Some observations on Mumbai terrorist attacks
Here are certain observations on the few facts that have emerged so far on the terrorists’ attacks in Mumbai.
Fountainhead of jehadi terrorism is still Afghanistan-Pakistan
It was evidently done by terrorists who were from Pakistan. It had all the hallmarks of an al Qaeda attack in its scale, planning, execution and targeting of western tourists. The question whether it was supported by the ISI or it had support from the rogue elements within ISI is of little relevance today. Such links need to be probed further but it underscores the fact that Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to be the fountainhead of jehadi terrorism in the world.
An Indian response has to target Afghanistan and border areas of Pakistan. That would include upgrading the Indian involvement in Afghanistan from providing bilateral developmental assistance to active military involvement. If India wants to shift the battleground of jehadi terrorism from the Indian mainland and Kashmir to Afghanistan and Kashmir, Indian armed forces will have to move into Afghanistan.
Indian government can not respond in a manner akin to what was witnessed after the terrorist attack on Parliament. That would be futile and pointless. A response with far reaching benefits will have to be much bolder. The dividends gained will obviously be proportional to the risk involved and the boldness of vision.
Role of the media
The attacks are meant to undermine the idea of India as a nation, as a modern, democratic state. A large section of Indian media has behaved in an irresponsible manner by treating it like a cricket match and indulging in speculation and rumour mongering. If the aim of terrorists is to undermine the Indian state and create panic, then the only way to counter them is to reinforce the authority of the Indian state and quell any spread of unverified information. The Indian media has singularly failed in its duty, by unwittingly abetting the agenda of the terrorists. Lest the media forget, there is no “freedom sans responsibility”.
No knee-jerk reactions
The knee-jerk response from many analysts will include many calls for increased securitisation of the state and even calls for imposing a state of emergency. That kind of panic reaction would be playing straight into the hands of the terrorists. While enhanced security measures need to be instituted and intelligence gathering mechanisms need to be strengthened, the visible security measures should be limited to those that enhance the sense of public security among the common man.
The way ahead
The bottom line is that the Indian state is under tremendous pressure to show that it is undertaking some concrete action. Let us not mistake activity for action. The action has to be four-fold. The immediate goal must be of flushing these terrorists out and eliminating them, a short-term action plan has to visibly improve security and generate confidence in the public, a mid-term strategy will have to build up the capability of security and intelligence agencies and a long-term vision is needed to reform and restructure the complete internal security apparatus, the state police forces, the central police forces, the intelligence agencies and the judicial system.
The prescription for the common man
Support the Indian state in the immediate near future irrespective of your political or social beliefs, prevent breeding of cynicism against the inefficacy or ineptiitude of the state, avoid calls for increased securitisation of the state, disabuse the Indian electronic media of its notion of unbridled “freedom without responsibility” and hold the political parties accountable for a vision and worthwhile action plan for internal security when it comes to choosing the next government.
It’s almost as if they’ve been having fun; and there was me thinking that they were bad the last few weeks.
I desperately hope so. We must reaffirm our democratic, secular and free values.
Sir,
Security persons are doing their job well. They are giving their life without even properly trained, dressed for the operations, quick in reactions, alert in their job. The TV shows it all. If we study the video and compare with the tools, equipment, fighting, protective clothing etc which are a must and are made available and issued to individual for his safety first and to kill the terrorist is missing from the birth. Security persons have laid their lives for faults of their own, when public money has been given in full for their safety and protection. Their immediate superiors should be relieved of their responsibilities before they commit more damage. Nation is watching. World is watching. Analysit are studying and understanding the range and depth of our security forces strength and weakness. So goes with terrorist. There are more gaps, holes and leaks to sneak into our system of security and do damage at good will.
May God bless India with long and peace full future life.
Thanks for an insightful post.
Couple of thoughts/questions:
1.By ‘increased military involvement’ in Afghanistan, are you suggesting that we take the leadership role there from the hands of US and Nato forces? The US is doing drone attacks on Pakistani soil and there seems to be a tacit understanding between Pakistani Govt and US on this aspect, though the ISI may not be liking it. What would be the implications for India-Pakistan scenario if India enters this cauldron in a more proactive manner?
