India reels under terror...

[AK]

2008 is probably one of the worst years for us Indian citizens. Some of the most prominent and busiest cities of our country have been brutally attacked throughout the year - New Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Guwahati...

There is no limit and it seems as if bomb blasts and firing have become an everyday affair for us Indian citizens!

People are dying, cities are being destroyed, fears are rising, public life is being disrupted...and yet nothing concrete is being done!

Our lousy politicians only make hollow promises, shed crocodile tears and end up playing blame games, sometimes blaming our neighouring countries and usually blaming each other. The media will sensationalise everything, show some support through sms campaigns and virtual candle lighting....and after a few days there will be some fresh story coming up and the attacks will be conveniently forgotten!!

I'm sick of this hoopla over the "resilience of the Bombay citizens (or Indians in general)" or the "spirit of India" crap.

We are now fed up of living on the edge! And we can no longer ignore the heinous terror attacks!

I feel utterly sad for the victims of Bombay terror attacks that have taken place over these previous 62 hours.

I admit that we now live in fear and suspicion. I had gone to Delhi with my parents in August and only a week after our visit there, massive bomb blasts occured there!

I was so shocked that the terrorists had planted bombs at the same places which I and my parents had visited last week and that too, at the same time in the evening!! The Connaught Place, the Palika Bazaar, the Delhi Metro, the Karol Bagh market are the busiest and most frequently visited places in Delhi, especially on weekends!

Had the bomb blasts occurred on that day when we were there...I can't even imagine what would've happened!!

Yes! I feel afraid to travel in trains. And whenever I am at a city like Delhi or Jaipur, I find myself constantly scanning the environment for dangers and I keep praying for our safety!

Suspicion and uncertainty have engulfed us and we get startled even at the sound of fire crackers being bursted...

I remember when there were bomb blasts at Jaipur (which is one of the most popular tourist destinations not only in India but all over the world), in June 2008 my Uncle had gone there with his family for summer vacation.
And when we came to know of the attacks, all of us were so anxious for their safety...terrified!! Thank heavens they escaped the harm.

People are now afraid to send their kids to other states to attend college or to get jobs. A 22 year old girl from our neighbouring city had gone to Bombay to do an internship at the Taj Mahal Hotel (which is one of the hotels attacked) and she was shot dead by the terrorists. Her family is totally traumatised...and there are many such stories of innocent people put to death in terror attacks such as those of Bombay.

The finer details of attacks are really gory...someone's head was blown off in a bomb blast, someone was stripped naked and tortured by terrorists, bones and broken bloody body parts of dying people flying in air or lying on the roads....I'm sorry I can't even talk about this any further...

[AK]

Here's a chronology of recent bombings in India:

November 26, 27, 28, 2008: Various bomb blasts and terror attacks claimed more than 150 lives.

September 27, 2008: Bomb exploded at Mehraulli, New Delhi, killing one child and leaving 18 injured.

September 13, 2008: Five blasts strike the capital of the nation, New Delhi, killing 24 people and leaving more than 100 people injured.

July 26, 2008: Serial blasts in Ahmedabad kill close to 45 and injure over 100

July 25, 2008: Seven blasts strike the IT city of Bangalore killing at least two people and wounding at least 20.

May 2008: Eight serial blasts rock Jaipur in a span of 12 minutes leaving 65 dead and over 150 injured.

January 2008: Terrorist attack on CRPF camp in Rampur kills eight.

November 2007: 15 people killed in seven well-synchronised explosions near court premises in three cities of Uttar Pradesh -- Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad.

October 2007: 2 killed in a blast inside Ajmer Sharif shrine during Ramadan, in Rajasthan.

August 2007: 30 dead, 60 hurt in Hyderabad 'terror' strike.

May 2007: A bomb at Mecca mosque in Hyderabad kills 11 people.

February 2007: Two bombs explode aboard a train bound from India to Pakistan, burning to death at least 66 passengers, most of them Pakistanis.

September 2006: 30 dead and 100 hurt in twin blasts at a mosque in Malegaon.

