Saturday, December 13, 2008

MUMBAI ATTACKS

So much has been written about them everywhere that nothing new I could add, still some questions are popping up in everyone's mind,, I got few very valid questions and points in my email, and i want to share them with you........
The audacity, planning and flawless execution of this attack has really shamed India - its intelligence agencies, navy, government (central & state), home ministry and what not. the terrorists have made a mockery of a great nation considered to be moving towards a superpower in the next few decades. How is it that an entire team of terrorists could enter Mumbai by sea and the navy does not get a wind of it. Were they sleeping away to glory? How is it that MOSSAD warns us of these attacks and inspite of that we don’t react forget getting intelligence before other agencies like MOSSAD. This is not the first time either. When Mr. Rajiv Gandhi & Ms Indira Gandhi were assassinated MOSSAD had provided intelligence as well only to be ignored by our ‘intelligent’ intelligence agencies.

The death toll because of terrorist attacks in the last 2 years has been 3600 next only to the iraq war and look at the difference given to the significance of these nos between US & India. The Congress governmentt has proved to be the most complacent, lacklustre, irresponsible governement of all times. It has failed miserably in containing any attacks - there have been 4-5 attacks in a space of 6 months and they are sitting like wimps and lame ducks. If they cannot take responsibility of the nation how can they be at the centre? Perhaps that is our fault as well in electing such a handicapped government. The speech given by our PM was one of the least inspiring speech I have seen in such crucial junctures. How many times did he or, the CM (Vilas Rao) or Ms Sonia Gandhi come on the Television to share their views with the polity? How come during elections they are omnipresent and invisible when the nation needs them the most. Why is there Z security for all politicians and ZERO security for the common man. The terrorists had set up two control rooms in the hotels. What about India? The commandos did not even have a plan of the hotels before they entered. One could hardly see the police cordone of the area surrounding the hotels. Anyone and everyone could be around and could enter the hotel as well. One CNN correspondent almost ended up doing that. The police was giving conflicting news consistently. As soon as they said the siege is over one could hear more shots in the background perhaps to remind them incessantly that need to pull up their socks and manage the crisis better. Why didn’t we have a control room to help the family members of those who were held inside?

For once we don’t want Mumbai to be resilient please. Please don’t take this as another attack. Please take some action, make your presence felt and don’t let your politicians take you for granted. Take the matter in your own hands.We don’t want Manomohan Singh or Vilas Rao Deshmukh or Sonia Gandhi. Let them have glory celebrating on tax payers money and filling up their coiffeurs. We will have to take up our security in our own hands.
Contributed by Vishal.


