Friends,
The following article on internet is apt to describe the pent up feelings of an India.
Raghav
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Three things define events that afflicted Bombay last week-Ineptitude of the politicians, the Inability of the Security forces to prevent and close-out an amphibious assault and an irretrievable failure of the media in converting a National Security Disaster into a tamasha.
As a layman, and I am sure there are more intelligent people in this country who can bear me out, I cannot figure out how the three men at the helm of the Bombay Anti-Terror Apparatus could have been taken out in the first two hours of the crisis. This is not a case of poor intelligence but a case of zero intelligence.
In one majestic stroke the local administration had been debilitated and everything consequently got passed on to Delhi. Every one including the terrorists new that the NSG is based in Manesar and so it was never going to be an immediate threat and was hence possibly never considered in the plan of destruction.
But what must have been considered was the availability of the Marcos in Bombay. By calling up the Home Ministry in Delhi and asking for NSG the Bombay guys made their second major mistake in the whole deal.
Bombay being a garrison town and with India's Western Fleet docked in the Harbour, is a major city as far as security is concerned. Why didn’t North Block ask the Military to take-over instead of rousing up and rounding up 200 guys up North, arming them and sending them to Bombay.
It is not as if the Military in India is starved of weapons and couldn't have taken decisive action before the NSG came, an action that should have included an all out assault. I cannot fathom, just 4 guys taking over the Heritage wing and the New Tower of The Taj; and another two taking over the Oberoi Towers and the Trident. And keeping the combined force of the ATS, NSG, Marcos and the Army at bay for 60 hours.
After having killed nearly 200 people and injuring 300- few in the Army, Marcos and NSG would have been under an illusion that they could save lives when the perpetrators showed no interest in taking hostages.
It is a misnomer to call the Events in Bombay as an "Attack", "Siege" or "Hostage Crisis" for none of the terms applied. This was an out and out "Assault" aimed at killing as many people as could be, taking out guys from Security agencies, and reducing to rubble the two celebrated icons of the city.
The media did nothing to embellish themselves. The guys outside the three vantage points did no more than broadcast a running commentary of the explosions taking place in Bombay and heightened the medical condition of those with short nerves.
Whether dismissing a lame-duck Home Minister, the MOS Home and Secretary Internal Security makes any difference is irrelevant to the End result. People have died and whether the Tatas or the Oberois accept or not both Oberoi Towers and Trident and Taj Bombay will have to re-built, in all costing over Rs 500 crore each.. What these concerns will lose financially for the period the properties are out of operation is not even being considered at this stage.
Somehow Life in India has never held any value. We can see that in the way Indians drive their vehicles everyday, negotiating with suicidal pedestrians hell bent in crossing roads in running traffic. Life will remain meaningless in India, as it has been for 6 decades, be there a Government or not and be there Security Agencies or not. There virtually is no hope for this third world nation.
