In spite of multi-million investments, investigations into 5 urban terrorist attacks since 26/11 continue to flail about in dark
In spite of massive investments in investigation and counter-terrorism intelligence capabilities since 26/11, police forces across the country have made little progress in identifying the perpetrators of the five major urban attacks which have taken place since then.
The attacks include the February 2010 bombing of the German Bakery in Pune; the April 2010 serial bombings at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore, the drive-by shooting at Delhi's iconic Jama Masjid in September 2010, and the December 2010 bombing at the Shitla Ghat in Varanasi.
In May this year, a car bomb planted outside the Delhi High Court, mercifully caused no loss of life, apparently because the electronic circuits in the explosive device malfunctioned in the extreme heat.
The National Investigation Agency, set up with fanfare in 2009 to assuage public anger over a similar series of failures leading up to 26/11, has been assigned three of these cases — but it is yet to register success.
In 2010-2011, the latest annual report of the Union Home Ministry records, large investments were made in “new measures to meet the grave challenges posed by global terrorism.” The report says the MHA's major achievements include the establishment of new rapid-response hubs for the National Security Guard special forces, and the establishment of an online National Intelligence Grid.
Experts say the poor dividends from these measures were predictable. “Even though both State and Central governments have been scrambling to set up all kinds of special counter-terrorism forces,” says Dr. Ajai Sahni, Director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, “there has been no real effort to improve intelligence-gathering and investigations capabilities from the bottom-up.”
“No computer,” he points out, “is going to help you solve a case if you've got no worthwhile data to feed into it”.
Flailing investigation
Investigators believe all the five attacks are linked to members of the Indian Mujahideen — the Lashkar-e-Taiba linked terrorist group responsible for a string of attacks in several Indian cities between 2006 and 2008. Little hard evidence, however, has emerged to support the claims, though police say the available intelligence suggests that the organisation has been attempting to regroup.
Part of that evidence, the Gujarat Police say, came from Danish Riyaz, a software engineer arrested earlier this year on charges of having participated in the Indian Mujahideen's 2008 strikes in Ahmedabad.
Mr. Riyaz, the Gujarat Police claim, left his job with a software firm in Hyderabad soon after the bombings, and moved to Ranchi. There, he is alleged to have helped harbour several fugitive Indian Mujahideen figures — key among them being Abdul Subhan Qureshi, who liaised among the multiple jihadist cells which carried out the organisation's urban bombing campaign.
Police say that Qureshi left Ranchi for Nepal in 2008, tasking Mr. Riyaz with finding new recruits for the organisation. He, however, did not, according to investigators, have any success. “Local members of the Students Islamic Movement of India,” an official associated with the investigation said, “did not want anything to do with his efforts.”
Eight other alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, three of them linked to the 2008 attacks in Gujarat, were recently arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police. Investigators say interrogation of the three men, Mujeeb Sheikh, Muhammad Faisal and Mehboob Malik, did not throw up any specific information that fresh attacks were being planned.
Police have been accused, with some reason, of attempting to manufacture evidence in an effort to conceal the lack of progress.
In May 2010, Mangalore resident Abdul Samad Siddibapa was arrested on charges have having carried out the attack — an apparent breakthrough that led the Union Home Minister to publicly congratulate State and Central authorities on “apprehending the prime suspect within hundred days of the incident.”
The Hindu, however, first revealed that Mr. Siddibapa, who had been interrogated several times for his possible connections with the Indian Mujahideen, had no connection with the incident.
Fabrication of evidence
Later, Mumbai Police investigators claimed to have evidence linking Latur resident Mirza Himayat Baig to the Pune bombing. In a charge sheet filed in December, the investigators said Mr. Baig was ordered to carry out the attack by Muhammad Zarar Siddibapa — Mr. Siddibapa's younger brother, who closely resembles a man captured carrying the bomb by closed-circuit television cameras.
