{Updates being added}
It’s difficult to put down my thoughts with much coherence right now after the incidents of the last few hours. I had originally planned to start the blog back up by telling you, in detail, what happened to the blog and me for the last few days. Now the trifling troubles of a vaccine shot gone wrong, days of 104F fever and a horrible webhost seems suddenly very insignificant.
So here are the initial thoughts.
1. Putting bombs in bikes and then remotely detonating them is one thing. Gangs of armed Jihadis with grenades, Ak47s taking the police head on, killing off the ATS chief, breaching two of India’s flagship hotels, causing carnage at the biggest train station of the country and taking hostages is something totally different—-it can be accomplished only through an unprecedented level of planning, coordination and training. And most importantly bolstered by an unprecedented level of confidence in their ability to be successful.
The sheer scale and brazennes is one more testament to the damning failure of the government security apparatus, not that needed to be established again after the last twenty such acts of urban violence.
2.Looking at the images of Taj hotel burning and people running about and the voice over informing us that the terrorists are still inside, this seemed to be a scene out of Beirut or the West Bank. Except it wasnt. It was closer home.
3. The picture of the guy in that jersey with the blue design, considered to be one of the terrorists, is beyond scary. If he is one of the terrorists (and my heart tells me he is), I hope that jersey is red this morning, from his own blood.
4. Just when your faith in humanity is weakened, comes a bit of prose that makes you look up towards the heavens, get all steamy-eyed and say “Yes God I believe”. [Link courtesy Harshit]
The Intelligence Bureau has confirmed that the attacks that took place in Mumbai on Wednesday night were an act of terror and aimed at disrupting peace and causing panic among Mumbaikars.
The IB says that they have come to the conclusion due to two reasons. One is that the use of AK-47 rifles. IB sources told rediff.com that apart from security personnel only terrorists have access to AK-47s. They also add that the firing was indiscriminate and largely aimed at causing panic.
Another reason for the IB to say it was a terror attacks is due to the fact that the operation was synchronised. Any synchronized or serial attack amounts to a terror strike, IB sources maintained.
5. When SIMI, LET and the Pakistani army sit together and think up of different front names to use for their organizations, do they go through the IPL roster? Mumbai Indians. Indian Mujahideen. Deccan Chargers. Deccan…?
6. Across all US networks, Kashmir is being shown as neither part of India nor of Pakistan. The whole of Kashmir is painted a different color.
7. Usually an attack of such a magnitude in India is usually given about 30 seconds of TV time on network TV typically before news of Lindsay Lohan going into rehab. But this time, our Jihadi friends have explicitly targeted “Western” peoples thus signaling their intention to be “heard” at the top of the hour.
And so this time, the US stations are full of it leading with a headline of “Terrorists control Mumbai” (quite apt) Listening to some of the bumbling oafs on US network TV [in between macabre ads of a Thanksgiving door-breaker offer on Cashmere blazers and Cashmere bomber jackets] analyzing the situation was as bad as listening to someone scratching their nails on balloons. Its tragic really because it reflects the general cluelessness of the West in understanding the geopolitics of the situation and explains why the genuine actors in global terrorism will never be uprooted.
Example. One security expert (used to be some bigwig in the State Department or CIA) made the subtle point that what should be noted is that this time the terrorists took care not to antagonize the local Hindooos by targeting only Western guests. Like they did in Victoria Terminus. Right.
Most of these geniuses belched out that old rhetoric—hyphenating Pakistan and India as joint victims of terrorism and cautioned India from using this opportunity to ratchet up its anti-Pakistan rhetoric (this despite the fact that it smells of a LET fart). After all hadn’t Zardari, the husband of the lady who flagged off the Pandit genocide, extended a warm handshake of friendship to India? Musharaff was a bad man of course but Zardari—now he smells of rose and honey.
Deepak Chopra (yes he is also an expert on terrorism) passionately kept telling us, in the same way he peddles his pulp paperbacks, that there is a very high chance of Hindu reprisals. He also entreated India not to blame Pakistan but to go to its neighbor and plead with it to work together. What he forgot to say is that India should use meditation and self-awareness to accomplish this task and get guidance from “Why Is God Laughing? The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism” now out in paperback.
8. Larry King informed us of a blogger from India who had breaking eye-witness account of the attack. At first I didnt catch the name but once the voice of the aforementioned blogger came on air, I heard Larry King address him by his full name. A certain Amit Varman.
9. [Update] Padmasree Rajdeep Sardesai puts the hostage drama in perspective by asking a British official, still trying to find out how many British citizens have been captured, whether England will play their Test match in Mumbai.
10[Update]: CNN says that fat-evil-man-with-werewolf-snarl (blue design tshirt) may be a terrorist or may be an undercover policeman. Will the experts kindly explain why the police would want to go “undercover” in this case?
11.[Update]: CNN reports the fact that a Pakistani boat was used to ferry the terrorists. They mention, close to five times, that this is according to Indian authorities. Who as we know being made up of brown people, may not be trusted. Confirmation from British authorities is awaited. Only then does something become truth. Silly. I never recall CNN saying even once “US authorities say that 911 was caused by Al Qaeda”.
12. [Update]:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India’s neighbors should stop groups using their territories to launch terrorist strikes, as security forces fought to end a siege of Mumbai hotels that has claimed more than 100 lives.
“We will take up strongly with our neighbors that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated,” Singh said in a televised address to the nation. “There would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them.” He said the terrorists may have “external linkages.”
Now that’s the way to show them tiger. You blew it Zardari. No cotton candy and group hug from Dr. Singh for you next time you two meet. He may even say “Zardu, tum bade woh ho”.
[All those posting hate comments—your comments will be deleted. Please spare me the effort of having to do so again and again. I am still running a fever.Also kindly promote your website/causes elsewhere. Please read the Terms of Use of this blog.]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
And Yet again… And well now it is a feeling of sheer helplessness here in Mumbai. People do not know what has hit them this time. No regular bombings. Just some random people opening fire. And the police van hijacked. I mean is there a limit??
Just sad, glad you wrote something.
And here we go again…
I was following this attack all night on TV. I have to admit, here goes another terror attack and switched channels, really. It has become that numb. Then only in the late night the enormity of the attack was obvious. Bloody tragic and frankly one has to just wait for one’s number to be called up.
Few observations:
0. A lot of policemen and ATS personnel have been killed. Truly truly difficult to reconcile their deaths with the Govt’s soft policy on terror. I salute their sacrifice. I hope they now go after the people with righteous fury.
1. A lot of reporters even an odd cameraman are women, reporting in the night, just yards away from the action. Whatever ideology that the terrorist want to impose, that fact alone should make them feel stupid.These people are brave beyond description.
2. Following will the sequence of events
i. Bandgala Patil will condemn the events and rule out strict laws
ii. Anytime in the day, BD will airdrop into disaster zone and milk tears
iii. The whole media and blog will be replete with “Spirit of Mumbai”. Honestly I have had enough with that phrase which does not mean anything. First, it assumes a passive cow like behavior of people from that city. Second, no city, including Mumbai folds the tent and leaves. Every bloody city is tenacious and cowlike.
3. Till our Indian countrymen rush to the bomb blast area and gawk, instead of running away, terrorists haven’t won.
It was not a Deja Vu this time..
Nothing will happen as usual apart from political parties playing blamegames, whats worse is the fact that people have just stopped caring as long as its not in their city they dont bother, i’m in office right now and work continues as usual nothing can tell you that anything of such great scale has happened .
It’s high time people react rather than just continuing with the age old rehtoric . terrorism is terrosrim, Bombs hurt all people alike be it hindus muslims and now atleast political parties shudnt play the relegion card. God knows how long this will continue, i’ve even forgotten the count of blasts in the last 6 months.