2.It is evident that just a few days after the success against Somali pirates, the Indian Navy/Coast Guard have failed to detect the entry of a hijacked fishing boat into Indian waters.May be we should institute mechanisms for better coordination at a national level between different wings of defence forces, counter terrorism, and civil police. It is unfortunate that it took almost 8 hrs for the NSG and Marine Commandos to be mobilised, after the terrorists entered the Taj.
Dear Sir,
One thing that has again been proved is that “In time of CRISIS either remember GOD or ARMY”. It can be seen that the way Armed forces are going about their job in a most professional manner. They are not trying to hog the limelight like most of their civil counterparts.
One thing more that is of great importance is that all three Services are doing a Joint Operation to flush out militants.
Another thing that has emerged is that the media instead of trying to portray the truth is engaged in speculation. One Mr Bhism was speaking to NDTV from inside the TAJ saying that “A hotel staffer is injured, please send commandoes immediately”. He was speaking in hushed tones and our correspondent after listening to what MR Bhism had to say said “For the benefit of our viewers can you please speak in Hindi”. If such is our media then we are bettr off without them.
The commandoes are doing a fine job and in my personal view all this about PB3 and PB4 should be solved at the earliest and the govt should agree to all the demands of the Armed Forces. After all where are the CRPF, BSF, ITBP and Mumbai Police now?
Last but not the least May god bless all the martyrs who have laid their life for trying to defend the attack on the nation.
@jas:
Trying to bring in PB-3 and PB-4 here smacks of gross insensitivity. What are you trying to say at this time? It is appalling, to say the least, that you can only see it in terms of pay commission and army versus PMF or other civil institutions even at this point in time.
The joint operations are not only the 3 services, but also the NSG and the local police. Please do not try to undermine or berate any other institution at this point.
Think in the terms of the nation and not in the terms of selfish and self-serving interests. Even the politicians have taken a joint stand without bringing in their parochial interests. Learn something from them.
I’ll be forced to delete any other comment that you make with false information as I’ve just done to the one you falsely posted. The IP address is available to me.
[...] and the state’s security apparatus to enable it to finish the job. Pragmatic Euphony recommends: Support the Indian state in the immediate near future irrespective of your political or social [...]
@ preagmatic 5
Dear pragmatic,
As i am reading the comment written by Jas and the reply given by you i find that Jas has mentioned a no. of issues but you have chosen to comment only on the one liner about PB3/PB4 issue. Unfortunately it reflects the total bias towards the justified demands of the Armed Forces. This attitude of yours though reflected in your blog is reflective of the Baboos attitude in general. None of the Baboos and IPS officers are anywhere near the Scene of action barring one IPS officer, DGP AN Roy who is crouching in his office giving frequent calls to the media to come and interview him as he is wearing his No. 1 uniform which he wants to display to the nation, notwithstanding that his interview is greatly derived from the whatever little has been spoken about the encounter by the GoC and the Dy GoC who are in the thick of action (on TV).
I quote from your reply to Jas
“The joint operations are not only the 3 services, but also the NSG and the local police. Please do not try to undermine or berate any other institution at this point”.
BTW NSG has three wings SAG 51, 52 and VIP security. 51 and 52 (who are actually involved) are completely officered and manned by Army Personnel on deputation responsible for Anti Hijacking and Anti terrorists operations. Only VIP security and DG NSG are manned by CPO/IPS (that too thanks to Baboos) only.
All those who are in the line of action are all PB3 officers only.
If your attitude continues to be the same even now then it is difficult for even GOD to help us and the Nation.
@fauji #7:
I will not dignify your comment with a response. Read the blogpost first, understand the context and then comment.
Ban the media. Issue gag orders on Deepak Chopra, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose.
If we start banning, where do we draw the line. What we really need is much better regulation. Meanwhile: stop watching them, send complaints, promote alternatives, mail advertisers … there are so many positive things to do which would also strengthen debate.
[...] It was caused by “too much freedom” The Indian media has singularly failed in its duty, by unwittingly abetting the agenda of the terrorists. Lest the media forget, there is no “freedom sans responsibility”. [...]
