Mumbai Attacks - An Atrocity
I know this is way off topic and in no way related to the blog I'm running but as an Indian I can't just keep quiet and bottle up all those feelings inside me. I have to let it out. Last 40 odd hours has been the most gruelling and disturbing hours in my life. My eyes fills up thinking of the innocent lives lost, and my blood boils when I think about the terrorists who did this. The politicians who were not very late is starting the blame-game are even worse than the terrorist.
While whole of India, may be the whole world, was looking at the hostage situations and thinking of the poor souls who are trapped inside, our politicians already started blaming each other and trying to play vote-bank politics. I was appalled by seeing the notorious Narendra Modi, Gujrat CM who didn't miss a beat to reach all the way upto Maharashtra just to get the lime light and use the situation for his political gains. He didn't go there to see if Indians are safe, he didn't go there to see if his help was needed, he went there to use the situation and blame the existing government, and blame Pakistan and infuse the seeds of communalism in people's mind. There was talk of some other leader who said on television that his party was debating whether or not to call a "bandh"(strike) on Dec 1st. I couldn't help but think how low can people go. And to think the leader of the Opposition party and the Prime Minister couldn't even unite on a day like this (just to travel together to Mumbai) gives us an idea how rotten Indian politics are.(You may also want to check out this)
I am sure the politicians, especially the BJP, will make use of this incident and divide the people on the basis of religion. I am sure politicians will play their rotten games create communal friction and try to picture all Muslims as terrorists. Thats going to be suicidal. In a time like this a country can only survive if the people unite against terror. But the politicians won't allow it. India's curse of vote-bank politics is going to play a heavy role in what has to come. I can only hope people see past their infusions and realize we are all Indians- not Hindus, Muslims, Christians etc. I want to help people see that we can only get through this by uniting with fellow Indians, forgetting our cultural differences, religion, caste and becoming one as Indians. I want to spread the message that "All Muslims are not terrorists", which is the major message spread through the "Whisper propaganda" by the communal parties of India.
In all this the only party who showed some solidarity and efficiency was the armed forces- the National Security Guards(NSG), Army Commandos, Navy Elite Commandos, RAW, Maharashtra Police etc. They did a fantastic job dealing with the situation. They risked their lives and stayed awake for 45 hours straight in an attempt to rescue the hostages and capture or eliminate the terrorists. They had a daunting Task ahead of them. The terrorists were holed up in two of the massive hotels with over 500 rooms with hundreds of hostages. Yet they did their job thoroughly and saved the hostages and even captured one terrorist. The Maharashtra police lost its three top officials who were instrumental in bringing terrorists and criminals to justice on the first day of siege. In spite of that they functioned well. Salute to those who lost and risked their lives in the attempt of saving the hostages and eliminating the terrorists.
Another major thing is the devastating failure of Intelligence. Its unbelievable to recall that there was not even an inkling that something this widely planned and internationally coordinated. Even more overwhelming is the failure of Maritime monitoring. The terrorists landed in India via sea and to think the Coast Guards and the navy missed to pick up the speed boats coming to the shore is quite frightening. Isn't it basic RADAR work to pick up unauthorized crafts. They caught the ship that brought in the terrorists soon, but is that enough. The damage is already been done. Indian armed forces and intelligence are good at what they do after an incident. They chase leads, find the culprits and take appropriate actions. But they need to be proactive in dealing with these kinds of things and try and prevent a thing from happening instead of running around catching delinquents after an event. The rise of proactive methods of policing must be placed instead of the reactive ones in place now.
India has never seen such a widely coordinated attack on such a vast scale before. Close to a 150 lives were lost and over 350 injured. That includes foreigners, policemen and army personnel. The people of India are shocked to the core with these events. They lost faith in politicians irrespective of parties. The lost their sense of security as a result of the latest attack on Mumbai. They lost their loved ones, their fellow citizens, brave police officers, army commandos and most of all their mental calm. How the Indian psyche will recover is a question that has to be left to time.
While whole of India, may be the whole world, was looking at the hostage situations and thinking of the poor souls who are trapped inside, our politicians already started blaming each other and trying to play vote-bank politics. I was appalled by seeing the notorious Narendra Modi, Gujrat CM who didn't miss a beat to reach all the way upto Maharashtra just to get the lime light and use the situation for his political gains. He didn't go there to see if Indians are safe, he didn't go there to see if his help was needed, he went there to use the situation and blame the existing government, and blame Pakistan and infuse the seeds of communalism in people's mind. There was talk of some other leader who said on television that his party was debating whether or not to call a "bandh"(strike) on Dec 1st. I couldn't help but think how low can people go. And to think the leader of the Opposition party and the Prime Minister couldn't even unite on a day like this (just to travel together to Mumbai) gives us an idea how rotten Indian politics are.(You may also want to check out this)
I am sure the politicians, especially the BJP, will make use of this incident and divide the people on the basis of religion. I am sure politicians will play their rotten games create communal friction and try to picture all Muslims as terrorists. Thats going to be suicidal. In a time like this a country can only survive if the people unite against terror. But the politicians won't allow it. India's curse of vote-bank politics is going to play a heavy role in what has to come. I can only hope people see past their infusions and realize we are all Indians- not Hindus, Muslims, Christians etc. I want to help people see that we can only get through this by uniting with fellow Indians, forgetting our cultural differences, religion, caste and becoming one as Indians. I want to spread the message that "All Muslims are not terrorists", which is the major message spread through the "Whisper propaganda" by the communal parties of India.
In all this the only party who showed some solidarity and efficiency was the armed forces- the National Security Guards(NSG), Army Commandos, Navy Elite Commandos, RAW, Maharashtra Police etc. They did a fantastic job dealing with the situation. They risked their lives and stayed awake for 45 hours straight in an attempt to rescue the hostages and capture or eliminate the terrorists. They had a daunting Task ahead of them. The terrorists were holed up in two of the massive hotels with over 500 rooms with hundreds of hostages. Yet they did their job thoroughly and saved the hostages and even captured one terrorist. The Maharashtra police lost its three top officials who were instrumental in bringing terrorists and criminals to justice on the first day of siege. In spite of that they functioned well. Salute to those who lost and risked their lives in the attempt of saving the hostages and eliminating the terrorists.
Another major thing is the devastating failure of Intelligence. Its unbelievable to recall that there was not even an inkling that something this widely planned and internationally coordinated. Even more overwhelming is the failure of Maritime monitoring. The terrorists landed in India via sea and to think the Coast Guards and the navy missed to pick up the speed boats coming to the shore is quite frightening. Isn't it basic RADAR work to pick up unauthorized crafts. They caught the ship that brought in the terrorists soon, but is that enough. The damage is already been done. Indian armed forces and intelligence are good at what they do after an incident. They chase leads, find the culprits and take appropriate actions. But they need to be proactive in dealing with these kinds of things and try and prevent a thing from happening instead of running around catching delinquents after an event. The rise of proactive methods of policing must be placed instead of the reactive ones in place now.
India has never seen such a widely coordinated attack on such a vast scale before. Close to a 150 lives were lost and over 350 injured. That includes foreigners, policemen and army personnel. The people of India are shocked to the core with these events. They lost faith in politicians irrespective of parties. The lost their sense of security as a result of the latest attack on Mumbai. They lost their loved ones, their fellow citizens, brave police officers, army commandos and most of all their mental calm. How the Indian psyche will recover is a question that has to be left to time.
I suggest you to read shobha De's thoughts on her blog.