Also i hope now ppl like raj thackrey learn a lesson distracting the police over petty issues they just make the terrorists taks easier.
Well, Sanjay Gupta was also there with his holiday pic in Taj! Larry King just collected all the Indians he knew!
It’s painful and fearsome.
But the highest emotions are of anger and frustration.
Anger at these heartless people, anger at the incompetence of the government and intelligence agencies and frustration because I would like to give a fitting riposte and I don’t know how to.
Its a sad day
Alas….one I will soon forget
How I wish I would not
How I wish this anger would’nt subside
..
..
Tomorrow I will be my joyful self
Tomorrow I couldnt care less
It’s a very sad day. I just can’t believe this happened so… easily.
Reminds me of the movie “A Wednesday”
Well, what do the p-secs have to say about this ? Was this also a part of a larger “Hindu” conspiracy to malign the minorities ?
A month ago, I met a Pakistani traveling through India who had ben in the vicinity of Marriott when the attack happened there.
Hearing him, it was eerie how the circumstances might so easily be replicated here. and yet I thought – Don’t be absurd. That is Pakistan; we are India.
The line stands blurred now.
Collected useful info from the twitter feed at #mumbai : http://tinyurl.com/6k6vry
Arnab Da please remove comment by “Jihadis are back to claim their share” – I think this subhuman creature’s ip address can be tracked as well so his location can be found. These terrorists r stupid, they think that we all think they are associated with Islam??? Islam disown them, the human race disowns them. these r animals, a virus.
GB, I am really glad that you wrote something about it.
I have been so dumbstruck all day and don’t have any words to explain how I feel.
Except this that if I hear any one using the phrase ‘spirit of Mumbai’ I will kill him.
cant wait for Shivraj Patil’s lame ass excuses….what suit will he wear today?
@Anu: If the following link is to be believed, there shall atleast be no dirty politics this time …
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080074274
And I dont understand the point of keeping the NSG at Manesar, Gurgaon! Shouldnt there be small units of NSG deployed all over the country ? NSG should be a dedicated group which every state must maintain by itself and reside at a place from where it can reach all strategic locations easily.
Thanks Arnab for putting up this blog.. there’s this feeling of numbness since this news arrived..we can now find solace by taking out our frustrations in your blog. Just wondering, if everyone is feeling as helpless…
Stunned, shocked and angered. Its time for some drastic measures. And it all has to start with by crushing the farmers (left wing/left liberal mofos/ psedo seculars who lick m asses, the kind who say “terrorism, what terrorism? and allow a safe haven for terrorists- there is a reason why Calcutta is never attacked – it provides a safe haven for terrorists) who grow the crops (Deccan Chargers, SIMI and other lunatic organizations).
@ Great Bong: Reached office this morning and opened up your page, hoping that you would have written something on the recent events..I was right. very well written.
Have been following this blog for quite some time now.
@poochandi: excellent comments
My opinions may seem really silly but I want some feedback. I am really astonished how we lack equipment to deal with this situation.
1) I saw the ATS chief going in with a bullet proof vest over a formal shirt!!! and a crappy helmet which was being put on him in public. Don’t u have proper combat uniform?
2) Don’t we have night vision and thermal vision equipments so that u can flush out terrorist by cutting off the power at night time?
3) Why does it take so much time to get the NSG to Mumbai?
4) The terrorist ran off in a police car!!! Don’t tell me India lacks money to lojack govt. vehicle
The whole problem is see is with corruption, money for the right purpose is being used up by corrupt ppl and as a result we are lacking fund for the things we need, but whats the use of writing all this, tomorrow parties will play the blame game and then will question the authenticity of the encounter to win muslim vote banks
This was an economic attack on India. The rupee will be hit hard. The fire on the Taj hotel was indeed the desired image of these dogs. Best hotel in the financial capital burning, the image of vulnerability of the rule of the law in Mumbai- you need anything else to discourage investment? This is something the terrorists have in common with socialists. They cannot stand the prosperity of other citizens. So either by acts of terror or revolution (sic), they try to disrupt the way things work.
The fact that out cricket team is now so good and can trash pakistan doesn’t irk their radicals as much the prosperity, progress and relative richness of our country does. In these tough economic times, we need to ensure that their strategies don’t work. And what kinda pussy is our PM? He has not addressed the nation till now. Things seemed to be very lax. We need Narendra Modi to make India safe. Only he can save us. As can Barrack Obama, if he does the impossible by coming down on Pakistan like a ton of bricks. Today on Colmes and Hannity on Fox, a CIA person had a lapse of tounge and said, “But these guys are related to and abetted by guys whom you facilitate monetarily.” Hannity quickly changed the subject.
But as sad as it is, this was a security failure too. The country was literally held hostage by some gunmen.
Just saw the Rajdeep Sardesai interview you mentioned. He seems so apologetic.:))) As if India is now in heavy debt to UK for a few foreigners. The fact that so many Indian have suffered is somehow less significant. If England pack their bags and go, is it even important at a time like this?
Dear GB,
I am typing incoherent stuff below… but its just what is going on in my mind right now… as I sit at my office desk in an Indian city, crying… and my colleagues looking at me… a “professional” heading a small team.. Crying over newspaper headlines…
I am an Ex-Mumbaiite, now out of Bombay for last 7 years due to work at different cities…
All these years, the one thing I wanted any job consultant to tell me was that I was being offered a great job, back in BOM… so that I could be with family again. That never happened…
I was a student during the first 92/94 blasts at BOM.. was in office at Ahemdabad, listening to colleagues when Akshardham was attacked and again was in HYD when the attacks happened here…
In all these years, I never felt ‘touched’ by all this violence … seemingly as it was just a newspaper headline…
But last night.. some thing changed.. some thing broke in my wish to go to my home city… I don’t want to think about it any more..
I was a part of BOM when the day after the first blasts, every ONE when to school/ office…
But, now I don’t want to be there any more… and its not security thats psyched me…
Its just that the present BOM is not what I grew up in… the politicians only seem to be too happy today dividing BOM’kars on basis of state origin and back in my student days did NOTHING for BOM except change names of famous landmarks to a particular King…
Listen, I have nothing against that King.. but could those politicians have not gone ahead and built another railyway station/ hospital and then named the new one after the King?
Soon – in a day or two.. we will have the typical media bull *&IT about the resilience of BOM… and politicians talking of how we will not give in… but nobody will ever think of doing a ‘Munich’… you know what I mean…
Finally, before I stop bantering… I think we all should remember a particular dialog from Nana Patekar’s Prahaar… ‘every one of us has taken our freedom too lightly… we must all be required to give one year of our life to compulsory miliatry service…’
Your reader.
I was chatting with a freind at the gates of my Housing Society when we heard a deafening blast…it was akin to the sonic boom from a fighter aircraft with the only difference that this one was close to ground level and not up in the sky. Yet my first reaction was to look up at the terraces of the concrete jungle…not for an aircraft… the neural networks must have been influenced by the reports of some gunfire in south Mumbai…I realised with horror I was looking for smoke!!!
A bunch of kids that had just come of the building opposite to mine asked ” what was that?” I could only mutter something like ….”Dunno…. there is news of some firing and blasts in south mumbai…” Next me and my friend rode his bike to the edge of the Western Express Highway… we were close to the scene inside of two minutes after the blast..No visible smoke but I could smell it… there was a mangled vehicle to be seen about a hundred feet away …friend wanted a closer look and again in spite of my own curiousity I said ” Get back NOW…..let us get out of here and let the police and medics get some room for their work…” He listened but the crowd did not and there were hundreds of people running in to scene ….just to watch , observe and be terrorised for the rest of their lives….some ladies in their night dresses came out from the nearby building… smiling!!!! ” What was that sound?” ” Did you hear that” ” Yes I did” ” It’s a cab …blown to bits… the driver was blown to bits” ” My building was shaken as if hit by an earthquake”. Already the northbound highway traffic had come to a standstill…madness everywhere.
