentally, is the Indian PR machine's term for Hindu v. Muslim violence.) If only those vile Pakistanis would stop poking our hive, we'd buzz along in secular democratic bliss.

I won't blather on, 'cause it's very hard to sort out the facts when it comes to Indian-Pakistani relations. The media in each country reads like a perfect inversion of the other: "Everything is Pakistan's fault!" "Everything is India's fault!" And neither of 'em acknowledge that there are, for example, Kashmiri interests that are distinct from their nations' interests. Nor, in the present case, that domestic strife is a serious contributing factor to domestic terror.
posted by gompa at 8:38 PM on September 25, 2002

i think that it is no coincidence that such instances of communal violence are taking place with the BJP, a hindu nationalist party, in power.

the BJP, which has its roots in the more radical RSS, is not as radical as the Pakistani dictator; but they certainly have a history of intolerance against muslims.

The ironic part is that the BJP is often times responsible for igniting such violence which only adds to the bitterness - the same bitterness (in the Hindu majority) they then use to get reelected...........
posted by nish01 at 8:18 PM on September 26, 2002