The charge sheet also states that Mr. Baig was trained by fugitive Lashkar operatives Fayyaz Ahmad Kagzi and Zabiuddin Ansari, who are alleged to have been responsible for a series of strikes
Lawyers for Mr. Baig have, however, since said that Mr. Baig was in the custody of the Maharashtra's anti-terrorism police at the time the German Bakery was bombed.
Fabrication of evidence by the police forces is alleged to have undermined past investigations into several Indian Mujahideen attacks. Investigations by The Hindu, for example, revealed credible evidence that Indian Mujahideen operatives likely carried out the 2006 bombings of Mumbai's suburban train system — an offence for which several other suspects are now being tried.
The pictures of people injured or killed in the Mumbai bomb explosions may cause distress to readers. They are being published to show the horror, the trauma, and the human suffering inflicted by the terrorist attacks.
Keywords: Mumbai blasts, Zaveri Bazar, Dadar, Opera House, Mumbadevi temple, blast investigation, counter-terrorism
After every terrorist attack our leaders declare 'a tight security have been' arranged in all metros, but only to greet the next attack. We have to remember that no terrorist attacks were reported in the US after the WTC attack. They are sincere to their commitment in countering terrorists but our Government are keen in finding fault with their own departments and their own leaders of other parties.With the present style of functioning we need not expect anything else but another attack followed by 'strong assurences' by the dirty irresponsible lots known as leaders.
Unless we modernize our police department, investgating agencies and intelligence collecting agencies, nothing is going to change in India. Mere more investments in equipments will not bring in changes, as rightly pointed by Praveen Swamy, unless we feed good data, we will not get good output - garbage in is garbage out.We need more investments to train personnel, to change their casual attitude towards security,to change their total perception of handling things.A total systemic upgradation is required. When I say system - we are very much part of that system.
What do the terrorists want? Much of them need a grip on life. They need proper food, shelter, education, and guidance from childhood days. They need equal opportunities and facilities to lead a successful and happy life - both financially and spiritually. They need the help from their parents, society, government, religious leaders, and everybody.
Some people have commented against the publshing of the gory photos. I understand their feelings. But some times it is necessary to publish such photos. They bring to light the sorry state of affairs and the lack of governance. Carrying the injured dumped in a truck?! Mr Rahul Gandhi and other young politicos where are you? Unless injured politicos are carried in such a fashion things will not change.
Mr Manmohan Singh And UPA Govt,When would you stop speaking and Start Acting?
The picture accompanying this article is so gory. So gory pictures showing blood death or ok to show in papers but not nude pictures or pictures of breasts. Why? This is exactly like the muslim countries. We are just going backwards.
So sad that India is again suffering. But none of this would happen if corruption and goonism is fished out of Indian society. In pakistan the terrorists groups are fluid - that means there are many groups with different leaders but the members move from one group to another as it suits them. The reality of this is that belonging to a group is no actual consequence -you are simply a terrorist. This fliudity then moves across to well established mafias such as D company and soon crosses borders into India. So it may be the Indian mujihadeen but fluidity means it is simply Pakistani ISI backed.
Now the stars of bollywood who attended weddings of D company operatives in Dubai come out and say we are guilty in this. The cops who support mafia gangs in Mumbai through covert inaction are all players in this carnage and the root cause is corruption and bad political leadership from the PM down.
I do not know any other country in the world that could not catch even a single credible terrorist after so many attacks.Even at the time of 26/11, they captured the terrorist by sheer chance.There is no value for human life.How could the Home Minister and the higher brass in the Indian anti terrorist organization, with so many failures and so much human and monitory loss, stay in power still? Starting from the Prime Minister down make promises that the Government will provide better security.But when? Throw the government that cannot deliver on it's promises.As some one in another comment suggested take away the security detail for all the ministers and let them endure the same fate as the victims.THERE IS A POLICY FAILURE.India has a lot to learn from the US and England about counter terrorism.India needs to invest lot more resources in man power, intelligence, surveillance gadgetry and policy change to stop the carnage.
First step is to insist the no gooders to step down ASAP.