How many terrorists were there? Did they number 20 as Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told a press conference on Thursday? Or did they number many more? If two or three terrorists attacked the CST, how many terrorists were present at the Taj and Trident? Did the CST terrorists drop a grenade/explosive device at Dockyard Road on the way to the station? Or was someone else responsible for that act of terror which claimed three lives?
The terrorists are said to have set up control rooms at the Taj and Trident hotels, a Cabinet minister told PTI on Thursday. When were these bookings made? A detailed investigation into the bookings made at both hotels in the months, weeks and days before the attacks may reveal the names of suspicious guests who registered there.
Military sources tell rediff that there was no way the terrorists could have carried so much ammunition with them when they assaulted the two hotels with their guns blazing. They believe the ammunition may have been stored earlier in rooms at both the hotels, perhaps on the higher floors.
If some of the terrorists had registered at the hotels earlier, could these men/women have left along with the guests who were released? Did the police record the identities and addresses of the guests who were released from both hotels?
Indian Hotels Chairman Ratan Tata indicated on Thursday that the terrorists had intimate knowledge of the Taj, its service corridors, its layout. Does this mean that they had a mole inside the Taj? Or more worrying, did a couple of them work there at some point of time? Did they have drawings of the layout of the two hotels?
If the terrorists were Pakistani, how did they have such an intimate knowledge of the terrain? The two or three cowards who attacked the CST on Wednesday night made their way from the CST through a road on the left side of The Times of India building towards the Cama and Albess hospital/Azad Maidan police station, a route that is known only to true-blood Mumbaikars. Were they locals? Or did they conduct extensive reconnisance of the likely routes of escape?
These same two or three men, who are said to have commandeered ATS Chief Hemant Karkare’s police Qualis after shooting him, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar, revealed similar familiarity with the road outside the Esplanade Court, making an easy U-turn towards the Metro cinema junction rather than head on the road towards the CST. How did they know this if they were Pakistanis?
How did those men, whose images have appeared all over the world, get to the CST from Colaba where they are said to have landed by boat? Did they take a taxi? Or did they have local transportation? Did they come by a suburban train, which could explain the firing on one of the suburban train platforms? Who left the grenade on the Gitanjali Express, which killed a Bengali mother?
The terrorists are said to have done extensive reconnisance of the city. If they are Pakistanis, how did they get earlier entry to the city unnoticed? Did they come in by boat? Or did they use other routes to escape notice?
Such an operation could not have been conducted without extensive training and preparation, possibly on models of the Taj and Trident or Chabad House/Nariman House. Could this have been achieved at the rudimentary training camps hosted by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in Pakistan occupied Kashmir? Or was it a more systematised operation conducted by a State agency in a hostile country?
How did they know Chabad House/Nariman House, which even long-time residents of Colaba — the area in South Mumbai where the Taj, the Leopold Cafe and Chabad/Nariman House are located — are unfamiliar with? The choice of this target indicates precision thinking — it is doubtful if the Lashkar strategists are capable of such deep strategy — and again points the needle of suspicion at a government intelligence agency in a nation inimical to India or renegades within such a bureau.
If the terrorists are interested in something, how come they have not made any demands in spite of having taken so many hostages? If they kept the hostages for so long, they should have started negotiations also. This indicates that they have some other, larger ultimate objective. What is that, and has it been investigated?
The Deccan Mujahideen may or may not be a valid front. Has the Andhra Pradesh police and security forces started investigating that? What are the results of that?
Has there been any additional discussion on the terrorists who might have escaped into Bombay city, apart from these three locations? If the dead terrorists had blueprints of the major areas in the city, it means that they might launch an attack on these locations after the Taj, Oberoi and Colaba encounters are over. Have the police been investigating this, and has there been any safety precautions? The names of these places should be circulated, and civilians asked to refrain from going to those locations, so that casualties can be at a minimum. When will this be done? Why did the terrorists not blow up the full building itself? What can be the reason for this? I do not believe that they do not have the ammunition for that or planning. I believe if they wanted they could have done it.
What is the Navy doing around the Colaba area? Why is it not monitoring or keeping a check on what goes on in the seas just below its nose?
Why doesn't Mumbai have enough fire ladders or other equipment which can put out fires like the ones set at the Taj?
Even in a terrorist attack why are most of our constabulary seen with antique rifles and without bulletproof attire?
Why are civilians seen in and around the affected areas in spite of a curfew call?
Why do the best hotels in Mumbai have such pathetic security?
Are the CCTV records of the hotels available?
Assuming such large quantities of weapons had been pre-stored in the hotels, is there any security system to search these bags while being taken to the hotel?
Are there any missing hotel staff after the attack?
How come the terrorists were able to fight for more then 40 hours? This is very clear that all these people got the arms and weapons ready on site in advance. Isn't this a question on the qualification and intelligence of our police and all other security agencies?
Manmohan Singh has claimed that this terror attack has been executed by external forces. What proof has the government got in order to make such a claim? Every time a situation like this happens, the government of India makes such claims and then they give no proof to anyone, especially the common people who are always kept in dark.
Whether there are terrorists holed up in other parts of Mumbai and surroundings, as they were inside those targeted hotels? What action is necessary for those hiding terrorists in other parts, right now unknown to us?
How did they procure AK-56 rifles? What action is necessary which need to be taken for controling smuggling of these weapons inside Indian territory?
Are we planning to carry out operations inside Pakistan where the terrorists' headquarters are firmly believed to be located, if Pakistan cannot capture those responsible and as we have every right for pre-emptive action?
Whether we will take help of the Pakistan government and other countries in conducting such secret operations inside Pakistan to capture terrorists, as the United States is doing presently inside Pakistan if their weak system cannot achieve this? SOURCE: REDIFF.com
I got it in my email.

6 comments:

Hip Grandma said...

These questions bother me too.I feel that a thorough investigation will reveal many things that we may not wish to hear.I cannot believe that an attack of this magnitude was not supported by our own people.

Anonymous said...

One more question, Its impossible to conduct such a big operation, and get all the details, without local help. How did they get so much info beforehand ? If our govt and intelligence agencies had done even half the work that they ought to be doing regularly, Iam sure they could have been better informed and ready. Why are we not demanding accountability with the govt staff?

Destination Infinity

Anonymous said...

I will NOT cast my vote this time..

Exactly a week after 26/11, an RDX bomb was found at CST...need I say more!

and wht purpose do resignations serve??? the terrorists shud have gunned down our fucking politicians...

I attended the Gateway peace rally..the unprecedented historic turnout was quite something..angry placards, candlelight marches, spiteful slogans!!!

One of the slogans read- DEAr MR. CHIEF MINISTER! INSTEAD OF TAKING RAM GOPAL VARMA FOR TAJ TERROR TOURISM, IF YOU WOULD HAVE SHOWN THE TERRORISTS RAM GOPAL VARMA KI AAG, THEY WOULD HAVE ANYWAYS KILLED THEMSELVES..

Another read- CALL BACK THE BAR GIRLS. MAYBE THEY CAN PROTECT US

Renu said...

HIPGRANDMA: In my mind they are not mere questions but a belief that we have some traitors among ourselves..who would do anything for money.

Destination Infinity:
This is what i am advocating in my next post....that if everybody does his/her job sincerely, we wouldnt have any problem..whatsoever.

SWAT: By boycotting elections we always support bad elements.
I also got that email with all the pictures:), funny , but its as erious issue, and we need to ake some actions.

PARRY said...

This is the first thoroughly researched questioneer I have seen on net. Read the whole of it.
But who will answer?

Renu said...

PARRY: Thanks for visiting me !
In our country we have only questions, no answers.
Only we can change the situation by being a law abiding citizen....I have a few suggestions in my next post, tell me what u think of that?

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