Mumbai Attack and People trying to cash on remove their personal gruges

I am not saying something different. Many others are writing the same. As a helpless Mumbaikar and Indian I too feel enraged at our political class.

Seemingly decent and competent men and women holding high office turn to jelly when confronted with the biggest problem facing India, terrorism, and they evince neither the will nor desire to tackle the problem head-on.







Politicians and Bureaucrats

For the families of nearly 200 people who lost their lives in the Mumbai terror attacks, the loss is just unimaginable to their friends and family.

I have seen both of Mumbai's worst encounters with terrorism, in 1993 and 2008. I can say that nothing has changed. The ones capable of making a difference, have indeed made a difference to their careers and, presumably, bank balances (politicians and bureaucrats). But city remains the same sitting duck it was.

Then too the deadly explosives were smuggled in through the sea, through the Raigad coast.

This time, too, the perpetrators have taken the sea-route, in both instances corruption down the line clearing the trawler's path.



After 1993 there was talk of strengthening our coastal security.
What has been strengthened is the politician's bank balance.

The need of the hour is not to point fingers. Everyone knows who is responsible for Mumbai's trauma. Rather, the need of the hour is someone who can heal, who can soothe, who can restore the citizen's confidence in the system, who will bridge the chasm that is slowly growing between Indian and Indian.

A politician, we know from our long and painful experience, does not do any of the above. The good ones among them are the ones who don't do the opposite.The tragedy of India is that neither the ones in power, nor the ones who believe they will be elected tomorrow, do any of the above. The prime minister does and says nothing. The man who hopes to replace him does and says the wrong things.


Summing Up :
Not since Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 has anyone articulated a vision for developed India as he has. Yet, his vision of India as a superpower in 2020 may not be realised because of the politicians' folly.

Someone who is politic yet not a politician. We need someone who can assure the Muslim that they are part of India and now one will supress them and they will get equal rights and not look down upon as terrorist by the system in democratic India; someone who can assure the Hindu that his hoary, glorious heritage is not under threat in secular India.

There is one person Who can do this but but he is not going to step forward. For he is not seeking any office. In fact, in the last office he occupied, he moved in with just a suitcase; and moved out five years later with little else. Such is the man's simplicity and earthiness.

His popularity is the envy of any politician. In fact, I daresay he was denied a second stint at his last office because the politicians felt he was outshining them.

Bharat Ratna Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam is the man I am talking about. If anyone can restore India to Indians, heal the rift among Indians, and lead us forward in our oft-interrupted march, it is him. Will he please step forward?.















Few questions coming in everyone minds?

1. Why don't the police show the terrorists' pictures to the public and ask whether they have seen any of these guys earlier? The authorities might be able to collect important information.
   
   
2. What the level of training and preparedness of the Mumbai Police? In the first hour itself the police lost there senior officers and after that it virtually accepted defeat giving command to the army and later to the NSG. No doubt, the policemen who died were brave, but that is a small consolation. What we look for is physically and mentally fit and intelligent officers like the army who fight with enemy but are trained for their survival.
   
   
3. Could some of the terrorists have come by boat from the Alibag-Murud Janjira area in Maharashtra's Raigad district, rather than from Pakistan? Boats ply through the day from the Alibaug area to the Gateway of India, and it would be easy for terrorists to use this mode of transport rather than high-speed boats which would have attracted the Coast Guard's attention.
   
   
4. If the terrorists just wanted to kill everyone, they had ample opportunity to do so. They were obviously holding out for some kind of deal. Did the NSG spend those 10 hours negotiating a deal? Did they even make contact? I find it hard to believe that the NSG stormed the place and rescued almost every person taken hostage.
   
   
5. The residents of Cama hospital have informed about one lady accompanying the terrorists in a burqa when they stormed the hospital. Where is the lady now? Do the government or the security agencies know the lady's whereabouts? Or is it that the government wants to downplay the role of the lady?
   
