NETWORK18

News Videos Blogs

Rajdeep Sardesai

Ads by Google

Wednesday, December 03, 2008 at 03 : 42

Font Size A+A-

26/11: Terror comes precariously close


Email PrintBlog
Ads by Google

Dear Reader, forgive my self-indulgence, but I write this as an angry and anguished Indian citizen and south Mumbaikar as much as a professional journalist. Over the last few days, as I have watched the city of my youth being ravaged by mindless terror, I must confess to feeling helpless, almost violated, as if someone had defiled the shrine of an old unhurried, SAFE Bombay.

Each terror site ignites a flash of memories, the roll call of the dead consist of names I grew up with. In the geography of terror, the horror has come precariously close to home: my mother lives just a block away from Nariman House in Colaba, an area that has been traditionally the most secure in the metropolis.

Its almost as if in the space of 72 bloody hours, an entire universe of memories has been shaken, perhaps irretrievably. Leopolds Café where I had my first beer in celebration of clearing the high school exam; Colaba market, where in the congested bylanes you got the best chicken rolls and patties in the city; Metro junction where you slipped out of college to catch the latest matinee; VT station which you passed every morning to work, the Oberoi hotel which left you awe-struck, one of the first high rises that dotted the Nariman Point landscape; and, of course, the Taj.

Mumbai without the Taj is a bit like a Queen without the crown. The Taj experience isn't just about the rich and famous, it's a symbol of Mumbai's urbane, cosmopolitan identity, undoubtedly elitist, but reflecting the civility that is so precious to the city. As a south Mumbai collegian, a monthly visit to the Shamiana, the coffee shop at the Taj was part of the growing up years. You saved up for it because being in that ambience made you feel just a little adult and sophisticated. Just the thought of maybe, just maybe, rubbing shoulders with a cricketer or a film star at the next table was enough to spend hours over a cappuccino.

In that sense, 26/11 has blown apart a certain way of life, each grenade exploding the innocence of another era. Not to forget the friends one has lost. Ashok Kamte, Xavierite from the batch of 85, a police officer with the muscle of a Schwarznegger and the heart of a giant teddy bear. For Ashok, being a police officer was not just a professional option, it was a family tradition: his grandfather had been Maharashtra's first inspector general of police.

Sunil Parekh, a successful businessman, two years senior in school, shot alongwith his wife, even as they dined at the Oberoi. The ever-smiling Sabina Sehgal Saikia, a colleague from the glorious Times of India days when there were no 24 hour news channels to shatter the idyll of an extended editorial meeting. Ashok Kapur, ex-president of the Bombay Gymkhana club, whose colonial environs still provide an old school refuge from the cut and thrust competitiveness of new India.

I am not alone. Most people in this old Mumbai world have been touched directly by the terrorist. 26-11 has given a face to terror to a community which until now was happily insulated from it. While buses were blasted in distant suburbs, train commuters were targeted and the crowded bazaars of central Mumbai were hit, south Mumbai was somehow a sanctuary where you felt protected, where the tryst with terror for a majority was limited to watching it unfold on television in some distant corner.

Now, sitting in your home verandah and watching NSG commandos being airdropped and gunshots being fired, there was no escaping the reality: terror had entered your neighbourhood.

Which is also why 26-11 is very different from Mumbai's original date with terror on March 12th 1993. Then, the serial blasts across the city left us dazed and fearful. Then, we thought the terror had sprung from the ghettoes, from the grimy underbelly of the city. We knew of Dawood, although we didn't quite know what RDX was. We saw the blasts as a continuum of the riots, a cycle of violence and vengeance that we hoped would soon end.

Fifteen years later, after repeated assaults, the perpetrator of the bomb blast has transformed himself into a far more terrifying phantom than in the early 90s. In the 21st century, this lethal and evil force has just demonstrated that it can strike at will whenever and wherever it wants and so called Rising India can't do a damn thing. Which is why the fear this time is matched by rage. Its an anger felt by a citizenry which feels betrayed by their leadership. When in 1993, RDX landed on the coastal coast it was felt that this was an unfortunate breach of security. Now we know that this was no aberration: a combination of callous politicians, bumbling bureaucrats and an emasculated police force have created a feeble and corrupted system that is simply incapable of taking on trained and highly motivated terrorists.