The biggest problem in India is co-ordination between police teams, CID, ATF, CBI. It was earlier proposed to put a Centralized force like US FBI that works in a nation without boundaries. That due to political pressures where muted.
Over the history the country was divided by rajas, divided by British, and divided by politicians. When will India learn ?
My heart goes to the relatives of the victims of this cowardly act. whoever did this should know that India cannot be destabilised by terrorism.It has happened in the past, it might happen in the future but the resilient spirit of Indians will not diminish.We will fight terrorism and bring to justice those who try to tarnish our country's peace.
This will continue till corruption is totally wiped out from the country. For their petty interests, some people sell their country and put the lives of innocent citizens in jeopardy. What about CCTVs if installed in most of important places vulnerable to attacks by terrorists and keeping 24x7 watch on these Cameras will help lessen these unfortunate incidents to a great extent. Local market people can contribute to these expenses at par with the Government contribution and private security deployed in such places. Keeping the population figures, all things cannot be left to the government, some market associations/organisations in Mumbai and other metro cities can start this private security practice and be in regular touch with the law enforcement authorities for the safety of markets and customers.
It is high time people vote. I believe there was no increase in vote turnout after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai the last time.
Those pictures only help to spread fear. I believe that this is the ultimate motive of people who commit such heinous acts. The media should avoid posting such pictures.
At such times it gives a rude shock to our alertness and makes us doubt whether out home ministry is doing any surveillance work at all.
Stop the blame game - let it be against the individuals, parties, institutions, methodology, ideas, what ever. We are to be blamed. India lost in cricket - oops - stone throwing, burning of effigies would be the reaction. Multiple serial blasts happens we help the injured to the core (I know how it is), but then forget and move on. When 4 people can beat to death one among us - in one of Indian city (read as Coimbatore) while we are watching, it would be the same mentality imprinted on the minds of politicians who are at the receiving end of the blame game too. Politicians haven't come from sky. They are one of us. Expect more of these when you are being so patient even after you get the terrorist (Ajmal Kesab) of previous bloody attack. Haven't the media seen what US did to Sadaam and Osama? Why can't the media point out those differences instead of publishing these horrible pictures of the attack? Shame on us. We need the real desire not just a wish!
This was yet another heinous act of terror on india soil, again a slap on india's conter-terror acts. Will ever India wake up and set out a strong message to the culprits ? It just raises a question - are we even capable of defending our nation?
The US has set an example - not a single attack since 9-11. They track everything, every phone call, every drivers license and passport, there are millions of CCTVs, the security departments are well connected and they are sincere in protecting there country. In India the govt. agencies do not have the morale, intelligence or self determinism. They make the country look helpless and its a shame. We need strong nationalistic leaders, not pseudo-secular coalitions that play dirty politics at the expense of the security of our nation.
What actually do the Terroists want ?
The wearer knows where the shoe pinches is only applicable to public not to our politicians.
Let all security be withdrawn from politician to understand the meaning and to realize terrorist attack.They will not walk a step out of their house.
Its unpredictable because you cant measure it,thus runs the idea of implanting terror by militants group.To sabotage, easily the greatest loophole is we the citizens for not following any laws laid for public safety. This makes difficult to identify unlawful or suspicious and terrorists cashing in on the same innocence.The lack of intelligence is one such but the lack of public safety and planning is other.Even the population makes difficult for any agency to get hand on them because they are also the public unless identified.Civil areas and public should be trained or educated to monitor there surroundings and screen any such suspicious activities so that they can be source of information that can be used. If the enemy is intruder please do not see this action as not less than waging a war against India. The cost of blood is blood than peace. Israel can wage war for two soldiers but India cant after loosing thousands also such a tragedy and shame.
Corrupt politicians and soft handling of terrorism ostensibly to appease certain sections of the society in the hope of capturing vote banks and continue to be in power and plunder the tax-payers money is at the root of this problem.
