It is not a mere coincidence that Mumbai's commercial hub has repeatedly been struck by terrorists since 1993. Mumbai has become the favored target because the terrorist aim is to undermine India's booming economy and its status as a rising power by rattling foreign investors and driving away tourists.
India's economic rise has intersected with Pakistan's descent into chaos. Each terror strike on Mumbai raises fresh international concerns about security in India and prompts a sizable number of foreign tourists to abandon or delay travel plans.
Undercutting India's strength by repeatedly targeting its economic capital is a geopolitical objective that only a state sponsor of terrorism can seek to pursue, not street gangs, underworld figures, or local fundamentalists. And that sponsor — which made the mistake of leaving its marks on the three-day Mumbai terrorist siege in November 2008 that killed 166 people — is the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's notorious military intelligence agency.