This is not a partisan issue either: the fact is that bomb blasts have taken place across the country, from Narendra Modi's Gujarat to Vilasrao Deshmukh's Maharashtra. Intelligence failure is not the prerogative of any one political party or government, its reflective of an antiquated bureaucracy that is totally out of its depth when dealing with the international jihadist. Why, for example, does it take a formal request from the state government to the home ministry for the NSG commandos to be flown in several hours after terror has struck?

Where is the crisis management committee that needs to spring into action right away? And why should an officer investigating a terror case also be expected to be out on the street engaging in a gunfight with AK 47 wielding terrorists?

Today, every citizen is asking these questions. The candlelight vigils and sms campaigns may seem ineffectual, but lets not underestimate the power of an enlightened citizenry in the media age. There is a new vote bank out there, a vote bank of furious and articulate people, many of whom are directly responsible for driving the Indian dream forward. It is impossible for any politician to ignore this urban voter and rely on the rural masses alone. 26-11 has ensured that the Indian upper middle class emerge from its cocoon of privilege. The voices being heard at the Gateway of India are a slowly gathering momentum. Over the debris of the Taj, the Indian elite may finally be coming of age.

Total Comments: 338

CollapsePosted 2008-12-04 07:20:15 : By subhro_g

My dear Hindustan,

I always felt very angry at the utter incompetance of our politicians & bureaucrats whenever I saw India bleeding. Time has come NOW to act. We send these politicians to the parliament, sometimes with lots of hope and mostly without much choice. This process must change. Our politicians are just a bunch of jokers and they don't have the competence to run a economy of 1.25 billion people. In the past, irrespective of political parties, India did not do much to pressurize Pakistan through international agencies and countries. This time, I think we have a GOLDEN opportunity in hand. The whole situation is looking very positive for us Indians to take up the case with the other countries and organizations. India should never waste this opportunity for sure. The US/UK are backing us, Israel is furious too because of the slaying of their lovable countrymen and five other G7 nations has proactively offered help immediately.

What India should do now ? So many things are in the agenda that one feels tired to count them. But we have to start the process somewhere and someday.. Lets start it NOW for sure.....My recommendations are :

1> Follow the US footstep after 9/11, This means try to pass an UN security council resolution to attack Pakistan. This doesnot mean India / security council has to attack pakistan, rather if a resolution is passed and accepted by the security council, then India can give Pakistan a choice to wipe out all the terror camps in POK themselves or allow the council to do the work for them. I strongly believe that Pak will opt for the first option avoiding any further confrontation.

2> On the home front, India must immediately sign an MOU / agreement with ONLY Israel (no other nation has more sofisticated anti terror technology and technique to combat terror) to put in the latest security features, devices & monitoring systems & processes in airports, ports, navy, and all major public places in all major cities (remember israel has started IRIS scanning technology at least 25 years ago).
3> Start a MOU of 10 years at aleast, with the FBI & anti terror squad of Scotland yard and learn their success stories and processes of combat.
3> Try to develop a curriculum of real NEGOTIATORS who can actually negotiate with the hijackers and terrorists. Remember the US/UK negotiators also have to learn hypnotism to some extent to gain mind power. India is currently 30 years behind in this area compared to the westerners.
4> We thought our NSG is one of the best commandos in earth. But the 50 hour saga in Mumbai and the loss of 2-3 very prominent members have opened up new thoughts in our mind about their true abilities. Israel can provide enourmous help in this area to educate & train our very special commandos.
4> The intelligence wing of RAW should comprise of persons with more related foreign degrees and education. So the recruitment process should be made more stringent.
5> And last but not the least, our bureaucratic population must comprise of at least 50% highly educated recruits under the age of 30 to pump in new thoughts into the system.

- A very angry and dejected Indo-Canadian, Subhro. ...Reply

CollapsePosted 2008-12-04 06:58:05 : By vishnurane

(1) Now or never
(2) Put the Pak hand in terrorist operations in front of the world strongly.
(3) Ask for UN nations co-operation in fighting terrorism.
(4) Demolish the terrorist camps in POK.
(5) Break all commercial and other ties with Pak till they handover all 20 listed terrorists.
(6) My Dear Indian citizens ,Maintain this burning desire to protect our nation in our mind and heart forever. Let us make India an Utopia on earth so that our nation will be safe,lovable by all.
(7) Let us extend this revolution to end corruption,to stop injustice on poors,to reduce poverty in totality,to end spitting at public places,to stop production of Gutka and further on.
(8) We all have made our Govt to act against all these evils now.So much difference we could do. Please keep it up.
(9) So pl. maintain this stance every time we find evil in our soceity.
(10) We people are learning to raise our voice against all these evils/corrupted politicians. I am very happy with this. I always used to worry whether this can ever stop in India and we also become like US,Japan. Now that time has come and we will excel in the whole world in the coming years.
Is jyot ko ham aage badhyenge aur badhate rahenge! Jay Hind ! Bharat Mata Ki Jay! ...Reply