A retired head of the NSG told TV channel, last night, that these blasts will continue, as long we don't take terrorism head on. What he meant was that there are hundreds of sleeper cells, but the government was afraid of touching them for fear of a hue and cry, mostly by intellectuals and NGOs. I think this best reflects our state-of-affairs. We do not want to know or hear the truth, for then we would have to tackle it, and lose votes. We blissfully imagine that terrorists come from Pakistan, descend in helicopters, plant the bombs and take the flight out of town. This is what the government too wants us to believe. If it were really interested in punishing Pakistan, it would do what the US did in Osama's case. No, the government knows the truth, but doesn't want to act. True, it was Pakistan, under Zia-ul-Haq, which masterminded the theory of a thousand cuts to decimate India. But, remember, nothing can be done without the presence of sleeper cells here, and a sympathetic populace.
Why must we always assume that the bad elements live in Muslim pockets (as hinted by one of the readers - Swami K), or it's the ISI or Dawood? Why isn't it even possible that politicians from every religion that one can think of, govt. agencies and the like themselves are instigating such nonsense to divert attention from their own problems 2G/POSCO/Narmada...)? This is a common strategy by nations where they use war to divert internal problems, so why wouldn't they adopt similar strategies to their own people? In any case, the quality of intelligence gathering that we have, it's unlikely that evidence supporting this hypothesis would even be considered.
I do not agree with this approach of putting pictures of blood and gore in public domain. Isn't the media inadvertently furthering the cause of the terrorists by chronicling their achievements in vivid detail? Is this level of detail necessary to provoke public reaction?
What happened in Mumbai was very unfortunate. Indian counter terrorism officials should seek expertise from Israel and Scotland Yard. They were successful in thwarting attacks and probably have better strategies to gather intelligence. It always comes down to having the right strategy and trained law enforcement officials.People should also be educated and reminded to be more vigilant at all times. A good example to follow is the anonymous call to tip off the police that NY city implemented. "If you see something, say something" campaign was also found useful in NY. All major airports in the US make announcements about threats and the immediate need to report any suspicious activity. Hardworking people don't constantly think about terrorism, sometimes they need to be reminded that the world they live in is not as safe as they assume it to be. This is a tough, tedious, permanent state of war that will test both the public and law enforcement officials.
Excellent incisive article by Hindu.26/11 sadly and badly exposed horrible failures and security gaps as even a small boat launched from Pakistani port could not be stopped nor their messages intercepted.It is a sad commentary as well protected politicians pay lipservice for public safety as terrorists are running amock injuring innocent civilians and public apathy apparent as they complian more about news coverage or photos instead of demanding accountability from inept politicians and officials.
Making a comment might be the easiest part... but, as its a fact that the person finally assisting a blast is a common citizen who might be just a bit tilted by the government at some point. Thus its just a mind set against the government, once the mind is set in a positive way we might not require a special force to catch a culprit, the odd one will easily be out showing himself. Government may work in bringing this positive mindset.
I am a foreign national of Indian origin and I am proud of my ancestry. However I am ashamed with most Bollywood films, big fat Indian weddings and the level of corruption in India. With such weaknesses you can only expect more vile attacks in the future. Wake up India ! Otherwise it would be too late.
I condemn the attack on innocent people. On the other hand Iam deeply touched that so may other people helped out the victims.
We asked for the Mumbai strike by our involvement in Afghanistan on George Bush's orders to boost USA's Central Asia policy. India's presence in that country has angered Pakistan and quite rightly. If we are concerned about Chinese presence in our own backyard (Hambantota, POK, and Gwadr) surely Pakistan would have similar concerns with our presence in its backyard? Having surrendered our foreign policy to USA, we have angered the entire Islamic world through our utterly uncouth behaviour with Iran.
Rightly said, our government deserves flak for its sheer carelessness specially when it comes to providing security to its citizens. Just "Setting up of the NSG hubs and Announcing high alerts" after these brazen attacks does no good as the harm had already been done. The Government should concentrate on buttressing its intelligence sources so that attack like these can be averted. Mere condolences after such attacks are not enough, something more is surely needed.
