Reporting From Mumbai on 26/11/2008

As I peer outside my window in Chembur, Mumbai, I can see children play cricket in their school uniforms. The school-break due to the terror attacks has only made their day happier. In a different part of the world children of the same age are being taught that anyone other than their faith are infidels. They are told, "They hate you! And you should hate them back! It is God's will that you join this Jihad. Killing some more innocent people will avenge the atrocities committed on brothers and sisters of your faith".

In the western part of the world, this skirmish is seen as us v/s them. Plans are made to make sure every suspected terrorist is chased. As the whereabouts of such a person is known, there will be air strikes, which will kill one terrorist and possibly create 10 more in the form of kids losing their innocent parents and close ones. In the Indian political establishment, the attack will be followed by condemnation. The Indian opposition will be rightly appalled by the lack of security provided by the present govt. But it will react with demands for resignations from the establishment. They will hardly notice the fact that their actions in the past decade may have been used as fodder for young orphans, who were brainwashed into taking up the road to terror.

While the attacks were taking place, the govt. on the other hand had been busy trying to pin down the opposition leaders in a different violent blast. This would be an attempt to be seen more secular in the coming elections. It will issue a list of all things being done for the security of the common man, when in fact the police are struggling to fight this attack with insufficient training and inadequate equipment. The Railway police were left with ‘lathis’ (sticks) to fight terrorists equipped with Ak-47s. The bulletproof jackets are not bullet proof and the helmets permit an incoming bullet to pass through. In such a scenario, the ruling class is as much to blame for not providing enough to the cops.

A couple of days will go by. Everyone will return to his or her job. The spirit of Mumbai will receive kudos for the back to normalcy in record time. People will say, "They cannot break our spirits". And a large part of us will hope that the next one does not strike our loved ones or us. The Insiders v/s Outsiders battle raging in Mumbai would re-emerge as the most telling issue of our times. The soldiers from both sides of this argument, who have saved each other`s lives after being shot, will go back to throwing stones at each other.

Have we read this script before? Well 10 yrs ago, 5 yrs ago, 2 yrs ago and maybe an yr or 2 from now as well? Something somewhere is amiss. 9/11 was followed by some correct and some incorrect decisions and actions from the US. But the fact that they did not let another attack happen speaks volumes about the kind of measures taken. The actions of Giuliani and Bush post the attacks did project a sense of resolve and calm. The Maharashtra CM, the Maharashtra Home Minister and later the Prime Minister hardly gave anyone a sense of security. Rather than divulging details about how the operation is being carried out, there needed to be more discretion and reassurance. I haven’t seen a single person from the govt. who exudes an inner strength and resolve to be seen as the one leading an effort.

What we need to do after this attack is to learn the right lessons. Who attacked and why are questions best left to the investigating teams. What needs to be done is re-evaluate our readiness to deal with a crisis. Be it a terror attack or Heavy Rains or Earthquakes. Every city needs to have a Crisis management team, which I am sure Mumbai has. But how effective is it? A single person needs to be appointed to deal with a crisis. He/She needs to be the one calling the shots. The govt. spokesperson needs to be given the role of fielding questions from the media and providing censored details about the operation underway. Scared-shit politicians are better left in their toilets. Every news agency needs to have a govt. conduit so that an experienced negotiator rather than a mainstream TV journalist handles an occurrence like a call from the terrorists. The budget allocated to the police force needs to be re-evaluated. A 50,000 strong police force cannot serve a big city like Mumbai. We need more police recruits and possibly a better volunteer force, which comes into action in each neighborhood. The police vans need to be fitted with GPS devices to track down rogue vehicles. Also each vehicle needs to have a bulletproof windscreen. The arms and ammunition used by the police needs to be upgraded big time and there needs to be a review on its condition from time to time.

Hopefully all or some of this gets implemented. As of now all we can do is pray for the safety of hostages, mourn the loss of victims and salute the bravery of our fallen heroes.