Seven minutes after the blast we were back at the gates of my building ….people were all running toward the scene of crime … crime against humanity!? ” What?” “Must be an CNG explosion” “What did you see?” ”
One senior gent chided us for not having a closer look ” You guys with a buy should have had a closer look ” Me and my friend looked at him and then looked at each other …cynical smile on our faces …a silent “Moron” on our minds.
My kid and my father heard the blast and were out on the street looking for me… the crowds were still building up and all running towards the WE highway… shit happens I thought and ordered my kid to follwo me into the house.
“Breaking News ” on every channel was up next and Hemant Karkare from the ATS was putting on his Helmet…taking it off…speaking n a mobile…. later on I watched him wear his Kevlar jacket with some help…”lousy fit ” I thought…. ” Our cops lack common sense..the shoulder straps are on his chest…he is vulnerable that idiot is…no process..no best practices …no equipment and no common sense”
Few hours later Hemant Karkare was a martyr…not the first…certainly not the last…..
its just like “the dark knight”. the whole city deserted, bomb blasts, police getting killed and a crazy guy in a blue jacket.
but the question is , who will be our dark knight???
@Bharath,
Isnt it obvious? Mr. Bandhgala…
India TV is one of the loonier news channels we have here, and in the midst of the shock, I thought I’d check them out.
They were interviewing one of the terrorists in the Taj over the phone!
His name is Shahdullah, it seems. He quite happily revealed the number of terrorists inside the hotel (7). He insists he is a native of Hyderabad.
When asked about demands, he was flummoxed. You could actually hear him whispering to his comrades — what are our demands?
Eventually, having claimed that he was a patriotic Indian who loved his country (!!!) he said his main demand was independence for Hyderabad — something last demanded by the Nizam in 1947!
Is the whole world going mad, or is it just me?
@RKS: you are right. what we need is a Munich.
And here are the relevant paragraphs from an article from The Times UK today:
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has handed an economic lifeline to Pakistan by agreeing to lend the embattled country $7.6 billion (£4.9 billion), but more cash will be needed, perhaps in a matter of weeks, officials said.
Pakistan, seen as a crucial ally in the West’s campaign against Islamist terror groups, had been locked in talks with the IMF since mid-October over an emergency package to prevent an imminent balance-of-payments crisis.
The country’s economy has all but fallen apart in recent months, rocked by terror attacks, an exodus of overseas capital, high oil and food prices and the seizing-up of global credit markets. Its foreign exchange reserves have plummeted to a sum equivalent to less than two months of imports.”
By all accounts, Barak likes India more. So perhaps this is a little reminder to him to continue American generosity to the ally on terror or else face dire consequences. Otherwise, why target Brits and Americans?
Nice to read what you’ve written. In times like these, we can only look forward to an elite blogger like you writing and offering solace, considering that the PM and Shivraj Patil are way too busy to take note of such an audacious terror attack.
Hell hath no fury such as this.
Where are the leaders?
Where does the “superpowerdom” of a 21st century India vanish in times like these?
What is going on?
Street terrorism was all that was left. So convenient. They know we can’t put security trodden with guns and ammo everywhere around the country. Hotels, railway stations….
Cowards.
Oh! I forgot to add – IT’S A WAR. A full-scale war in disguise of a proxy war.
The faster this is realized….
@RadicalBong
you made me laugh 🙂
But IndiaTV is surely doing a better job than Rajdeep@ibn
The Western media doesn’t really care how many die till its not one of their own. Maybe the attack at Taj and Oberoi are desperate measures taken by the jehadis to demand their rightful share of prime-time.
@yourfan….rightly said…now these goras will postering all this imagages for ages….
@GB…is thr a problem with this site….whnever thers a comment awaiting moderation by some XYZ and i am trying to put my comment….default name comes as XYZ
and how i envy my friends who have gone to settle in US/UK….at least they dnt have to prove in day 2 day life that they are fittest to survive…..
“…the situation is tense but under control…”
The audacity of these attacks is a straight up outcome of our preference for speculation, finger pointing and chasing chimeral alternatives – in place of the real changes that need to be effected in our police setup. Intelligence, response, investigation – all of these suck in their present form. Of course, it can be directly traced back to the criminals we elect as legislators. Bandhgala is speaking – he is his usual vacuous self – as others politicians who have spoken up till now have been – but trashing him won’t get us far down any solution.
What you expect from police, this is a war, war on India.
I just cant understand, why are they doing this. How can you be so evil.
I am in Mumbai, I can tell you atmosphere here is very tense but make no mistake we will bounce back.
Scary – very scary.
Amit Varma the blogger on the show wrote about his experience here – http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/a-night-out-in-mumbai/
I blog here about the terror attacks.
http://whenthoughtscease.blogspot.com/2008/11/its-war-stupid.html
“I’m going to punch the next person who coos “Terrorism has no religion”. It’s plain as to what religion terrorism has. No one is going to get fooled any longer. All loony liberal “secular” rhetoric can be confined to school essays and Independence day speeches.
It would be best if the media and the “progressive-liberal-secularists” stopped deluding themselves about Islamic terror. Islamic terror is one huge hydra-headed monster. Hindu terror is something that exists only in the realm of fancy (and in the wet dreams of Rajdeep Sardesai, Teesta Setalvad, Barkha Dutt, Arnab Goswami and their ilk).”
“The folks at CNN-IBN want you to light a candle to protest against this attack. Sure. I’ll light one and shove it up Rajdeep Sardesai’s a**. Will that do?”
speechless, mate, just speechless! Dont know whats coming next
speechless, GB, just speechless!! dont know whats coming next! Maybe it will be my home next time..
Putting bombs in bikes and then remotely detonating them is one thing. Gangs of armed Jihadis with grenades, Ak47s taking the police head on, killing off the ATS chief, breaching two of India’s flagship hotels, causing carnage at the biggest train station of the country and taking hostages is something totally different—-it can be accomplished only through an unprecedented level of planning, coordination and training. And most importantly bolstered by an unprecedented level of confidence in their ability to be successful.
Ditto. It’s madness. And its scary.
What about Patil? Has he started his fashion show?
And I agree with some person who wondered why the NSG are stationed in Gurgaon.
What will India do? Will the Congress have the balls to do something, this time?
It feels bad, angry, scary to see the place u hang out in, become places where 22 yr old guys with fucked up ideals spraying bullets from a police van they hijacked
Whats sad is, this just looks like an effort to scare of people, randomly attack most prominent places, fire in the air and then run off.
Or take hostages and then not see which of the hostages escape ?
– http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/27-attackers-looking-for-british-american.htm
And after this, do u stop going to work or hanging out in mumbai, not knowing whos going to come in with guns in moment?
Have we become another israel
Maybe a good time to take the gunships and blast the POK teror camps across the border, every time a terror strike occurs
If only we could arrest these b*****ds alive and publicly castrate them ..
@Hades
Your last sentence reminds of Joker’s(Late Heath ledger) famous dialogue from The Dark Knight, he says to the mob bosses
“What happened, did your balls fall off”
That is what is the congress govt looks to appear now.
The feeling has become familiar … the numbing shock, the bursting anger and finally the sheer weight of hopelessness. It was my birthday .. for the first time away from my country … and what a day its been ….
I agree with you Arnabda .. only a Narendra Modi can save us …
U know what, when I read the posts by the Pakistani guys on the orkut “hate India” communities( these are people who go to colleges and are fans of Linkin’ Park, supporters of Arsenal etc… u know what I mean), I see that their angst against India springs from their notion that Muslims are tortured by Hindus in India …
What can we do against such reckless & baseless hate …. except maybe meet them head-on now ….
