India's gateway becomes terrorism's door

Indians have had to endure the unspeakable horrors of terrorist violence ever since malign men in Pakistan concluded it was cheaper and more effective to bleed India to death than to attempt to defeat it in conventional war. Attack after attack has been proved to have been financed, equipped and guided from across the border. And while a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedin has claimed credit for Wednesday's attack, I believe it is unlikely that this horror was homegrown.

The Islamist extremism nurtured by a succession of military rulers of Pakistan has now come to haunt its well-intentioned but lamentably weak elected civilian government. The bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel proved that Frankenstein's monster is now well and truly out of that government's control. The militancy once sponsored by its predecessors now threatens to abort Pakistan's sputtering democracy. There has never been a stronger case for united action by the governments of India and Pakistan to cauterize the cancer in their midst.

Inevitably, the questions have begun to be asked: "Is it all over for India? Can the country ever recover from this?"

Of course the answers are no and yes. Bombs and bullets alone cannot destroy India, because Indians will pick their way through the rubble and carry on, as they have done throughout history.

But what could destroy India is a change in the spirit of its people, away from the pluralism and coexistence that is our greatest strength. The prime minister's call for calm and restraint in the face of this murderous rampage is vital. If these tragic events lead to the demonization of the Muslims of India, the terrorists will have won. For India to be India, its gateway -- to the multiple Indias within, and the heaving seas without -- must always remain open.