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The Goals of the Mumbai Train Terrorist Attacks

A terrorist attack in India on Tuesday that killed hundreds on the Mumbai (Bombay) train system is suspected to have been carried out by Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists, this, even while Pakistan ? which denies helping such terrorist groups ? condemned the act as despicable. The evening time terrorist attack on the Mumbai train system, the individual trains of which often hold up to 4,500 people (thousands more than their normal capacity), has been labeled one of India?s biggest, if not the biggest, terrorist attacks for some time.

There is speculation that the attacks in India?s richest city might have been meant not only to stoke Hindu-Muslim tensions (the Indian Muslim community, at 150 million or so Muslims, is the second largest Muslim population of any country) but also strike at Indian economic growth. The attacks targeted primarily the first-class compartments on the Mumbai train, showing that whoever carried out these evil acts had more than just ethnic death goals in mind.

India?s economic growth, while not yet on a par with China?s, exists in a freer environment than China?s. Some seem to think that not only will India?s population surpass that of China?s to make India the most populous country on Earth, but also that the Indian economy may eventually surpass that of the People?s Republic before too long as well.