You have the NSG based in Gurgaon because its close to the National Capital .. whats so surprising abt that ?
GB, if you are following rediff (as I am doing) you will note that “once again” our IB and Defense Ministry seems to have had prior information about “strikes by sea”.Is Mr. Anthony’s middle name Nostradamus ??? that every time , after all is over, his Dept. sounds -pre-prescient. Also, there are reports of calls to Karachi. Azhar Mahmood, perhaps.
My take on terror here:
http://caesar-caesar.blogspot.com/
This is being played out live on the rolling news channels. I can’t contain my rage actually, not at the terrorists as much as the Indian Govt and Indian politicians. PM is just about to go on air to speak to the nation – they are in the world spotlight now, entire credibility of the State is at stake, please please no more government platitudes !
Hi. I’m a long time reader, but a first time poster.
The feeling I get while sitting here is not of shock or numbness. It’s of anger. And hatred. and incredulity. And frustration. And helplessness.
ANGER
To put things in perspective, I’m an atheist. Which makes me even more incredulous about these people who for the sake of a so-called, unproven “higher being” are willing to cause misery and death to their own fellow beings.
HATRED
But here is the even bigger problem. Even as an atheist, I’m starting to hate one particular religion over others. I have a number of good friends in this religion – but I’m starting to feel that it is almost impossible to know or trust anyone from this religion.
The media, the political parties with an axe to grind and the HR activists will all say that it isn’t the religion and don’t blame everyone in the religion because of a few misguided elements.
INCREDULITY
This makes me even more flabbergasted. an unproven set of 4-5 people of another religion are accused of strikes (which i would call retaliatory ones) and the entire nation suddenly calls it “Hindu terror”. But a few thousand terrorists over the years in different parts of the world and we aren’t supposed to take this religion as specifically terrorist friendly?
FRUSTRATION
This is specifically at the establishment. How many innocents, how many lives does it take before the (pardon the pun at this time) GOD-damned Congress and similar parties (Amar Singhs, Lalloos etc.) get it into their heads that feeding this particular religion for thier own selfish interests is gonna come back and bit them in their ass/neck/balls, whatever. See what happened to America Afghanistan. but at least once they got to see the kind of people they really were helping (9/11), they gave it back to them nice and proper. That’s why there’s been no terror strike after that. Our “leaders” however continue to play the vote card. I sure wish that the terrorists would knock off the close relatives of a few such politicians. And then let’s see their tune change.
I’m also frustrated at the “intelligensia” – not that I ever think people like Arundhati Roy even qualify for such a name. Their claim to fame and Page1/2/3 visibility is based on standing up for the terrorists of a particular religion. I don’t hear them speaking up for the Colonel or the Sadhvi!
HELPLESSNESS
How the heck does a normal person pay back for this? The movie “A Wednesday” was all very well – but a normal guy like you or me really has no access to RDX by which i can blow up terrorists or for that matter people of that religion if I want to – and believe me, I’m starting to want to – really badly. And to paraphrase a line in the said movie, it’s not that I have had anyone that I know die directly due to these terrror strikes. I don’t even care about religion – but the whole act is so disgusting that I really, really want to do something vengeful – not the blood donation type thing.
But how far can we go before we turn mindless killing machines ourselves? is this something that one should wish for and then watch it spiral out of control? Or should I simply live with the fact that I am too small in the cog to be able to do anythingI don’t know – and that’s the crux of the matter.
Whatever be the case, I’m for sure starting to view everyone of that particular religion suspicisously. Some may call me a bigot. I call myself normal.
@Poochandi – completely agree, well said.
This is shocking. This is too shocking.. a bit too much for us hardened survivors.
There is a street fight going on. This is guerrilla warfare, army out on streets, commandos of all descriptions raiding hotels… crazy.
I have been watching NDTV since lunch today. Bandghala is absent. No statement, no appearance.. someone has tied him up in Delhi.
The last one is important for she, often in the same breath, was adding that there should not be any hurry and no collateral damage is acceptable. Be warned ye commandos.
Manmohan came on air for some time and in a weak monotonous accent gave dire warnings to terrorists their backers and their mothers. I heard everything and nearly dozed off. Finally Vikram Chandra laid it out in clear words that there was actually a warning given by MS. Is there no one who can inspire?
PM of Pakistan has expressed deep regret at the loss of life. He did not specify whose life. The terrorists or the rest.
Once this gets over you are all invited to join the spirit of Mumbai festival.
Venue – CNN-IBN / NDTV
RSVP – Padmasree / Barkha
Next year we will revisit the scenes to check how the survivors are managing.
———————————
May God help all those still trapped / held hostage.
When I heard about it today morning my thoughts went straight to Loh Purush Advani and Babri Masjid. Wonder why?
@advaita
Unfortunately, the similarities with The Dark Knight don’t end there.
@RR
Why are they only in Gurgaon? They should at the very least also in Bombay.
Hades
@AlphaQ
You are right. The slogan should be, Amateurs of the world unite let us become journalists. All this while I used to think that Hindi news channels are crap but today i change my opinion.
@greatbong and others in the US
I guess that brown skins are expendible. Thats why BBC CNN etc. keep focusing on their nationalities. Do they also mention an Israeli family is hostage ??
Saurabh Goswami
Dont blame the Europeans.
Hindus have a proven record for not caring for or protecting their own terror victims.
Why should others?
Teary eyed as I type this, infused with boundless anger and frustration trying to find some ground between rationale and extreme sense of madness, I feel my pride as an Indian and a mumbaikar has been irreparably damaged. Every inch of my body is craving for revenge. We have a terrorist state as our neighbour who seems to believe that this hindu dominated nation can never fight back and they have a precedent to believe that. Hoping against hope, this time will be different. We will take each of islamic terrorists to the cleaners.
Prayers with those who have perished and stil trapped in the hotel.
Oh, how clever of ATS to spend so much effort torturing a Sadhvi while jihadis plot terror. Maybe this is the Hindu hand again–I’m sure we will hear such statements in a few days !!!
Hindus must be the stupidest people on earth–1300 years of Islamic terror and we want to believe that these are the actions of only a few instead of the collective insanity of many.
This Jihadi carnage in Mumbai today happened just days before the holy day of Bakr Eid. The Jihadis just substituted goats with Kaffirs.
>>And so this time, the US stations are full of it leading with a headline of “Terrorists control Mumbai”
FWIW, that headline is on the Indian channel and the US channels are just rebroadcasting the desi channel (on part of the screen but it looks like its a US headline).
I want Narendra Modi as PM. India needs a person like him who has the
guts to take harsh/ strong enough measures to prevent such terrorist
attacks, and not the congress/ leftists/ pseudo-secularists who are
constrained by the considerations of vote bank politics. Some people/
communities will harp about discrimination and rant and rave against
Modi, but thats any day preferrable to having innocent people losing
their lives every few weeks.
And before someone mentions about the serial bomb blasts in gujrat a
few months back, it was in spite of modi’s best efforts. He might not
be able to prevent all such attacks but he will do his best to ensure
that such attacks are foiled and that the attackers are dealt with in
the sternest manner possible.
I agree with Reena and amudha selvam.
Instead of squawking like helpless chickens (being led to the slaughter), the need of the hour is to call a spade a spade by looking into the root of the Jihadi menace…..and not look around for apologetic answers of conveniently “explaining” the “why’s” of the carnage in politically-correct ways.
Let us not weave a web of denial around us any longer. We have done it for long and have suffered immensely for the same.
I hope the ATS digs out the information from the captured terrorists before Arundathi Roy turns up and accuses them of having caught innocent muslim youth in mumbai searching for a source of livelihood.
Did anyone notice the hypocrisy and bias of the media against Hindus?
