The Mumbai Massacre

The dastardly terror strike in Mumbai has shaken the entire nation. It is not just the scale of fatalities with 195 killed in cold blood and nearly 300 injured that hurt the people. The reputation of the nation has been damaged globally with the English cricket team refusing to play any more matches and predictions about a drop in future investments in Indian economy. What is curious is that after a brief consensus against terror among mainstream political parties, the blame game has again resurfaced. While the parties like BJP has found the Karachi connection useful in blaming the Muslims for all the mayhem caused across the financial capital, those opposed to it criticise it for politicising terror for electoral gains. The fact is that there is some truth in both the claims. BJP, which rightly faults Congress on not hanging Afzal Guru despite his conviction on terror charge for appeasing Muslims cannot explain why its foreign minister Jaswant Singh escorted the three notorious terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to Kandhar to secure the release of Indian hostages. Nor does it condone why PM Manmohan Singh, while claiming that the neighbouring country will have to take the cost for allowing terror strike from its territory, fails to extract any cost from his own cabinet and allows the Home minister to continue in office. To spread disaffection against the govt., Narendra Modi offers a crore of rupees against the official Rs. 5 lacs, to late ATS chief Karkare’s family by way of compensation. He conveniently forgets that his party was demanding a Narco test on the same IPS officer over the Malegaon terror case, which allegedly involved people aligned to his party. Karkare’s family rejected the offer the same way as Sharma’s family had done when SP leader Amar Singh had sent them a cheque of Rs. 10 lacs following the death of Inspector Sharma of Delhi police after voicing doubts about Batla House encounter. Politicians do not learn and are bent upon dividing the people.

What is more disappointing is that terror strikes have been taking place recurrently and evoking similar responses. A tough statement and compensation for victims followed by inaction till a fresh strike takes place. While the investigating agencies usually unearth all the information and reconstruct the sequence of events, yet they can neither act effectively on intelligence inputs nor pre-empt or prevent future attacks. The columns and blogs are full of comparisons with US, which has not allowed a single terror attack on its soil post 9/11. There are suggestions that the present strike was meant primarily to target US interests on the Thanksgiving Day along with British and Israelis. The choice of the financial capital of India proved handy logistically. The global intelligence inputs pointing out a spectacular strike before Obama is sworn in have been proved right and we have paid dearly since we were complacent enough to believe that the strike will be in US. Nor did our agencies take into account the possibility that with airports and railways better guarded, the terrorists may take the sea route. One wishes the choppers of Indian coastguards had mounted surveillance sooner and averted the loss of innocent lives in the most barbaric strikes.

A question that is being hotly discussed over the net relates to India tackling terror. How can we do it? What needs to be done? It is clear that all of us need to change. First of all we need to treat the issue of security seriously. When Delhi’s LG wanted all citizens to carry some kind of ID proof, politicians pounced upon him and accused him of harassing migrants from places like Bihar. Does it make any sense? When you cannot tell a Bangladeshi from a Bihari or a Bangali, how do you screen potential terrorists? It is a pity none of the local leaders supported the order, which was legitimate and reasonable. Nor did any one support Delhi’s CM, at least publically, when she talked about increasing migration to Delhi exerting pressure on its infrastructure. She was made to withdraw the statement and tender an apology. Do our leaders even understand that such unchecked migration has a security angle too?

There is lack of professionalism among the police as well. One wonders how the terror suspects manage to evade its eye while the street vendors and petty criminals cannot avoid being on its pay-roll. And how does one accept Sharma not wearing a bullet proof jacket at Batla House or Karkare and his men taking them off before the terrorists had been neutralised? It is not just a matter of losing lives but valiant and trained officers. Does one need to explain the advantages of wearing a helmet over an ordinary P-cap to the cops and commandos? The terrorist are far better equipped than those expected to take them head on and the disastrous results are before us. 19 killed and 275 injured by ten terrorists plus the carnage they left behind.

After every terror strike, there is tough talk, a high alert and more frisking till we sink into complacency again and become a sitting duck for terrorists. Let us hope that things will be different this time and the nation will be better prepared to face them in future-from wherever they come.