Actually, Riots Are Different From Terrorism

Who are the culprits? No one is yet saying that it was Muslim terrorists, and that’s because some of the victims were Pakistanis. Hindus have also perpetrated terror in the country. ~Marty Peretz

Given Marty’s impersonation of someone familiar with foreign affairs, you might think that he would make some effort to explain what on earth he’s talking about here, since he gives the impression that Hindu groups are also routinely setting off bombs around India.  Besides not making any sense, this also happens to be untrue. 

Does he mean here that Hindus were responsible for rioting in Gujarat in ’05 that resulted in the deaths of many Muslims?  He would be right, but then communal rioting, while undoubtedly terrifying and violent, is not exactly the same as blowing up parts of a train, especially when said train is a highly symbolic one representing cooperation and goodwill between India and Pakistan.  Is he reaching back even farther in time to the destruction of the Babri Masjid?  Well, the next time a mosque is unceremoniously dismantled by a mob, Peretz might have some reason to guess that it was a Hindu group that was involved.  Otherwise, we’ll have to be skeptical about these claims of past Hindu “terror.” 

Indeed, train bombings in India these days (think of the Mumbai blasts of recent memory) would appear to be the preserve of Pakistan-based jihadi groups.  Certainly these groups have every incentive to sabotage any potential Indo-Pak reconciliation.  This doesn’t require some deep insight into the affairs of the Subcontinent, but the most basic knowledge of what has been happening there for the last eight years.  I think this calls for Larison’s Third Law of Foreign Policy Commentary (see the First and Second Laws): no one should comment on a matter of foreign affairs if he has literally nothing even remotely interesting or insightful to say.  This would very likely ban all future statements by Marty Peretz on any and all foreign policy questions.