Very relevant article..well written.What if none claims responsibility? We have become a history of statements without responsibility...poor souls who lost lives for nothing! Death becomes mere statistics! And everyone talks of resilience...it has to stop somewhere and unless common man demands the right it surely CANNOT happen. Lighting candles surely ignites more of such apathy. Now it's surely time to Conclude with concrete action!
Post care of the victims. Leaving aside money spend on surveillance at least post incident care to victims must be in place to respond quickly in case of any accident caused by terrorists, road rail accidents, Natural calamities. What is problem for the government to run these systems? What government spends on surveillance is not transparent, at least the care process and system if it is in place it is transparent for citizens to appreciate the lackluster Governments.
Shame on this vulnerable Govt. They are simply helpless in maintaining law and order in India. Billions of rupees would be pocketed and still they are up there ruling the country.There is lot of anger in citizens of india.It is very disgusting to see that ministers responsible for taking action against terrorism go beyond the curtains and ask people to maintain tranquility. They do not care for any citizen dead or alive.
Let's face this..India will never be secure till our corrupt politicians and their cronies (read police forces) continue to rule the country. After every terror attack, statements of condemnation and resolve to nab the culprits are made almost casually. What happened to the promise made after 26/11 to 'modernise' the police forces and intelligence agencies? Modernisation does not simply mean buying expensive imported guns and strange looking blast proof vehicles and handing them over to ill trained and poorly paid policemen. Police forces in every state have become the pet (like cats, dogs etc.) of the politicians. They just bark when they are asked to and they have lost all their ability to bite. Modernisation of police forces has to begin with by protecting them against absurd orders of their political masters. More policemen are protecting VIPs than the common ppl.
People who buy explosive substances, the Manufacturers who sell such explosives and all sources of such explosives should be strictly monitored.
The attack shows India still not prepared to face Terrorists. See even if there is a emergency, the public is depending on the trucks,autos. There is no sight of Ambulance. Government is doing nothing except giving press releases.
Citizens of India have lost their right to live without fear. This is a failure of leadership, people, system and of imagination. The polity, politicians, security establishment is rotten enough. Its time for a clean break to clean the system or all the muck.
It is a very shameful situation that our ministers responsible for taking action against terrorism go into a sleeping mode once the situation is settled. They are not even eligible to condemn the attack.These people living under tight security protection do not understand the value of human life!!!!
The alarming frequency with which these terrorist strikes occur makes me feel a strong presence of an internal hand in all such attacks.
Does anyone could feel secure in india. These incidents are making the mockery of intelligence and the national security of india. We are being attacked again and again in the same location. Yeah, I agree india is putting some effort to find out the preparators of such attacks. But are this efforts really enough to save our country from such repugnant attacks? If they would be then such grevious and atrocious attacks wont be happening again and again. It is a direct question to the integrity of our nation. In this country we hear about the scamming of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. Even if we add the fraction of that in our security and if all the politicians and security people do their work with honesty then no one could even think to take such an abominable step.We neither are interested in knowing the material they used nor in knowing who did that.We infact want these incident not to get repeated.If these incident happens then we want the preparators should get punish.who gonna take any step?
It's ten year since 9/11 that Americans not experienced single terror attack despite effort by terrorist all over the world.After 26/11 with all the fanfare NIA,FORCE ONE and NSG regional hub established to curb the menance of terror but because of flaw in approach it failed miserably. Our approach to tackle this menance is decade behind than most of the advanced country,our trainning pattern also has many flaws like poorly trainned staff,lack of sophisticated equipments and also knowhow to deal with it,work force which are selected are poorly paid and one of the important aspect is that these organisation work with colonial attitude where huge communication gap exist between lower and higher order. Think tank of these organisation hardly allow scope for autonomy. Unless these changes implemented result will be same.
These all becuase our politicians.. they dont want officiers to work in their style. Politicians interfere too much in every case. They ask do this and not that... all politicians are busy in collecting money from every scam and corruption. They do not care what common man is suffering because they know they are not going to die so easily like common man.