Until today, the same English Language News Media (NDTV, CNN-IBN etc) who were going hammer and tongs screaming “Hindu Terror”, “Hindu Terrorists” while labelling the Sadhvi are now using an innocuous-sounding non-religious term: “Terrorists in Mumbai…..” (without any Islamic prefix)
And we naively expect this Media to give us the truth and nothing but the whole truth.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh simply condemned the terror attacks in Mumbai.
Home Minister Shivaraj Patil is still awaiting two things, before he can come up with a meaningful official statement on these Jihadi attacks:
(1) his white bandgala suit (to come back from the tailor’s) and
(2) clear instructions from Mata Roma (Sonia Madam)
Even British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared on the same day that the ‘outrageous’ attacks in Mumbai will be met with a ‘vigorous response’.
But the Congress Government is afraid of even using strong language as this might upset its minority-votebank.
The Manmohan Singh-led Congress government is an utter and complete failure.
It will come as no surprise that the Islamosecular Congress-SIMI coalition will be crushed in the elections.
And i do hope that our human rights activists and pseudo secularists dont start raising a hue and cry about the ongoing encounter after a few days saying that the terrorists were in fact innocent and poor boys belong to the so called deprived community who were made scapegoats.
Once again guys, Narendra Modi for PM.
As a resident of Mumbai, I have never been more scared, disappointed and pessimistic ever before. You can forget the celebrated “spirit of Mumbai”. companies shut, markets shut, the companies that were open recorded dismal attendance. I could sense fear in the eyes of my colleagues. This has to be the most spectacular attack on the city so far.
Government of India does not seem to be negotiating with the hostages. This is probably a silver lining to the entire episode. I am not being insensitive here but I wouldnt want to be in a hostage situaton.
Uffff so many idiots willing to kill and die for an imaginary fcuker in the sky. Its so absurd.
still love those muslims eh?
What is this a$$hole Advani doing at Taj right at this point, when NSG is fighting right at this moment just a couple of meters away, can’t he wait till the operation is over. Now police is busy protecting him!!! Can’t believe it!!!
Nowhere in the world politicians enter the police zone when an operation is going on, yeah POTA would have stopped these ba$tards, but please can’t you make this point in Delhi?
What struck me as beyond ridiculous was this pic of two cops huddled somewhere, carrying those ancient guns that look taken off the sets of Sholay. And this against AK-armed terrorists. I mean, what is the role of cops then other than to become bullet-fodder.
look at the difference between how the mumbai police was equipped last night and the special forces are today. how were they supposed to resolve that kind of an attack with a bunch of lathis, rusted guns and flimsy jackets that do nothing to stop a man from dying. we need to have the special force based in every metro in the country (you cant have them flying in three hours into the crisis). and yet i don’t think anything is going to change. politicians will trade blows. mumbai will get up and go to work. and six months down the line there will be something else.
How many more times? That is my question.
I live in Colaba, Mumbai. The normally bustling area has been eerily quiet but for the periodic sounds of explosions and gunfire over the last 24 hrs. This is as real as a terror strike has gotten for me : The Leopold Cafe, Nariman House and the CST station are places I frequent every few days. Glad as I am that my family and I are safe, I feel a strange sense of loss. This is my home and it has been broken. I don’t think Colaba will be the same again. I don’t think people can sit around and enjoy an evening drink here anymore. I don’t think the millions who commute to work will feel safe ever again. Have the terrorists won?
Nope, no lesson learnt. This is India. And the spirit of India and its cities perpetuates apathy and indifference. The feelings will fade, the times will not change.. we’ll be out in droves tomorrow or the day after.. When will the terrorists learn?!
The PM appears on TV and says for the nth time that we need a central agency to combat terrorism. Yes, Mr. Singh, but you have been in power for 5 yrs now. Have any steps been taken in this direction? I commit to quitting my meaningless yet highly coveted consulting job and signing up if and when you do set this agency up. And I am sure there are at least a few thousand youth in this country who would do so…
Till then I “condemn this dastardly act by the enemies of humanity”.
Just saw the news. One guy lost 6 members of his family in the CST firing. And this person was muslim. So despite being against the consensus here, I still believe we must not blame one particular religion.
@greatbong
to your update 11. These same WORLD CLASS news channels were raising hoarse cry that Iraq had WMD. So much for “Western Know how”..BBC asked one “terrorism expert” in Islamabad (gora of course) if this was Al Queda. That Ass says this DOESNT bear the hallmarks of Al Queda. Yeah, you know the hallmarks for Al Queda from their attacks in Pakistan and prorate that to India which is “dar al harb” according to these demented minds.
Saurabh, the fact remains that these terrorists are motivated by religion and are out to kill as many kafirs as possible. The fact that a few muslims were killed in indiscriminate firing doesnt hide the motivation.
Unless we Indians acknowledge and accept the root casue of the problem, how can we even think of countering it? If we behave like ostriches, burying our heads in the sand and pretending that this problem doesnt exist, we are only fooling ourselves and laying the field wide open for further attacks (which by the way is what enables the terrorists to launch one attack after the other, with monotonous regularity and ever increasing brazenness).
@JB
Naxals are motivated by “misery of poor”. So should we wipe out the poor ??
Saurabh, you are confusing issues here. Lets stick to the issue on hand. The issue is that you refuse to acknowldege that religion is what has motivated the perpetuators of this dastardly act.
JB, So what ? I mean what if they draw motivation from one particular religion. Should we kill all of those beleiving in that religion just because these guys draw the inspiration from that religion ??
Saurabh, who is talking about killing all believers of the religion?
What i mean is that if terrorists draw inspiration from one particular religion, lets accept it as a fact. Let us also not be shy of catching all members of that particular religion who are associated even remotely with religion, without bothering about vote bank politics. And if in the process, harsh measures have to be taken, so be it.
Arnab_da,
Feelig too dejected today…office stress, or something else maybe… But how that vaccine shot went haywire, how did you get fever, and most importantly how are you now?… (Offh, ki je koro naa 😦 !!!)
JB, here is my response.
“What i mean is that if terrorists draw inspiration from one particular religion, lets accept it as a fact.”
I have never denied that fact
” Let us also not be shy of catching all members of that particular religion who are associated even remotely with religion, without bothering about vote bank politics.”
SO you mean lets have a little heart. Lets just put all people coming out of mosques in Jail eh ??
Btw. IMHO, new age lauh purush narendra modi did something similar post godhra right? and we are being told that the terrorists had come via porbandhar.
This is my last mail in this regard cause seriously it all seems meaningless now.
For the first time i feel i dont know what is right or wrong. As someone in a previous response said, our plush jobs are just so … pathetic
Saurabh,
“SO you mean lets have a little heart. Lets just put all people coming out of mosques in Jail eh ??”
Once again who said this? Do you draw your own assumptions and answer those?
And re narendra modi, if he can ensure that ordinary indians can live in peace and without going about in their daily activities without fear of their lives, i support him wholeheartedly.
And this is not about having plush jobs, this is about feeling for the loss of loves of innocents.
even as the NSG was battling, advani lands up and the first thing he says is “blah blah.. i told you so.. congress has failed … blah..”, instead of offering condolences, or support or at least some encouragement.
i was told he was to fly in with the PM. Apparently, it was too much for his PM dreams to do that. …to so some solidarity in this time of need…
i agree with someone above. No political leader walks in into a hostile zone anywhere in the world and make a political statement..that too with 50 or more SPG guarding him taking all the attention away from the terrorists.
it is shameful, both the parties have failed to secure the future of billon people. its election time.. i say impose an emergency and consider, consolidate and operationalize at least the following points together to ensure some form of homeland security.
1. ATF infrastructure
2. Effective Border and Intelligence Inputs
3. Strong countermeasures to show that we mean business to kill these wrondoers and not are portrayed as wimps to a few fanatics.
cdnt agree more with suhel seth in one of the channels : we are wannabe first world country but are actually worse than a third world country because of our shameful political hypocrisy.
to colonel: it is because of blind hypocrites like you that ordinary INDIANS suffer. that is all i can say..