July 2006: Seven bombs on Mumbai's trains kill over 200 and injure 700 others.

March 2006: Twin bombings at a train station and a temple in Varanasi kill 20 people.

October 2005: Three bombs placed in busy New Delhi markets a day before Diwali kill 62 people and injured hundreds.

[Zach]

Nov 29, 2008 13:22:17 GMT -6 AK said:

We are now fed up of living on the edge! And we can no longer ignore the heinous terror attacks!

I feel utterly sad for the victims of Bombay terror attacks that have taken place over these previous 62 hours.

I admit that we now live in fear and suspicion. I had gone to Delhi with my parents in August and only a week after our visit there, massive bomb blasts occured there!

I was so shocked that the terrorists had planted bombs at the same places which I and my parents had visited last week and that too, at the same time in the evening!! The Connaught Place, the Palika Bazaar, the Delhi Metro, the Karol Bagh market are the busiest and most frequently visited places in Delhi, especially on weekends!

Had the bomb blasts occurred on that day when we were there...I can't even imagine what would've happened!!

Thank you, Anu. We all are praying for India, and really the ENTIRE world. All of us need to stand together against terror and war. We need to stand together for PEACE and PROSPERITY. That's the kind of world we MUST create.

Thank you again, Anu, for a wonderful post. I am so glad you, and all of our members in India, are safe and sound.

Peace. (and here's a karma for your great work and your spirit..)

[AK]

Thanks Zach...

I as well as other Indian members are thankful for the solidarity and support that YFCI has extended to India and the victims of terror attacks...

It was perhaps the craziest act of terror ever (in India)! The terrorists openly came via sea route, they even hijacked a trawler, killed its captain, landed on the shores of Bombay, managed to sneak under the noses of the Navy and the Coast Guards and suddenly opened gunfire on the roads!!!

They were not the usual masked terrorists who planted bombs and went away. They were unfazed and utterly shameless!! They opened gunfire at railway station, openly on the roads, even hijacked a police van and managed to kill police constables and top police officials too!

They went about firing at eateries, people on the road, cinema halls, planted bombs in a taxi, and even stormed hospitals and fired gun shots at innocent patients...the worst thing they did was to enter the maternity ward of a hospital and start firing recklessly at the maternity ward!

They killed guards at hospitals, hotels....They were not even slightly fazed as the media persons clicked their photos and shot their videos!

They were very heavily armed with sophisticated weapons and explosives. God knows how they managed to bring such amount of arms and ammunition to Bombay and how they even carried all this stuff to hotels!!!

No one was spared....people of every religion - Hindus, Jews, Muslims, people of every nationality - Americans, Australians, Britons, Greeks....etc. were shot and attacked at!

A bunch of 10 highly trained commando like killers managed to bring the whole country to a standstill!!

I don't know what the government and the authorities were doing! How could they let it happen???

The Home Minister of Maharashtra even went to the extent of saying that "such small incidents keep happening in big cities". Wow!! How can we dismiss it as a routine affair??

No one is taking any responsibility. All - be it the central or state governments, intelligence agencies, hotel authorities, police etc., are blaming each other, denying the allegations hurled at them and trying to show as if nothing much serious has happened!!!

Earlier it was reported that 195 people had died and 370 people were critically injured...and now they are tweaking the statistics, saying that only 183 people have died and the latest 'reports' say that not 183 but 'only' 174 people have died and 'only' 239 people were injured!

There were reports that the terrorists fully knew the layout of the city as well as of the hotels and that one of the terrorists had even stayed at the Taj hotel for one month. Another report had also mentioned that a few terrorists had posed as students had been working as interns at one of the hotels for few months. During their stay, they had gathered all information about the hotels and their works. This is why they were able to carry out such a planned siege.

But the hotel authorities are denying the reports of terrorists already worked or stayed there. Why wouldn't they deny? After all, if this information were true, wouldn't it reflect loopholes and ignorance on the part of the hotel authorities??? So go ahead and dismiss all reports of security lapses!!! Right?!!

