i feel that the Central and State govts busy with their hindu terrorists and state elections have failed miserably and were literally caught with their pants down. There were warnings and sketchy intelligence that the gateway, taj, bse and oberoi might be attacked, but well then again no action on ground.
I fear about the health of our twin intelligence agencies the RnAW and the IB due to their consistant failure, thanks to the ease which the terrorists are able to operate and build their support network in this country.
Worst was the behavior of the usual suspect our great Home Minister, Mr wardrobe extraordanire, the one and only Mr Shivraj Patil who forewarned the terrorists by giving them full stats about the Nsg deployment including details like time and numbers on live tv !!! He would have also given them the details of their inventory and tactics if only he knew. l this man needs an iq test or stupidity detector test if not a lie detector test .
I think the partys behind the govt and the lady at the top should take a lions share of the blame because of the laisseez faire policy adopted by the MS govt . Vote bank politics that relies on the Radical Islamic Appeasement is an invitation for disaster, that not only allianates the majority but also crushes the liberal voice in the so called minority.
The great Mumbai Yatra of Modi is a major miscalculation and so is the Advani shrill speak, both leave a very bad taste, but then again what else can u expect from policitians ? The congress will react and say kandahar.
The media, especially the sensationalist media went overboard with the titbits and live coverage in process hampering the operations of the secretive covert opps. But hey why blame them alone, when the audience wants news to look like soap operas and saas bahu serials.
Intellibriefs has some wonderful posts on this whole subject do chk it out.
There was a huge delay in mobilising special opps and there was a lot of political thinking and reconsidering before the said event … just as in case of the kandahar hijacking.
There was a well thought out plan of action and a chalking out of Disaster management teams, scrambling nsg commandos etc after khandahar, and to be honest the kandahar hijacking was done in Nepal, and there was immense pressure on the govt and the congress was stonic in its silence, but this was a totally different situation, and i dont mean to support bjp or something and still hold kandahar as one of bjps biggest failures and blunders and wondered why they didnt daisy cutter or prithvi a few places in the pashtun belt after that .
In defence of the Govt, maybe it took time to shuttle between the pms house and all pervasive 10 janpath, the madams congress house, But turning down the israeli request to send special opps or at least support teams to negotiate or stratergise was plain stupid as no army has the experience they do in ct. This was, i speculate a plain and simple part of vote bank politics.
One could even speculate that if the Israeli request to send their elite ct forces of the IDF; probably the Sayeret MATKAL whould be accepted, their commandos would have reached around the same time the NSG did. Haaretz analysis here , Time analysis here.
Anyways what have our politicians learnt from previous attacks ? … Nule. Zilch. Shunya or Zero.
They are however (sadly) still relatively unaffected, so much so that
For Maharashtra Dy CM, it is a small incident!
The Cm makes it a bollywood junket
and Nationalist Congress Party MP Jaising Gaikwad can sit and stratigise upcoming elections when there is a mini war going on around him at the TAJ (shows how protected these sobs are )
Read While the Taj Hotel burnt, MLA fiddled with election plans
After multiple Police reform commissions, the files gather dust.. Police still use handed down .303 rifles from the 1900s, the corruption in the force is no more shocking as most policemen get gobs via bribes.
No wonder the police, even higher ups and the RAF (state police known for their brutality against train commuters and young aggitating students) were literally caught offguard and some big officers became sitting ducks.
After the knowledge that the RDX and guns for the mumbai blasts of 93 were shipped using the sea route via shikhadi , the coast guard demand for better boats is still under consideration due to shortage of funds.
Im not talking about our great customs officers who have a penchant to go after the returning indians and foreigners comming to india after seeing the lovely Incredible India adds (where most money is spent on advertising not infrastructure ) instead of the usual suspects.
The highly politicised Mumbai-Maharashtra police including the ATS, did not know what hit them, these young men fedayeen were very well trained, well equiped and very determined… to hold out for so long against the seasoned MARCOS and NSG is no easy taskand there is little doubt that the Lashkar has come of age with this attack.
The Pandus or the underpaid, overworked badly equipped, sometimes corrupt foot soldiers of Mumbai police came good even with bad guns no bullet proof jackets etc, some even sacrificed their lives for common good.
Read about the unknown heroes like
ASI Tukaram Omble of DB MARG police in The cop who knew no fear
Sudam Aaba Pandarkar in ‘How can our .303 rifles fight against AK-47?’
No wonder the US, UK and EU and govts world over are sending their teams to study the signature of this deadly operation, a blend between AlQuaeda tactics and Fidayeen tactics of the JEM and LET. NSG though well weaponised, needs to learn or use new tactics because it is not in the interests of elite commando forces to loose men. Do u remember Beslan and how the Russian OSB spetsnaz used knockout gas ?
The Politically correct Pm who has a tender voice and makes eloquent speeches, has called for the ISI chief , and the Pakistanis are instead sending the deligation and are also openly beligerant. Frankly what purpose will it serve ? We have gone through this ritual a couple of times and the only real on ground improvement is in the refinement of tactics of the terrorists and the fidayeen killers.
The gliteratti and their loyal page 3 newspeople and the corporate honchos of the business world who are more afraid of extortion calls than terrorists, people who never use public transport, forever travelling in air conditioned mercedes and toyatas thought they would never be affected by terror attacks were taught a lesson they will never forget, and they who hold the purse keys hold hopes of a brighter future, and of that very familiar word Enabling Change …
The Americans and Europeans woke up, with CNN and BBC cutting to live feeds from IBN and NDTV once they heard of foreign nationals being caught up in the mess…and when Cnn correspondants messed up with the names.
Hope they realise that terrorists cannot be selectively defined and called combatants or freedom fighters, especially if they belong to a nation that is Americas most trusted ally in the war on terror.
Read BRaman on the mumbai blasts of 93
India holds a key in Azam Amir Kasav , the boy in the picture (clicked by Sebastian D’ souza), but will his testamony along with other evidence like weapons and phones be enough and will this start a war thanks to a desperate govt which is most likely on its way out is a question.
Here is a brilliant post in the Times Detailing the events
Do Read Mumbai: city of death
also Aps reporting
and my friends account in A Mumbaikar speaks on the Terror attack at the CST (VT)
How do we react?
First of all we should not forget … Terrorism effects everyone except the politicians and babus who always seem to profit from it.
Then make Politicians respect life of common Indian and value it more dear and make them pay compensation from their salaries, look at the way Israel reacted on death of its Citizens.
Remome all the vip and vvip quotas and seats and make them travel with commoners like Shastri did.
next we need to cleanse India internally … how ? u tell me
Cleansing the system of the corrupt Politicians and babus and pushing for rules to sack such people right down to local corporators maybe a start…
Pushing politicians to shun vote bank politics is also a solution, and forcing them to provide low cost housing to the economically backward at a cost and clear slums is also veryimportant for cities like mumbai.
Rule 49O is no solution as it plays into politicians hands as ur vote only gets nullified at best. Asking for politicians to be more accountable on a day to day basis and putting in systems like signature campaigns that can throw out politicians is also useful.
Read The truth behind Rule 49-O
lastly India needs a concrete long term strategy and a team to back it up to counter the rather successful Pak “Bleed India with a thousand cuts – low intensity war” strategy and a better international media management strategy
There are a few blogs like ini and a few posts that seem interesting
Read about the new map
also Go for a thin sliver strategy : Livemint and A tale of two crises
Tech and Trek 