I wrote a post myself and I am not going to peddle that here of course. I just had to write it out to remove some of the anger and frustration I am feeling right now. I don’t and never will understand why. How dare they is another common refrain in my head! I want it to end and bizarre normalcy to return so I can go and drink and watch my concerts in peace and my city will not burn like this ever again. I can hope for this no?
Huh? Am I missing something? Arnab never said he wanted Narendra Modi to be the Prime Minister. Not even once in the post.
And for all his bravura, the fact is that the boat did come from Porbandar.
The plain truth is that bluster and rhetoric doesn’t help in countering terrorism – you need water-tight intelligence and excellent strategic and contingency plans. The nuts and bolt stuff. Not the frothing at the mouth stuff.
I agree with you Thalasaa , however even with water-tight intelligence and excellent strategic and contingency plans there are still terrorist attacks in Israel and UK . However we can definitely reduce the attacks . Even if we grant independance to Kashmir ,there still be terrorist attacks .They will want independant Hyderabad Junagadh …the list will go on . We have to look at the root cause
We can keep discussing and condemning these terrorist attacks or we can take action. We need to immediately seal our borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh (with landmines, electric fences, whatever it takes) as well as seal our sea routes apart from some shipping and fishing routes which will be monitored by the Coast Guard and the Navy.
Now that pakistan is occupied with its civil war, we must seize this chance to isolate them from our country once and for all.
Until we prevent their madmen from coming to our country, we will continue being held hostage to the barbarians from across the border, whether its Pakistani state-sponsored terrorism or rogue elements within the ISI.
How can we put pressure on the Indian government to seal our borders?
Online petition?
Just wondering whether we can learn anything from West regrading preventing terror attacks. Whatever whole world may blame Bush for creating havoc across the world in Iraq and Afghanistan, but certainly he was able to prevent another 9/11 in his tenure. Same goes for UK and other western countries.
No option other than to take this open war to the enemy territory…India …learn to stand for yourself…..noone else would….value and save lives of Indians …even at the cost of killing others….
I am in a state of shock. My senior at college has lost his life (Malayesh, BArch 2005, IITKGP). He came to India yesterday from UAE for his wedding, scheduled on 6th next month. But died in the Taj Hotel gunfire where he went for a seminar.
GOD! Have mercy on us! How long more do we have to be “led” by Shivraj Patil and his ilk, who have crooked backs and far more crooked minds!!
Being an Indian I am very distressed by the ongoing spate of violent terrorist attacks in India. After attacks of Sept 11, US govt took strong measures and was able to stop further attacks on its soil. In India, situation is grim and I am sorry to say that India is incapable of stopping the attacks.I do not have any hope that things will improve in India. Our country is under siege by terrorists and politics of votes.
Our PM, Mr Singh, and Congress are more concerned about losing minority votes than safeguarding the country from attacks. In their leadership, terrorists like Afzal Guru, who attacked Indian Parliament years back, can’t be punished becuase they are from minority. Whereas Govt targets it’s own army for political mileage. India is a soft state, with outdated laws and almost no criminal justice system. Our Police is incapable of handling big challenges, the best it can do is to oppress the common man. Until we have opportunist politicians and spineless system we can’t win this fight. Our media does not have brains to seek accountability from the Govt, it’s more about sensationalism.
Whole world is watching us killed like siting ducks and losing so miserably. Our political leadership, judiciary, law and order appratus, and press have completely failed the people of India.
why are people surprised at this attack?
The protagonists have been doing this for a millenium.
And every time people are surprised…awww?
with all due respect, where is that descendant of Chatrapati Shivaji, Raj Thackerey now!! Where is the local tiger when we need him??
So far India has only one example where it has successfully tackled such situation… that was in Punjab during Khalistan movement.
And what were the reasons for the success there?
1. Strong government will (though this is debatable)
2. Tough police action (no Teestas and Arundhatis entertained…)
And most important…
3. Strong opposition from the Sikh community itself.
(The village defense groups, providing crucial information to police etc.)
I see all these factors missing here. And I don’t see any end to this mayhem.
Sorry… the previous comment was mine
Dear dont get it , Raj is not a home minister , he is not even a corporator. We should expect some response/action from the PM/CM who have been elected by us to protect us . Thanks
Somebody got to hear Rahul Bose on TV.
our gotham city needs a batman
I think this attack without any doubt has exposed the inept and inefficient government completely naked. To be able to come into your financial capital in a boat and carry out attacks at more than 10 places simultaneously and resist the forces for more than 25 hours shows callous attitude of politicians towards safety of country. The most spineless guy in the whole scheme is our sher da puttar manmohan singh. Funny that zardari calls sonia instead of singh first. May be he was trying to hit on her. India for all the talk about being the next economic force is really has an outdated system to deal with crisis. I sure wish this was a wakeup call for the system, but i am sure they will shrug it off saying “what can we do?”
yeah I get that, but what I don´t get is why when it comes to other internal politics and issues, the thackereys and others get so verbal, with exagerated manliness…
This is not an internal/domestic politics issue , but a serious national security issue. Also the same logic should apply to Abu Azmi, Amar Singh and Laloo,they have been very vocal on other issues ( they have been supporting SIMI). Do u expect Raj to goto Oberoi and and fight with terrorist barehanded ? We dont expect much from MMS other than ” i feel your pain ” note .
And it continues as I read your post. We are so freaked out here in India.
You know, the theory is that Cal is not targeted because we *house* the terrorists. I laughed when I first heard it. Now I’m just chilled.
For the first time in so many years, a terrorist attack has left me feeling sad, desperate and vulnerable. Yes, vulnerable. Vulnerable not to terrorist attacks but to the future that this country holds. We should learn to accept the fact that with such neighbours, these things are but natural. However, what pains is that our spineless politicians (led by Mr. Bandhgala and the assorted pseudo-secularists) will use this as another opportunity to score brownie points and garner minority/majority votes. Somewhere in this chaos the concept of unity of a country will be lost. Oh, I wish somebody got rid of these scumbags.
On a different note, the situation India is facing is rather unique. Comparing it to 9/11 and how US has not been attacked after that is rather naive. The US does not have troublesome neighbours. It’s enemies are faaaaar away. The only time they were able to penetrate the US security was after months of planning. It’s not the same thing. Your house gets burgled once in many years but you do have to face your pesky, irritating neighbours every morning. So, what do you do? My answer. Learn to give him a tight slap every time he bothers you. FULL STOP.
…and for the last time…..there is nothing called “The spirit of Mumbai” and the people fighting back. Everyone needs to earn his bread. They have to continue with their lives. It’s a matter of compulsion and not a choice.
I feel we live in a borderless country – I don’t think the Indian government is capable of guarding our borders be that land or maritime. I don’t think we are ready to even be a single nation – we still are many nations squabbling over everything from river water to language to jobs.
No wonder … we are left at the mercy of mujahids.
And all those who think Calcutta is immune to all this, grow up. It’s just that an attack of this scale delivered to Mumbai breaks the back of the nation – if it was Calcutta instead, you’d possibly have only a fraction of the TV coverage and media coverage in general. So, Calcutta’s perceived inconsequentiality in India’s fate today could be the saving grace that most Calcuttans mistake as something else (like the we-are-the-terrorists-safe-haven theory).
The PM & his folks should not blame other countries but only themselves. If these things go on then this blog may have a category called terrorism.
From a first time poster, thank you for the updates and perspectives. My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of the victims of this carnage, may they find the strength to endure their loss.
Spent the last 24 hours calling my family and friends in India; glad they are all safe, the best I could have asked for on this day of giving Thanks in the US.