CollapsePosted 2008-12-04 06:47:09 : By sunil-dc

Rajdeep

It's interesting to see how you've labeled yourself as a 'South Mumbaikar' and to see how you are trying to alienate yourself from the suburbs in creating a social divide. Also, in one of your news coverage, you said, that in the past the 'South Mumbaikar' was not affected when the suburbs were targeted. I believe you were speaking for yourself then.

Here are some interesting facts that show how money is funneled to the LeT via 'charitable organizations':

1. The Nixon Center (July 2005) has confirmed that the ISI still supports the main Kashmiri Islamic groups including Lashkar-e-Tiaba (also known as Jama'at-ud-Da'awa) and Jaish-e-Muhammad.

2. Laskar-e-Taiba renamed itself to Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (JUD) in January 2002

3. The leader of JUD is Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who was an Islamic Studies professor at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore. He was accused of inciting riots in Pakistan earlier this year on the Foreign pressure. He was freed in Ramadan on the order of High Court.

4. The Lashkar-e-Toiba has training camps spread across Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Its camps, recruitment centres/offices are spread across the length and breadth of Pakistan and PoK in Muzaffarabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Multan, Quetta, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gilgit (in the Northern Area of PoK), etc. LeT reportedly has 2,200 offices across Pakistan.

5. The ISI is the main source of LeT's funding. Funds also come from some sources in Saudi Arabia. According to Mohammad Omar Rana, the expenditure on its militia alone is around 35 crores of rupees per annum.
http://satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/jandk/terrorist_outfits/lashkar_e_toiba.htm


...Reply

CollapsePosted 2008-12-04 06:09:54 : By praveenrai_10

I feel very sad and utterly frustrated from what we have undergone. I am not sure how will our country make up for all the loses we have incurred. From 1970 to 2004 we have faced nearly 4100 terrorist attacks which have cost us nearly 13000 human lifes. Most of these have been facility damaging, bombing and some for assasination. How many more such attacks do we need to introspect and upgrade our security mechanism. Mounting pressure on Pakistan is not the only solution. We will have to enhance our forces and technology to combat terror.
Our country has so many renowned technical institutes but to our despair none of them are funded to carry out R&D; to upgrade tecnology that can assist our police and military. Why don't our forces carry sophisticated weaponary. Why was our police force rendered helpless by 12 lunatic terrorists. Mind you this is not the end of it, the Al-Queada in today's time has grown from meager to force of 80,000 such animals. It's high time that we realize how important it is for us to grow strong interms of security. I am sure the amount of money required for such researchs shall not be more than what we have lost in recuperating, rather it will be only 10% of the property/monetary loses that we have incurred from all the terrorist attacks. There is no dearth of intelligent brains in our country.
Police reforms have been shelved for ages and nobody no government wants to have a look at it. It need of the hour that our government decides to make our police an independent force just like army inorder to curb the burgeoning curruption and malpractice. In a country where it's hard to find moral policemen, we have lost plenty of our heros in these attacks. Politics has to be seperated from Policing.
Lastly, why do we have only one NSG base for the entire country. Weren't the stats, like these (4100 terror attacks in 25 year span), available to our caretakers. We have to efface terror and not evade from it. ...Reply

CollapsePosted 2008-12-04 04:50:18 : By chiduv

Dear Rajdeep,

It is very disheartening to see such things happening in India. I believe terrorist cannot wage any war against us openly so they end up performing such barbaric crime.

I request you and your channel not take away the focus on this issue and make sure to hit the bloody politicians as much as possible thru the media.

Chidu ...Reply

All the content posted in the 'IBN Blogs' section, unless specified otherwise, are made by CNN-IBN employees. The content posted in 'IBN Blogs' does not follow routine internal CNN-IBN reviews and editorial processes and should be considered only as the views and opinions of the employees and not of CNN-IBN.

About Us | Disclaimer | Careers @ IBN | RSS | Podcast | Contact Us | Feedback | Advertise With Us

© 2008 IBNLive.com India. All Rights Reserved. A Web18 Venture