The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Communications THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF TERROR: 9/11 AND THE INDIA-PAKISTAN CONFLICT A Dissertation in Mass Communications by Sandhya S. Bhattacharya © 2008 Sandhya S. Bhattacharya Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2008 The thesis of Sandhya Bhattacharya was reviewed and approved* by the following: John S. Nichols Professor of Communications Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Thesis Advisor Chair of Committee Mary Beth Oliver Professor of Communications Anthony Olorunnisola Associate Professor of Communications Kumkum Chatterjee Associate Professor of History *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School ABSTRACT The events on 11, September 2001, have perceptibly transformed the conduct of international politics on several dimensions. While most nation-states rushed to clarify their position on the global terrorism debate some were re-evaluating public discourse in light of their own struggles against religious extremism. One such nation was India whose contentious relationship with Pakistan over the state of Jammu and Kashmir, raises concerns about Pakistani sponsored Islamist terrorism in this region. The Indian press coverage of September 2001 and its aftermath shows a concerted effort to position India in line with other global democracies on this war against terror, while simultaneously attempting to undermine its neighbor and political rival. The global discourse on terrorism thus extends beyond a divide between democracy and authoritarianism in becoming a political opportunity for other nation states. By critically examining scholarly literature on ‘free flow’ and ‘dependency’ theories this study explores how the Indian press read global discourses on terrorism following the attacks in New York and the United States. Content and textual analyses were used to compare media discourses in India and United States; to determine if news frames on terrorism in both countries converged after the terrorist attacks. Results indicated a negotiated reading of terrorist discourses and localized constructions of terrorism in the Indian press. Furthermore, an analysis of media texts also demonstrated that the Indian press were somewhat resistant to the notion of a global pan-Islamist threat post 9/11, and were more likely to consider terrorism a state sponsored rather than a fringe activity. Thus, while acknowledging the value of structural and dependency theories, this study additionally argues for a more complex understanding of ‘information flows,’ on the grounds that a nation’s readings of international events are localized to its own cultural history and political aspirations. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………..vi Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….…...vii Chapter 1: The Global War on Terror…………………………………...….......................1 Deconstructing Terrorism……………………………………………………..…..3 Media Frames and Discursive Strategies……………………………………….....7 The Indian and American Press Systems……………………………………….....8 Globalization and Cross Border Movements…………………………………….12 Questions and Methods…………………………………………………………..14 Outline of Chapters………………………………………………………………19 Chapter 2: Cross Border Terrorism…………...…………....…………………………….20 History of the Kashmir Conflict…………………………………………………21 Kashmir as a ‘Nuclear Flashpoint’……………………………………………....23 Terrorism in the Valley…………………………………………………………..26 Roots of Insurgency……………………………………………………………...28 Kashmiriyat and the Politics of Hindu-Muslim Relations……………………….33 Indian Secuarlism and Hindu Nationalism………………………………………37 US Policy on Kashmir…………………………………………………………...45 Chapter 3: Fringe Terrorism…..…………………………………………....................…49 September 11th and War Discourse…………………………………………........50 Deconstructing Islamism ………………………………………………………..55 Islamism as Nationalism: Islamist Responses in Egypt and Iran………………..57 The Cold War and the Unintended Consequences of Islamism……………........62 Framing Fundamentalism in the War on Terror…………………………………65 iv Chapter 4: Results and Analysis…………………………………………….………...…70 Content Analysis………………………………………………………………....71 Textual Analysis………………………………………………………………....80 Press Coverage in the United States……………………………………..80 Press Coverage in India………………………………………………….92 Chapter 5: Reflections on the Global Impact of Terror……..………………………….106 Regionalizing the Terrorist Threat……………………………………………...107 Democracies in Crises…………………………………………………………..109 Reinterpreting the Islamist Threat……………………………………………...111 Reading War Responses in India……………………………………………….113 Global Consequences of September 11th.............................................................116 Limitations and Future Research……………………………………………….119 References……………………………………………………………………………....122 Appendix: Codebook…..………………..……………………………………………...149 v LIST OF TABLES Table I. Inter-Coder Reliability……….…………………………...................................71 Table II. Frequency analysis of news stories on terrorism…………....…….…….…..…72 Table III. Terrorism in Kashmir before and after September 11th…..………………….72 Table IV. State sponsored terrorism before and after September 11th..……..…………..73 Table V. State sponsored terrorism in the US press……………………….……………74 Table VI. State sponsored terrorism in the Indian press…...………………..…………..75 Table VII. Terrorist nationalities in India and the United States…………….….…....…75 Table VIII. Percentage analysis of stories identifying terrorist nationality…...…..……..76 Table IX. Most frequently reported countries of terrorist operations..……………….…77 Table X. Terrorism and religion in the US press after September 11th …….......…...….79 Table XI. Terrorism and religion in the Indian press after September 11th ......….....…..79 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several people were instrumental in helping me complete my dissertation. I would like to extend my gratitude to my advisor and chair Dr John Nichols his feedback and suggestions, and for constantly bolstering my resolve to complete my degree. Betsy Hall arranged numerous appointments with my advisor and was particularly helpful while distributing copies of my dissertation to other committee members. Dr. Chatterjee, Dr. Oliver, and Dr. Olorunnisola, all read drafts of various chapters, providing insightful and thought provoking feedback that strengthened my thesis. I am grateful to have had use of the excellent resources at Penn State, the British Library, and the libraries at Oxford University. Thanks to them I was able to complete this project at minimal cost (both economic and personal). I’m indebted to Hyeran Noh for letting me stay in her apartment for three months as I scrambled to get my data set ready; for sharing so many moments of apprehension and jubilation as we both ploughed through our dissertations. My parents Lakshmi and Prodip Bhattacharya have always encouraged me to give my best efforts and complete any responsibility I undertake. Without their constant guidance, emotional, and financial support, I would not have embarked on this journey or thought so deeply about this project. And finally, my warmest thanks to my best friend and companion Shreyas Chandra for always being there; for traveling with me and sharing every bit of this enriching experience. vii Chapter I The Global War on Terror The September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States (henceforth US) have had tremendous implications for global politics. In addition to radically shaping US domestic and foreign policy, the ensuing global outrage cleaved the world into two ideological camps – a ‘coalition of willing’ democracies eager to maintain political ties with the United States against a medley of authoritarian regimes – the ‘axis of evil’ – harboring terrorists. A tacitly acknowledged factor among these democratic allies is of course the religious face of this new enemy– Islam. This fear against Islamist networks is manifested at various levels. After extremist groups targeted their capital cities in India, Spain, and the United Kingdom, each developed new legislations to protect their borders; American diplomacy in turn has isolated Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq as enemy states. For victim citizens all over the world these events have increased an imminent but indistinct fear of the terrorist; ruthless shadowy individuals wreaking jihadi violence against the non-Muslim world. That the US as a global superpower could be vulnerable to fringe groups shocked the entire world but especially outraged American citizens, for whom this was an attack of unprecedented scale. As President Bush himself remarked a few days after the tragedy, “Americans have known surprise attacks – but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single day -- and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack,” (Bush, 2001). For the majority who were ignorant of their government’s controversial initiatives in the Middle East and South Asia the events on September 11, 2001 were also frighteningly incomprehensible, a sentiment echoed repeatedly in the vexed question, “Why us?” The above observations clearly reveal that tragedies of such magnitude were new to the American experience –even the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (to which September 11th was often compared), did not claim so many civilian lives. But terrorism as Jervis (2002) argues is itself not a new phenomenon – it was a term used by Jacobians in the late 1700s to “self- reflexively” describe their own actions during the