While past terror acts in India have claimed many lives, the audacity and brazeness of this attack has grabbed a hold of the collective psyche……I grew up in Bombay and each time I visit, I have gone to the Taj and/or stopped by Cafe Leopold’s before taking a walk along the long seafront; I never thought that I would one day wake up to see these places being the scenes of a gruesome violation of people’s right to live.
I have felt a mixed sea of emotions: outrage, pain and loss…..but mostly anger at the elected officials/politicians, who continue to put their agendas ahead of the sovreignity of India and the security of its citizens.
Lastly, thanks, to the first responders, fire personnel and the security forces who responded to these acts of barbarism and to those who gave their lives in line of duty.
well, we all agree that our politicians are incapable of establishing a proper security system, or running the current ones effectively..
But then who elected these politicians? More particularly, how many of us- we who know all that is wrong with the system, and all that is needed- how many of us vote? yeah I know there is none worthy to vote for, they are all the same- but even so, if the educated masses voted, the parties would eventually come out with suitable candidates…
Don´t you think that this is the reason why on one hand our democracy churns out Lalus, the mayawatis and Deve Gowdas while in the west we have ppl like Obama and Merkel… (yeah I know Bush got there too, but he´s another story….)
All I see on this blog and others is Pakistani and Indian bloggers who are otherwise very reasonable getting at each others throats over this. But it is (what is commonly perceived as) a knee-jerk blame Pakistan reaction followed by a knee-jerk blame-India reaction and I am afraid the vicious cycle will only get worse. It seems like that is another evil product of terrorism, turning people against each other, people who have nothing to do with it in the first place. For the sake of neighbourly support and humanity, I am truly sorry for your loss and it is terrible to see this beautiful city being treated this way. I have seen mine own (Karachi) slip into chaos many times and it never stops being painful. Funnily enough, we have a common enemy, so why can’t people see that?
hmm, I really like my last comment….did a good job there, identifying the real problem, and the solution.
Thanks for the applause, and next time please go and vote (for those staying abroad, you have an option of a proxy vote as well- like the army people do)
This morning I found out how CNN was giving tips to hostages on how to survive.
Talk to your captor, communication is important.
Always be calm and think how you can escape.
But do tell us about your pneumonia shot gone wild. I did want to read a post on that.
Nothing will change in India. After a couple of weeks everything will die down and spineless sycophants will go back to their normal ways of pandering for votes and total disregard for the country and its people. Have anybody stopped to think why not a single attack had happened in the US after 9/11 – yes something the politically correct left pandering cowards will never do – profiling.
Everybody is for sale and everything is purchasable so in our lifetime nothing will change in India.
The time for a strong action has come and that too for the leaders of the minority community. Its time for them to show their mettle and try to reach out to the disgruntled lot and also to condemn these acts in the strongest terms. However if past history is of any indication I am not holding my breath. The Javed Akhtars and the Shabana Azmis would continue to live in their comfort zone and raise a maelstrom only when it suits them and when the Far-Left media (which is whole of the media in India) would pick up a new story to malign you know who…..
Sana, thanks for commenting and thanks for your concern for Mumbai. I would also agree that India and Pakistan do have a common enemy in terrorism. However, there´s enough proof to show that this common enemy is often supported by your country..
This very attack was planned and the terrorists trained in your own Karachi.
Probably things might become better if more people in Pakistan, and in India, thought like you do.
Bush is available from Jan 20 , let’s get him to divorce and marry someone in the gandhi family ,then he can be our PM ,and solve this problem once and for all
When the police start investigating this case and arresting suspects, people like Javed Akhtar , Teesta , Mahesh Bhatt will complain that the investigation is targeting innocent muslims youth. The goverment will stop the investigation for fear of losing the muslim vote .
And then there will be another attack to avenge the mistreatment of muslims by the police during the investigation.
I hope this doesnt happen.
Citizens demanding accountability and change is great but bereft of political leadership and the will to eliminate these extremists by taking this ongoing asymmetric warfare of the past 15 years back to them, any perceived change is fleeting. If there is any positive news in this madness, it is that atleast the GOI did not yield to the demands of the terrorists.
I think the terminology we are using must be the problem here. For eg. the word country… does it include each and every single person living in Pakistan (a lot of people would take it in that way and then feel the need to defend themselves and deny the support they are accused of giving). You might mean State, the executive branch or do you mean the army? Or the intelligence services? Or me? If you mean me the training did not take place in my house. I don’t know where it did. All I know on Zardari is that he is a moron. So maybe the entire country is not to blame. The vast majority of us, who struggle to pick up the pieces every time, earn a living, and rage and/or work for change, we can’t seem to get support. But maybe someday when things are better, the world will look back and commiserate on what it felt like to be a Pakistani after 9/11.
Not to detract form the real issue though, I do pray that this tragedy comes to an end and the perpetrators are brought to justice (and that they pay for everything including the repercussions of their actions across the world).
Expressing outrage and putting forward theories and commenting on blogs (exactly as I am now doing) is just as stupid and meaningless as Shivraj Patil’s bandhgalas and Manmohan’s inane platitudes. After all this outrage and anger and sorrow, what are we going to do? We are going to go back to writing code for software firms, we are going to go back to reading reviews of movies and being passionate about cricket. (I do like your reviews by the way, greatbong)
All this verbalising, and not one of us will actually go out and do anything constructive, either to help the authorities, or to help those affected by this carnage.
In the end, like the Indian government that we love to condemn, we are also the same….soft and cowardly, and ultimately, useless. At least Arundhati Roy et al go out and protest and take signatures or do whatever the F*** it is that they do.
We blog. We comment on blogs. But, heaven forbid we actually take to the streets or get involved. We’ll just sit in our cushy offices and type, and express rage over our coffee, and then hope the traffic isnt too bad going home….and think about what’s for dinner.
These attacks have left me shocked, angered and with immense sadness. i have spent pretty much whole day following the incidents and the most striking and chilling account came from terrorist Imran talking to a news channel (audio was on rediff but seems they have removed it), one can not just fathom how much hatred they have India and mainly hindu population – and yeah i am waiting for those psuedo-seculars or any muslim leaders to come out in open and condemn the attacks.
This also reminds me of Akshardham attack where two terrorists opened fire indiscriminantely and killed ~40 ppl. The terrists were eventually killed and identified to be pakistani citizen (yes, there addresses were very evident on their ID cards and other docs. they were carrying)…and what happened after that,,nothing, nada…
I clearly remmeber reading an article in india today somewhere in the mid-90’s when a journalist managed to interview a terrorist, 20 year old youth of afghan origin, in Kashmir. He without any remorse gave chilling statements that how he enjoyed being in that region and terrorist lifestyle – how easy was for him to abduct, rape and kill women.
I don’t know if anybody read about but there was something called “operation topak or topaz” or something that general Zia in late 80’s hatched (if i remeber correctly, ex-india army chief in his autobiography mentioned about it). It had basically three-pronged approach to defeat india without engaging in a direct war 1) Survey indian cities with high muslim population and check their loyalty 2) Brain-wash those M population and engage them in civil war against indians 3) when this spreads to large number of cities, india can be attacked and divided. On 1st accoutn, they found Aligarh and Ahmedabad were the ones here M population was more vulnerable and could be “utilized” with minimum effort.
Fortunately Zia could not live to execute this plan completely but looking at the attacks in last couple of years on indian cities, this plan may have resurfaced.
Sad, disgusting and very disturbing. I have family in Mumbai, close friends who stay in Colaba and part of my heart that is still a little Mumbai.
Diplomatese sounds terribly impotent and more so in the case of our country where we don’t have a deterrent or an effective apparatus to weed out such BS. The US for all its red, amber, green and pink still manages to convey the impression that they are a tough country to mess with.
