The wars of religion.

Tonight a lot of people will sit in front of television and watch the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth games in Delhi. There is a chance - but hopefully a small chance - that they will witness a terrorist attack that may kill or injure athletes and spectators.

This raises the question of why a bunch of religious fanatics would want to visit mayhem on people playing sport for the amusement of a world audience ?

India is not involved in Iraq or Afghanistan. There seems only two areas of contention that involve religion on the sub continent. One is the state of Kashmir which has a Muslim majority - but is part of India, and the other is the site of either a mosque or a temple - and claimed by both religions.

Unfortunately the religious divide goes back much further. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were once the same country, but when the British went home the two main religions decided that they could not co-exist on the same land, and hence that land was divided into two countries.

There seems to be only one glaring inconsistency in this example of religious warfare.Extremists in Pakistan consistently send terrorists to kill and create havoc in Indian cities, but we do not see or hear of Indian bombs blowing up people in the land next door.

It always seems to be Islam that has all the grievances and refuses to take a moderate line on land disputes - and perhaps one day the rest of the world will tire of this needless carnage.

And that tonight the games in Delhi will start - and will end without incident !