All that we know is that we Indians don't feel protected and safe in our own country now. Nobody takes responsibility - the politicians, intel agencies, hotels, local police etc. are all trying to wash their hands off this incident!

Our neighbour Pakistan has denied any involvement even as the terrorist who was caught, has confessed that he and his comrades had received training in Pakistan and that they had set out for India in a boat from Karachi. Even the satellite phone recovered from one of the terrorists shows record of calls made to and from Pakistan on the same dates as of the attacks. Indian government has also received an email from Pakistan of terrorists who claim to take responsibility of the attacks and 'promise to cause more such attacks in the future'.

But I guess all these evidence are not 'hard' enough to prove that people of Pakistani origin were involved in carrying out these attacks!

Despite reports of British nationals of Pakistani origin being involved in these attacks, even UK government is denying any involvement of Brit nationals in this carnage.

Yeah okay. No one's involved. I guess these terrorists just flew down to earth from somewhere in the far away skies, landed in a boat, sailed to India and started this carnage at Bombay. And thus, our innocent people and government were caught unaware...Right?!

I'd finally only say that no matter how much the authorities try to trivialise these terror attacks, no matter how much they all try to justify themselves and their action (or rather 'inaction' I must say), no matter how they manipulate the reports of this and other incidents of terror....we the Indians have woken up and we're no longer going to stay quiet and be a sitting duck for the terrorists to hit at.

We want peace and security NOW! Enough of hate, bloodshed and violence!!! We need our right to lead a normal peaceful life!

Hell with terrorism!!

[alyssamilanofan]

I can't even describe how horrified I was by the news and how horrified I am by the pointlessness of their "actions"... I'm really glad you and our other members are safe.. I just can't believe how sick people can be, it's.. I don't even have words to describe how awful it is.. Shooting at patients? At pregnant women? Who were these cowards, why? Why randomnly shoot innocent people? I just don't think I'll ever understand.. My deepest sympathy and condolences go to the family and victims..

And I can't believe how your governement let it get this far? What was the navy etc doing? What were the politicians doing? I hope they're alert now to prevent this from happening again..

[Zach]

Thanks again, Anu for posting.

Yes, Jenny! Great questions! Do you think, Anu, that the army/navy/coast guard will step up its actions to stop terror attacks in the future? What, currently, are the relations between Indians and Pakistanis? Do most people in India dislike Pakistan? Who do your family, friends, neighbors, etc. think carried out the attacks? Do they believe Pakistan-linked terrorists carried out the attacks?

BBC- India has summoned Pakistan's high commissioner to lodge a formal protest over the attacks in Mumbai. Indian officials have repeatedly said in recent days there is evidence the militants behind attacks that killed nearly 200 people had Pakistani links.

Islamabad has denied involvement and warned against letting "miscreants" inflame tensions in the region.

India's new home minister has vowed to "respond with determination and resolve" over the crisis.

[AK]

First of all, thanks Jenny for your concern for the victims of Mumbai terror attacks.

Well, right now I can only say that the Indian government considering any military action against Pakistan.

See link - www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?id=2e9d212e-5c6e-4ddc-8f34-c8662c6c846aMumbaiunderattack_Special&&Headline=No+military+action+against+Pakistan%3a+India

I believe that a war is the last thing that we could ever want, considering both the countries are nuclear powers. We've had more than enough violence and bloodshed!

As of now, the Indian public's wrath is totally directed towards the government for its lax attitude and for its failure to prevent attacks or minimise the damage.People want even the Prime minister to resign. People everywhere are saying that the 'real terrorists' or the 'real enemies' of the country are actually our corrupt politicians. As of now, Indians deeply 'dislike' (or rather 'despise') their government and even the bureaucracy.

See links -

www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1863079,00.html?iid=tsmodule

www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2008/1201/1227910421501.html

Look, in my opinion, most Indians don't want to bomb Pakistan. All that Indians want right now, is that the terrorist camps of various terror outfits like LeT, HuJI, Jaish e Mohammad etc., which are reportedly based in the Pakistan Occupied region of Kashmir, should be rooted out.

