Bhagwan has not blessed me with enough wisdom to answer such a question even in a hypothetical context. What I do know is that not acknowledging the existence of a problem and ignoring inconveinet facts has never been a useful approach to solving a problem. Unfortunately, in a lot of debates on terrorism including those on threads here on this blog, I see that many people are doing exactly that : they go through incredible verbal and rhetorical gymnastics to deny, deflect, rationalize and do everything else but face the root cause of global terrorism, which is the fundification of Pak and the ideological and financial support by Saudi Arabia for the creation of a global jihadi infrastructure. Saudi money + Pak military together are running an integrated global jihad operation using the impressionable young minds from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and as it turns out now, people of Pakistani origin in other countries like Britain. Al Qaeda and Taliban are just offhoots – Frankenstianina and may be out of control today, but still the progeny – of this vast enterprise whose foundations were laid down by the Zia regime in late 70′s and early 80′s to foment terrorism in Punjab. Any attempt at solving the terrorism problem has to recognize these facts, and start with at least this much grounding in reality.

Read the Musharraf speech : it’s a confessions of all that is going on in Pakistan for the last few decades. What is really interesting is that all of this would’ve continued to go on if now whitelives were lost in the West. As long as the victims were Kashmiri or other Indian Hindus, the world would go on its merry way and Pak militiary would ‘ve continued its policy of bleeding India by thousand cuts. Hopefully, this time around, the world will wake up and learn that terrorism is an enemy of civilization itself and assuming that it will stay localized is just stupid. It they are killing brown infidels today and going unpunished, they will certainly turn around and start killing whitey infidels tomorrow. Any solution of terrorism has to be based on the Nato-esque premise that attack on one part of civilized world is attack on everyone. It doesn’t matter if the victims are brown, yellow, white or Hindus, Muslims or Christians, terrorism must be stopped. A life on Egyptian muslim victim of terrorism is just as valuable as that of a Kashmiri Hindu or a British Chsritian or an American Sikh.

Agian, you are comparing apples to oranges. The reason why NWFP is important is because it has a popular and democratically elected government of fundies. The size of NWFP is important because it gives that much more space to the fundies for training, arming and raising the footsoldiers of the global johad. Comparison with the Chinese is ridiculous because the Uighurs are not the government, dude. If they were, certainly the large sanctuary would then become important.

And for those who are trying to dismiss NWFP as a sideshow, I can’t decide if you are just living in utter denial or if it is just your wishful thinking. NWFP is the first ever stronghold for the MMA, which uses this power base to exert fundism throughout the rest of Pakistan. You can apologize for Pakistan all you want, or choose to turn a blind eye to it, but if you don’t understand the significance of the MMA using NWFP to strengthen jihadism in Pakistan then I am afraid you have learnt nothing from history. Explain to me, for example, how the MMA would have become the terrorist-in-chief Mushy’s coalition partner in Pakistan without grabbing power in NWFP, and gaining more and more support in the rest of the country? Is this really just about fundies doing well in “some local constituencies”? Expecially when these same constituencies were not controlled by fundies in the late eighties/early nineties? Let’s hear the logic : I am all ears.

i think we should be careful about mixing and matching the different issues here.

Again, more wishful thinking on your part. Even if you forget the creation of that islamic cesspool called Taliban by the Pak government, you find the graduates of Pak terrorism schools all over the map. In fact, most acts of global terrorism throughout nineties have had Pakistani connections all over them. First WTC bomber Ramzi yousef was a Pakistani, and lived in Karachi. 9/11 attacks were financed through Pakistan. And now it turns out that not only the London bombings, but also the Egypt bombings of last week are a work of Pakistani jihadis.

All of this is a result of deliberate Islamization of Pakistan under Zia starting in the eighties. Don’t believe me? Here’s excerpts from Mushy’s latest speech to Pakistan, televised on July 21.

Besides, dozens of the Mujahideen organizations surfaced who were openly recruiting and training the common citizens. Funds and donations were being collected to buy weapons. Jehadi literature had been published in this region for the last 25 years. It has all been happening in our society for the last 25 years and its all happening in this region.

Full text: http://www.infopak.gov.pk/President_Addresses/Speech_Jul_21_2005.htm

The sooner we acknowledge and appreciate this stark reality, the more helpful it will be. We cannot even begin to start thinking about solutions while keeping our heads firmly buried in the sand about how consumed the Pakistani society has become about its delusional notions of spreading jihad, creating ummah and unfurling the green falg of Islam in Kashmir, and consequently how much of a menace this one country has become to the rest of the civilized world.

http://www.indiareacts.com/archivedebates/nat2.asp?recno=1190

My uninformed guess would be that if Indian Muslims were predisposed to engaging in some sort of misguided violent defense of the umma, they would probably do it lcoally or in Kashmir, rather than joining Al Qaeda and friends. It’s an interesting question; thanks for posing it.