It dishearting to see the picture. Even after making huge investment we cannot even afford proper ambulance to carry just 100+ injured.
Each citizen is a counter terrorism instrument. Each citizen should have knowledge of skills of being an counter terrorism instrument. We peace lovers shall unite and be stronger.
I feel it is easy to blame the government for all our problems, but we should refrain from playing the blame game at the drop of a hat. I believe our intelligence and government are not as bad as portrayed. There has been no major terrorist strike after 26/11. After all, does anybody have a brilliant idea of how to make every part of a country safe, which has a population of 1.3billion. There is no way to track the movement of people in our country, we share a porous border with a terrorist state and most importantly, a country whose people are eager to ignore their duty for a paltry sum of under the table money.
The intelligence agencies have failed the nation yet again. Perhaps top most agenda during the forthcoming visit of Hillary Clinton should focus on counter-terrorism alone. The NIA and other agencies should pursue the leads honestly and with doggedness to bring out the real culprits with out fear or favor of political masters. Mumbai is angry, we are sick of being called 'most resilient'. Every one is talking as to how USA has warded off major terror attacks after 9/11? What are our talks with U S on counter-terrorism about? The government and investigating agencies should wait for wisdom from Digvijay Singh to help in cracking the case!
Unless the govt is really interested in bringing the terrorists to justice - and not take into consideration the impact on vote banks and need to blame other communities for electoral success, crimes cannot be stopped. It has become fashionable to blame all past blasts on 'Hindu terror' to put RSS and BJP on the mat and keep Muslims happy.
How many pics of 9/11 victims or7/7bombings have we seen? None. Stop showing pics of poor victims because that's exactly what terrorists want to spread-fear. This is sickening journalism.
How can a Home Minister who is busy defending his so-called innocence in 2G scam concentrate on fighting terrorists daily. With a PM who is blind to the realities of our security scenarios, whose ministers main job is to fill their coffers this is not an unexpected attack. More of them will continue until a change comes, until then we ordinary Indians have to suffer.
We all only blame only ministers, but so many IAS, IPS ,State \ central govt servents ...oh not officers just working hard for completing their carrier then they will get pension other benifits. I am sure 95 % govt staff work for their salary and pension not for the country. state HC & SC should have an vision to complete the cases and give punishment on time, if not the criminal will dare to do anything whether if the pm is from congress\bjp or xyz party.
It is too sad to hear again about terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.The Indians love peace and harmony, but some group of people do not allow it. So we need to take clear steps to fight against terrorism. The main problem is that the security measures are there only when a bomb blast happens somewhere. After sometime of the the incident we forget and the police forget. for example now in every railway station checking will be so strict, but why can't government and police assure the same checking every day. Remember prevention is better than cure. This is the only remedy to wipe out terrrorism.
Real culprits for repeated terror attacks are VIPs and VVIPs.They have cornered the entire resources of the nation for the protection of themselves and members of their families, leaving 123 crore Indians to defend themselves.If VVIPs are ranked according to the public money wasted on their security,Afjal Guru and Kasab would rank just below the President,Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi and their families.
These are not accidents. Deliberate and preplanned incidents being organised by people who have no fear of law. The Govts are also playing a wretched game of not logically concluding the legal procedures leading to punishment under law of the land.
When massive corruptions, black money, manipulations and inflation puting many of the high profile personalities in box, these was predictable to fill up media headline and make people forget scams. Our politics is responsible.
Home Minister Chidambaram who was being projected by public opinion as India's answer to terrorism has now been totally exposed. Praveen Swami's incisive article exposes the miserable state of India's counter-terrorism preparedness three years after 26/11 and Mr.Chidambaram taking over as the Home Minister. It is time that the UPA government realised that it has miserably failed in checking the two main enemies of the people of this country, unprecedented price rise and terrorism. It should stop artificially building up the image of its leaders and start concentrating on taking care of the security and welfare of the people who have voted it to power.