We want Pakistan government to cooperate with India in finding out and punishing terrorists as well as underworld dons like Dawood Ibrahim who are reported to have helped terrorists by supplying them arms and ammunition...
See link - ibnlive.in.com/news/india-wants-sign-of-faith-from-pak-after-mumbai-attack/79540-2.html

Indians are barely recovering from the shock, outrage (insert all words to express mixed emotions of anger, guilt, helplessness, outrage, fear, curiosity etc.) of these attacks. In fact, we've been warned of further attacks in New Delhi (in an email sent by the Deccan Mujahideen which is the same terrorist group that took responsibility of the Mumbai attacks) only yesterday.

See link - timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3777787.cms?TOI_mostemailed

There is confusion and people are reacting with mixed emotions. Plus there's always the media that is famous for blowing every issue completely out of proportion. In fact, we have been having contradicting reports in various sections of the media!

There has been no final concrete decision on relations with Pakistan. For now, I can only say that there are wild speculations all around and nothing seems to be confirmed to us, citizens of India, to the government or to the media...like I said there are all sorts of 'reports' flying around.

We don't know what is the truth...the media wants to grab as many eyeballs as possible with its 'reports' and 'speculative analysis'.

One news channel is reported to have even gone to the extent of airing a supposed conversation with one of the terrorists who were involved in the attacks! God knows whether the conversation was fake or real!!!

Some reports say that the terrorists posed as Malaysian students and even had Malaysian I-cards. Some say that they posed as fishermen from Gujarat (an Indian coastal state)! Some reports even say that the terrorists posed as Hindus...Some say they posed as Britist nationals...phew!

I know my post is lengthy and doesn't make much conclusive sense. That is the state of mind of Indians, lots of opinions, thoughts, views, questions etc., but no concrete line of action. And as always, our incompetent politicians too (who're shocked after being caught napping), are confused and are making all sorts of statements (which of course, are being shown in various contexts by the media).

I guess even those terrorists couldn't have imagined that their 'acts' could have had such a far reaching impact...Bah!

[Zach]

Great post, thanks for answering my questions. Do you have any relatives/friends in Mumbai?

I also thought I would post a new interview posted on YouTube of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza. I thought it would be interesting for you guys to see the other side of the story:

[AK]

Well I do have an aunt and her family living in Mumbai. And as far as I know, they're safe. Of course, like any other inhabitant of Mumbai, they too are in panic.

My previous posts were rather lengthy and emotionally charged and reflected a lot of confusion and outrage on my part (like any other Indian citizen). But let me clarify some facts now:

The UPA government (which is the presently ruling government in India) has very often been accused of being 'soft on terror' especially in the light of frequently occurring terror attacks in India, by the opposition as well as the public.

Since we're having state assembly elections in various states right now and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's tenure ends in 2009, when India will elect the new government. Therefore, under pressure to save their government from being toppled, and in response to public outrage Prime Minister and the Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee are trying to make 'solid' statements to assure the public that they're not 'soft' on terror.

From the interviews, what I have gathered is that the Defence Minister is somewhat tight lipped and doesn't seem to make definite statements on future course of action in response to terrorism. Through their seemingly strong statements, they're trying to build pressure on Pakistan to help root out terrorist camps (especially LeT) involved in this and other previous militant attacks on India.

Basically, the enormity of the attacks plus the overwhelming public outrage seems to have taken the politicians by surprise. They certainly don't look prepared to handle such a situation.

The PM of India talked about elements in 'neighboring countries' because, in the past too, India has faced threats from its neighbors only. The intelligence reports have also pointed to elements based in Pakistan. The lone terrorist involved in the Mumbai attacks, who has been captured, is reported to have confessed being trained in Pakistan along with his other comrades.
See links:

www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mumbaiterrorstrike/Story.aspx?ID=NEWEN20080075018&type=News

ibnlive.in.com/news/probe-confirms-terrorists-pakistan-and-let-links/79578-3.html

To put it clearly, the rumors of India 'bombing Pakistan' are untrue. What Indians or the government of India want, is that the terrorist camps based in Pakistan should be attacked. It is not Pakistan itself that India would want to attack.