The article is full of insight. I wish to add the following:
(a) Do we see some similarity between the blasts that brought down a huge five star hotel in Pakistan very recently and the attack on the five star hotels in Mumbai from 26 Nov 08? The recovery of a large quantity of RDX in Hotel Taj Mahal in Mumbai on 28 Nov 08 points to something more sinister.
(b) The televised press conference called by Sri ML Kumavat, Secretary, Internal Security, GOI, at about 1700hrs on 28 Nov 08 in New Delhi, lacked every thing that it it needed to cover. The Secretary could hardly speak. Either he did not know the subject or he lacked all the qualifications required of a bureaucrat at that level, in that position and in that situation.
(c) Why has our government been sleeping from 2005 about establishing overlapping radar surveillance of the sea along our coast? What has the bureaucracy done about it and why has the naval chief turned a blind eye to date? Sri Shivraj Patil, our home minister was very vociferous about it when he spoke in 2005?
(d) Has the good old annual Civil-Military conference just become an annual time pass and recreational get together? This is one important meet that the concerned secretaries of the various state governments, the central government and the Cs in-C could use to its full potential to discuss matters which otherwise take a very long time to progress.
Pragmatic – my suggestion to the media is that during such incidents where the public is flicking channels trying to find out what is happening , the best option is not to go off the air or send in green horn reprters. For e’g even if some one is reporting on the recession pl do find some people who are experts on the subject and air them. Of course experts will differ in their views but one does get a more deliberate view of the subject. In such cases it is better to show live images to reassure the people and air edited programmes rather than off the cuff remarks.
On matters of National security baring all may not be the best policy. The Media may loose the oppurtunity of headlining statements like ‘Brought to you First Only by Dodo Channel- Keep watching Dodo” but they have a moral role to play. Dissecting the operation later is okay but while it is on some information might have to be restricted. Remember BBC was the communication link for the Resistance in France and VOA the propoganda wing of the US OSS against the Rooskies. The media has a responsible role to play.
The media has become like scavengers and a law unto themselves. But then this anarchy has been a common denominator for almost every organ of our society – civil or Govt. Uncontrolled, unaccountable beasts roaming the land for their own petty gains?
This isn’t the first such incident and unless we make amends, this won’t be the last. We have to realise that the attacks are getting more sophisticated and intense while the counter measures have become increasingly impotent.
What threshold needs to be crossed before we are coaxed into acting decisively? Are we waiting for a city to be wiped off? Or will that too be taken in our stride and forgotten, possibly even hailed by media as the “resilience” of Indians?
@prag
I support fauji’s view point comment #7
i am sure there would be many like me .
I suggest an operation IQBAL to eliminate/nuke the tribal regions of Pakistan. Any known terrorist hide-outs and training camps can be isolated and destroyed in same one sweeping air attack. It will be our response for this attack. More attacks will attract further targeted attacks back from us.
Let’s do it in the name of Allah to protect our muslim brethren who are equally sufferring from this terrorism.
Read what the Wall Street Journal has to say about us
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122783260486063039.html
“Indian armed forces will have to move into Afghanistan.”
Will Colonel Kapil Dev go ? And Brigadier Dyer Meakin brewery types into the poppy fields to improve the kick of Solan No 1 ?
My observations on the Mumbai attack:
Now that the operations are over the blame game and hogging of headlines will commence. It is imperative that we now have a professional inquisition (without leaks) into the incident to avoid recurrence. I just hope the Govt of the day does not take election primed actions like Parakram where the Army was moved with no ROI and huge wasteful expenditure debited from the exchequer.
This was an operation that would have taken the terrorists at least 6 – 8 months to plan. And no one had any inking of some trouble brewing. Targets were selected. Nariman point to give a message to the Israelis and Star hotels to get international mileage and VST to fuddle and confuse. First the prelim information gathering then the detailed plans followed by a dry run. It is obvious that these chaps have not all come in by boat. They must have come in ones and twos by land, air and sea and rendezvoused somewhere before a final recce and going over of plans was done. Maybe some of them may have initially checked in into the hotels. Many may stayed outside Mumbai coming in only for coordination.
The huge cache of arms, ammunitions and explosives may have come in by boat.
This is where we need to strengthen our intelligence agencies by authorizing covert operations where suspect groups and person are tracked by sleepers planted within the organisation.