It so happens that shortly before the terrorist attack on Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming procession in Karachi last week, I met a Pakistani friend of Sufi disposition who told me in casual conversation about random things that he did not believe Al Qaeda was responsible for 9/11.

‘They don’t have the technological or organisational skills to carry out an operation like that,’ he said firmly. He did not add, as moderate Muslims often do, that it was the evil Jews who were responsible but implied that it could have been the Americans who did it themselves to get their sticky paws on the Islamic world’s oil.

There is an inability among believers of this conspiracy theory to understand that in open societies, it is not possible for governments to organise acts of terrorism against their own people without being found out and condemned.

A worryingly large number of moderate, liberal Muslims think the jihad is an exaggeration and that Muslims cannot kill innocent people because this is forbidden in the Koran. Any condemnation of jihad is interpreted as an attack on Islam. Apparently, they do not notice that by refusing to accept the possibility of Islamist terrorism they create the atmosphere for it to flourish. They do this by not acknowledging that violence in the name of Islam is a reality and that on the Indian sub-continent it has become the biggest threat to peace, stability and a happy, prosperous future.

First, it was only Pakistan where the state encouraged and nurtured violent Islamist groups to be used for acts of terrorism against India. Now Bangladesh offers keen competition. General Musharraf routinely denies that his government or the ISI patronise terrorist groups, but never explains how the terrorists the Vajpayee government released in exchange for the passengers of IC-814 found refuge in Pakistan.

... contd.