India's new anti-terror laws

New anti-terror legislation, drafted in response to the series of attacks in Bombay (Mumbai) on 26 November, was approved by the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the bicameral legislature) on 18 December, having been approved by the Lok Sabha (the lower house) the previous day. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act provided new powers for the security services, most controversially the ability to hold suspects for six months without charge. It also made provision for the establishment of a National Investigating Agency responsible for gathering and processing intelligence and investigating terrorism.

Immediate context

The new anti-terror law was written in response to attacks in Bombay on 26-29 November. These attacks were carried out by 10 gunmen who attacked predominantly tourist and Jewish targets. The attackers killed an estimated 183 people and injured many more before all but one of them was killed. One gunman was captured and interrogated by the Indian authorities. The attacks took place over four days, partly due to the slow response of the Indian security forces.

The attackers apparently arrived in Bombay by sea on the evening of 26 November. They immediately dispersed around the city to attack a train station, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels, a hospital, a cafe, and the Nariman House Jewish centre. People were killed indiscriminately at all the locations, then hostages were taken at the hotels and the Jewish centre. The Indian security forces surrounded the hotels and the Jewish centre and eventually commandos stormed all three buildings. Several hostages were freed from the hotels but all the hostages in the Jewish centre were killed.

Mumbai has suffered several attacks in the last 10 years, including the train bombing of 2003, other bombings later in 2003 and the 2006 commuter train bombings . The police response to these attacks was widely criticised as insufficient. There was little success in bringing the perpetrators to justice and Pakistan was blamed to a greater or lesser extent in each case.

Reaction and outlook

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was passed by the bicameral legislature with the support of both main parties, but was criticised by some smaller parties and by human rights and minority rights groups. Amnesty International said that, while they recognised the duty of the Indian government to provide security, anti-terror laws should not infringe human rights. The Communist Party of India also released a statement affirming its opposition to the legislation on human rights grounds. An earlier anti-terrorism Act was repealed by the current government because minorities, especially Muslims, felt it was used to unfairly target them.

Questions remained over the level of involvement by Pakistani militant groups and the Pakistani government in the attack. The Indian government insisted that the militant captured during the attack was Pakistani and stated that the militants were coordinated by the Pakistani authorities. The Joint Police Commissioner of Crime for Mumbai, Rakesh Maria, stated that the attackers were trained in Pakistani Kashmir by former officers of the Pakistani army. However, the government of Pakistan maintained that it had not received any tangible evidence that the attacker was one of its citizens and categorically denied being behind the attacks.

The US government put pressure on Pakistan to co-operate fully with India in investigating the attacks and bringing the perpetrators to justice. After meetings with the Indian foreign minister on 3 December, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said: "This is the time for everybody to co-operate and do so transparently."

The US government reportedly sought to avoid a military buildup on Pakistan's Indian border that could divert Pakistani resources away from dealing with the militants on its Afghan border.

Historical context

India was first united in the 3rd century BC by the Maurya Empire and Buddhism was spread within India by the Maurya emperor Ashoka. After the fall of the Maurya Empire, India was ruled by patchworks of states and Hindu empires until the arrival of Islam. In the 13th century a number of Muslim sultanates were established but proved short-lived. In 1526 the Mughal Empire again united the country; the Mughals reigned until colonial times despite being a Muslim empire ruling a predominantly Hindu population.

The British set up their first Indian trading post in 1619 and the British East India Company grew increasingly influential over the following century. In 1764 the East India Company conquered Bengal and set up an administration, which expanded to encompass most of the sub-continent by 1857. After the Indian Mutiny the British Crown took direct control of India and dissolved the remains of the Mughal Empire. The Indian independence movement grew from this time, through World Wars I and II until the withdrawal of the UK in 1947. Most notable among the independence leaders was Mahatma Gandhi who advocated non-violent resistance to UK rule.

At independence India underwent "Partition" into predominantly Muslim Pakistan and predominantly Hindu India. Sectarian rioting at the time of Partition led to around 500,000 deaths and contributed to mass migrations of minority communities. After Partition the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir joined India, having been invaded by Pakistani forces. India sent its army to Kashmir and fought the first Indo-Pakistani war within the state. No clear victor emerged and a ceasefire established the Line of Control (LoC) which has remained the de facto international border.

India and Pakistan fought three further wars after 1947. In 1965 the two countries fought a five-week war over Kashmir, which was also inconclusive. The two countries fought a brief war at the time of Bangladeshi independence in 1971, when India invaded East Pakistan in support of Bengali rebels. The East Pakistani forces surrendered, leading to the independence of Bangladesh. The most recent war took place in 1999 and was fought entirely in Kashmir. Neither side made any territorial gains.

India has suffered many outbreaks of sectarian strife since independence. In 1984 a Sikh militant independence movement was crushed in the storming of the Golden Temple, Sikhism's most holy shrine. This led to widespread anger among Sikhs and the assassination of Indira Gandhi by Sikh members of her bodyguard. Hindu-Muslim tension was inflamed by the destruction in December 1992 of the Ayodhya mosque by Hindu extremists. Subsequent rioting led to the deaths of more than 1,200 people.

The Hindu-Muslim violence continued with massacres and attacks including the assault on the Indian Parliament (2001), the riots in Gujarat (2002) and bombs in Bombay (2003, and 2006) and Delhi (2005).