   
6. Shouldn't there be a thorough probe into the killing of Hemant Karkare and his colleagues, given that certain political forces in the country had every reason to target the ATS chief and were actually issuing death threats to him?
   
   
7. Also, in a TV interview, the injured policeman accompanying Karkare, Salaskar and Kamte said they were asked to look out for a red car, and they saw the car but were ambushed by the terrorists 100 metres ahead of the car. So did the terrorists have real-time information of the police vehicle? How come all the 3 top cops were traveling in the same vehicle and that too seated in the front? Why did Salaskar decide to drive the vehicle himself? If Hemant Karkare was shot in the chest the photo of his body being taken for cremation had blood clot marks under his right eye and top of the right cheek?
   
   
8. When a machine gun is sprayed normally the cops would have got hit by one bullet. How did Hemant Karkare have 3 shots in his chest? There is still no explanation on why he would remove his bullet-proof vest when he had worn it on live television?
   
   
9. The circumstances in which three top Mumbai policemen charged with investigating the underworld were shot is puzzling as well. Only a trained sharpshooter with inside information could have managed to do this. The fact that the sniper then got away in the police van adds further credence to the fact that he had help from the inside.
   
   
10. If all the reconnaissance was done by a group of Pakistani nationals some time in the last 3 to 6 months, they must have been given visas to come to India, in which case there should be a record of the visas issued to those individuals. Is there going to be some attempt to match the faces of at least some of the terrorists killed with the photographs on the visa applications?
    
    
11. There were more than 100 armed policemen at CST station and they couldn't take down 2-3 terrorists? Especially, the RPF which is equipped with automatic weapons. Can these police officials be dismissed for their inaction?
    
    
12. The main issue to ponder over is that who is the "mastermind"? Who is paying money to the terrorists? Who is arranging the ammunition? Who is killing civilians (including Muslims) in the name of jihad? Who is the "big boss"? Is there anyone who would gain if there were a war or many pseudo-wars between the two neighboring countries? Who will make the highest profit out of all the mayhem?
    
    
13. The NSG copter deployed commandos on the Nariman House terrace on the 3rd day. Why not on the Oberoi's terrace on the second day?
    
    
14. The boats had landed in fishermen's colony at around 9 at night. How could the alien terrorists locate the landing site at night, considering a very long shoreline? Does that mean local sleeper cells helped them with a beacon or signal from the shore?
    
    
15. Were the terrorists not using hostages as human shields? In a TV interview an injured commando from his hospital bed said that they used a charge to blow off the door and then lobbed grenades inside the room. He also said he was not sure how many terrorists were there and the terrorist was getting cover fire from his buddy so there were at least 2 in the room. So how did the commando who lobbed grenades ascertain there were no hostages inside the room being used as human shields?
    
    
16. Do they have any type of communication jammers to prevent the terrorists from communicating with each other and coordinating the operation against the commandos?
    
    
17. Are the commandos well equipped for this type of operation? Do they have proper equipment to gather intelligence before or during the battle? Do they have any night vision equipment? Marco commando leader was quoting they were hindered by the lack of light and lack of knowledge about the Taj. Normally commandos prefers operations at night because they get the advantage over the enemy due to better visibility and coordination.
    
    
18. How much arms and ammunition did they have to fight up to 61 long hours?
    
    
19. If the Taj had central AC, why didn't anybody think of blowing in anesthetic gas to tranquilise all and then take charge of the whole building? The number of lives lost and damage could have been much less.
    
    
20. Is it me alone who noticed on the wrist of one of the 'terrorists' (the short fat pudgy one) the yellow saffron band that is only worn by Hindus and Buddhists?
    
    
21. How come an important clue like a GPS instrument was left behind so that we could find it? How come the GPS (a very helpful and expensive instrument) was not carried along?
    
    
22. According to a BBC article by Soutik Biswas: 'Locals say the orgy of killings in Mumbai began here. Three men walked into the cafe, drank beer, settled their bills and walked out. Then they fished out guns from their bags and began firing.' What were they doing drinking beer if they were fundamentalist Muslims?
    