Relations between India and Pakistan:

Here we tread the shaky ground! Both the countries talk of cooperation, but in reality both countries seem to have shown little signs of 'cooperation in real sense'. Both countries are extremely cautious in dealing with each other. Sometimes this cautiousness can also come across as reluctance, lack of trust and even suspicion. There are various issues (like Kashmir, terrorism, sharing of river waters etc.etc.) of disputes between both countries. All disputes have been rather long standing and both countries almost always seem to reach a stalemate on every issue at some point.

Even a cricket or hockey match between India and Pakistan is more like a fight for honor, a clash of egos, rather than a sport match! So you can judge that relations between India and Pakistan are not exactly very friendly.

Both countries seem to be rather wary of each other and none of them seems to trust the other. Pakistan reportedly feels that India tries to bully them, whereas India feels threatened by terrorist elements that are reported to be based in Pakistan.

You can notice how even I am trying to be careful in my use of language as I write about Indo-Pak relations because you never know what word can be misinterpreted to inflame tensions between Indians and Pakistanis.

Even in case of these recent attacks, if I'm not wrong, India is reported to have refused for a joint probe with Pakistan into these attacks and even Pakistan has refused to hand over the 20 fugitives to India (as per India's demands) and Pakistan has also said that even if concrete evidence is found against fugitives it won't hand them over to India and that they'd still be tried in Pakistan's courts.

See Link -

ibnlive.in.com/news/pakistan-wont-hand-over-indias-most-wanted/79606-2.html

So you can see how cooperative both countries are, with each other.

Many of India's most wanted terrorists, gangsters and insurgents are believed to be hiding in Pakistan. India only wants Pakistan's strong support to root out such criminals. We don't say that terrorist activities are actually sponsored or supported by Pakistan government. What we say is that, we believe (and whatever evidence we have also seems to indicate) that terrorists and other hardcore criminals may be using Pakistan as their hideout.

India's government, army and navy:

As usual, intelligence agencies are denying any intelligence failure saying that they did give inputs, warnings and reports time to time about the possibility of terrorists using sea route to reach India and attack prominent hotels in Mumbai.

The Navy admits 'systematic failure' (yeah whatever that means!) in trying to prevent these attacks. And the Navy Chief has denied receiving any 'actionable intelligence' on possibility of such attacks. (So what they're trying to say is that they received mere fuzzy warnings and weren't told by politicians to act?! Maybe they didn't consider warnings serious enough to be acted upon!) [Excuses galore ]

All (be it government, bureaucracy, navy, army, commandos, intelligence agencies etc. etc.) - ALL are blaming each other for lapses and loopholes and for being unable to prevent attacks or to deal effectively with the attackers. A journalist has rightly remarked that 'Blame Game' is India's national sport!

The truth is that the system in India from top to bottom is corrupt. Our systematic machinery is weak and there are lots of loopholes and lacunae in our system.

In my opinion, people in India only want the job and the benefits and powers that come with the job. They don't do much about the responsibility and the duty that the job brings with it. And this is especially true of our politicians and government officials.

As of now, the security in every city and village of India has been beefed up and (so-called) stringent measures and red alerts are being announced. But the main problem is that after attacks and public outrage, our authorities do step up security measures, but after some time, when the public anger cools down and when no threat seems imminent, the security rules are relaxed again. This laxity and laid-back attitude of authorities and administration causes India to be attacked again and again and again...

The government - is under fire! Seriously our politicians are looking like lost lambs! The people of India are threatening civil disobedience and are threatening that they won't pay taxes and won't vote for anyone in the next election in 2009!
People want to take the charge in their own hands now - many are proposing to stand as independent candidates in next election, some are proposing to form a citizens' party and then contest elections, the youth want to join army, navy, Air force, Civil services and police so that they can serve the country, SMS and online campaigns are taking place everywhere...People now want to take action themselves since the government seems to have failed them.

The atmosphere is really charged. We don't want to attack any country. We are looking to attack the lacunae of our system and shake off our own complacency.