Thanks ananya and alphaQ. It is sad that every expected behaviour came true. When I saw PM’s video late night, for a moment I thought it was a hostage video. He couldn’t have looked more scared. It is unfair to expect our PM to be a rambo, but it is also important to convey a strong vibe.
VonRunstedt: It is like Find Waldo. That Rahul Bose is unhinged and he takes his earnestness far too much. Totally disconnected from reality. Javed Jeffrey was also showboating with his typical Babri Masjid, Godhra soundbites.
GB – Thoughts on Her Highness Barkha Dutt (also Padmashri) ?
Guys, at the end of it all, after seeing so much destruction and almost monthly acts of terrorism, i for one am sure that the desperately needs a person like narendra modi as prime minister, a person who will take tough measures to counter terrorism without bothering about vote bank politics and the crocodile tears of pseudo secularists/ leftists/ minority leaders and human right reports from the likes of minority lovers like shabana azmi, teesta setalvaad, barkha dutt et al.
If dealing with suspected terrorists sternly, without bothering about their human rights (and by default ignoring the human rights of the thousands of victims) can save the lives of thousands of hindu’s, we are all for it.
Wish “Wednesday” script can be played in Real 😦
Some Pakistani sources are saying that gold smuggler Dawood Ibrahim has condemned the Mumbai attacks. Dawood reportedly said that his heart goes out to the victims in the city that gave him so much. Dawood is wanted by the Indian police. They are saying that Hindu terrorists have done this. They killed the ATS chief because the ATS tortured the sadhvi. They wanted to teach the murderous Mumbai Police a lesson.
After all of this, i just pray to god, bhagwan, allah, jesus, this was straightforward act of terrorism from the Land of Terror and not any timely conspiracy theory just before elections.
You just cant trust anyone!
Javed Jaffrey said something weird yesterday, to the effect of “..when there is injustice, people will take the law into their own hands..”
Don’t know what he meant.
And Shivraj Patil issued a stern statement today, reflecting his courage and firm stance vis-a-vis terrorism (as the artsy types like to say):-
“Before I could reach, the terrorists had fled.”
Yeah. Take that, doubting citizens of India! Patilman would have totally showed them, if only they had bothered lingering after indiscriminately firing at people and blowing up places.
He didn’t change his costume three times today, though.
“He (Shivraj Patil” didn’t change his costume three times today, though”.
He did change his underpants though. And that’s more than thrice today !! 🙂
Enough has been said about this sad mess by everyone, which has taken terrorist audacity to whole new levels …. A lot of talk and no real action …. It is now time to do something about it once and for all.
The events of the past 48 hours indicates completely dysfunctional intelligence forces. The entire state security machinery was caught completely surprised and off-guard, unable to comprehend the true scale of the attacks and completely flummoxed as to the protocols of response to be enforced. The top cops (Karkare – chief of ATS, Salaskar – encounter specialist, Kamte – additional CP) perished in the first hour of this tragedy, not because of bravery, but simply because they under-calculated the scale and planning of the terrorists. This sense of under-calculation was combined with woefully inadequate equipment (shoddy looking ‘bullet-proof’ jackets and flimsy looking helmets) and extremely uncoordinated efforts led to their untimely demise.
The tragic events of the past two days has only tarnished India’s credibility as a stable and peaceful democratic society. It can only mean a further degradation in the way the world perceives India for its tourist/business friendlyness and shall impact its standing in the world. It also further frustrates the people of this country, who in the past couple of years have had little respite from all kinds of extremist attacks.
We have proved time and again to be completely inept at dealing with contingencies and disasters – natural or human. This event only further highlights the extent of paralysis amongst security forces in the immediate aftermath of such terrorist attacks. We need to urgently establish strong channels of intelligence gathering and also put in place strong and unambiguous protocols of engagement with these terrorists. Questions about the chain of command, the union govt’s involvement with state security agencies, etc. must be sorted by putting in place a comprehensive framework for synchronization of various state and union security forces.
For all of our trumpeting about our technological prowess and moon-touching capabilities, we are far away from providing economic and social equity and security to the masses. The terrorists have reminded us rather brutally, that our sense of pride and ego is misplaced, that in spite of the progress we seem to have made, we are extremely vulnerable to disruptions of normality. I think we as Indians have to start being a little more humble and sombre, realizing that for all that we have achieved, there is indeed much much more that needs to be done. We, as members of general society, must move decisively to ensure that politicians enforce measures and mechanisms to ensure such incidents are not repeated.
Why blame just Pakistani Government? They don’t actually govern the country anymore. I doubt they have the power and the control to arrange these attacks anymore.
Indian politician’s don’t have much imagination, and hence they repeat the tired formula of ISI-behind-it after anything has gone wrong. That is so 1990s! Give us a break – terrorism today is far more sinister, far more grassroots and far less controllable.
I think our government needs to wake up [Shivraj Patil definitely sounded very sleepy] and look for solutions in other places. What about tackling the mafia in Mumbai? Do you think this could be organized without inside help? Things like a trunk-full of grenades kept waiting at the Taj or Oberoi, for example? Transport solutions inside the city [how else do you carry around assualt weapons]? Can we expect to Dawood, among others, walk the gallows anytime soon?
Time to act, surely.
Superimpose a poiltitian speaking in the aftermath of terror attack over any such event, I bet no one would know the difference. “Sources point to Lashkar/Jaish”,”Investigation is on”, “Heartfelt condolence to the family & friends”,”rushing to take stock”, “leave no stone unturned”…What changes are the victims, their friends, families & countess lives that are scarred for life.Can’t superimpose them,each one has to bear the cross alone.
I have one observation. i saw Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation, and trust me it was not the way it should be. For a person who leads the country, it should be a more firm, well-spoken statement, rather than one that was clearly read out, like a kid reads out an announcement written by a teacher at an annual day function.
I remember George W Bush’s statement after 9/11 “Make No Mistake”, if you remember, and for all that he may or may not have done, that speech has a message, a statement which gave you the feeling that he is concerned and will do something about the situation.
After the feeling of numbness and total helplessness which stemmed from the knowledge that a bunch of 20-25 yrs old can hold an entire city to ransom, the next thing I feel right now is Pride at the actions of officers like Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte and all brave policemen, NSG Commandos and Security personnel who expired in the line of duty, who showed us what duty before self means yet again.
As long as there are officers like them who will march forward to face these bullies and terriorist without a pause , Indian spirit can be broken.
I usually refrain from commenting on such subjects on this forum. It usually gets meesy, but, this time around, I goddamn cant wait to see if somebody in this government/opposition/Whosoever has the balls to go in hot pursuit of the perpetrators to every corner they hide in, like the US did after 9/11. If it takes a Modi, so be it. We will hedge that risk. The human rights activists, the sympathizers and the likes of et all be damned.
I can’t believe this is Amitabh Bachchan- http://bigb.bigadda.com/2008/11/30/day-220/ Kinda sums up the mood of the nation
so our home minister has resigned…
wonder what good this is going to do…now chidambaram is the new home minister…
honestly now have absolutely no faith in any of these politicians…no matter who takes charge
i was there in my beloved mumbai during the 26th july episode and the train bombings…
Even as the authorities had kept posters all around the stations and train compartments that “its not silly to look underneath your seat for a suspicious bag”, still everytime i looked under my seat i got a sly smile from a fellow passenger. Please stop this attitude, “spirit of mumbai” is fine .. good that we get back(we dont hav a choice) but lets get a li’l more aware.. keep our eyes open. i m not saying that live in a paranoid like situation all the time but few basic precautions here n there should be taken. n don’t give that ugly look to the security guy who checks yr belongings everytime u enter a mall or a theater…
let’s stand united n stop the marathi-UP, n the old but powerful religious divide.
Maybe we should just be glad that our country still has sons who are willing to lay down their lives inspite of the pathetic treatment meted out to them. Am just sad