Yet, the needle of suspicion is bound to point towards Islamic fundamentalist outfits and activists who are mostly in sleeper cell mode across the Continent. For valid reasons. Norway has earned the wrath of Islamist groups in recent months- first by republishing h blasphemous Danish newspaper cartoons and later on with the ‘duty’ in Afghanistan and Libya.
Norway has a fairly large Muslim community with a strong contribution from Pakistan, mainly from Gujrat near Lahore. The practice of anti-Muslim racism and encouraging anti-immigrant chauvinism has given currency in Norway and its neighbours to the most reactionary sentiments amongst the ‘settlers’.
Denmark has been on the al-Qaeda – LeT radar as David Headley, a co-accused in the Mumbai’s 26/11 case deposed in a Chicago federal court. Sweden too witnessed an attempt to explode a bomb in Stockholm in December 2010. More over it has been only three months since Operation Geronimo which smoked out Osama bin Laden from his safe lair in Abbottabad.
INITIAL SUSPECT
So it is no surprise that initial speculation centered on Sunni Kurdish group, Ansar al-Islam. It has had tie-ups with al-Qaeda, and had carried out attacks on American troops and civilians in Iraq at the height of the war there. Ansar makes good sense if for no other reason than the timing of the attack.
As David Lea Western Europe analyst at Control Risks says, there certainly aren’t any domestic Norwegian terrorist groups. But there have been some al-Qaeda-linked arrests from time to time.
The car bomb that blasted government buildings including Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s office in central Oslo had all the trappings of an al Qaeda attack. Unlike Britain and France, Norway has not announced plans for either a draw down in or pull out of Afghanistan. If Spain could be made to get out of Iraq after a bombing of trains in Madrid, it should be possible to arm-twist Norway in respect of its forces deployment in war torn Afghanistan, and even Libya.
Yes, terrorism is no respecter of borders nor is it religion specific. So much so, Islamophobia should not get a fresh lease now. The European Police Agency, Europol, must go beyond the familiar knee-jerk reactions and unravel the Friday mystery.
With speed it must do the job. Because after the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombings and the September 11, 2001 tragedy that rocked world trade centre in New York, July 22 terror is the third deadliest to strike the West in terms of loss to human life on a single day. Norway had seen 15 terrorist attacks on its territory between 1970 and 2010, according to the Global Terrorism Database but only one life was lost.
LIKELY FALL-OUT
One likely fall-out of the Friday tragedy, if it is finally linked to Jihadists, is that Europe would become a really strong fortress. Immigration laws will be tightened. Visas will be drastically reduced. Travel within and to as also trade with Europe will become a nightmarish experience. In short liberalism, Europe has been identified with will take a back seat.
European politics will see gradual marginalisation of liberals, who are already finding the going tough under the dollar meltdown effect. It will also mean there will be few doors open for asylum seekers from the Third world.
