What could be India’s 9/11 the terror attacks on Mumbai on Wednesday night and the following day witnessed an unprecedented trail of the death and destruction. This is a very big terror operation, and even bigger conspiracy till date. As if India is at war with a handful of deep-rooted enemy, who have got free ride to bomb explosions, indiscriminate attacks with AK-47 and hand grenade. In all, the unspecified terrorists have struck at 10 places in the economic capital of India, killing more than 100 people and injuring more than 600 people.
But what is mind-boggling is total intelligence failure. With 20-30 terrorists enter Mumbai by boat with sophisticated weapons and spread terror to at 10 places, causing so huge a damage, yet intelligence and security agencies have no clue! What can be more deplorable and frustrating that such an operation is totally unreported by the intelligence agencies.
However, while Indian intelligence and security agencies still groping to identify the terrorists who have struck at the country's financial capital, three Australian victims have now come out describing them as ‘young boys’. Two young Australian tourists, David Coker (23) and his partner Katie Anstee (24), who were among the first to come face-to-face with the terrorists in metropolis' famous bar 'afe Leopold' in Colaba said that the terrorist were very ‘young’.
It all started at about 9.30 pm when I switched on the TV. One after another news pouring in like the one I saw in 2001 one gloomy evening as the Twin Towers came crushing down. Five-star hotels like Oberoi and Taj, hospitals like GT and Cama and CST railway station were the primary targets where rich, influential and foreign tourists stay. And in no time terror trails escalated to parts of Mumbai, making it a vulnerable city with people running helter and skelter for safety.
Quite sadly, among the dead are ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who was heading the Malegaon blast probe, along with two senior police officers. Karkare was gunned down when he was leading an operation at Hotel Taj against terrorists who had taken 15 people, including seven foreigners as hostages. He was hit by three bullets in his chest. Just yesterday, I wrote about threat to his life.
Then the India Army moved in to assist local police in flushing out terrorists holed up in Taj and Oberoi hotels, along with about 200 NSG commandoes who worked hard to complete the operation at Taj Hotel, while that at Trident is going on.
What are we made to listen to? Stay calm and maintain harmony. This is a cowardly act. This will not happen again, and yet it happens at regular intervals. In the last 15 years, Mumbai has witnessed four major terrorist attacks. Remember July 11, 2006 when more than 200 people were killed in seven blasts on suburban trains and stations, while in August, 2003, 46 people lost their lives in two blasts including one near the Gateway of India. But the biggest was on March 12, 1993 when a series of bomb blasts left 257 dead and around 700 injured at the Bombay Stock Exchange, hotels, theatres, passport office, Air India building and Sahar Airport, etc.
What next? Blame game, politics and brain washing followed by arrests, highlights of names and organisations on the TV, but no concrete results. In the next segment I will discuss how we can fight the menace of terror collectively and decisively.
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