Mumbai.

It is too soon to say anything with much certainty about what looks like an invasion of Mumbai, India's major financial and business center. But while we cannot yet say who is responsible for this we can say a few things. 

Such actions will increase division amongst Muslim and Hindu people and amongst Indian and Pakistani people. This is negative for the working class in the Asian sub-continent and internationally. Increasing division may have been the very reason for this slaughter. The new president of Pakistan, Zardari, from a capitalist point of view, developing a larger capitalist market, has been calling for more links between Pakistan and India and instituting a no first strike nuclear policy and even for South Asia to be a nuclear free zone. There is no evidence he ever cleared this with the Pakistan military or Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) organization. A very incautious initiative. Such steps were already very unlikely and now just about ruled out. 

This slaughter in Mumbai will make any lessening of the tensions very difficult. The Indian Prime Minister talked about forces outside India possibly being responsible. He was clearly directing his remarks at Pakistan. Many sources in India believe previous bombings were coordinated with the help of the Pakistani ISI. 

Of course the dirty hand of US Imperialism is in the middle of it. US Imperialism built up the Islamic fundamentalists and the Pakistani ISI to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. When that war was over they were not able to disarm or stand down the organizations they had created. Some of them went on to participate in September 11th. US Imperialism was in some murky way involved in the development of the nuclear bomb in Pakistan. Then under the present Bush they helped India develop the nuclear weapon. Now these two huge nations are at daggers drawn and with nuclear weapons. There is a very serious situation developing in South Asia. 

On a capitalist basis things will only get worse. Only working class unity on an international basis with self determination for all nations and a democratic socialist federation can end the mass poverty, develop the economy of the entire region and demilitarize the area and establish peace for all its peoples. 

Sean.