    
23. A quote from an article in the DNA newspaper: "They had purchased around two crates of chicken and liquor worth Rs 25,000 from two shops in Colaba," another resident Joseph D'Mello said. "They then entered the Nariman House building and took the Israeli family captive." If they were fundamentalist Muslims, what were they doing buying large quantities of liquor?
    
    
24. Why all the rescued were not taken to a specific location, their identities ascertained before they were released? Who knows a terrorist could have escaped and is at large?
    
    
25. Why the NSG was not provided blueprints of the Taj, Trident and Nariman House. It was easily available at the Bombay Municipal Corporation which could have helped them a lot.
    
    
26. The army said the terrorists keep shifting their positions from one floor to another, and from one room to another. Why was their transit area not checked and blocked initially? To go from one floor to another they would use a lift, stairs or laundry passage. To go from one room to another they have to pass through corridors. Why were all these not blocked and secured initially?
    
    
27. Hotel managements' inability to provide the complete details of its occupants shows the careless attitude of the staff and the failure of the hotel administration as the traffic of terrorists to hotels must be going on for months to plant operations of this size and magnitude. No effort should be spared to put in place a fully considered and partnered solution with joint investigations/thoughts of the management of these hotels and other establishments with the government.
    
    
28. The management of these hotels should also provide adequate insurance cover as 5 star hotels charge premium rates from guests. If the management is unable to take care of its customers/premium guests, they have to be equally answerable instead of blaming only the government.
    
    
29. While it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that there is adequate security for each citizen, it is surprising to see the amount of ammunition and equipment present in these hotels. Is it the responsibility of the hotel management to ensure adequate security, checks and balances and compliance with KYC norms? The management of these hotels is therefore equally answerable for the disaster of this magnitude.
    
    
30. It would be a good idea to review short sale positions on hotel scrips, specially Indian Hotels. Who had taken large short sale positions on Indian Hotels before 26/11? It could lead to some more clues
    
    
31. 40 hours without sleep or rest?? You can't do it even when you are just sitting. I can't imagine in that intense situation. So were they using any medical stuff?? If so, can't we know through post mortem what those medicines are and how and where the possibility of them coming from??
    
    
32. The other worrying thing is..what prevented the terrorists (or some of them) from getting rid of their guns and just walking out of the hotel, pretending to be one of the hotel guests? Hundreds of people got out of the Taj at 3-4am. Were all of them questioned?
    
    
33. Few days back few people were stopped by the Taj hotel staff for being in slippers (chappals). If you can be so alert to look down at chappals (for w/e reasons), how come the same security system blunders when the ammunitions were being stored in the room well in advance?
    
    
34. With a major naval headquarters in Mumbai, how come the marine commandos came into action only the subsequent morning?
    
    
35. How can the government allow the television channels to broadcast live what is happening at the three locations? These might have watched by some of the terrorists's agents around the country and helped communicate with the terrorists in the hotel who had satellite phones.
    
    
36. Are there any missing hotel staff after the attack?
    
    
37. Why are civilians seen in and around the affected areas in spite of a curfew call?
    
    
38. Even in a terrorist attack why are most of our constabulary seen with antique rifles and without bulletproof attire?
    
    
39. The Deccan Mujahideen may or may not be a valid front. Has the Andhra Pradesh police and security forces started investigating that? What are the results of that?
    
    
40. If the terrorists are interested in something, how come they have not made any demands in spite of having taken so many hostages? If they kept the hostages for so long, they should have started negotiations also. This indicates that they have some other, larger ultimate objective. What is that, and has it been investigated?
    
    
41. It has been reported that a number of credit cards, that was a part of the terrorists's baggage, have been found. It is a simple matter to find out where the cards were issued from and the billing addresses to which the bills are sent. Has this been done? If so what are the findings.