It is high time that Indian authorities make genuine efforts to investigate and take precautionary steps to thwart such terrorist attacks. Pakistan bashing may be appealing and popular but not sufficient to protect the nation.
The lowest of low in human excrement has attacked Mumbai. They do not have relegion nor do they belive in the existence of the Supreme Being, if they did they would have compassion in the heart and would not do such a barbaric act. Us the people along with the Government should raise to eradicate this menace from our mother land and her neighbours onnce and or all. My deepest sympathies are with the innocent victims and their families.
Personally, I'm not optimistic that our security agencies truthfully and factually brings any case to a close. First because, when a case is thus closed it will expose the inherent weakness in the system prompting the public to respond forcing the Govt. and the politicians to respond, which is not in the interest of the ruling politicians. Second, communal politics by which Congress thrives will not allow it. Wikileaks has exposed how UPA has stalled the death sentences fearing minority votes, etc (I'm not implying terrorist to belong to a community but that is the fear and current state of politics for UPA). In this case, I just hope to create a fool proof system to prevent any incidents in future not post-mortems or rhetorics.
It is baffling to see what more would wake up the Indian establishment and produce concrete action and save the lives of ordinary citizens. Mere visits to the sites and condemnation by our leaders are not what is required.Are we valuing our lives?
I request the editor to reconsider publishing these gory photos. Please remove them. They cause enormous distress to the viewer. I sincerely hope that you consider this request.
A country of billion plus people goes gaga with fervor when a cricketer reaches a milestone or their favorite actor does something but are muted spectators when common folks, one among them dies day after day due to act of terrorism. It is hard to believe this country had many great warriors that fought valiant wars with clever actionable intelligence. Technology aided tools and millions is of no use when constituents of the fighting agencies from several law enforcement agencies does not feel a sense of purpose and their contributuon is not celebrated by the public with pride and honor. A mere reference of the name of a fallen soldier, a firefighter, a marine or a navy seal in western hemisphere is revered with accomplishment and thanked with gratitude.What we are leaving to our younger generation is a system that does not work, plagued with systemic failures, hoping Gods would descend from their heavenly abode forgetting it is our duty to lay strong foundations and the time is now.
South Bombay and Dadar: I pity you. These places are repeatedly attacked by terrorists. India is supposedly spending billions of Rupees on Intelligence. (Hope Rajas, Marans, Kalmadis, Karunanidhis et al have not pocketed these funds). How difficult is it to gather information on every individual in Dongri, Imamwada, Hasanabad, Nesbit Road, Kalbadevi, Mohamed Ali Road? If only the intelligence agencies have detailed, in depth information on each individual in this area the terrorist attacks can be effectively thwarted. I don't think anyone need to talk about privacy concerns. After so many lives have been lost and repeated attacks on hard working and innocent Mumbai residents why do we have to worry about maintaining individual privacy? Enough is heard about the resilience of Mumbaikars. The respective governments have to take charge and erase terrorism altogether from India. If that requires giving away Maharashtra to Modi, do it!
Bombings expose that India has NO counter-terror effort. As pointed out in the article, counter-terrorism requires intelligence gathering and mainly human itelligence. The local police should know their neighborhood. More police force is needed across the nation and they should be trained well and paid well. It costs but no more than 2G scam, CWG and all other corrupt practices the present government follows.
With 85% of investment lost to corruption, India can never respond in any satisfactory manner.
Once again, this has exposed how under prepared the Indian government is in handling safety of its Citizens. After every tragedy with lot of fanfare ministers and groups are created but no one follows it up with actions and accountability.
This was just waiting to happen. With the audacious killing of J.Dey in Mumbai in broad daylight and with clashes amongst underworld dons, some people in the Security establishment should have woken up and kept Mumbai under watch. As always, our people have been sleeping till something happens and now we have a host of our leaders 'condemning' the attack. Does that return the lives of the injured citizens.
It is an even bigger shame that a week after this incident, everyone would go into stupor and nothing will happen till terror strikes us again. Appalling governance.
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